The Importance of Family

The Importance of the Family

Introduction

A successful relationship between club, player, coach and parent is the key to success in many ways. The family as an institution has been changing for many years now and the 21st century traditional English nuclear family is pretty much history for a large part of the community and this is a completely different concept to the one we as coaches may have been born into. Also, the extended family has been eroded away with time leaving child care and support more in the hands of formal organisations.

Families maybe in conflict, separated or divorced or merely formed differently. A player may live in a gay family or in a family which is shared with other ‘non blood’ brothers or sisters. But it may not be the structure of the family that is most important but more, the support that the family offers, so you may face a situation where a player who lives in a traditional family gets little support and underachieves in his football, whilst another who lives in a dysfunctional group with support might excel. This support gives the player that essential ‘scaffold’ that enables him to build his career around.

One of the tasks of the coach is to recognise and manage the family setting the player lives in, obviously without intrusion or subjective opinion. Should the support be missing, the coach may be able to provide it, but the coach needs to recognise this first and then act and not assume it will sort itself out. Most importantly, the coach cannot replace the type of support the family offers, so he needs to be sensitive to this.

Continued lack of support and encouragement is bound to lead to motivation and self esteem issues in the player and so a knock on effect on performance and development. This is more than likely to further lead to emotional and possibly behavioural issues too.

Wider cultural changes compound the issues. The growth of formal play at the expense of informal play and the ‘stay at home kid’ has replaced the ‘latch key kid’ that characterised much of our recent past. The importance of coverting young players cannot be underestimated. To help with creativity and freedom of expression kids will need to feel safe and secure and have clear boundaries to behave within. This is an essential role of the players’ family and his support system. Some players have inner strength and get through without apparent support but the majority don’t.

Often parents or carers have little idea HOW they can support their children in their football. They may have good intentions but need help in turning this into action. Here are some ideas for them.

Independence & Responsibility

• Teach the child to be independent. Let him make key decisions around the house. Go to shops, etc

• Make sure the player packs his own bag for football and cleans his own boots (have spare kit in the car in case he forgets).

• Let him feedback to you (parent, carer) about his performances and show a keen interest in what he says.

• Offer your opinion only AFTER his input (Reflect later in the day not immediately after a match or practice).

Practice

The more informal and independent practice the player gets, the better (solo, with mates, in pairs etc).

• Free up an outside wall around the house the child can kick a ball against.

- Pass against a wall. ½ volleys – drop & hit below a line.
- Against a wall with a friend.
- One / two touch.
- Keep the ball up using the wall as your friend.
- Invent your own games.

• If you have a trampoline, encourage the child to practice his skills on it or just use it for developing physical skills like strength and mobility.

• Buy a skipping rope and a ‘core ball’ (large plastic ball) for developing co – ordination and core strength.

• Encourage the child to practice ball juggling and set targets with rewards if appropriate i.e.) 250 ball juggles by a certain time, juggle from one line to another turn and come back.

The key is to explore every possible way to practice without an adult being present.

School football can also be very important to young players. Socially it allows him to stay in touch with friends at school and bearing in mind that most young academy players may return to grass roots it is vital they do not sever the social ties with their classmates.

Behaviour

• Set a good example – language, communication and attitude.
• In public, do not criticise other people’s children on either team.
• Manage the outcome of the game and teach the child to win with humility and lose with dignity.
• Focus on your son as an individual not the team as a whole.
• Encourage / praise – don t criticise.
• Attribute no blame.
• Don’t be afraid to voice your opinion if you have concerns about your child’s welfare or progress.

Other sports

Think of the value that other sports have on your child’s football development and encourage them to take part in as many different sports as possible. It’s essential your child has wider personal and sporting experiences, at least up to the age of 14, whilst still focusing on his football. The role of parents / carers will be to work closely with the coach to identify and manage the load and monitor signs for overuse injuries or mental / physical fatigue.

Here are some sports that may relate directly to football and some of the outcomes of each. When children play these games, they simply ‘transfer’ skills and behaviours across to football, some players transfer quicker and easier than others.

• Court games, e.g. Badminton / Squash/ Tennis – understanding angles, hand ball co-ordination, movement.

• Basketball – feet movement, tactical understanding.

• Rugby – Strength, speed and agility, courage, determination.

• Swimming – heart and lungs / upper body, co –ordination.

• Gymnastics – strength, Balance, flexibility, co-ordination, proprioception.

PE at school

• Make sure the child gets to all PE lessons.
• Make sure he is one of the best PE students (irrespective of ability).

Diet

Parents seem to be saturated with information on diet but it is simple really.

• Less fat food
• More fruit and vegetables
• More water and less fizzy drinks

Here are some tips if your child has a morning kick off.

Match day – (2 hours before)

• High carbohydrates – cereal or bagel
• Protein – e.g. eggs
• Isotonic sports drink (still)

Match day (after)

• Low fat food – cereal bars, sandwiches etc
• Isotonic drink – replaces essential minerals in the body lost through exercise.

Away matches

Make sure that you provide sensible, nutritious snacks (e.g. snack-a-jacks, rice cakes etc) should your child have ‘energy gaps’ on long away trips.

Rewards & incentives

Don’t be afraid to offer some incentives for the player for performance and practice but be mindful if you offer a reward for scoring goals it might impact on the other players in the team.

Try to teach your child to get reward from his own performance rather than an ‘external’ incentive for performing well. Often sincere praise and recognition for the player is the only reward they need.

Letting the children ‘be children’

• Accept they will make mistakes
• Accept they will be inconsistent
• Let them play like children and act like children
• Manage (do not ban) computer games and other distractions

• Do not force the players to practice – manage their motivation and recognise they get tired – emotionally and physically
• Make sure they get enough sleep
• Make sure their school work does not suffer in any way because of football
• Go on holiday and forget about football

Summary

Clearly there is a lot a parent or carer can do when supporting the child in his football development. We as coaches must recognise that the family is the place where the player spends most of his childhood and whatever this ‘family’ looks like, it is the bedrock of their emotional development.

We must accept that parents and carers have their own lives to lead too and it is equally unhealthy to be totally immersed in the child as it is to be neglectful or disinterested. It is reaching a balance that is important.

Dan Micciche

Mk dons Assistant Academy Manager (U8 – 16’s)
dan.micciche@mkdons.com

This article was published in Soccer Coaching International, Issue
http://soccercoachinginternational.com/sci_en/

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The French Football Federation Technical Advisory Board and Player Selection Process

This is the third article in a series that was started two years ago.  Please refer to the previous articles for background information.  Some items will be discussed again as thing change in the world of soccer federations, curriculums and training methods.  This article consists of conversations by Mr. Aime Jacquet, winning coach of the French National team during the 1998 FIFA World Championships and current FFF Technical Director, during the 2002 NSCAA Convention in Philadelphia, PA.

Roger Lemerre, the current FFF national team coach has 15 national staff coaches directly under him.  These are all former professional players and over 50% of them have Physical Education degrees.  This support group works with him in selecting and preparing the national team, and assists in the scouting of opponents.  There are 125 coaches throughout the country working directly under these staff coaches at various levels.

The current FFF structure has the country split up into 21 regions, each with 21 support coaches.  Twice a year these coaches come together at Clairefontaine, the National Training Center, to ensure they are all working on the same page and are all following the technical guidelines set down by the FFF.  Together they plan the technical outline for the next year, implementing a new plan every four years for all the professional level clubs.

During this time four levels are stressed:

1. The Coaching Schools – This is the biggest strength the French have.  Every player that comes through the French system has been or is currently coached by educators certified by French coaching schools. This ensures continuity in technical and tactical development.  In order to obtain a professional license and therefore become a professional coach, an individual must coach or study in a foreign country with a club and write a research paper.

1. The National Youth Identification Program – Here guidelines are developed for the scouting of players for the U16, U17 and U18 national teams.  Each team has three fulltime coaches, a trainer and a doctor.

1. Youth Soccer Curriculums – Coaching for the 6-11 year olds revolves around having fun with soccer.  At age 12-16 it is more focused and the emphasis is on technique and learning how to be a professional player. Players here train two hours daily on the techniques necessary at the top level.

  “In big games, technical ability will make the difference” – Amie Jacquet.

An educator who specializes in youth soccer coaches each of these players.  France is the only country in Europe that requires this certification.  The best players from this group will become professional players, as the clubs know about the top players at age ten.  The French are the current FIFA U17 world champions.

1. Women’s Soccer – two years ago the FFF opened a National Training Center based on the men’s set-up in Clairefontaine.  Their U17 and U19 teams are still in qualification for the European Championships.  The stated goal is to be competitive with the USA women at the 2006 FIFA Women’s World Championship.

The Technical Advisory Board and Team Selections:

For the senior national team, Roger Lemerre has three coaches; one assistant, a fitness/technical coach who also teaches licenses and a goalkeeper coach.  Roger is responsible for the senior, ‘B’ and Olympic teams.  The FFF feels that the Olympic team is the most important as it consists of the top young players who are their future.

The core of the 2002 national team is the same as in Euro 2000.  Probably 17 of these players will remain on the 2002 World Cup roster.  A new and very talented generation of strikers is now arriving on the international scene, providing more depth, and competing for the six new spots on the 23-player squad.  Input from each of the 15 national staff will be in place before the selection is complete.  One national staff coach is present at every league game (and most European games) in which a potential national team player is playing in.  This is a different coach each time.  Reports are then compiled regarding the technical, tactical, and physical states of the players as well as their behavior off the field.  The lifespan of a French national team player is approximately six years.

The team comes together on every FIFA international play date.  France will play at least one game per month until June in order to further evaluate the team. The players are constantly followed medically with weekly conversations with the club doctors.  They are psychologically tested regularly.  In this manner, the FFF can measure the progress of not only the player, but also of the person.

Each player must buy into the team policies, as the team is more important than the parts.  The best players are not necessarily the most important for the team.  Remember how Amie Jacquet did not pick Eric Cantona and David Ginolla for the last World Championships!  In preparation for the 2002 FIFA World Cup the team will go into altitude at approximately 8000 feet to begin training, along with a recovery period from the long European and domestic league schedules.  Following this will be a one-week program at Clairefontaine and travel to Japan eight days before the opening game.

All the national staff will be working during the World Cup at the disposal of Roger Lemerre.    This process allows the head coach to strictly worry about the players, tactics and upcoming match.  There are very few counties that make this big an investment.

During a session conducted by former Scotland national team coach Craig Brown, several interesting observations of the development of French soccer were noted.  France failed to qualify for the 1990 and 1994 World Championships.  This caused the FFF to restructure their thinking and change some things within the professional soccer setup.  At this time many of the top French players were leaving the country to sign lucrative contracts elsewhere. In order to ensure that young French players where being exposed to top-flight soccer, rosters were reduced to 20 players.  This forced the professional clubs to develop their own players.  Previously the professional clubs were not enthusiastic about the youth development schemes as it is easier to go and buy a new player than wait 10 years for one to develop. Monaco provides us with a great example of what happened.  When two senior players were injured the coaches had to bring two young players up to train with the fist team.  The senior staff about the abilities of these youngsters knew little.  Their names were Sylvain Wiltord and Thierry Henry!

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Develop Your Potential

Most players and parents are not aware of those things that coaches look for at the “next level”, and as a result focus on what they feel is important in the short term, i.e. Winning or getting playing time.  Let’s focus in on some of those items.  For our terms, the definition of the “next level” shall be that next progression in your career.  This may be making the high school varsity, the next step in the Olympic Developmental Program (ODP), getting selected by the college of your choice, or making the next age group in a strong travel program.  Far to often the desire to get to the next level is clouded by the immediate result (the last game).  Winning a game or tournament is an outcome goal that we cannot control because of the many variables (referees, conditions of the field, climate, sickness of key individuals, etc.).  What we can control is the progression and monitoring of our individual soccer education.

What sets us apart from other coaches is that we have the welfare of the player in mind above all.  We are looking at the long-term development of the individual, the team, and the coaches.  Of course winning is important, but not at the expense of these people.  If we continually address technical (skill) training, the tactical elements, physical and psychological ideals, provide good, solid role models, and leave our players with a life-long passion for the sport of soccer, we are succeeding in our goals. A coach is that person who is a friend, who sometimes reminds you of those things you already know.  They also have the ability to spot the minor things in your game which make a major difference in the way you perform.   My definition of a good coach is that man or woman who prepares their players to have success at that next level.  

There are six areas that I am charging you as a parent, player, and coach with developing in your players.  These are the six areas that experienced coaches look for in selecting players.  Development in these areas will help enhance long-term success in a competitive arena.  You must develop one trait in each one of these topics to make yourself be noticed on the field.

•   ATHLETIC ABILITY

 Each player that has attained any degree of notoriety has at least one outstanding physical attribute.  The most obvious is pure speed.  This unfortunately is obtained by choosing your parents wisely.  Speed can be developed to a small degree.  Strength, power, flexibility, quickness, lateral mobility, and endurance are a few example of athletic ability.  Maybe you have the ability to jump high winning crucial headballs in the offensive or defensive areas.  Can you showcase your ability to accelerate by pushing the ball past defenders into space and penetrating?  If a defensive player, can you tackle harder than anyone else on the field when challenging for the ball?  When you determine what your outstanding athletic ability is, work on it to make it even stronger.

• TECHNICAL ABILITY

 This is the demonstration of mastery of one or more skills necessary to excel at the game.  Do you have one skill that you are so good at that everyone in the stands starts to sit on the edge of their seat when you get the ball, in anticipation of what will happen next?  Very few players do.  A wing player might have dribbling abilities so creative and effective that they stand out as they beat the defender at speed and serve perfect crosses to the forwards.  For a defender, you might develop the ability to win balls without having to resort to a huge physical challenge, or make perfect distribution passes out of the back line.  For a goalkeeper the ability to collect high crosses under a physical challenge is crucial and gets you noticed.  A good forward not only scores goals but also can hold a ball in the attacking third under extreme pressure.  A midfielder must learn to play both penetrating balls and to switch the field of play.  If you can combine your outstanding technical talent with your outstanding athletic ability you are ahead of most players in our area.

• THE ABLILITY TO MAKE YOUR TEAMMATES BETTER

 Determine for yourself how you can make your teammates more effective in practices and games.  Communication and positive encouragement is one way.  Giving your teammate a properly speeded pass at the right time so they do not have to slow down or run faster in order to receive the ball is another.  Is the pass easy to control or does it come in too slow or too hard?  If your partner gives you a bad pass, you should seek to make them look good  by you ability to easily and correctly controlling the ball. As a defender you can cover for your teammate when they make a mistake?   Good players have the ability to bring out the best in those around them.

• THE ABILITY TO MAKE AN IMPACT ON THE GAME

 Does the game change when you enter or leave the field?  Does your team elevate their level of play when you are in the lineup or does it only stay the same?  Hopefully it changes for the better.  I see very few examples of this impact in players of all ages across the country.  I am constantly citing examples to teams as I work with them. 

• COACHABILITY

 When college coaches call and ask my opinion of players, one of the first questions is always “is this player coachable?”.  There are so many players competing for spots on the collegiate level and coaches are looking for those that want to listen and learn.  Why would they waste time on the uncooperative individual?  When your coach stops during training to make a point, do you accept that or do you roll your eyes thinking you know better?  Coaches are only trying to make you and your teammates better when they make corrections.  With the younger players, I have been using the example of the “teacher’s pet” in the classroom.  What is the “teacher’s pet”?  It is that person who is usually very cooperative, willing to learn, please and go the extra yard.  Guess who also gets all the benefits?  It is no different on the athletic field.  The player who listens, absorbs, and tries to please is the person who plays.  The uncoachable player sits and never develops.

• BEING A WINNER

 Being a winner is a constant thing.  It means being first class in all that you do, weather in the competitive arena of athletics or in the classroom.  If I came to watch you play in a game and didn’t know what the score was or if it was at the beginning or end of the game, would I be able to tell by your play?  Are you playing as hard when your team is down by three goals as when you are winning by three goals?  There should be no difference in your game no matter what.  In fact, your game should get stronger in the above five areas if your team is playing badly.  When is a player like Michael Jordan the most dangerous?  It is when the Chicago Bulls are losing!  This is what an impact player does.

SUMMARY

I have given you some food for thought.  Now that you know what college coaches are looking for, it is up to you to develop these abilities in yourself, your player, and your child.  Spend the next year working on these and the path to your goals will be much clearer.  Players should be constantly asking their coaches for feedback on their strengths, weaknesses, and how to improve their game.  My challenge to you is simple: develop one noticeable part in each of the above six areas.  It will make you a more valuable player, make your future rosier, and make us a much stronger state.

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The Need For Free Play

From article written by Stellan Danielson from Sweden…I want to highlight Bergstroem’s theory about the importance of freedom, place and space for children to develop their creativity, an important ingredient in the identity of successful Argentine and Brazilian soccer players. Bergstroem is concerned about children’s need for a space where they play and can give free rein and scope to their fantasy and imagination. In short, Bergstroem means that children need room, time and permission to play accelerated games with their whole bodies. Games with great body movements will stimulate motor learning. According to Bergstroem, children are, by nature, creative and seek excitement. They experiment with everything they see at the same time as they realize their fantasies and their creativity. Children live in a world of possibilities, where they play their games borne out of fantasies and dreams. Play, from the view of the brain, is the supply of chaos, which leads to development through the turbulence that chaos causes. (The Soccer Journal)
Thus is born the Chaos game!
This is from Start-Up Nation, The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle:
Thus, the most formidable obstacle to fluidity is order. A bit of mayhem is not only healthy but critical. The leading thinkers in this area – economists Baumol, Litan and Schramm – argue that the ideal environment is best described by a concept in “complexity science” called the “edge of chaos”. They define that edge as the “estuary region where rigid order and random chaos meet and generate high levels of adaptation, complexity and creativity.”

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Counter Attacking

Along with the video above, read this article on quick counter attacking: Click to read Quick Counter Attack.

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