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It was the former. It was baffling that no one else seemed to know ANYTHING about the video, the blog, or 3four3 in general. Even the presenter admitted that he just happened to stumble upon the video by chance.
I got up and left after the presenter said “yes, it does look mechanical”. I knew from there that I was not going to get anything out of the lecture…
I’d 100% agree that the “C” is the hardest one I’ve taken so far since they expect much more out of you than the “D”. The “B” was easier in the fact it was 11v11 format and it made more sense. I did like the fact that in the “small sided game” activity part they introduced the importance of giving your team a plan of how to execute; however, not nearly to the extent of recommending tactical pattern play. I think Tom Durkin (“B” course instructor) specifically told us that pattern play/shadow play doesn’t work because once you add pressure, it all breaks down. Not sure if that one quote encapsulates his view of it, but just a quote that stuck out in my mind.
I agree that all coaches should have the desire and motivation to never stop learning and attending USSF courses can fit into they; however, Ive never come away from a USSF course thinking I gained a huge amount of knowledge. I can literally think if two valuable things I took out of the B course. Plus, grinding out a course in eight days of heat just encourages coaches to simply survive rather than learn.
Likewise with teaching, I have a Masters in Education, but the overwhelming amount of my true learning came from my teaching mentor and experience in the profession.
Mark,
That video is from a club we frequently play called Fairfax Police Youth Club (FPYC). The coach is Mike Sprano. He posts comments to the 3four3 blog under his name of “NOVAMike”. That group is now U10.
I wish I could have videoed our U9 game against them this year. Very entertaining when both teams are really trying to play, building out of the back, combination play, etc. We will scrimmage them this winter so maybe I can get a video of our U9 Alexandria team vs. U9 FPYC.
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This reply was modified 10 years, 10 months ago by
Ryan Rich.
Gary/Brian and others,
In teaching the 3-3-1 at 8v8 at U9-U10, how do you deal with the large amount of responsibility placed on the single CM to act in a DCM role and also in the attack going forward. In addition, I’m assuming he would have a role in the pressing as well.
At the age, maybe you haven’t gotten that far to work on pressing choreography? We play 8v8 until U12 so if I were going to go with the 3-3-1, I would like some advice about how to teach that CM role on the defending and attacking end…seems like that player would need superhuman endurance!
I can see that being one of the scenarios that is taught. Maybe that is scenario #4 or #5 when the LCB, RCB, DCM options have all been cut off. I don’t think we see those later options in the “Goal Kick” video though.
I know some coaches use a training model that emphasizes a certain technical skill every few weeks (e.g. passing and receiving for two weeks, then shooting for two weeks) However, I dont agree with it especially when you are trying to ingrain a style of play. I tend to focus solely on the attacking side first starting in the defensive third amd working up the field. When I see that we can play out of the back wirh regularity, I move on to what we want to do once we get past that first line of pressure. I confess that I havent done a great job of teaching the defensive side of the ball.
Usually we repeat alot of positional rondos every practice and some sort of pattern passing, although none of which as focused as what Gary and Brian have presented. I definitely have seen that when we focus on positional rondos in practice consistently it carries over to games. When we dont do it, even for two practices, the games start to messy again…speaks to the power of consistency.
I cannot answer for Gary; however, when you force inward in the 4-3-3, you are forcing towards where you have numbers (i.e. your two ACM and DCM behind those two).
Like Ryan mentioned, I think there is alot of conditioning built into the activities that make training efficient and also reinforce their “identity”.
Rondos – It seems like in the 3v1 and 4v1 videos that he was having the defenders go for a set amount of time (1 minute maybe?). After that, another player would come in and act as defender with the former defender going out or becoming an attacker. I think this work-to-rest ratio well thought and goes back to reinforcing how they want players/the team to pressure: short bursts of high intensity work followed by winning possession where it recovery.
Choreography – I think there is a good deal of fitness built into all of them. Since one group goes for a set amount of reps, they have to all go back to the starting point after each rep through a jog or sprint.
Overall, I think everything is done at high intensity for a short amount of time, which fits an interval training approach for soccer better than the traditional long distance running.
Paul,
I think its great that you are looking into education research and theory. I think its something that most coaches don’t do or know they should be doing on their own. I see lots of coaches go to courses, regurgitate the 4-step training process by putting activities that seem interesting or that they’ve picked up the week before and think they are doing a great job.
If you (or anyone else) is interested, here is an excerpt from one of the best books I’ve found on explicit instruction. I literally use this on a weekly basis to inform and improve my teaching:
http://explicitinstruction.org/download/sample-chapter.pdf
I think you’ll find that many of the aspects we find critical for soccer are in the 16 elements of explicit instruction. However, it isn’t until you’ve establishing a coaching philosophy and style of play that you can really start to provide organized, sequential lessons that you can actually put in content and communicate clearly to players (“We are learning X, because it will help us achieve Y in the game”).
Hope you find this helpful!
To go further, there are proponents of “discovery learning” where children simply learn by doing without the need for much teacher guidance, which is very different than explicit instruction. While I think kids do need to learn by doing, I think the teacher/coach must first introduce the concept or skill to provide relevance and context within the game. In my opinion, two 90 minute sessions using discovery learning (which seems to me to be a lot like hiding behind “letting the game teach the players” and hands off from coaches) is not efficient or effective.
Paul,
I agree that you must move beyond the traditional model of teaching of just unloading information on students without meaningful chances to interact with the material. Explicit instruction is still the most effective way to introduce new material. The teacher demonstrates a skill or concept, gives examples and non examples, puts it in kid friendly definition or context, etc. The guided instruction (we do) is where students practice with a partner and where the cooperative learning strategies can come and ask students to use higher order thinking. It allows them to make sense of the material with guidance from the teacher or peer. The last part is independent practice (you do) when the student performs a skill on their own.
For soccer, I see it as showing the kids what is expected and the level at which you want them to execute by demonstration (visual and verbal) at the initial stage. Then, they attempt the skill or concept with guidance from the coach using guided discovery questioning. The independent practice is the game where you see if the player(s) have taken their learning to actual game. You assess and see where the breakdowns occur and start the cycle again. It’s a constant cycle of teaching and formative assessment.
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This reply was modified 10 years, 10 months ago by
Thanks for sharing, interesting read. What do people think of the following quote from the article?
<span style=”font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #fafafa;”>Ajax’s new idea is to think of player development as just that, as Berkgamp says </span><i style=”font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: #fafafa;”>“Our idea is: don’t think about teams anymore, just think about individuals. It’s all about developing the individual.”</i>
For me, I think that the rondo activities fit in well to developing the individual. However, what would Bergkamp say about set tactical training? I think its needed to create the team identity and facilitate team possession = more chances for development intelligence and technique in the game.
I remember in a blog post about Barcelona’s USA’s game vs. Ajax that Ajax was not very developed tactically, but excellent technically. Maybe this is simply a different in methodology and philosophy.
I totally agree that a large part of the responsibilities is on the passer to put the ball where it is needed. However, I think players need to get accustomed to receiving across their body to set up for their next pass prior to that next detail. I think it requires quite a bit of forethought and insight by a player to pass the ball on a particular side of the receiving player to “tell” them the direction they should play the ball away from pressure.
I totally identify with the idea of “teaching less but at deeper level rather than teach many things at a superficial level.” In my classroom experience, just like the Kleibans emphasize with being able to teach this styls of play to either gender at various skill levels, I’ve been able to make great academic strides even with the most impacted special education students on my caseload. Much of it comes down to identifying the most important skills and planning their introduction so students can see how they build on each other and relate to each other and their lives. That last part I think is crucial because the players must see a benefit in the activities you do and how it helps them and the team on match day.
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This reply was modified 10 years, 10 months ago by
