Friday 26 November 2010

IT'S NOT ABOUT GENETICS

The 10,000 Hours Rule

A little while ago, as a result of a reference to the book whilst attending one of the FA Youth Award courses, I bought the book “Outliers: The Story Of Success” by Malcolm Gladwell.




In the book, Gladwell observes attributes of successful people – in sport, business, and technology – and makes the connection between people with a determined approach to improvement and the coincidence of opportunity and circumstance.
He views aspects of culture, birth bias (which is examined in some detail in the Youth Awards) and the curious aspects of what makes one person a success whilst another lives an ordinary life.
He further explores the premise that to become an expert, in anything, it requires at least 10,000 hours of practice.

BOUNCE

I have recently started reading a book called “Bounce, How Champions are Made” written by broadcaster, journalist and ex-table tennis champion Matthew Syed.






Matthew also examines this 10,000 hour rule but focuses on what he describes as “Purposeful Practice”. In other words, practice designed, intended and determined to bring about specific improvement in performance, irrespective of whether it is football, music or chess.

CHESS





In fact there is the interesting story of a chess mad father, Laszlo Polgar, who was also a trained psychologist, who had a theory that genetics did not determine genius, practice did.
Over a period of time, Laszlo Polgar had three daughters and gradually introduced each of his daughters to the game. He set out specifically to prove his ‘practice makes genius’ theory and, as the girls gradually developed a love of the game he provided the opportunity for them to learn and develop as expert players.

Over the years they became better and better so much so, that Susan (Zsuzsanna) Polgar, his oldest daughter, became the first female chess Grandmaster. She further became the winner of 4 World Championships, 5 Olympics and the ONLY (male or female) person to win the chess championship Triple Crown.

PURPOSEFUL PRACTICE

So, if we are looking to have footballers develop into becoming experts, evidence seems to point to the fact that they need AT LEAST 10,000 hours practice. This is not just a kick-about we are talking about though, this is purposeful practice, remember; practice designed, determined and intended to bring about improvement.
In Syed’s book, as an example, he ventures to suggest that Tiger Woods spends longer on practising his bunker shots than the average player spends on developing their whole game.

CHOICE

However, rather than us coaches determining that the young players whom we serve NEED the practice to become an expert, I believe that it should be about the individual having the opportunity if they choose to become the best they can be,
We should strive to provide the best environment we can so that they develop the love of and passion for the game and ignites the desire to become a champion. Where we are unable to fuel that desire, we should try to provide the help and guidance needed so that they can find the right route to their aspirational vision.

NOW, HERE’S A THOUGHT....

What about the coaches?

I started to look at this 10,000 hour rule and discussed it with a friend of mine who is an A licence coach, FA Tutor and a qualified teacher.
I realised that, as a grassroots coach, I have been coaching (and studying, researching and attending courses of various kinds) in an effort to become a better coach for 20 years now.

So, on the back of an envelope, I did a quick calculation of how many hours I had spent actually coaching with a desire to improve. I believe I have always been quite good at reviewing sessions with a view to improvement of my own performance as a coach as well as the session itself.

So, taking account of courses (on which you plan and deliver sessions to the other candidates) and the various clubs/teams for which I have coached over the years, I tallied up that I have probably achieved around 1,500 hours ACTUAL coaching practice. In 20 YEARS !! That is hardly even beginner level in the great scheme of things and certainly wouldn’t be even close to making me an ‘expert’ coach.
I’m not sure if I should have taken account of the reading, research and DVD / video tape watching…..and I’m not sure if I should casually mention to my wife that I need to get another 8,500 hours of practical coaching (as soon as possible) in order to achieve ‘expert’ level !!


Tuesday 16 November 2010

The Jewel In The Downs - Update

The new home of The Albion is coming along nicely. A new series of photos on the club website includes a key image which fully demonstrates the title of this blog update:
Stadium Gallery 15th November 2010

Monday 31 May 2010

Teaching Games For Understanding (TGfU) and Game Sense

Various professionals have been advocating a model called Teaching Games for Understanding, for over 2 decades.

TGfU is an innovative way to teach games understanding whilst also enabling players to practice the techniques required to play a game well in a game-like setting.

TGfU places the learner (player / student) at the centre of the learning experience rather than putting the coach at the centre as the fount of all knowledge.

For years, teachers and coaches have approached the challenge of games teaching from a perspective of technique first, game second.
The trouble is that it has been recognised that players who master or, at least, become competent at these techniques do not always transfer them well to the game.
It is as though they have ‘trained to train’ (this is not a reference to the LTPD/ LTAD profile) but have not trained or practised to play the game itself.

When Can We Have a Game, Coach?

Anyone who has ever coached children, whether at school or in a club environment, will be familiar with the question “When can we have a game?”

It was almost as though the game was the reward for correctly practising the techniques through a series of linear, static (or ‘constant’) drills.

TGfU evolved from exactly the notion that players need to be able to combine tactical understanding with technique development and the execution of decision and technique choice becomes the ‘skill’ that is required by the game.

Playing Games

The model requires the teacher / coach to identify the tactical problems of the game being taught and to provide a representative and exaggerated version of the game which will create the problems that the player is required to solve, during the game itself.

The teacher must also prepare a series of likely questions to ask the players in order to tease out their understanding and problem solving skills about the challenges they face. The questions may be along the lines of “What were you trying to do? What did you see? What would happen if that player moved there? What else could you have done? Why did you choose that option?” and so on.

The answers generated by the players will indicate the level to which they understand and are trying to resolve the problem.


Key-Word Bingo

There is always the danger with younger players / children that they can get to understand that the coach is looking for certain answers in order to judge understanding.
This can be a pre-cursor to a sort of ‘key-word bingo’ where the coach asks “What are you looking for?” and the players says ‘Space!’ and coach says ‘ Good answer!’ - The key is to probe the players - ‘So, when you say you are looking for space, what do you mean? Why do you need to find space? Where is the space?’ and so on.

So, the combination of games designed to replicate a specific tactical problem experienced in the game and where that problems arises often, together with an idea of questions we need to ask to test players understanding will, I believe, enhance their overall learning.

Game Sense

Game Sense is a variation of the TGfU model developed by Australian coaches bringing a slightly more structured approach to the concept.

It has been adopted from grassroots to elite level of sports in Australia and its strengths are seen as:
• Development of an ability to work off the ball
• Transfer of training / practice into the game (see above)
• Development of independent players (i.e. not reliant on the coach)
• Motivation of players at practice (playing ‘games’ rather than performing ‘drills’
• The inclusive nature of the type of training / practice

Chaos !

The Game Sense approach can appear chaotic. The game itself is chaotic. You go out and the game is chaotic and they’re the conditions you have to train for. You have to replicate the game in training and develop players who can make sense of the chaos.” - Les Bee, manager of coaching and officiating Victoria Coaching Centre, Australia.

‘On My Word - Unleash the Athletes….’

From a club hierarchy and sometimes parents of junior players’ perspectives, Game Sense / TGfU approaches to player development can seem chaotic. There can be multiple players with multiple balls (as in football/soccer) all moving around in a smallish area and it can be difficult to see what the learning focus is to the casual observer.

Standing players in neat lines, making them run pre-determined patterns making a particular type of pass, for example looks good and well ordered but as we have examined in the lack of skill to game transference, is it very useful?
Additionally, it tends to isolate the less well developed players by constantly identifying what they can’t do, rather than what they can. Immersion in the game (or a representation of it) allows even the less well developed player to find the joy and expression of the game without having to be ‘an expert’.

If we are to fight the onslaught of child and later, adult, obesity, we must find ways for people to play sport throughout their lives. Game Sense and TGfU, as models help us to provide that in order to engage players in the joy of playing for its own sake.

The use of the Game Sense approach also helps provide coaches with a way to develop more complete players - players with adaptable skills, tactical understanding, vision and an ability to make informed decisions.

Whole-Part-Whole

There is absolutely no problem in providing a game related practice whereby the players begin to understand the need to practice a particular technique and then the coach isolating a practice to work on that aspect before returning to the game again.

Practices

Practices can, simplistically, be said to be on a continuum from Constant, to Variable to Random.

Constant will perhaps represent a simple line passing drill where the inside of the foot push pass is practiced.
A variable practice will perhaps be represented by the ‘Through The Gate Game’ from the FA Level 1 certificate where multiple teams are passing their own ball through a series of gates with no DIRECT opposition but lots of INTERFERENCE from the other players.
A random practice would be replicated by a game of 4v4 with full opposition.

Make A Change

Obviously there are degrees of difficulty across the spectrum which it is the coach’s challenge to find in order to appropriately challenge the players under their tutelage.
This can be done by varying challenges set for the players by changing the size or shape of the area used, changing the number of players in the practice (e.g. maybe have a 6v2 instead of a 4v4) and even changing the equipment used.

So, if you are looking to teach players to find and use space, maybe use an American football in a hand ball game variation rather than having a football at their feet. That allows them to play with their head up and recognise where and when their team-mates move into space and when, where and how to pass the ball to avoid opponents.

It is fair to say that the TGfU or Game Sense approach is a long term development approach and definitely does not provide a ‘quick fix’. However, use of TGfU also allows coaches / teachers in an educational environment to categorise and sample games which are similar in objective for the benefit of students. So, as an example, ‘invasion’ or ‘territorial’ games will have similar objectives and therefore, problems.

Using basketball and soccer as examples, the tactical problems are, broadly speaking, the same. There is also evidence to suggest that players who play both, also play both better than those who only play one game.

FA Youth Awards

The new FA Youth Awards capture a great deal of that which is discussed here and are a great introduction to a way of coaching that, whilst certainly not new, is a definite deviation from what is considered to be a ‘traditional’ coaching approach.

Source: Teaching Games for Understanding - Theory, Research and Practice by Linda L. Griffin and Joy I. Butler

Tuesday 20 April 2010

Ah, But 11-a-Side is PROPER Football - It’s COMPETITIVE, now!

OPEN AGE FOOTBALL

I started out as a coach to coach adults in an open age game - as a player, I loved the cut and thrust of competition, striving for 2 points (well, it was 2 points when I started!) ….and then 3 and I saw coaching as a way of giving something back.

I started with a men’s reserve team, then took on an under 18 team before going back to open age football with reserves and then a county league first team.

The open age, especially, was about setting up a team to maximise its strengths, minimise its weaknesses and provide additional knowledge of tactics and strategy, set pieces in terms of free kicks, corners and throws-in and providing some technical input to improving individual and team skills.

I have to say, it was great fun - at U18 and reserve levels, especially, it was about providing some structure and helping to teach players how to compete and win and at first team level, it was, without doubt, almost all about the win.



But owing to circumstances, I moved towards younger age groups - centres of excellence for girls and boys, community / recreational teams at a variety of ages.

CHILDREN’S / YOUTH FOOTBALL

There are different nuances and responsibilities to this type of coaching. Primarily, it is about enjoyment.

(I’m not THAT keen on the word “Fun” used as often as it is - you can have “fun” on a slide or at the beach, but if you want to learn football, you have to learn the techniques and skills of the game. So, I set my practices up to be enjoyable, rather than necessarily “fun” though of course there is some of that in there too!)

It’s also about giving players an environment to learn physical skills, (running, jumping, twisting etc) that were perhaps more easily and autonomously obtained in a bygone era, as well as the skills of the game and the game itself. It is also about giving them the opportunity to learn life skills of respect, teamwork, commitment, ethics, diversity, consideration and so on. That environment needs to be enjoyable.

Kids play football for a variety of reasons - when asked, children will tell you it is to play with their friends, to keep fit, to learn new skills and to have fun (D’Oh! there y’go!). Rarely do young children tell you it is to win leagues or trophies.

For boys football, the general tendency is for players aged 10/11 (U11 - Year 6 at primary school) to play 11 a-side on big pitches with big goals*.
At U11, they now enter a league, where games are played for points and a league table is kept and published.

And this is where you start to hear the verbal expression of the phrases of the title of this post.

Well, of course the games are competitive - my experience is that players (nearly) always all play to win, that’s the point of the game after all - they did at U10 in mini-soccer and there will be no change now they are U11.

But as for ‘Proper football’, well, it depends on your interpretation. Of course, they were playing proper football in mini-soccer - it’s just that there are fewer players on a smaller pitch, with smaller goals. And there are specific reasons why we do that.

It’s to give the players more touches on the ball, to be on an around the ball more often; to be able to make more tackles, shots and passes, blocks and interceptions, so that they can learn the game and the skills and techniques which are needed to be able to play it well, in terms relative to a child. It also gives players easier decisions to make because there are limited numbers of players.

But to return to ‘proper’ football - it is only proper inasmuch as there are similar dimensions to the pitches and goals (sometimes, infuriatingly to my mind, the SAME dimensions) and the number of players, plus an appointed official, as the adult game.

So, it is representative of the adult game but, at the risk of stating the obvious, it is NOT the adult game.

It isn’t the adult game because, well, they aren’t adults; they’re children playing the game. They are still learning the game and now they have to learn a whole bunch more decisions, consider a different set of problems, caused by extra players, the size of the playing area and the imposition of the full Laws of the Game.

But it is the representation, or possibly the imitation, of the adult game that can create problems.

Attendant adults - parents, coaches, managers etc, can, if they are not very careful, translate the feelings, perceptions and actions they have for their favourite or local professional team and project them into the children’s environment.
I have seen and been told of sad stories of parents and coaches screaming and shouting at children of either or both teams at the sight of mistakes, fouls, missed shots and so on, as though they were watching / managing a professional league team.

Young referees have decisions questioned by spectators which eventually (sooner rather than later it is sad to report) rubs off on the young players.
It teaches indiscipline, attempts to influence decisions they are unable to control, a loss of concentration, control. Constant intimidation / abuse etc forces officials from the game, some so young they have hardly started.

And do you know why referees referee? Because they LOVE the game every bit as much as a player, a fan or a coach - I know…I’m also a qualified ref !

And how often are professionals criticised in the media for not respecting the officials and opponents? Where does it start….?

This type of behaviour does nothing for the development of young players. In fact in can actively inhibit young players’ development as they become afraid to take a shot or try a dribble. Consequently they can become ‘safe’, but unimaginative, players who play to a perceived style that reduces the chance of a loss.

DEVELOPMENT IS A CONTINUUM

Another nuance related to player development is that of the “better” or “weaker” player.

Development is a continuum - it starts at birth and (as far as I’m aware) ends at the obvious point ! Players develop at different rates, at different times and in different ways.
Players who develop ‘early’ physically and technically, may develop later socially and psychologically and other players may develop in a different combination of those development criteria.

So, players who develop early can be perceived as being “better” than those who develop later.
But within an age group, players may be as much as eleven months younger or older than team-mates- which, at age 11 is more than 8% of your total life span.
Even if players did develop at the same rate, (which they don’t) if they start with an 8% deficit, that will have a noticeable effect on their technical, tactical and psychological / decision making ability in the game itself. There are exceptions of course, but it is the exception that usually proves the rule.

The problem of seeing players as ‘weaker’ is that the coach / manager may choose, or come under pressure, to leave those weaker players on the sideline or bench for longer, for fear that to include them would weaken the team, possibly lead to goals being conceded or even lose the game.



Now, the problem with leaving the less well developed players out of the team for longer means that their individual development will be truncated.

Practice is one thing, but if practice AND the game are tools for player development, the player will miss out on, possibly, up to half of their development time if they are not played in games.

BIRTH BIAS

Consequently and especially if they have a late birth date in the academic year (say, August), they will fall further behind the older players who, having more playing time, will have their development effectively accelerated over the less well developed players.
If those players fall further behind, they get left out of the team more and it becomes a self fulfilling prophesy.

There is an interesting book by Malcolm Gladwell called “Outliers” which examines the phenomena of different biological ages and is often referred to as “Birth Bias”.

I personally know a coach who will happily tell you that the ‘best’ players he had at age 8, were not still the ‘best’ players by the time they got to 18.



OUT OF THEIR DEPTH

Of course there will be players who may be further behind in their development for a variety of reasons (they may not have played the game for as many years as their team-mates, for example) and there may be some, whom if played in a game against “better” players (they are only further ahead in their development, remember!) may have their confidence so undermined as to make it difficult for them to retain their self esteem.

So, I am not advocating that players be played in games regardless - I would never knowingly cast a player adrift on a sea of confusion - but we should be very wary of leaving young players out of teams for anything other than the interest of the players’ development.


THE CHILDREN’S GAME

So, if you are a parent or a coach of young players who is concerned with a win / loss ratio, please ask yourself why YOU are concerned (and I think CONCERNED is the appropriate word) with the win or loss. So long as your child or your player has tried their hardest, has become a better player / decision maker by the end of the half / game / month / season isn’t that what it is all about?

Or do you consider how YOU look as a coach or even as a parent if ‘your’ team loses a game?

No-one wants to get hammered every week, for sure (rating of leagues / teams to allow appropriate levels of competition is a whole different subject on its own!), but that isn’t what I’m on about here. I’m asking coaches and parents not to get hung up on the score - to maintain a healthy concern for the player’s development first and foremost.

I think it was Ted Bates, ex-Southampton manager (and player, scout, coach, president, chief executive) who said:
“We teach them to win before they can play.”


LATE DEVELOPING SPORT

Football is a late developing sport - along with rugby, hockey and American football to name a few others. (early developing sports are those such as gymnastics and swimming).

How many teams at any level have young players who consistently hold their position in a ‘first team’ at open age? Not many - and again, the exceptions tend to prove the rule.
Football players are generally regarded as being at their peak around 27 / 28 (maybe a little earlier for females).
So if you have a player, or a child, who is “weaker” at age 11 than some of their team-mates; please don’t fret - they still have another 1.5 times their current life span to reach their potential.

And if we all help to provide the environment in which they can flourish, they may still love the game and may still be playing when they ARE 27 or 28.





"Young kids should be taught how to play in every area of the pitch, not taught to play a specific role. They don't need to be taught a role because it is innate. Every player has a natural disposition towards one role or another but first they have to learn to play everywhere." Marcello Lippi

* FA Rules allow 9-aside football up to age 14 which, to my way of thinking would be preferable so players could go from 7 - 9 - 11 a side football with a gradual progression in terms of pitch size and, more importantly, the decision making and technical skills needed to play in a full sized game. Unfortunately, leagues are run by adults for whom it is easier to organise football as it always has been, rather than having to be creative in the provision of different facilities.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT - Thanks to Give Us Back Our Game (GUBOG) for permission to use their images in this post.

Thursday 15 April 2010

The Final Piece of the Jigsaw

I realised a few weeks ago that this year sees the completion of my 20th anniversary involved in coaching football.

I started out doing the old style ‘Preliminary Coaching Award’ back in 1990. Two friends and I completed the course, down at Chichester College (it’s now a University) under the tutelage of one Steve Avory. Steve is an ex-teacher at Hazlewick School, erstwhile England U15 manager and now Charlton FC Assistant Academy Manager.

Steve brought a seriousness, organisation and logic to football that I hadn’t experienced before, being, essentially, a recreational standard player, myself.

Steve’s style and attention to detail inspired me to attend a “Pre-Preparatory course” at Lancing College, lead by Sussex County coach, Dennis Probee and with sessions lead by Steve Avory and Albion’s Steve Ford.

The training courses you could attend in preparation for the Advanced Licence, as it was in those days, were called ‘Preparatory Courses’ as they were essentially to prepare you for the full coaching licence experience. The ‘Pre-Prep’ course was organised by Dennis so that you could see what the, usually, weekend and 2/3 day courses were like.

During the day, Steve Avory encouraged me to have a go at the prep course coming up in Crawley that December and with those few words of encouragement, I was off and running

The Crawley prep course was directed by South East Regional coach, Les Reed who was later to become Charlton FC first team coach and then manager and FA Technical Director for a time. Les was similarly inspirational and really these 6 months from Prelim to my first Prep Course were instrumental in seeing me onto the coaching pathway.

Over the years, I have studiously kept an open mind and have explored a great deal of approaches / philosophies /methodologies, call them what you will (see earlier post “So Which Way IS the Right Way”) and have also looked at other aspects such as treatment of injury, psychology and even currently I am reading a book on teaching - in an effort to see how I can become a better coach.

Latterly, I have attended the Age Appropriate Coaching courses from the FA from the Introductory 1 day module to the two 4 day courses for Modules 1 and 2.

These have fired my interest even more and I have recently started down the path of undertaking the Generic Tutor Training path in an effort to become a certified tutor and to help pass on information to the next generation of coaches.

But as well as the aim of becoming a tutor, I believe it will also help me become a more accomplished coach.

As part of the process you have to attend a ‘familiarisation day’ where new potential tutors are exposed to the course content from a deliverer’s point of view, rather than as an attendee.

I was having a chat with one of my colleagues and we were discussing different coaching approaches, when it dawned on me that I had always been seeking that ‘final piece of the jigsaw’ - you know, the one that completes the puzzle and that makes you ‘an expert’, or pretty close to it.

But, after 20 years, I’m pretty sure there isn’t one. The picture just gets bigger, brighter and more detailed with every day.

The more I learn, the more I realise I still don’t know.

I didn’t have a formal University education and so a lot of what I learn is through personal research and a process of osmosis, picking things up from other coaches, other sports and even other environments which I believe can be transferred to football.

For me, coaching is a passion so I’ll carry on coaching and learning until I can’t physically or mentally do it anymore. And whilst I’ll keep looking for the next piece of the jigsaw, I don’t think I’ll ever complete the picture.

Sunday 28 March 2010

Another Season Ends

Well, I started this (very) occasional blog as a direct consequence of starting to coach a new team, back in July 2009.

Well the ‘season’ came to an official end today with the boys playing very well against a team who also tried to play positive, expansive football. The team I coach ran out winners in both games of mini-soccer, but football itself was definitely the winner today.

Both teams’ supporters congratulated good play from both teams and genuine smiles of delight, applause and appreciation from all sides of the pitch, accompanied our goalkeeper’s shot and goal, fully the length of the field, in unusual circumstances.

Our opponents had a corner and even sent their goalie forward to see if he could score. A good corner, it must be said was swung in, but our goalie called for the ball, caught it well and, recognising their goalie was in our team’s penalty area, ran to the edge of the area and struck a cleanly hit volley over their last defender in a flat trajectory that saw it carry over the line for his very own ‘goal of the season’ !

He was duly mobbed by his team mates with broad grins all round - a true ‘magic moment’ of football.

Prior to this season, I had coached, exclusively, women and girls for the last 9 years. I had never coached recreational boys before - I had coached at Centres of Excellence for both boys and girls in the past - and I did have some concerns as to what the atmosphere would be like.

I tend to use a couple of coaching message boards (Footy 4 Kids at www.soccercoachingforums.com and World Class Coaching at http://www.worldclasscoaching.com/wccforums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=1 ) and so had been fully aware of the potential for ‘nightmare’ scenarios with WAAC (Win At All Costs)coaches / managers, overly “exuberant” parents, vocal abuse of referees and so on that seems to exist in mini-soccer and junior football circles.

Now, having said all that - it has been an absolute delight to coach and manage players in our league (Sussex Sunday Youth League U10s).

The parents of the players in the team I have coached have been outstandingly supportive and also very helpful in erecting mini-soccer goals for games, running our tea bar and so on.

But the opposition coaches and parents have been a credit to the game as well. Encouragement and support has been the order of the season and I have genuinely not heard any verbal abuse of players, opponents and so on. It’s exactly the way the FA is after.

Coaches have been friendly, approachable, and all round good eggs - they all seem to value development, enjoyment and participation over winning at all costs and a sort of shared experience seems to have brought us together.

So, for all the negative stories that abound about kids’ football, this is one to redress the balance - a positive and wholly enjoyable experience throughout the season.

I feel privileged to have been invited to coach the team and to have observed their individual and collective progress during the course of the last 9 months or so.

Although we are at the end of the official season, we still have a couple of friendlies and one or two of the usual summer tournaments to enjoy, so there will still be some fun to be had yet!

Saturday 9 January 2010

Football In A Foreign Land

Well, it's some while since we were on holiday, back in the summer of 2009, which, given the snow, seems even longer ago than it would otherwise.

We went to the beautiful island of Corsica and whilst there I managed to persuade the family that they were desperate to attend the French Ligue 2 game between SC Bastia and Laval.
Now, Bastia have some impressive history - they came runners up to PSV Eindhoven in the 1978 UEFA Cup and were French Cup winners in 1981. However, they are currently in Ligue 2 and have a bit of a mish mash of a ground. On one side there is the impressive Papi Tribune which, whilst a bit concrete, is relatively new and quite grand. On the other side is a small stand reminiscent of your average undeveloped Ryman League stand.

However, they were very helpful and open when we went to purchase tickets for the game and we were invited in to wait for service and were left to view the striking Trophy wall which carried original and replica trophies from current and past local achievements.

Anyway, the point was, that seeing the impressive Papi Tribune hove into view as we approached, it struck me that I still get a frisson of excitement whenever I stumble across a football ground in a foreign land. It's almost as though I recognise a piece of myself, the recognition of being a part of the international brotherhood (and sisterhood) of football.

I mean, we all KNOW that everyone (or nearly everyone) plays, watches and enjoys football, it's just the physical representation of that which brings home to me how much a part of so many lives that it is and how football is very much a part of the local community.

In Bastia's case, the game didn't go so well - they lost 1-0 at home and by the end of the game, the home supporters weren't too happy !
But the different style of game (from the English equivalent), the passion of the supporters and the experience of Football In A Foreign Land, made for a memorable experience. And the view wasn't so bad, either !






I aslo perceived a much less aggressive / intensive approach to the officials by players from both sides. Any disagreement with a decision seemed to take the form of a casual enquiry from a player or two with a brief explanation from the referee, a shrug of shoulders all around and they just got on with the game - how refreshing !

From Bastia, I can go back around 12 months when were fortunate enough to go to Sardinia. We stayed close to a town called Budoni which had it's own football team - a club with a newly developing ground and playing in, roughly, the equivalent of Blue Square South, I estimated.
A club formed as recently ago as 1973, this club had a 3G astroturf pitch on which to pay its games to save any real turf from the extreme heat of their summer. A nice new main stand / tribune, modern store room, gym and changing rooms were impressive for the standard.

I managed to get myself invited to watch the first team squad practice one evening and I was able to see a session constructed mainly around a pattern of play in a 4 3 3 system.

Attached images show how this relatively small club is again at the heart of the community.





And way up in the mountains of Sardinia, was a small community called Brunella - again with its own, albeit much more modest stadium, but still with dugouts and floodlights for evening practice.




So, the passion for football is apparent in many places and just the sight of a small, large, modern, antiquated, stadium or patch of a ground with a pair of goals, just makes me feel a part of the game, no matter where I am.