ARE WE SEARCHING FOR A ‘HOLY GRAIL’ ? / IS THERE REALLY A “SILVER BULLET”?
There is lots of discussion and opinion voiced through the internet and traditional media currently, (in England especially, but now expanding to Scotland after the Hearts / Tottenham game) about Youth/Player Development.
WHAT CONSTITUTES “BEST”?
There is a general appreciation of Spanish football and particularly the way Barcelona play and whilst the English Premier League is generally regarded as the “most exciting league in the world”, there is a tacit acceptance that it is not the best league in the world. I guess that depends on your perspective…. What is ‘best’? Is it the league that scores the most goals (Bundesliga) or is it the “technically” (?) best league (Spain?) or is it the league that produces the most home grown players or is it the league that generates most international winning sides (Brazil, Italy, Germany, Argentina)?
SPAIN
Spain is, arguably, the ‘best’ team, internationally at the moment and if Heineken did football teams, Barcelona is probably the one they would ‘do’. However, there is a school of thought that suggests that Spain are really playing a derivative Dutch game based on the ‘Total Football’ of the 70’s and which owes a debt of gratitude to the vision of Rinus Michels and Johann Cruijff (who is now 64, would you believe – remember the first ‘Cruyff Turn’?).
NB As of 24 August 2011 new FIFA rankings officially place the Netherlands as number 1 in the World. - Ed
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
There is a groundswell of opinion against the ‘Win At All Costs’ approach to grassroots football (at the potential Elite level, results have come second to development and performance for donkey’s years).
Coaches and managers are increasingly aware of their responsibilities to teach the GAME not just how to WIN
(“In England, you teach your kids how to win. In Portugal and Spain they teach their kids how to play” - Jose Mourinho)
That being the case, everyone is looking to the optimum way to develop players. Accepting that at Grassroots level you may have players once a week for an hour and a half this is a bit of a challenge.
A great deal of coaches accept that ‘Constant’ or linear, drill based practices are a thing of the past and that this approach doesn’t transfer well to the game.
Increasingly, ‘amateur’ coaches at the grassroots level are creating and using game related practices to teach the game – overloads, under-loads, 2v2, 4v4, 6v6, 5v5+2 and so on to recreate what happens in the ‘big’ game in order to allow the players to develop experience at an accelerated rate.
These “variable” and “random” practices help players to build game memories, which, in turn, transfer better to the ‘real’ game and makes it easier to recall and apply in the weekend match.
“The same thing NEVER happens TWICE in a game – but LOTS of SIMILAR things happen ALL the time” – Paul Holder, FA Staff Coach
CONTINENTAL APPROACHES
Of course, on the continent, game-like practices have been the norm for years. But now we are looking to replicate the best of what the world has to offer in football – Spain and Barcelona are the current ‘Gold Standard’ of football.
But, with a closer look, Spain have won one World Cup and two European Championships (the first in 1964), so, not consistent performers by any stretch of the imagination (although Barcelona and Real Madrid have won a ton of European Cups -Champions League and equivalent- between them over the years).
Most people will accept the Brazilians as probably the all-time greats (5 World Cups) but the Italians aren’t far behind with 4 wins and of course the Germans have 3 World Cups and 3 European Championships and are regular qualifiers in the last 4 of major competitions.
Various nations have tried to mirror the Dutch development, again, as they are recognised as producing some of the best players and coaches, with the exportation of their respective talents across the world as evidence.
Or is it a case of having a Vision and a philosophy of the way to play that is important? After all, if you have no collective vision, how can you plan a developmental programme to which everyone can subscribe and that is intended to provide gradual steps from the grassroots to the pinnacle of the elite levels? If we are all singing from different hymn sheets, do we really know where we are headed?
THE SILVER BULLET / THE HOLY GRAIL OF FOOTBALL SUCCESS
But, aside from the discussions about the merits or de-merits of ‘Variable – Random’ practices over ‘Constant’ practices, are we deluding ourselves that someone has “The Answer” as to the best / one right way to develop players?
With an acknowledgement to “10,000 hours of deliberate practice” to develop expertise and the coincidence of opportunity and desire is the rest of it perhaps cyclical?
Looking at incidences of World Cup and European Championships’ winners, only Italy and Brazil have won back to back World Cups and no team has won consecutive European Championships.
Perhaps the consistency of achievement at the latter stages of major competitions would be a more accurate gauge of success, in which case you’d be hard pushed to better the record of the Germans, but we rarely seem to consider replicating their development approaches / strategies – maybe we should?
But does anyone really have all the answers? Is it more a coincidence and combination of developmental approach/philosophy, the numbers of people available, the quality of coaches (another post, perhaps?), money available, deliberate practice and the cyclical nature of another (I hesitate to use the phrase) “golden generation”?
There is lots of discussion and opinion voiced through the internet and traditional media currently, (in England especially, but now expanding to Scotland after the Hearts / Tottenham game) about Youth/Player Development.
WHAT CONSTITUTES “BEST”?
There is a general appreciation of Spanish football and particularly the way Barcelona play and whilst the English Premier League is generally regarded as the “most exciting league in the world”, there is a tacit acceptance that it is not the best league in the world. I guess that depends on your perspective…. What is ‘best’? Is it the league that scores the most goals (Bundesliga) or is it the “technically” (?) best league (Spain?) or is it the league that produces the most home grown players or is it the league that generates most international winning sides (Brazil, Italy, Germany, Argentina)?
SPAIN
Spain is, arguably, the ‘best’ team, internationally at the moment and if Heineken did football teams, Barcelona is probably the one they would ‘do’. However, there is a school of thought that suggests that Spain are really playing a derivative Dutch game based on the ‘Total Football’ of the 70’s and which owes a debt of gratitude to the vision of Rinus Michels and Johann Cruijff (who is now 64, would you believe – remember the first ‘Cruyff Turn’?).
NB As of 24 August 2011 new FIFA rankings officially place the Netherlands as number 1 in the World. - Ed
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
There is a groundswell of opinion against the ‘Win At All Costs’ approach to grassroots football (at the potential Elite level, results have come second to development and performance for donkey’s years).
Coaches and managers are increasingly aware of their responsibilities to teach the GAME not just how to WIN
(“In England, you teach your kids how to win. In Portugal and Spain they teach their kids how to play” - Jose Mourinho)
That being the case, everyone is looking to the optimum way to develop players. Accepting that at Grassroots level you may have players once a week for an hour and a half this is a bit of a challenge.
A great deal of coaches accept that ‘Constant’ or linear, drill based practices are a thing of the past and that this approach doesn’t transfer well to the game.
Increasingly, ‘amateur’ coaches at the grassroots level are creating and using game related practices to teach the game – overloads, under-loads, 2v2, 4v4, 6v6, 5v5+2 and so on to recreate what happens in the ‘big’ game in order to allow the players to develop experience at an accelerated rate.
These “variable” and “random” practices help players to build game memories, which, in turn, transfer better to the ‘real’ game and makes it easier to recall and apply in the weekend match.
“The same thing NEVER happens TWICE in a game – but LOTS of SIMILAR things happen ALL the time” – Paul Holder, FA Staff Coach
CONTINENTAL APPROACHES
Of course, on the continent, game-like practices have been the norm for years. But now we are looking to replicate the best of what the world has to offer in football – Spain and Barcelona are the current ‘Gold Standard’ of football.
But, with a closer look, Spain have won one World Cup and two European Championships (the first in 1964), so, not consistent performers by any stretch of the imagination (although Barcelona and Real Madrid have won a ton of European Cups -Champions League and equivalent- between them over the years).
Most people will accept the Brazilians as probably the all-time greats (5 World Cups) but the Italians aren’t far behind with 4 wins and of course the Germans have 3 World Cups and 3 European Championships and are regular qualifiers in the last 4 of major competitions.
Various nations have tried to mirror the Dutch development, again, as they are recognised as producing some of the best players and coaches, with the exportation of their respective talents across the world as evidence.
Or is it a case of having a Vision and a philosophy of the way to play that is important? After all, if you have no collective vision, how can you plan a developmental programme to which everyone can subscribe and that is intended to provide gradual steps from the grassroots to the pinnacle of the elite levels? If we are all singing from different hymn sheets, do we really know where we are headed?
THE SILVER BULLET / THE HOLY GRAIL OF FOOTBALL SUCCESS
But, aside from the discussions about the merits or de-merits of ‘Variable – Random’ practices over ‘Constant’ practices, are we deluding ourselves that someone has “The Answer” as to the best / one right way to develop players?
With an acknowledgement to “10,000 hours of deliberate practice” to develop expertise and the coincidence of opportunity and desire is the rest of it perhaps cyclical?
Looking at incidences of World Cup and European Championships’ winners, only Italy and Brazil have won back to back World Cups and no team has won consecutive European Championships.
Perhaps the consistency of achievement at the latter stages of major competitions would be a more accurate gauge of success, in which case you’d be hard pushed to better the record of the Germans, but we rarely seem to consider replicating their development approaches / strategies – maybe we should?
But does anyone really have all the answers? Is it more a coincidence and combination of developmental approach/philosophy, the numbers of people available, the quality of coaches (another post, perhaps?), money available, deliberate practice and the cyclical nature of another (I hesitate to use the phrase) “golden generation”?
