Football (Possession): Coaching Reflection

Reflection of Coaching

First of all, I believe that the session lacked creativity and didn't have enough variety for a successful coaching session. The ideas were simple and basic and lacked any initiative from myself really. An advantage from the session would be that the participants will have engaged in the basics of possession within football, however without too much direction. There was no end goal within the possession and nothing to aspire towards with progression.

The passing itself worked well, the participants were responsive to the tasks at hand and produce some good results within the passing field. Participants seemed to engage in the El Rondo drill the most, which from the outside can be seen as the more fun component of the session and it also gives players the freedom, to be creative, whereas the other components can be seen as dull and boring.

The constraints I feel worked, but they were again very simple. The constraints changed the behaviour of the participants somewhat, however because the drills were simple and the constraints were limited it had little effect. Simply swapping feet or enabling one or two touch doesn't challenge the skill of the possession, it challenges the skills of the participant themselves which steers away from the possession aim of the session.

In terms of coaching, I feel communication was of a good level. Including demonstrations helped hinder confusion; and I believe the participants had a high level of understanding with the tasks and constraints that were used.

At the first attempt of the possession session I feel there is a lot to learn. I feel if I work on the creativity of the drills and expand the levels of constraints that it has the foundation for an excellent drill. Expanding the constraints and the tasks will allow the participants to introduce new skills and I can show them different strategies and tactics to cope with those constraints.