Back in late January I started a series of posts of the different training activities I've been using with my senior women's team and within that came something called differential learning.
No 2 kicks are ever the same in a game of footy with the multitude of constraints the game is played under such as time, space, pressure, weather, action capabilities, confidence, game model, score etc.
This makes the search for the 1 and perfect technique fruitless as you'll rarely get the opportunity to use it + it can make you far less adaptable in regards to all the other kicks you'll need to perform in a game.
If you want to know exactly what adaptability looks like then look no further then this:
Differential learning involves practicing the same basic skill through as many slight variations as you can that builds the bandwidth of player skill acquisition, the very thing they need in games with so many different variations of the same skill required during games.
Skill deconstruction - where you breakdown single elements of a fine motor skill, miss the mark as they are usually broken down in isolation in the hope that it'll will be added back to the full movement once games come around, but that is not what is supported by research.
When I perform we pair up about 20m apart forming 2 lines.
I then demonstrate the kick to be performed and then the players simply repeat it each then I show the next one for 15 kicks.
We started every pre-season session with this but with the colder weather I have't done as much of it so we're standing in the cold just getting colder but it still gets a run every 2- 3 weeks or so.
The outcome of the kick isn't of huge importance either but your most adaptable players will be more "successful" then your lesser adaptable players.
All kicks are performed on your dominant side so any left/right in the title means left direction/right direction, stand on left leg then right leg etc.
A kick performed for "left and right" = 2 kicks too.
There's over 110 kicks right there and you're only limited by your imagination!
A few years ago I ran this with my son and a football friend of his kicking into a cricket net with high and low sections, with/without partner pressure, small ball/big ball, receiving stationary/on the run and a bunch of other constraints and have a spreadsheet with over 1300 different kicks on it so you should never repeat a kick.
This is perfect for youth players (would be perfect as a kick randomiser phone app!!) who go for kicks of the footy on their own - do their 15 differential learning kicks against the cricket nets then head onto the ground to kick goals from all over the shop.
Here are the kicks we've used so far this season...
For full access to this training activity, register for a level 3 membership from https://aussierulestraining.com/membership-account/membership-levels/.
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