SPACED RETRIEVAL PRACTICE FOR BETTER COACHING/LEARNING PART 1

                                                      

I've posted somewhat extensively in regards to using classroom teaching methods into coaching as the coach-player relations hip is essentially the same.

The coach teaches player/s how they want them to play then goes ahead and tries to instill that so that the players become autonomous and can carry it out come game day all on their own.

Retrieval practice is what it suggests, retrieving information learned at 1 time and having on hand when needed at another time as in studying the same content for an exam and being able to remember it come test time.

In footy terms it's teaching a tactic or strategy you want to use at training and then hopefully it can be replicated in a game.

Like all types of exercises, retrieval exercises our memory muscles and strengthens learning (how mush for how long) but it's not the total time of retrievall that works but how you do it.

In exam study terms, you've got 2 types of practice:

#1 x Spaced Retrieval Practice

#2 x Massed Practice   

Massed practice is...

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COLLINGWOOD PRESSING DEFENSE VIDEO

                                             

It's hard not to love what Collingwood is doing right now and it's no surprise to me who sat through hours of pre-season training footage of the Pies and everything was fast, forward and intensive, and it's showing in the early part of the season where some teams seem to not even know it's round 3 next week already.

I posted a video off the Pies pressing defense from 1 of their pre-season games and there was another clear example in the season proper this past weekend.

Pressing forward defense was a major tactic used by Richmond in their premiership years and has since been adopted by the Swans a few years ago and now Collingwood.

Most teams do it but not to level of those 3 teams and is a big reason why they're probably in the top handful of the highest pressure teams in 2023 so far.

Geelong has even used it to success in the AFLW this past past year in seasons 6 and 7.

Here's a short clip and breakdown of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV_DkSe9MwA

As mentioned in the video,there are some specific activities that Collingwood has used to train this specifically and is part of the Collingwood  Training Activities package found on the register page - https://aussierulestraining.com/membership-account/membership-levels/.

BUILDING YOUR TRAINING ACTIVITIES

                                                     

There are real staple training drills that most coaches use year in and year out and if this continues then they'll never die.

This will lay out a framework to ensure that you are designing and using training activities that have far more representation to the game itself which will in turn change the focus of your training sessions from basic technique rehearsal to a teaching and learning environment.

There are 6 elements each activity (courtesy of David Garcia) needs to try and address to even be in the ballpark of game transfer and they are:

• Space 
• Time 
• Direction 
• Transitions 
• Opposition to Teammate Ratio 
• Game Context 

We're going to start with this age old drill which is the long kick into the square from a teammate coming from 1 corner who marks and handballs to another teammate running in from the diagonal corner who goes long to the forward target.

Let's see how this addresses the activity building elements from above...

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COACHING ISSUES WITH A CONSTRAINTS-LED APPROACH

                                         

Back in February I posted about a Twitter thread put together by tennis coach Philip O 'Callaghan on how coaches can start implementing a constraints-led approach, which hopefully gave you some idea's on where to start doing this, with most local football coaching of all levels still sitting in the dark ages of "I say, you do" coaching methods which stifles creativity and usually involves zero decision making - 2 vital ingredients in game day success.

This thread by the same coach instead asks coaches who have started to expand their coaching process via a constraints-led approach, what issues they have ran into which shows other coaches that no 1 coach is perfect and everyone will in different stages of their coaching journey, and everyone will run into speed humps at different times and that it's OK to reach out and ask for help.

All elite coaches steal bits and pieces from other coaches!

Here is a list of issues you'll probably run into but everyone does...

• Session design for mixed abilities
• Developing players weak sides
• Ensuring enough touches for all players
• Setting different tasks players can choose from
• Scaling
• Addressing sociocultural constraints
• Doing what we’ve always done
• Other coaches at your club not happy with what you're doing
• A lack of examples to help you explore better
• Knowing when to be patient or change the activity (it's better to be overly patient than stepping too early)
• Teaching rather then critiquing
• Not making room for the voice of the player
• Stepping in too early
• Learn to be satisfied when the players learn it on their own off the back of your session design and constraints
• Establishing effective backward design
• Developing constraint situations that mirror game play but still build the essential skill/s players need to develop
• Keep it representative enough while reducing the task to a suitable level so that there are plenty of opportunities to explore the skill
• Becoming too reductionist (reduce without impoverishing)
• Co-coaches not familiar with a constraints-led approach
• Not being comfortable changing things on the fly
• Having different games for different player levels
• Designing activities that results in players focusing on solving the challenge but not the skill or the constraint you set out to develop (devise a scoring system devised around the constraint/skill being developed)
• Getting comfortable with the messiness of CLA
• Letting go of short term success to strengthen long term growth
• Keeping it fresh (slight changes in constraints during tasks)
• Get your constraints right and you're 85% of the way there

6v4 to 3v5 TRAINING ACTIVITY

                                           

This training activity focuses on both teams being able to maintain possession in their respective boundaries.

The starting set up looks like this...

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ST KILDA TRANSITION OFFENSE

The Saints won an almost-unwinnable game yesterday with 14 injuries prior to round 1 and 2 key forward debuts but we should never be surprised what extreme effort can do, although it looked like Freo was.

In this short clip we have the Saints losing the center clearance but regaining possession just on the edge of defensive 50 and then we see what transition offense is all about.

You'll see perfect examples of changing angles, using width and player movement - 3 staples of transition offense.

Check it out below...

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CUES v CONSTRAINTS FOR BETTER COACHING OUTCOMES

                                         

These notes come from a Twitter thread from Rugby performance coach Nick Winkelman on cues v constraints for better coaching outcomes.

Coaches have a tendency to almost commentate what they're seeing which results in too much instruction to many players all during game time - I don't think I've ever heard, let alone acted upon, any comment from the sidelines in all my footballing life .

And what would normally happen? The coach would send the runner out for a specific message for a specific player or they would wait for there interchange rotation/quarter break to bring it up with them them.

So why do a lot of coaches continue with the barrage of do this, do that and move there when the player in question can't hear you, they don't know that your specifically coaching to them and they won't, can't and shouldn't be directing their attention to you and away from the play.      

Hopefully you can garner an answer from the notes below...

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USING YOUR DEFENSIVE ANCHOR

                                                

Defensive 50 Intercept Marks are a huge part of football these days so it makes sense to instill some tactics/strategies to help make this happen so you're not hoping someone takes a pack mark from out of nowhere which is not really controllable.

What is controllable though is creating a defensive formation when out of possession that directs the opposition to where you want them to go, which is your defensive anchor.

Your defensive anchor might be a key defensive player or a ruckman who drops back a kick behind the play but whoever it is, it's vital that the rest of the team knows who it is, when they're there and what to do, so we can direct the opposition straight to them.

We're not necessarily trying to have them be a loose man in defense because that means we're probably attacking with less players, severely hindering our ability to score even if we're keeping their scoring at bay as well.

We're simply backing them to contest enough so that the opposition don't mark it, we can get numbers to where we now know the ball is going to go for crumbing and if your defensive anchor is a great contested mark, then we can regain possession pretty quickly and be in offensive transition while the opposition is still trying to recover defensive formation.

There are probably 3 ways this will present itself in a game...

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SCORING SYSTEMS TO BETTER YOUR TRAINING GAMES

 

Once you've (hopefully) moved your coaching away from cone to cone drills to something closer to a games-based approach, then it's time to really start making those games work for what you want to see on game day.

A game is general is not the worst idea in that it consists of much of the same game representation as games as far as perception-action coupling and the perception of affordances, but once players are familiar with the type of training they'll be doing, then it;s time to up the ante on the learning aspect of games.

Playing games without strategy simply has players perform the same strengths they always do but it always has them perform the same mistakes they always do so it's more rehearsal of their current performance more so then an actual improvement of performance,which I assume is what we're REALLY after.

The best way to have players perform the behaviors that you prefer they perform in games is probably through your scoring system, which at it's core incentivises players to perform the specific actions/tactics that you want them to try and perform.

It's not so much how well they perform those specific tasks either but rather the process of trying them in game situations and then how they read the play to be able to carry this out effectively.

Below are 25 ways you can use your scoring system to incentivise specific playing game/tactical actions but always remember that the game must 1st be designed  to match whatever focus/goals you want your players to achieve...

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CONTESTED BALL FRAMEWORK PART 2

                                                     

If you want to take a load off your coaching load then frameworks are the way to go.

Frameworks allow both coach and player to get on the same page tactically/technically and can trickle down to player and player as well for team cohesion.

Players can use them outside of training and games to build their knowledge of the game and once committed to long term memory they can transfer it to games for knowledge in the game.

Coaches can often get frustrated when they need to keep repeating things but learning isn't linear, and player remember far less of what you just said then you think, so players having frameworks they can go back gives them autonomy, which is when we really learn.

Last week we looked at A1 and D1 duties in a contested ball situation so today we'll look at A2 and D2 which pretty much includes all immediate surrounding players who aren't A1/D1.

You'll see it's pretty clear and concise which is exactly what they're meant to be - they're not be full of content, they're organised bullet points more then anything...

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CONTESTED BALL FRAMEWORK PART 1

                                                    

If you want to take a load off your coaching load then frameworks are the way to go.

Frameworks allow both coach and player to get on the same page tactically/technically and can trickle down to player and player as well for team cohesion.

Players can use them outside of training and games to build their knowledge of the game and once committed to long term memory they can transfer it to games for knowledge in the game.

Coaches can often get frustrated when they need to keep repeating things but learning isn't linear, and player remember far less of what you just said then you think, so players having frameworks they can go back gives them autonomy, which is when we really learn.

Here's a framework for contested ball for players A1 and D1 in the contest and next week I'll do A2 and D2 players.

You'll see it's pretty clear and concise which is exactly what they're meant to be - they're not be full of content, they're organised bullet points more then anything...

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