Coaches from the Industrial Age vs. Coaches in the Age of Digitalization

Coaches and Digitalization

In the last sentence of “My Opinion” from last week, I already touched on today's topic. Coaches from the industrial age vs. coaches in the age of digitalization.

Even “Stone Age coaches” can't avoid some effects of digitalization. Nearly every coach organizes their group via a messaging app, usually “WhatsApp.” And when it comes to using this messaging app, plenty of mistakes get made too — for example, coaches allow discussions in the group chats. Then you end up with chats like this:

I can't come to training today because

If everyone did that,…

That's none of your business!

  ….

And that's just a harmless example. You can imagine for yourselves where it can end up. Using these tools requires clear, well-thought-out rules. But that's not what I want to focus on today. I'd much rather talk with you about the possibilities that the age of digitalization offers us as coaches. Unfortunately, they're used far too little, and a good number of my fellow coaches carry on the way they've always experienced it.

This is also where the argument comes from: “To be a coach, I don't need a course. I can apply directly to my team what I experienced as a player myself.” One of my favorite statements. Maybe there'll be another occasion to go into that further. For today, just this much: being a good student is nowhere near the same as being a good teacher! And what does this student actually teach? Just whatever session content comes to mind? What learning objective is being pursued?...

So what possibilities am I talking about? You'll have to be a little patient still, but I'll walk you through my thinking step by step.

And with that, we're already right in the middle of it. The methodological steps for teaching practical skills:

Demonstrating

The coach, and where applicable their staff, show the players what they expect of them and explain why! Demonstrating alone, combined with mindless repetition, leads to the acquisition of a skill, but not to the motivation to keep applying it — so why would a player keep applying a learned skill over and over…

First possible use of digital tools: Why do so many coaches try to explain things in a complicated, purely verbal way? That leaves so much room for interpretation, and after all, every person is different. So it practically suggests itself to show video sequences before stepping onto the pitch, or, where it fits, even with tablets on the pitch, and to demonstrate the benefit/the goal of what's being learned.

Advantage: players can focus on these arguments and already form mental images in their heads that correspond far more closely to the pattern of action the coach wants than one that would arise from a simple verbal explanation.

Of course, showing the visual material and explaining why we want to implement the pattern of action this way is followed by the practical demonstration on the pitch. Here it's about “clean” execution, and it's even beneficial if the exercise isn't demonstrated too quickly.

Copying

Then it's time for the players to copy the desired pattern of action on the pitch, with the coach stepping in to correct as needed. Depending on the players' level, speed and opponent pressure are increased within the exercise, and the playing area may be reduced. More frequent correction is certainly needed at first, but as practice continues, interruptions should become less frequent, and the number of ball touches per player in the same period should increase significantly.

Practicing

During these phases, you occasionally hear the argument that exercises should be made more varied. That's entirely understandable and can certainly be done, as long as the desired pattern of action is applied 1:1 within the exercise. At first, isolated, simple sequences seem monotonous, but the complexity of the exercise can gradually be increased and applied in a way that is ever “closer to the game.” At that point, it helps to occasionally create freeze-frame moments in the practice matches that highlight correctly executed sequences of action. Freeze-frames showing incorrectly executed sequences absolutely must also be shown in their corrected form, with the positive consequences explained.

Your argument at this point, that apart from the demonstration phase, “digitalization” hasn't yet had any influence on the training sequences, is quite valid. But if we carry our cycles a few steps further, we arrive at applying this in match situations. And here the advantages of readily available visual material are unbeatable!

MAKE MATCH RECORDINGS, no matter how good the recording quality is! Even if situations can't be shown completely accurately because we lack the various camera angles, I find it extremely helpful to show footage from the matches and to highlight the positive execution of sequences of action.

Of course, mistakes can be addressed too, but please not exclusively mistakes! Imagine what that does inside your players' heads if they're permanently confronted with nothing but mistakes.

I can already hear one or another player and coach saying, “but that's way too much for amateur level, or it's just not doable.” I don't see it that way!

Isn't it fun to see images of yourself, or of the team, and to notice that you're making progress? And I can only partly accept the argument that there's no time for it. The social side of amateur teams is often emphasized, and how important it is to sit together over a “cold one” now and then. What if, on such an occasion, you showed footage and discussed it?

The great advantage here is that you can discuss match situations, with players and coach both referencing the actual footage!

Whereas otherwise we can only recall match situations from memory. And the emotions felt during the situation, the different points of view on it, and memory in general all have an absolutely distorting effect.

Without footage, all we can draw from a past match is a summary that has to stay super abstract, which wastes the tremendous opportunity to draw conclusions from the match and to learn from individual situations.

The more professionally football is played, the more visual material gets used. And it is used! From analyzing the opponent to individual situations involving expected or actual opposing players, to showing what one hopes to achieve within one's own playing idea or how individual players should react in specific situations — a great deal can be, and is, shown.

VISUALIZATION is indispensable in elite sport, but it should also be taken into account for amateurs, and above all for youth teams and in talent development!

Here we coaches are still leaving a lot of potential untapped, and we're not doing right by our talents!

But at this point I also want to appeal to the talents' conscience: there's plenty of footage out there, on individual, group, and team-tactical behavior, as well as on techniques, that can help you reach a better understanding and store more precise mental images!

So let's make the most of these OPPORTUNITIES!

I look forward to addressing another topic in talent development with you next week. Until then! Stay healthy, and always a good ball!