At a recent FA tutor training event one of our potential arrival activities was to play with some Lego (the other options were to have a chat and a catch up, which I did while playing with the Lego). This morphed into using the Lego to construct something that represented our last 12-18 months as a tutor. Mine grew into a mind garden and at the bottom of the garden was a reflection pool. My own relatively recent studies have shown just how important taking a moment for real reflection can be. This summer marks the end of my 10th season as a coach, certainly a landmark and certainly lots to reflect on.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media is a vital tool for reflection and the creation of a community of practice (or I have seen it as a potential community of practice and attempted to interact with it in such a way). When considering this piece of reflective writing I initially wanted to write chronologically, but that neither fits with my writing style or the way that learning has occurred. I have built layers of experiences, good and bad, or both at the same time, but something that was insignificant 5 years ago can suddenly have significance now. The experience is a twisting turning web, key points and moments connecting together across time and space, existing in the context of new, what they once and meant and what they may mean in the future. Non-Linear indeed.
Thus, this work does not begin with a tale of how I was looking for a career change, was directed towards IT and said no thank you, I would rather spend the time and money doing my coaching badges. It begins with Social Media, the most modern network that has changed even since I started using it, possibly not for the better. We all leave our footprints now; we may want to be careful what it is that we are leaving.
It was not long into my coaching career that I began keeping a journal. I had always planned my sessions and tried to think about what had actually occurred within them, but all I ended up with were folded pieces of lined paper and hazy, selective memories. The best way to bring some form of cohesion to this was to put it in to writing. The journals are still here, at the bottom of the bookshelf, waiting for me to revisit them. I doubt I ever will, but it is the action of recording that has embedded into my memory banks.
Eventually that developed into blogging and micro blogging. My Twitter usage is not to tell the world how great I am, far from it. It is to share thoughts. Ideas, problems and solutions. A journal is great, but the journal provides no feedback, the reflection is purely an internal experience, which in itself has value. However, if we can bring in others, utilising their brain power as well as our own, the effectiveness of the exercise should increase. Quality feedback is going to be of immediate use but even less considered feedback might be of use as a trigger for further thoughts and considerations. Simultaneously, my thoughts can serve as triggers for others, hopefully we all make each other better.
I say hopefully because sometimes there seems to be a culture of criticism. Not constructive criticism, just pure criticism. Other prevalent attitudes appear to be built around agendas. People will have products or specialisms that they seek to push. There is no issue with this. It would be hypocritical of me to take issue with it as I have used Twitter and other platforms to promote my own work on 3v3, however, I expressly state within the book that I am not telling people to only use 3v3, only what I consider to be good about it. It is not bible. Other people do seem to be promoting their own work by doing down the work of others. Which in my opinion damages their reputation and also the platform as a whole. When we are sharing, helping and discussing, social media carries immense value and great positivity. When we are not, social media highlights the very worst traits of human ego.
PHILOSOPHY
Attaching the word philosophy to football has always made me slightly uncomfortable. Philosophy is about higher thinking, searching for truth (or some version of it) about human existence, the quests to determine who we are, what we are doing, how we came to be and why any of that matters? The great questions of the human condition. While football can tell us a great deal about life and the human spirit, only a miniscule few have really looked into the game in such a way. In England we have been especially poor at grasping the threads that connect football (and sport in general) with how we act within society, only highlighting and comprehending thuggish aspects of behaviour, never able to grasp connections with history, art and science.
At this point in my football journey I am half-way through a masters in performance football coaching. The first module highlighted the importance of distinguishing between football philosophy and actual philosophy. A football philosophy is akin to a set of principles or guidelines that an individual has developed over time, with internal thoughts (probably reflections) and external influences playing key parts. If we dig deeper into where these thoughts come from it is possible to see that our football philosophies are heavily influenced by the world around us,
I became a coach to help develop young footballers. Particularly creative players. This was very clear from the start and has not changed. I have had a lot of conversations with coaches about why they became a coach and much of the time it is not to be a coach, it is to be a manager. There is a very subtle and important difference.
For me it has always been to be a coach and that has guided my choices. My choices of moderated learning experiences (coaching courses, CPD) and non-moderated learning experiences (books, podcasts, discussions) have been guided by this, thus I chose not to go on the UEFA B Football course. My choices were football Level 1 as a way in, the natural progression was on to football Level 2, which was completed within a year of being a coach (I was advised on Level 1 that I was ready for Level 2 straight away). When the Youth Modules became available, I followed that path, after all I was working with young players. I am very glad that I did make that choice. I regard the youth modules as the best coaching courses that I have attended and a watershed moment for coach education in this country. The rigidity of the main pathway was replaced by a more creative, more flexible and, importantly for me, a warmer way of doing things. The coach was at the centre of Level 1 and Level 2, showing their knowledge and filling the empty vessels of the players minds. The modules showed more belief in the players and their ability to think and understand, the coach was there to help, not command. Thus marking the beginnings of a sea change, currently evolving into the England DNA and continuing to evolve.
The first two modules consolidated a number of my practice principles at the time. Avoid lines, use multiple footballs where possible, involve everyone, cater for the needs of as many individuals as possible (if not all at once). Increase the number of touches, increase the number of opportunities, do what is right for the players. I came into coaching looking for the dribbler, at the time of taking these courses Guardiola’s Barcelona and the Tiki-Taka style had come to the fore. While this appeared to be in contrast to my objectives, I viewed this as a good thing, especially when not long after Bielsa would go to Athletic Bilbao and show what was possible even when the culture was geared towards a physical style. Prioritising possession over direct play would increase the number of touches and decrease physicality. At least in my mind. On some occasions this did play out, but on others the physical still ruled. With my quest for the creator and dribbler I believed that passing was not the only form of possession, dribbling, while being an individual act, still retained the ball for the team. I would also discover anecdotal evidence that many of the best passers in football had been “ball hogs” in their youth. All of this drew me across to the Coerver Youth Diploma, elements of which remain prevalent in my coaching to this day, especially 1v1. It is very rare for my session structure with young players to not involve some element of 1v1.
Over time my football philosophy evolved to the point where one phrase held the key to it all. It is easier to teach a dribbler to pass than to teach a passer to dribble. Dribbling is a mindset and a response to seeing an opponent in front of you as an opportunity to dribble, rather than the moment to off load. Recently seeing Paul McGuiness in action has helped drum that home. Decision making is key. Timing is key. However, they have to have the opportunity to fail in order to learn that timing. Inviting pressure and eliminating opposition players to create overloads/advantages.
At the moment my coaching philosophy is entrenched in 3v3. In my view the simplest way to draw out the vital learning experiences of dribbling, passing, shooting and the decision making required. Increasing the number of touches, the number of 1v1 opportunities (and 1v2/1v3) and the most fundamental of offensive and defensive shapes, the triangle. If I had the choice of a 6v6 or two 3v3s, I would go for the latter.