John Allpress kommer på ny til Oslo for å dele sin unike erfaring, opparbeidet blant annet gjennom mange år i det engelske fotballforbundet (The FA) og i de senere årene på akademiet til Tottenham Hotspur.
Overskriftene på de fem seansene (som vil være på engelsk) Allpress skal lede på Cupfinaleseminaret fredag 3. og lørdag 4. desember er:
- Environment
- Learning and practice
- Developing the players
- Games for understanding
- Interventions that help learning and practice
The Skills of coaching
Som en «oppvarming» til sin workshop har Allpress sendt oss denne «teaseren» for å pense inn på innholdet han vil presentere sammen med Peter Glynn og Matt Potter:
«In every coaching (teaching) session three different kinds of learning are going on at the same time.
- Players are learning to know and understand things. Technical knowledge they have to grasp and maintain like ‘punching their passes’; body shape to receive and see more to play forward; going low into tackles to win their skirmishes, or keeping their eyes open to head the ball. These things are all quite easy for the coach to see. It is knowledge, quite easy to assess if the players have ‘got it’ and can do it.
- More difficult to spot is the development of skilful play where the players are learning how to use things. They have to apply the knowledge they are acquiring regularly, in context, on demand and under pressure. This is the ‘know how’ of when to do what. These skills need time to develop. You can't just remember decision making. You have to practice it over and over again. Living it, in order to learn and master it. Therefore, these things may be a little harder for the coach to keep an eye on.
- Finally there are habits and attitudes to be learned, habits of learning and attitudes towards learning. For example as Guy Claxton says:
- Do I like it when things get harder and more tricky?
- If things do come easy. Am I ready for when they don’t?
- Do I believe that if I can’t do something straightaway I lack ability?
- When I get stuck do I try something else, or just give up and wait to be rescued?
- Do coaches really want me to ask questions about what we’re doing, or being told to do?
- Or, do they just want me to simply get on with it?
These habits tend to develop more slowly over time and are harder for the coach to spot. They involve socialisation and influence.
So to be successful, coaches (teachers) need three overlapping skill sets.
- When players are working to acquire specific technical knowledge the coach needs to ‘know their stuff’ and be a reliable source of accurate information. They need to be able to explain stuff well in age appropriate ways, to the level, aptitude and ability of their players. They need good diagnostic and observation skills to know who has got it and who needs more time and help.
- When the players are striving to become more skilful the coach needs to know where their players are at with regard to their effectiveness within a game context. They then need to design activities that are achievable but challenging enough to take them beyond their comfort zone and stretch their capabilities. Different interventions will be needed here to promote decision making and the skills required to execute the right solutions. The coach needs to watch to see how players are doing in this regard and when its necessary to offer hints, clues, or feedback
- Finally when broader dispositions towards learning are being formed a different set of factors, which you can’t teach, come into play. This narrative is learned by the environment, or ‘mood music’ set by the coach, or the club culture. Players need a secure place to grapple with new stuff. A place where they can feel confident to ‘have a go’. To make their mistakes (good or bad) knowing the coach has their back. To be able to try stuff and be prepared to be wrong. To know when they are in learning, practice, or performance mode, where the aims and outcomes are very different. Players need to stay in the Goldilocks zone…. Not too hot; not too cold. The coach should help with this so their players learn the ‘tricks of the trade’ of effective learning. The coach needs ways of assessing that focus through a long audition. Not snapshots, but trajectories of improvement, based on a regime of progression, not perfection.
SUMMARY
We may not know it, but we are in the business of character forming whether we like it or not. Our players need to learn and practise the techniques and skills required in a safe but uncertain place. Above all they must not be frightened of ‘having a go’ as having a go is central to the art and the science of learning vital new techniques and skills, and becoming effective footballers. It is our duty as their coaches to produce a narrative which helps them do so and gives them a fighting chance to fulfil their potential.»
Stor interesse
Årets Cupfinaleseminar vil ha to fysiske tilbud i dagene 2. – 4. desember, begge deler på Meet Ullevaal i Oslo:
- Etterutdanning for trenere med de høyeste trenerlisensene (UEFA PRO-lisens og UEFA A-lisens og UEFA KT A-lisens) over tre dager (torsdag 2. – lørdag 4. desember).
- Ordinært Cupfinaleseminar over to dager. (fredag 3. og lørdag 4. desember). Det ordinære Cupfinaleseminaret er et godkjent etterutdanningstiltak for alle trenere med UEFA B-lisens.
Interessen for å delta på årets Cupfinaleseminar er stor, men det er fortsatt plasser igjen både på etterutdanning og på ordinært seminar.
Husk også at deltakelsen er kr 500,- rimeligere for alle som er medlemmer i Norsk Fotballtrenerforening. Meld deg inn i dag, og oppnå rabatten om du ikke allerede er medlem.
- Se det foreløpige programmet for Cupfinaleseminaret her
- Se det foreløpige programmet for Etterutdanningsseminaret her
Cupfinaleseminar-hotellet er som før Thon Hotel Storo. NFT kan igjen tilby en spesialpris for deltakere på Cupfinaleseminaret. Hotellet ligger i urbane omgivelser, har store og moderne rom og er kun et par T-banestopp fra Ullevaal Stadion.
