We’ve all experienced the situation – a new group or an influx of new players as you transition to larger formats and you need to work out quickly what the players need in order to develop within their new setting.
WARNING – don’t just take what others say from previous environments. We are not saying discount it, however the environment you create as a coach may encourage them to show different levels of ability than previous environments.
So how do we do it quickly:
Testing
This could sound a bit hard on players but performing under pressure with increased adrenaline going around their bodies is part of the game. So devising a fun but measurable testing night would be a good way to isolate some techniques and test them. For example, a passing test, dribbling test, or receiving test would allow for measurable outcomes to monitor. This could be repeated by players later in season to see their progression. These could be the same across the club and could develop a leaderboard for players to practice and beat. This way gives you something quantifiable at the end to show players or coaches.
Games Night
If you’re the type of coach that backs what you see, then even simpler idea is for a games night. What would be even better is doing a variety of formats. Depending on your main format (i.e. 7v7, 9v9 or 11v11), starting with some small sided (1v1 to 3v3) would isolate some skills and see players with more touches and involvements. Moving into a mid format (5v5 to 7v7) would allow for a transition to the main larger format. Finally finishing with the main format (even better against an opposition no matter how early in the season) would allow you to see players across a variety of formats for you to see whether players show any abilities in any situation. This allows you to then work with players to bring out their best in the right areas. It is vital in this section that you do not over coach this evening or evenings. You need to see what they can do so stand back, watch intently and see what they can do. You can even pre-warn parents and players that the night is for an assessment so there won’t be much ‘coaching’ going on.
Challenge your Bias
Everyone watching the games that we suggest above will have their idea of what a great player looks like – whether that be the slight, nimble technicians like Messi or the power, pace and skill of Ronaldo – we all have our preferences. Therefore when using something like games nights to assess quickly make sure you have people/coaches around you that can challenge your opinion and ask the right questions to ensure that you are not over or under hyping a player and that it is a balanced view.
Performance Analysis
Now bear with us. We aren’t talking about teams of analysts with cameras, GPS vests and coding technology. We will cover this is more detail in a later blog post however using people around you tally up successful and unsuccessful actions in areas you feel are important would give you quantifiable data to use to support your sessions. This would be easier when assessing team performance and becomes slightly more challenging though not impossible when dealing with individual analysis. It depends on how much time and spectators you have. Check out our future blog on how to conduct performance analysis without all the fancy and expensive equipment.
Conclusion
So we understand that clubs may need to assess players quickly at the start of a teams journey or when they have an influx of new players. This is sometimes a very difficult thing to do. Having something measurable is sometime a very good idea as it gives a score to improve, however we also understand that football or soccer is sometime not that easy and the scores don’t reflect performance. Therefore simply watching can be just as beneficial especially when you have a consensus of opinions that can challenge each others bias to ensure that the outcome is unbiased and as close to the right opinion as possible.