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With compliments from Philip Kerr
Coaching Tips No3

Coaching Tip Number 1
Drills v Games


As players develop, their technique improves more rapidly than any other part of their game. They can usually learn to kick, catch, fist, block, solo etc. with a fair degree of comfort. The better players often practise these skills at home and come on faster than those who only rely on drills in coaching sessions once or twice a week. What they find more difficult is to develop the ability to make the right decision in a game - when to pass, who to pass to, where to run, how to pass. A coach who prepares a squad through sessions filled with drills, is only working at one part of the game. How can a drill solve problems like 'forwards bunching' or 'lack of midfield support' or 'no width' or 'poor use of quick frees'? The answer is...it CAN'T! If a player is a poor kicker of the ball, there is work done to solve that problem. What are we doing to help the player who takes the wrong option more often than the right one in a game? Get working at games. Remember...Games = Problems. Start solving the problems!

Coaching Tip Number 2
From Technique to Teamplay

One of the more difficult things to coach to young players is the need to modify their individual styles for the good of the team. If you have spent time ensuring that players are comfortable on the ball, it means you have worked on kicking, catching, lifting, blocking, tackling, shooting, evasion skills and solo running. The most attractive of these skills to a young player is very often 'solo running'. The feeling the player gets when he/she can run while making a ball spin from toe to hand is tremendous. Many players want to use this technique as often as possible. So, when you step in to coach team play and take players to another level, some see it as a denial of the right to try out this great skill of solo running. However, it has to be done. There are no easy answers, but if you explain that you recognise their position and, at the same time, remind them that your job is to take them to higher and higher levels of play [i.e. adding more skills to their repertoire] you may find it easier to introduce. Conditions, limits, modifications....whatever you choose to call them, must be set for players to experience the beauty of good teamwork and to learn how passing, support running and shooting can bring as good a feeling as individual solo running. Remember.....you may only have to limit a few players at a time, rather than impose a blanket ban on all solo running. One trick is to take a team aside [e.g. in a 9v9 game]and choose two of the players from one team who must play the ball immediately. Only inform their team-mates [not the opposition] and let them respond to this for a five or ten minute spell. The roles may be rotated among the team to let all practise. This lets you see how well two players can change their games to benefit teamplay and how quickly their team-mates learn to make themselves available for passes from them. Try it out - soon!

Coaching Tip Number 3
Cut The Queues!

One of the most annoying sights in coaching is a long queue of players lining up to take part in a drill or an exercise. Who can state a valid reason for a queue of 8, 9 or 10 players [or more], each waiting in turn for two seconds of action? All coaches, when designing drills or exercises, should look carefully at how the WORK:REST RATIO pans out. If an exercise means that a player has 2-3 seconds of movement for a ball, followed by 30-40 seconds of lining up for the next bus, there is something wrong with the drill set-up. Think the exercise through and divide the group or increase the number of footballs being used - do anything except let the queue continue to form and the players continue to lose out! If the drill involves jogging, a good rule of thumb is a work:rest ratio of 1:1. Should the emphasis be on speed, then set a ratio of 1:4 or 1:5. In effect, this means that you simply include two players in a queue for the jogging exercise and five or six players maximum in the speed drill. The numbers used will determine the work:rest ratio.

Coaching Tip Number 4
Probables v Possibles

Many people will associate this title with Rugby. For years now, Rugby coaches and selectors have played 'probables v possibles' games when coaching. This simply means that they pick the strongest team on paper and play them as a unit. The opposition is made up of the remainder of the squad. Ask any top Rugby coach and he'll tell you that this system helps in a number of ways:
Those players most likely to make up the first team get the opportunity to play together, get used to habits, patterns of play etc.
Those players on the 'possibles' who stand out and catch the eye will have done so against better opposition.
Those on the 'probables' who find it tough may find themselves replaced by a 'possible' who really wants a place.
In Gaelic Football we tend to take a squad of 30 players and play our strongest backs against our strongest forwards. There is nothing wrong with this if you wish to play like v like, but it will never give the best 15 a chance to play together, blend and prove themselves. Nor will it give the coach/selector a true picture of the reserve player who shines.
So, if you are blessed with a big squad, think about promoting the use of 'probables v possibles'. Go a step further and always 'bib' the probables in your own club colours. The task for every 'possible' is to win a bib and the task for every 'probable' is to retain it.

Coaching Tip Number 5
Develop Your Shooting from Distance

Let's assume you have a squad of 30 players and only one pitch on which to train. You'd really like to work on shooting from distance in a game situation but the 15v15 set-up doesn't lend itself to it. Well, here's one recipe!
Take out two goalkeepers and put them in goals at either end. Set out a line of markers across the pitch about 30m from goal. Do likewise at the other end of the pitch. Now take your players and create four teams - red, blue, green, yellow [7 outfield players in each]. Play Red v Blue inside the zone created by the two lines of markers [i.e. in the middle 70m of a typical pitch].
No outfield player may enter the 30m zones close to either goal. Effectively these become the goalkeepers' areas only. Ask the 'keepers to take kick outs as normal and let play develop. To speed up play, the goalies should always have a spare ball set up for the next kick-out. Players may only score from outside these zones. Play a 10-minute game.
So...do the Greens and Yellows simply wait about and get cold while this game progresses? Not at all. If you think about it, the 30m zones at either end of the pitch should only be used for kick-outs. Why not set up a drill inside each zone, staying closer to the corners than to the goals? For example - run a tackling exercise for 4 minutes in one corner and a catching exercise in the other corner for the same period. The drills will not get in the way of the game. Swap the Greens and Yellows over, run the drills again and there's the 10 minutes used constructively.
Now play Greens v Yellows in the game and let the Reds and Blues work on the drills. Swap once more and you have a 45 minute session after warm-ups.
You'll find that the game not only promotes shooting from distance, but also shows players the value of ball being played quickly and accurately upfield rather than across the park. The game also forces players to work harder and to get the ball into the shooting area before the other team has an opportunity to regroup.

Coaching Tip Number 6
The Three-Part Pitch

Here is one way to develop teamplay. It also allows you, the coach, to step back, spot where things are going wrong and move to fix them.
Think of the pitch as three separate zones: The first, Zone A, runs from your own team's end line to the 45m line. Zone B lies between the two 45m lines and Zone C is that section from the far 45m line to the opposition's end line.When your team is in possession, watch carefully what happens in each zone. Priority in Zone A is 'KEEP BALL', with the emphasis on keeping possession through close passing and plenty of support play. Once in Zone B, the focus changes to 'SET UP'. In this area a player should aim to use the ball quickly and directly to set up team-mates who are inside the opposition's 45m line. The ball must not stay in this zone for any longer than 3-4 seconds or for more than 2 passes. Zone C is the 'SCORE' zone. In here the aim is to get into position to either go for a score or to directly assist a score. Aim to reduce the passes in this zone to no more than 2 before a shot is taken.
NB. It does not matter which player is in which zone.....the task remains the same.

Coaching Tip Number 7
Spot and Fix

Find the player with no technical problems in his or her game and Ill find you a leprechaun in return. All players need specific technical coaching at some time during their careers. Granted, this is best done at an early stage [e.g. between the ages of 7 and 11], but the reality is that coaches deal with many older players who still have problems with kicking, catching, tackling, blocking, evading, lifting, fist passing etc. that were probably not fixed years ago.
If you coach, then you should be able to ¡Æspot and fix¡Ç faults in technique. To ignore such problems is tantamount to saying¡Ä.¡ÇHe never could do it and he never will¡Ç. Let¡Çs hope you¡Çre not the coach who recognises the problem, but prefers to work on physical fitness instead there are plenty about! So, how do you fix once you have spotted?
The secret lies in the phrase ¡ÆHead, Hands, Feet for Better Technique¡Ç. If you watch a player perform a technique [e.g. a shot for a point] you must look for head position, hand position and feet position during the execution of the technique. This sounds so complicated and yet it isn¡Çt.
Take the example of a player kicking for a point with his right foot. More often than not, he misses to the right of the posts. Some coaches may try to solve the problem by asking the player to ¡Æaim left¡Ç, but that is like asking a golfer who slices to aim down another fairway so that the ball can curve back. Better to look for the following
HEAD¡Äis his head up as he kicks? This will cause the player to lean back and push the ball further to the right.
HANDS¡Äis he dropping the ball two-handed, cross-handed or is he holding the ball too far from his body?
FEET¡Ä.is his standing foot pointing nowhere near the target? Is he playing the ball off the outside of his boot?
Think about coaching through HEAD, HANDS, FEET.

Coaching Tip Number 8
Gaelic Football's Lost Tribe

Is it not time that we rethought the role of half-forwards?
Flavour of the month is to by-pass this group when attacking and employ them more and more as defenders who track back to block opposition attacks and close in to look for breaks from midfield.More than any other group, we need half-forwards to help the team keep its shape
A centre-half forward should be a creative player...one who orchestrates, who has great passing ability [preferably with both feet] and who has a tactical brain.Wing half-forwards must be blessed with both stamina and pace, for they are link players who have to fetch, carry and support more often than any other group.
So, how about looking at your own team! Have you a playmaker pulling the strings at CHF? Do your wing forwards have the necessary characteristics to take them through a game?Or have you simply created three extra defenders who help the defence and watch long balls fly over their heads at such a rate that a Derby horse would do well to get up in support?
Oh...and one more thing they should be able to do.......SCORE!

Coaching Tip Number 9
The Three Second Game


One of the traits a good player has, is the ability to look up when in possession and scan the area ahead. He/she is scanning in order to make the right decision.
It is this very decision-making process that we, as coaches, must help players to speed up. Too often we simply admire the player who appears to have an innate ability to receive the ball, scan and make the quick and proper decision. This allows us a 'get-out clause'....the most famous one in coaching.......
"You can't teach that....it's instinctive. You either have it or you don't."
Not so! You may not be able to coach players to the very high standards set by the instinctive footballer, but you can certainly close the gap and improve both players and team when doing so.
One of the easiest methods is by running the 'Three Second Game'. This simply means playing a match or a backs v forwards game and introducing the rule that allows each player a maximum count of '3' on the ball.
To highlight this, the coach should referee the game and think "1, 2, 3" when a player receives the ball. Should the ball be played on the count of '2' then the coach begins again as the next player receives the ball. Should any player still be in possession after the count of '3', a free may be awarded to the opposition. The same count applies to the free kick.
The 'Three Second' approach has proved much better than the traditional 'one toe-tap, one bounce' game, for many players took this too literally and made sure they got in a toe-tap and a bounce before scanning for possibilities. Counting to '3' forces more players to look up first and, indeed, leads to more team-mates making better-timed runs for passes.
A few coaches decry such conditions, saying they do not mirror the real game. The same coaches, however, never seem to be able to suggest an alternative way to help speed up decision-making. They still prefer to hide behind the call 'You can't teach that..it's instinctive'.
Which type of coach are you?
Coaching Tip Number 10

'Increasing the Traffic'

Many drills and practice exercises on the pitch are excellent, but often they do not mirror reality.
For example: A coach may run two or three drills in different areas of the pitch, all involving passing or catching or solo running or lifting etc. and all happening at the same time.
Small groups of players take part in each and there is always plenty of space in which to work. This is fine up to a point.
If coaches took two different drills, let players get used to them first and then moved the cones to superimpose the exercises one on top of the other at different angles, this would allow players to practise skills and techniques while others moved among them and around the same area.
Players who can learn to cope with 'increased traffic' in a smaller area will be able to carry this through to a game, where there are team-mates and opponents getting in the way of passes etc.
Go on...try it!

Coaching Tip Number 11
Double or Quits

Here's a game from Derry's coach, John Morrison. He could have kept it to himself but he chose to share it, so that others may try it and benefit from it.
If you want your 'free' takers to practise in a realistic environment, where they've been running in the game, making tackles, breaking tackles, passing, shooting etc,. and if you want to recreate a degree of pressure on the 'free' taker, do the following:-
Set up a practice game between two teams on a full pitch or near enough a full pitch [teams from 10 v10 up to 15 v15].
Before the game starts, scatter five or six flexible multimarkers [not the domes!] in an area between the 13m line and about 40m from goal. Do likewise at the opposite end.
Play the game as normal until one team gets a score from play. Now let a 'free' taker choose which marker to shoot from and let him take a 'free' from that spot. If he scores add this point to the original one scored from play. If he misses, take away the original point.
If he scores, remove the marker from that spot. This forces him to choose another marker next time. If he misses, leave the marker there, so that he'll have to take a 'free' from that spot again sometime later in the game [i.e. pressure]
To ensure that the game flows and there is not a lengthy delay as the 'free' taker prepares, have at least two footballs behind the goal. Let the 'keeper set up a ball ready for the kick out, while the 'free' taker is getting set. Once the shot is taken, the other ball should be kicked out.
Think about it. The 'free' taker has the added pressure of doubling the score rather than the double whammy of missing and wiping out the original one that earned him the 'free'.
Try it. It works a treat!

Coaching Tip Number 12
Where is the 'Extra Man'?

How many times have you seen a Gaelic football team earn an 'extra man' and still lose? How many times have you seen the same happen in soccer?
Unfair comparison? - team size different? number of players different? These are only smokescreens behind which a coach may hide.
Fact - When opponents lose a player, they will reorganise and this reorganisation will determine who is left free on our team. So, for the first few minutes, our coach cannot claim to nominate the 'extra man'.
Fact - The player left free is, more often than not, a defender. This comes about when opponents lose a defender or a midfielder or a forward. In the latter case there is little or no reorganisation needed. If they lose a defender or a midfielder, they will withdraw a forward to plug the gap. In either case, our side is left with a spare defender.
Fact - Few, if any, coaches prepare for playing with an 'extra man', so decisions are often made on the spur of the moment, rather than with any method.
Fact - Players must know and have experienced the various options re. using an 'extra man'. So, whatever strategies you devise as a coach for such an eventuality [e.g. playing the 'extra man' wide on the wing to receive passes, double-teaming on a particularly dangerous opponent, patrolling the area along the 45m line, acting as a 3rd midfielder to mop up loose ball etc.] must be practised if you want it to work rather than just hope it will work.
My own preference is to practise using the 'extra man' wide. Opponents find it much more difficult to mark width rather than depth. It tends to stretch them much more and gaps begin to appear. Playing the 'extra man' wide also provides a release player for others on the team. Players are not lulled into a false sense of security about the 'extra man' covering for them if they mark loosely. What's more, if the opponents move a player to mark this 'extra man' after while, the response is simple - move the new 'extra man' wide on the other side of the pitch. Believe me, it does work and it has worked!
Whatever you decide, make sure you practise it. Gone are the days when any of us can afford fill sessions with endless drills and without reference to the 'what ifs' that appear in a match!

Coaching Tip Number 13
Silent but Deadly!

Here's a simple idea for use in either small-sided games or full practice games, best used for short periods at a time [e.g. 5 minutes]. One of Ireland's top coaches, Brian McIver [Ballinderry's All-Ireland Manager], uses it regularly.
Rather than point out the advantages of such a game, I'm going to leave them out. Let's see first if any coaches and players will post their own thoughts on the Derry guestbook re. the advantages
Here are the rules:
Start the game as you want to play it, be it a small-sided or full-sided one, be it on a shortened pitch or not. Let the game run for a few minutes to get the flow going and then introduce a single rule. NO SPEECH ON THE PITCH! That includes...no calling for passes, no reminding team-mates to mark opponents, no speaking to the referee, no issuing instructions of any kind.
Should any player break the 'no speech' rule, award a 'free' to the opposition.
Remember...impose the rule only for short periods at a time [e.g. five minutes on, five minutes off]. The concentration required and the frustration endured will prove too much for some and the game will lose its zest.
You may decide to tell players beforehand your reasons for running such a game or you may decide to let them find out for themselves.
So, think about it and start posting your thoughts.

Coaching Tip Number 14
Caution - Ladders in Use!

A word of warning to all of those coaches who have been swept away by the craze that is 'Ladder Work'. Without doubt, ladders have their place in coaching. They are useful tools to aid the development of fast footwork, balance and coordination.
However, such is the interest in this approach, that some coaches are overdoing ladder work. Will this lead to a generation of footballers who are both nimble and evasive, but have forgotten the absolute need to develop long strides instead of short ones in order to break a tackle, complete a good lift and make ground more efficiently?
Last year I watched a player jink his way about the pitch, looking busy at all times. It wasn't until I saw him up against a long-striding opponent or two that I realised he was busy going nowhere and that the speed of his footwork was doing nothing for his pace over the ground. Only sustained work on lengthening his stride improved his effectiveness.

Coaching Tip Number 15
Your Session Checklist

How good is your coaching session? How well does it address the needs of your players, be they 8, 18 or 28 years of age?
Here's one suggestion for a checklist...a guide to follow when planning a coaching session.
In every session you should be working to develop:-
TECHNICAL ABILITY
ATHLETICISM
SPEED OF THOUGHT
TEAMPLAY

Forget the idea that there should be whole sessions with no ball involved. Design your sessions to include each of these four elements and the players will not only develop more quickly, they'll enjoy doing so.
Working on TECHNIQUE means seeking to improve each player's first touch on the ball. First touch is often only applied to receiving the ball, but if you think about it, first touch covers all techniques - a better kick pass, a better block, a better lift etc. You must be prepared to help players to develop the correct techniques and never let bad habits linger.

ATHLETICISM is an umbrella term for all physical fitness work. You may be able to develop this using the ball or you may have to set aside a specific part of a session to work on it. Whatever the case, there is little reason to work on it in a forest, on the roads or on a mountain - do it on the pitch...but not to the exclusion of everything else.

SPEED OF THOUGHT is the part of any session that frightens coaches. Many tend to steer clear of it and argue that it's something that a player either has or hasn't. No chance!
All you have to do to develop speed of thought is to set appropriate conditions on a drill or a game during the session. Do you want your midfielders to release the ball earlier? - put a two-touch condition on them to help develop the correct instincts. But don't just do it in one session and never again. Repetition is the key - even for 10 minutes of every practice game.
Just think about ways you'd like a player to change - then work out a method to do so in practice - simply hoping for it after a chat will not work!

TEAMPLAY - Does your team have any game plans? How often do you practise them? Do you simply talk about them and expect players to act it out? Think about it - does a director of a play simply hand out the script and put the actors straight onto the stage in front of the audience? - rehearse, rehearse, rehearse!

So...look at your next session - have you included work on these four elements? If not, do it now!
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