Unlock The Game Within
“Unless you feel good about what you do every day, you won’t do it with much conviction or passion” as stated by the legendary World and Olympic Champion Mia Hamm.
Competition between players is vital for a training session. Competition not only reveals the obvious technical qualities of players, but you can learn a lot about their psychological personality. Competition in the form of a drill provides less motivation than a game.
Players love to play games. Games are the source of motivation because of skills, scoring, peer support and pressure.
In order to get the best from your players at practice, you should always remember a key difference between you and your players. Players want to PLAY and coaches want to WIN.
Focus on their PLAYING, because within every player there is a game that needs to be unlocked.
Trying To Light A Fire
There was nothing more frustrating than conducting a training session with my New Rochelle Vikings U13 boys team and their motivation was low. There was the constant talking, the usual suspects fooling around, balls were being kicked all over the place. It took an enormous amount of energy to get started. Sadly, getting the whistle to start the running of laps restored order.
When we started playing I wanted their performance to be full of energy with the skills on the ball being sharp. Unfortunately, that was not the case. So I started to bark instructions – “Let’s Go, let’s go, let’s go!,” “faster, faster, faster!,” “C’mon boys!”. As the session progressed I became more of a cheerleader instead of a coach.
Who Is The Game About…?
Does this remind you of your practice? Your players start the first game and in 60 seconds you shout. “FREEZE!!” You step onto the field and make a long-winded coaching point. During that time all players are frozen (standing still), some are listening, others looking but not hearing a word.
Your session resumes and you now start to yell from the side, “insert name, let’s go!”, “insert name, what are you doing?”. Shortly after you step in to make another coaching point. Within the first 15 minutes, the play has stopped several times.
At this point, you are not happy with their performance. There is no flow, motivation is lacking and players are showing no energy.
By halfway through the practice, you shout out “SCRIMMAGE TIME!!”. Your players echo a relieved – YESSSSS! Just like that, your practice has some new life.
Flow State
When you are conducting practice and your players show either a sign of anxiety on one hand or boredom on the other, it means they are not motivated. They are not learning and often find other acts to be entertained. Reflect on your practices where they were always talking and kicking balls around.
What you need to do is energize your players so their mindset and actions shift to a flow state. A flow state is when your designed game/activity matches the abilities of your players. In other sports, in particular basketball, that could involve quick scoring, that player would be considered to be ‘in the zone‘.
A Practice In Flow State
- Players come up with solutions (skill and decisions)
- Positive coaching – teammates cheering on each other
- Players are focused – listening and looking
- Players take ownership (organization on the field)
You need to recognize when your practices are drifting to the extremes of anxiety or boredom and apply tools to energize your players. When players are in a flow state they are focused, energized, pumped, talking about the game/activity.
You need to create a flow state at training so players can reach their potential. Achieving a flow state energizes your practice as skill meets challenges.
Win Your Battle
To create a flow state there needs to be an action(s) that changes the mindset of your players. This leads to players playing with energy. The application of these actions can be a single action or combined actions.
The bottom line for energy to be added there must be competition. Starting from warm-up to the final game players need to battle. This creates a culture of competing which is necessary for soccer.
Here are 5 ways you can energize your players for them to compete at practices.
1. Quick Games
These are games that are high in intensity (above 160 beats/min) and short in duration (30 – 60 seconds).
An example of a warm-up would be a form of tag games, where a player(s) is chasing other players.
Another form could be small-sided games – 1v1, 2v2, 1v2, etc.
2. A Game Within The Game
Add an incentive/bonus that rewards skill and decision making.
For example, a player that fakes out his/her defender and scores, the goal counts double. Nutmeg (the ball goes between the defender’s legs) could be worth 3 points.
Other conditions/rules can be applied to reward skills of passing, receiving, shooting, etc.
3. King Of The Field
Multiple teams using an elimination format energizes players. Create 3 teams, for example red, blue & green.
Setup – red plays blue in a 3-minute game, with green sitting out. If a goal is scored before the 3 minutes, the loser goes off, and the green team would enter.
If a game is tied after 3 minutes, then apply sudden death penalty kicks, starting with each team having 1 kick. If tied, another round.
The team that wins the most games would be the winners.
4. Score Keeping & Time Tracking
Keeping track of the score is critical to maintaining the focus and intensity of training. Although you want your players to keep score, and some will, you should record what’s happening. Here you can control the intensity and if necessary make adjustments to the rules.
Alternately, the use of a timing device to announce a count down to the end of a game.
5. Teammates Coaching
You can play an essential role in recognizing the performance of your players. Giving thumbs up, high fives, clapping, verbal acknowledgment are ways you can give credit.
More importantly, players respond positively when praised by their teammates. When peers provide support there is a feeling of acceptance and recognition of value.
It’s Not About Wins & Losses
When your players are trained through games and activities, the pressure from competition, bring them to the point where their skills meet the task. This shifts their mindset into a flow state where the motivation creates new energy.
References
US Youth Soccer, National Youth License (2004).
Samantha Janos, Pelham High School, Girls Varsity Soccer (2020)
Amelia Koffman, Pelham High School, Girls Varsity Soccer (2020)
Vinicius Costa de Souza, Visualization and Interaction in Immersive Virtual Reality Games: A User Evaluation Study. (Nov. 2018)
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