A different take on warm ups.

This fall finds me once again coaching high school soccer. The team I am working with is young, inexperienced and coed playing against boys teams.  The odds are definitely stacked against us.  I m having a blast!

I have pretty much a blank canvas to work with.

If focused on results, this could definitely be considered a negative. If we take an approach of this being an opportunity, then the challenges we face are a blessing. I choose to see this season as a blessing of amazing proportions.

My assistant and I have no choice but to teach. What we teach is every single aspect of game and team. Why we teach it is not solely based in pursuit of better on-the-field results. No, both what we teach and why we teach are grounded in helping the young men and women we work with to learn the value of confronting adversity, learning from mistakes and working cooperatively together to solve problems encountered in the process of becoming a better team and through the experience, better people.

 A favorite saying of mine is "Failing to prepare properly is preparing to fail."  This quote is often attributed to Benjamin Franklin who was by all accounts a pretty accomplished man. When applying this quote to soccer most will think of practicing well and warming up properly in front of playing a game. This, especially the warming up part, is usually equated to physical preparation.  In practice players perform repetitions of technique and tactics to develop muscle memory that allows them to play instinctively. Warm ups are often about perfection or striving to be as perfect as possible in preparing for the game.  This is where I find fault with standard warm ups that involve stretching followed by performing well rehearsed routines. It reduces warming up to finding a rhythm and getting comfortable before playing the game. The problem here is not in what you do, but is found in what you do not do.

A soccer match is a exercise in problem solving ability - that of individual players and the collective team. If we accept this to be true, then should we not include adversity and problem solving in our preparation to play the game?

A wise old coach once told me he could spot an American soccer player in the first few seconds of watching them step on the field.  American players step on the field and immediately begin whacking the ball at the goal.  Players from other countries step on the pitch and immediately have a ball at their feet working on individual ball handling skills.

I love watching professional athletes warm up, especially the stars.  Invariably they begin small and work their way up to the act required to put points on the scoreboard.  Watch Tom Brady warm up.  He gets his body warmed up and then begins with simple ball handling tasks like taking snaps from his center. He progresses to handing the ball off to running backs and moves on to throwing the football to receivers. Kyrie Irving comes out early and does ball handling exercises. These include the now famous two ball drill, dribbling and passing with either hand.  The last thing he does is practice his shooting. He takes care of all the things that will get him to taking a shot before actually working on taking the shot.

I firmly believe failing to warm up properly is one reason the United States has yet to produce a world class striker.  We warm up to get comfortable instead of warming up to problem solve in the game. We need to address our problem solving skills as much or more than establishing our comfort.  Game environments are rarely comfortable so I'm a bit mystified by the emphasis on establishing comfort in our warm ups. We need challenges in warm ups to prepare our problem solving skills.

Light intensity and conserving energy for the actual game is another aspect of traditional warm ups that leave me scratching my head. When one is about to play a contest should one not prepare for the intensity of the contest?  Rest and restoring energy can take place in the moments before kickoff - during the captains meeting, last minute instructions, playing of the national anthem and player introductions.  Pre-creating game-like intensity cannot.  This must be done as a gradual build up from the first step onto the pitch until active warm ups conclude prior to the pre-game festivities outlined above. Ramping up intensity should be a designed component of warm ups.

Warm ups, especially the individual components of warming up should be fraught with challenges. Working on simple ball handling to attempting more complex combinations and moves. Failures in warm ups are okay for the simple reason that failures are part of every game. A critical component of every game is learning from in-game failure and overcoming in-game adversity. Should not  preparing to do this be a part of our warm up?

By now a new vision of warming up should be emerging. At least it should be if I have written well.  Warm ups are an opportunity not just to prepare for playing, but to learn and improve.  It's not just about "perfecting" things worked on in practices leading up to the match. No, warm ups should be a continued exploration of your capability's and evolution of your abilities.

Everyone wants to win a championship.

It's not the will to win that is important for everyone wants to win. 

It is the will to prepare to win that makes the difference.

To win a championship you must first win the grind.

Win every individual workout.

Win every practice.

Win every training session.

Win the logbook sessions.

Triumph over discomfort.

Find victory in each obstacle and every adversity.

Communicate with winning frankness and honesty.

Win first, then play the game!

The Game is My Test.

I saw a former player this past week and while reminiscing he mentioned how much he appreciated my approach to coaching in games. He was thankful that I was not one of those coaches who paced the sidelines constantly yelling instructions and / or berating players for every mistake made. "I don't know if you appreciate the confidence you instilled in me by just silently standing there watching us play."

I almost laughed out loud for many others have commented that I am too quiet and don't coach enough during games. Without directly saying so those people have hinted I don't do enough to motivate players during games. Then it occurred to me the people offering these criticisms have all been adults.  Parents, an athletic director and even my own wife, lol. 

I have explained my in-game coaching philosophy to many of those people in five simple words, The game is my test.

AGOGE!

The training all young boys underwent in ancient Sparta was called agoge. It was all-inclusive and took place 24/7/365.  Young boys growing to be Spartan warriors were dedicated to this training to such an extent only the strong survived. The Spartan was one of the best warriors in the ancient world as depicted in the movie 300 where a small band held off thousands for days.

The school I am now coaching at has a Spartan for their mascot. Recently an athlete asked of me, "What do you think I need to do to become a better player just from what we have done the past two weeks?"

First of all, asking this question is a great start. My actual response to him follows.

I believe you must discover the WILL to prepare properly. Agoge was 24/7/365. Failing to prepare properly is preparing to fail. Once the mindset is correct, improvement will come at a more rapid pace. Until then explanations and excuses will continue to rule. The ability to be coached, to be receptive to coaching is improved when the body, mind and spirit are well rested and eager for the opportunity. Most everyone is enthusiastic for game day, but the truly great ones bring the same enthusiasm to training / preparation.  (Last night) you stated you began preparing for today's match "now", but the correct answer should have been "the moment last season ended." What will the bus ride be like today? Will you / we be focused on playing or will there be a lot of messing around and talking about anything other than the game? AGOGE was complete training - physical, technical, tactical, psychological / mental and spiritual.  The bus ride will conclude approximately one hour before match time. Is one hour sufficient to prepare for a match?  Buy a composition notebook at the Dollar Store and begin keeping notes on your preparation -what you drink and eat and when you do so. When you rest and for how long. Detail every practice - mistakes and successes, what you learned. LISTEN to the game, your teammates, opponents, referees, our athletic trainer, your coaches - they all provide information / feedback. Note the information shared. Write it down. Become a student of the game. The moment you move on from playing AT soccer and begin to learn to truly play soccer is when you will really begin seeing improvement,  You have the tools to build a stronger game. We have been and will continue to supply them to you and your team. But the decision to care for the tools and actually use them is YOURS alone to make. No one else can make that decision for you. Anyone can fill their tool belt with shiny new tools, but the carpenter I want is the one whose tools show wear and tear from having been used.  Bet you were expecting a litany of technical and tactical work? That's not what is missing from your game.  See you this afternoon.  AGOGE!

The response received back from the athlete was, "Yes, I was actually like in practice you always say back foot to me. I was expecting that but thank you. I will copy and paste these into a big paragraph and read it every day."

Will this athlete follow through?  I have no idea. More importantly I know I have no control over whether he does or does not.  I do care, but as life teaches us sometimes caring is not enough.  The decision rests solely with this athlete himself.  I am encouraged by the fact he sought help of his own accord. That's a positive first step. He's talking the talk, but will he be dedicated to walking the walk?

Give your best effort.

You will play as you train

 

If you only ever give 90% in training

 

Then you will never be able to give 100% in the game.

Intensity

For one reason or another the words "soft spoken" have been associated with me quite a few times in recent months.  I'm not exactly sure why as I would never describe myself in that manner. I think perhaps people are commenting on my calm demeanor during matches and even during training.  The truth is, I have to work extremely hard to maintain a steady approach - not too high, not too low.  Controlling and channeling my competitiveness into a positive and beneficial direction is a learned behavior for me as anyone exposed to me in my younger days can attest to.

Some years ago while an assistant coach at Lima Shawnee high school we had a very talented player come through by the name of Brandon Morse.  To this day, Brandon remains the best high school player this area has ever produced.  It was pure joy and privilege to watch Brandon every day for four high school seasons.  Amazing skills and a competitive mindset that seems to become rarer as I get older.

Conditioning and Training

Every team conditions and trains

 

It's not that you do these things

 

It's the standards your adhere to

 

while doing these things.

Functionality in Goalkeeper (and all) Training

I remember being asked to become the goalkeeping coach at Shawnee High School.  I knew very little about goalkeeping and was hesitant to say the least. I was honored to be considered, but couldn't help wonder, why me?   This much I knew, it was January and I had about 6 months to prepare for the role of goalkeeping coach.

One of the first things I did was to contact Graham Ramsay and ask him to recommend books and video tapes on the subject. This is where my library of now over 300 DVDs and 200 books on soccer got its humble beginnings. 

Shawnee's then head coach, Dick Hagen, recommended taking a coaching goalkeeping course and that was my next stop. I was one of the last to register for the NSCAA State Level Goalkeeping course to be held in Columbus, Ohio in about two weeks time.  This course would forever change the way I coached, regardless of the sport.

The instructors for the course were Tony Waiters, Tony DiCicco and John Murphy. Waiters and DiCicco were world renown household names.  Waiters was widely recognized as England's star goalkeeper much as Tim Howard is recognized as the US goalkeeper these days.  DiCicco was in his heyday as the USWNT team coach.  John Murphy?  Only true die hard soccer fans probably knew who he was.  I certainly knew nothing of him at that point in time, but it was Murphy who stole the show that weekend.  To this day, he is still the best clinician I have ever had the privilege of learning from.

Among the many lasting lessons learned that weekend was the importance of functionality being a part of everything we do in teaching the game. I'm not sure why, but that concept really struck a chord and still resonates with me to this day. Graham Ramsay seconded the importance of functionality in his camps and the many discussions we have had over the years. One of the reasons I have so many DVDs and books is that I am constantly searching for quality DVDs and books that stress functionality in training. A lot of the DVDs and books I have are mostly rubbish. A few are absolute gems.

So, there I was that July in the team's coaches led mini-camp getting my feet wet as a goalkeeping coach. My biggest concern was simply to not mess up the already established goalkeeping ability of the players being entrusted to me.  I had worked tirelessly to prepare and knew one of the first things I had to do was to convince the athletes to trust me.  I was about to change the way they had previously trained to be goalkeepers and had absolutely no experience or credibility to base my approach on. 

I want to focus on one simple exercise still common in goalkeeper training today.  This exercise is supposed to train a goalkeeper to "collapse dive" and pin the ball to the ground.  The active goalkeeper will be sitting on his butt as a coach or teammate hand serves balls to first the left then the right. The goalkeeper reaches out to field the ball and then collapses to the ground. When this occurs the goalkeepers body is falling away from the server. The goalkeeper is actually falling backwards... towards the goal.  It is a terrible drill in terms of functionality.  This is where my assault on poor goalkeeper training began.

In every goalkeeper camp and clinic I have ever conducted the question of cutting down angles has been raised by athletes and coaches alike. Heck, it was one of the few things I "knew" about goalkeeping before starting this journey as a goalkeeping coach.  When faced with a breakaway the goalkeeper comes out or comes off his line to cut down the shooting angles of the approaching attacker.  I had a basic understanding of this. I "knew" what it was all about. Sound tactical strategy generally accepted by everyone.

Somewhere in my mind all these bits and pieces were beginning to coalesce into what would become my curriculum for goalkeeping.  Tony Waiters' gorilla stance and Tony DiCicco's step to the ready position combined with John Murphy's demand for functionality in everything we do. 

I asked myself, how many times in a match would a goalkeeper be found sitting on his ass making a backwards moving collapse dive save?  My answer was, if it ever happened it would be as a result of the goalkeeper having made a mistake leading up to the necessity of performing such a maneuver.  It was that day the decision to never train a goalkeeper to recover from a mistake was made.

Can you imagine the reaction of young men who had played the position of goalkeeper for years to a rookie goalkeeping coach banning one of the most widely known goalkeeping exercises in the known soccer world?  Yeah, it was about what you would expect it to be.  I had to convince the players that my approach was better.  I taught them why it was indeed better and functionality was the main selling point.

When teaching the collapse dive to goalkeepers I have them begin with their knees on a painted line - goal line, touch line, any line will do.  I then place a soccer ball diagonally out in front of them to one side.  From this position we learn to dive diagonally forward on our collapse dives. Once I am satisfied with their technique for collapsing to the ground we put their feet on the line and progress to collapse dives from a standing position.

Let's back track for just a moment.  From their knees I have them collapse dive diagonally forward.  When defending a break away the goalkeeper comes out to take away shooting angles. By performing the collapse dive diagonally forward as opposed to falling backwards toward their own goal the goalkeeper is in effect cutting down the angles of the balls path to goal. 

So, on your feet the goalkeeper takes the step into the ready position as the attacker prepares to strike the ball. From the ready or gorilla position the goalkeeper takes a diagonally forward step towards the path of the ball and then collapse dives diagonally forward to make the save of the shot on goal.  This is functional training. 

What I discovered was when performing a collapse dive while falling backwards the effective range for saving a shot was generally 4 to perhaps 4.5 yards for an averaged size goalkeeper.  When the goalkeeper dives laterally the effective range for saving a shot stretches to approximately 6 yards for an average sized goalkeeper.  But when the goalkeeper attacks the ball by collapse diving diagonally forward the effective range for saving a shot can be stretched to cover 8+ yards.  With a goal being 8 yards wide we can cover its entirety provided we are positioned properly on the ball line angle arc. 

That first year as Shawnee's goalkeeper coach,  once proper collapse dive technique was established we never once practiced performing this technique from any position other than on our feet. Three times in each direction every day, including in pre-match warm ups.  No more. No less.  Our training was completely functional in nature. And if I recall correctly our GAA (goals against average) was a minuscule .48 / game that season. 

Since that time, I have strove to make every exercise utilized in training - for goalkeepers and field players alike - functional as it pertains to games.  Whether it is a technique, tactic, physical or psychology consideration I strive to make it game-like and functionally applicable in training. After all, training is preparation to play the game.  Failing to prepare properly is preparing to fail. So why ask athletes to train / prepare in a manner that is not functionally applicable to playing the game? 

The Soccer Goalkeeper.

Law # 3
A match is played by two teams, each consisting of not more than eleven players, one of whom is the goalkeeper.

The soccer goalkeeper is only position on the team allowed to use his hands to play the ball during active play on the pitch.  This makes the position a highly specialized one and demands specialized training.  Unfortunately, the goalkeeper position is also the most ignored position by most coaches when it comes to training players.

I spend nearly every day during the high school soccer season watching matches. If it is a Saturday, I may take in multiple matches. I am continually amazed by the number of goalkeepers I see warming up without the assistance of a goalkeeping coach or any coach at all for that matter. And even when a coach is present to help the goalkeeper warm up many of the exercises I see goalkeepers performing are so fundamentally wrong I do think to myself it might be better if the goalkeeper were left to his own devices.

One of the basic truths to goalkeeping is the fact the feet get the hands to the ball yet so few goalkeepers have footwork exercises as part of their warm up.  It's mind boggling to me.

The goalkeeper may use his hands to stop shots and for distributions. These are different ways for playing the ball than any other player has, yet the goalkeepers always seem to warm up like their teammates do.  I rarely see goalkeeper specific stretching. Even rarer re warm ups designed to prepare the hands for playing the position.

It's important to think of these things in the context of the goalkeeper being the last line of defense. Shouldn't this player receive special attention in training and pre-match warm ups?  That would be the prudent, the intelligent course of action, would it not?

The goalkeeper is also the first attacker.  This makes goalkeeper distributions extremely important.  The goalkeeper may use his hands to distribute the ball.  There are proper technical ways to roll and throw the ball. Should these be part of a goalkeepers pre-match warm up routine?  They must certainly should be, but in watching high school matches this fall I have come to the sad realization that in many instances proper technique for goalkeeper distributions are not even a part of goalkeeper training for many.

So, if the goalkeeper is not getting specialized training in the two most important facets of their game - footwork and handling the ball - can we hold any expectation that they are receiving proper instruction on the more technical aspects of playing the position?  Does your goalkeeper know the proper technique for a collapse dive and does he practice it on a daily basis?  Is this a part of his pre-match warm up?

Does your goalkeeper know the proper techniques and tactics for challenging break-aways?  Let me phrase this one a bit differently for you. Did you know that goalkeepers have died on the pitch due to improperly contesting a break-away?   Did that get your attention?  Yes, it is true. I have video showing the instantaneous death of a goalkeeper in a match due to his having utilized improper technique in challenging a break-away.

If my child were a goalkeeper, I would want to know that (s)he was receiving the best and fullest training available.  Yet in most cases youth and high school goalkeepers receive little if any actual training and what they do receive is often not well thought out, planned or executed properly.  If that doesn't catch your attention as a parent, it should.

The goalkeeper should receive a minimum of 45 minutes of specialized training per session and at least 1/2 hour of specialized pre-match warm up.  If your goalkeeper is not receiving this time devoted solely to him, the coach assigned to goalkeepers is being negligent to his duty and responsibility as a goalkeeper coach. That is provided your team actually has a goalkeeper coach.

And a goalkeeper coach is very much like a goalkeeper.  Both must possess a passion for the position. Coaches, parents and goalkeepers, take a look at your daily training and pre-match preparations.  Keep in mind that failing to prepare properly is preparing to fail.  Is your teams goalkeeper, is your son or daughter receiving proper attention to the details of the goalkeeping process?  If not, things must change for both performance and safety's sake.

 

Mental toughness is to physical toughness

 

as four is to one.

Bobby Knight

Win first,

 

then play the game.

Practice, er ... Training.

In many cases it is simply a case of semantics, but soccer and its culture is different from many “American” sports. I was once again reminded of this recently when a young player I am working with attempted to explain to his parent that I was “the trainer” and not a coach.  Even his coach was not quite sure what I was going to be doing with the team as he originally thought I was there to “condition” the boys. Seems he thought running, plyometrics and such would be a good thing for his team. When everyone saw me working with the boys on passing and receiving there was almost a sense of disappointment that I was there to conduct a practice session, i.e. coach them.

I have come to appreciate that “training” more closely approximates what it is I do with teams. In my mind, players can practice the individual fundamentals on their own. In training I put the team through a distinct progression of combined technical and tactical activities that train them how to work together on the pitch. In a sense it is learning how to properly apply the individual fundamentals they are working on developing.

The passing and receiving we were working on actually involved off-the-ball player movement as a means to prepare to play the ball, vision, back footed play, proper receiving and passing technique and much more. No one part being less or more important than the other. It’s sort of like playing in a concert band where each individual in each section learns their part and then the conductor puts all the different sections together to play the piece in its entirety. Each section has an equally important part. Independently they may not sound like much but together they are capable of producing beautiful music!

The trainer needs to have specific goals for each training session.  This is true regardless of if he is training a recreational level team, a national side or a team that falls somewhere in between. Therefore, a clear distinct training plan is necessary for each training session with specific goals in mind to be achieved.

When I state to people that I will often devote 1.5 hours towards planning a 1.5 hour training session I get a lot of doubtful looks in return.  However, it is true that I devote a lot of time to planning a proper practice, uh, training session. That single session training plan must fall within a framework of a seasonal plan that has within it monthly and even weekly plans.  

There is a certain amount of flexibility that must be involved in the process.  The seasonal plan will be designed to move the team from where it is at in the pre-season through to certain and predetermined developmental points at season’s end.  It cannot be a hip, hop and skip journey bouncing here and there. Rather it is a process of reaching level 1 and proceeding through successive levels until the season end goal is achieved.

Each training session must provide an opportunity for players to develop technical excellence in their individual skill sets, opportunities to apply individual skill and basic combination play in small sided games before providing a simulated game environment for group tactics.  Pressure in the terms of available space and time to play in begin at a familiar and comfortable level increasing throughout the session until it culminates in actual game conditions.

I typically train a team once a week in season. I expect the coach to work with players on the same concepts I introduce during other practice / training sessions he holds. I will increase both the instruction given and the intensity of training sessions as the season progresses and the players prove capable of handling. By the end of the season the improvement in play should be self evident to my eye and hopefully to that of players, coaches and parents as well.