In this practice, UEFA A licensed coach, Dave Wright gets out on the grass with a group of Melbourne Victory U20 players. Dave sets up three stations for the players to work on 1v1 defending in groups of four. The session is designed to recreate a turnover and get players thinking about defensive decisions, when to press and when to hold, whilst encouraging attackers to express themselves and be creative. Defenders are encouraged to work on character traits like persistence, and determination and you’ll see Dave…
decision making
In this session UEFA A licensed coach, Dave Wright continues on his defensive work with the Melbourne Victory U20 group. The practice is designed to encourage players to collaborate and work together in units to block forward and split passes. Dave demonstrates some gradual progressions to allow attackers and defenders to move into opposition zones and create more chaos. The purpose of this practice ties in with the next session (a phase of play) which encourages players to be patient out of possession and choose…
Awareness, decision-making, perception and execution are all part of skill acquisition. PDP contributor & Founder of TOVO Institute, Todd Beane shares an article on coaching methodology to enhance players cognitive fitness. Are your players cognitively fit? If you are like most coaches that may be a tough question to answer. But why? I might suggest that it is not a question you have had to answer before. I know that it was not a question that I addressed as a young coach myself. My task…
Frenkie De Jong is one of Dutch Football’s brightest stars. PDP Lead Researcher James Vaughan examines a recent interview with De Jong and shares some brilliant research around knowledge and learning, helping coaches understand how to create a learning environment and difference between telling and doing. In a recent interview, one of the most exciting prospects to emerge in European football talks about the secret of becoming a good football player. Ajax’s Dutch international Frenkie de Jong explains: “Good players play on intuition. When I…
In this video and article, PDP Lead Researcher, James Vaughan shares a 3 v 3 + 1 practice from a session with AIK players in Sweden. The video and session plan outlines how manipulating simple task constraints can allow players to solve problems, collaborate, make decisions and work on a variety of moments in the game. Have a look at the video above, it aims to demonstrate how session design, rules and constraints can educate attention and intention, towards skilled intentionality. ‘Skilled intentionality is…
In this fantastic interview with England U18 Rugby Coach, Russell Earnshaw, PDP Editor, Dave Wright dives into a conversation with Russell on the types of environments England rugby is looking to create in order to develop sustainable success. Russell shares his own experiences both as a player and coach, talking about the importance of player ownership, decision making and chaos. This is a fantastic conversation in which coaches across all codes can tap into the knowledge of a man driving standards in England’s youth rugby…
We associate Albert Einstein with physics, but he was also a great teacher. Coach & analyst, Sam Polak discusses what we can learn from Einstein’s approach to learning, creating environments and how we can encourage the development of composed decision-makers. There isn’t a lot that physicist Neil Degrasse Tyson and former American President, Teddy Roosevelt have in common. However, both individuals understood that they could go further in their field by not limiting their studies to just their chosen discipline. Teddy Roosevelt read books…
Pam Richards, Dave Collins & Duncan R.D. Mascarenhas The Big Idea The USA National Football League Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning once said this about high pressure situations: “Pressure is something you feel when you don’t know what the hell you’re doing.” The subject matter of this research paper aims to help coaches help athletes learn how to be pressured and know what the hell they’re doing. Takeaways Making quick and good decisions—collectively and individually—under pressure in team invasion sports is often the difference-maker in any competitive experience. One way…