31: Grow Coach Newsletter
31: Grow Coach Newsletter
Football Coaches: Develop your Coaching Craft.
A warm welcome from JustCoachMD. We are happy to have you on board. We are looking forward to providing you with helpful content.
Here is what to expect:
Coaching Craft: Using Analogies to help you coach.
Full 60 Minute Practice: Playing through pressure.
Coach Project: Develop your analogies, sayings and coach language.
"That's the beauty of sport. Sometimes you laugh, sometimes you cry"- Pep Guardiola.
Honing your coaching craft is essential to becoming a better coach. There are many tools that coaches can use to ensure that their sessions look and feel like the game. Analogies are a fantastic way to help remind players of what you want them to do.
Do you use analogies when you coach?
Analogies compare two different things to highlight their similarities. They help to simplify complex ideas by relating them to similar concepts.
Analogies are helpful for learning because:
Simplification: They can break down complex things into simpler, more relatable terms. They make it easier for the learner to grasp.
Visualisation: They help to create clear mental images of what is expected.
Engagement: They relate new information to known or familiar ideas. This helps to make the learning process more engaging and memorable.
Connection: Helps to connect existing knowledge with new knowledge which aids overall understanding.
Retention: They help to create strong associations between new and familiar topics and make it easier to recall under pressure.
Using analogies to aid coach delivery?
Dropping in these analogies alongside coaching points is an excellent tool to aid the learning process. Here are some of my favourite football-related analogies explained.
Getting close to the fire without getting burned: This relates to staying on the ball under pressure and drawing in opponents. Bring the opponent in close before releasing the ball to a teammate.
Shift through the gears: Use changes in speed and intensity to accelerate away from defenders trying to take the ball.
Stick like glue: Stick close to your mark, mirroring their every move and not giving them any space to operate in.
Fly under the radar: Move unnoticed into hurtful positions to get on the ball.
Pressure is for car tyres: Enjoy high-pressure situations as opportunities to shine.
Scan and plan: A printer receives a picture before it prints. Players should look away from the ball regularly to anticipate their options before receiving it and make plans about what they will do if the ball arrives.
Strike like lightning: Make quick hurtful passes that catch the opponent off guard.
Steady as a rock: Encourages players to remain calm and unshaken in pressured situations.
Master of disguise: Like a spy hiding their true identity. Use disguised skills and movements to divert attention away from your true intentions or actions.
Memorable Sayings
If you do not want to use analogies try to create some memorable sayings around your game model ideas. They serve as great reminders to players about what is expected of them concerning the demands of the game.
Here are a few you could use:
Find the Space: Like the best midfielders in the game, they look for open areas on the pitch to exploit.
Stick and Steal: Mark the opponent close and steal the ball off them.
Skill and Speed: Use a piece of skill to move your immediate opponent then accelerate into space.
Show and Share: Refers to the passer and receiver relationship, one should be looking for the other to combine with.
Turn and Burn: If a player performs a turn they should move fast into the space they have created and escape the defender.
Shake them off: Refers to losing a marker to get on the ball.
Suck them in: refers to a player staying on the ball bringing the opponent close before releasing the ball.
Shielding and Secure: A player protects the ball with their body and then secures possession with a pass.
Take a look at this week’s coaches project, see if you can take 10 things you want your players to do and create an analogy or memorable saying.
"You have to fight to reach your dream. You must sacrifice and work hard for it."- Lionel Messi.
Full Practice: Playing Through Midfield to Score
3v1 | Playing Through the Zones to Score.
⚽️ Created On: @SSPlanner
Aim:
Progression through the zones to score.
Set-Up:
45 yards by 15-yard long zone split into thirds.
Place a pair of mini-goals at each end.
⚫️s Attack in pairs.
🔴s act as defenders and the 🔴s are fixed into zones.
🟡 Support players for the team with the ball the 🟡s are fixed in shaded zones- 2 touch.
🟢 Gk (helps the 🔴s).
How to Play:
⚫️s work the ball through the zones using the 🟡 support players. Once they get into the final zone they try to score in one of the mini goals.
🔴s regain possession and play through the zones using 🟡s to get the ball into their final third to score in the mini goals where the ⚫️s started.
🚧 Constraints:
🏆Reward: Serve a bonus ball into the final third if the ⚫️s score within 10 seconds.
🚫Restriction: ⚫️s can only progress into the next zone via a through pass.
👨🏫Review: Spotting the right time to dribble or pass through the zones.
3 Team Game | Playing Through the Zones.
⚽️ Created On: @SSPlanner
Aim:
Combine centrally to escape pressure.
Set-Up:
On a 40 by 15 pitch split the pitch into thirds so there is a 10-yard central zone.
Place a 5 by 5 zone within the central zone and place a 🟢 inside this area.
Place a pair of mini-goals at each end of the pitch.
⚫️s attacking team.
🟡s attacking team.
🔴s are the defending team.
How to Play:
⚫️ and 🟡s are positioned in the outer zones. They connect 3 passes in a zone and look to play via the central zone 🟢 to transfer the ball to the opposite outer zone.
The ⚫️🟡s can do this by passing into the 🟢 directly to turn out and transfer the ball or by a player dropping into the sides of the central zones to set the 🟢 to play through.
🔴s can send two players into an outer zone and 1 player in the smaller shaded zones.
The shaded zone 🔴s can only intercept through balls. If any 🔴 wins the ball they attack the outer zone goals where the pass-through was attempted.
Nobody can enter the green central zone.
🚧 Constraints:
🏆Reward: Cut through the central zones using 1 touch passes = Double goals.
🚫Restriction: You can only play off 1 touch in the central zones.
👨🏫Review: Players playing hurtful passes through the opponent’s pressure.
5v5 (+2) | Breaking Out of Central Areas to Score.
⚽️ Created On: @SSPlanner
Aim:
Breaking out of central spaces to score.
Set-Up:
60 by 40-yard space split into thrids with a 5-yard shaded zone.
4 x Mini Goals (a pair at each end of the pitch.
⚫️ Attacking team, break beyond shaded zone to attack 🟢 and recovering defenders towards the mini goals.
🔴 Defending team, regain the ball and score in the mini goals behind the ⚫️s.
🟡 Support players, play for the team with the ball.
🟢 GK for 🔴s.
How to Play:
⚫️s play off a ⚫️ in the shaded zone to set back into the playing area. Another player 🟡 or ⚫️ must slide in a runner toward the big goal.
The 🔴s must win the ball and score in the mini-goals behind the ⚫️s.
When a player is released into the final third 3x⚫️s can attack and 3x🔴s can recover.
Both teams can use the 🟡s to keep the ball.
🚧 Constraints:
🏆Reward: A second ball to finish, if the player is released into the final third score when they break out.
🚫 Restriction: Touch limits in the final third.
👨🏫 Review: Quality of passing into feet and space.
“I’m attracted to football’s capacity for beauty. When well played, the game is a dance with a ball.” - Eduardo Galeano
Coach Project
Objective: Create a list of technical topics you wish to coach and develop. Use an analogy or memorable saying to support the understanding of the technique.
Considerations:
Relate it to the player’s age and stage of development.
Keep it short and punchy.
Use the table below to help you design your list. When coaching you can use the analogies and sayings to help you share messages.
Please feel free to get in touch or share your ideas, actions, and interventions. We would love to hear from you. If you have any questions, post them here; we will do our best to answer them.
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