I've posted about ecological dynamics on numerous occasions but if you're not really aware of what it is then the easiest way to explain it is by saying that perception cannot be detached from action as they are linked/coupled (Stuart McMillan) with our individual perception based on our ability to act within it making it a framework that appreciates the whole athlete (tactical, technical, physiological, psychological) and the environment where the interactions occur and the constraints that appear during them (Jonathan McMurtry).
Skill acquisition within ecological dynamics presents as an improved fit between the athlete and the environment while becoming more sensitive to to specifying information for action in a specific environment.
There is no central controller with the control of action/s being distributed over the athlete-environment system (Philip O'Callaghan).
This differs greatly from what we see in most junior training sessions where perception and action are rarely coupled, if ever, and players are then asked to carry out actions that are coupled during games when and are under-prepared to do so, with the coach (specific instructions/technique etc) or activity design (cone to cone) controlling what actions can and cannot be used.
This Twitter post from soccer coach Paul McGuinness gives some very actionable suggestions to help guide you through using an ecological dynamics approach to training with junior athletes.
"...What are the football problems that children can solve at their current age and what are their football capabilities...Avoid giving children problems outside of their scale...Coaching craft is to recognise what capabilities the players have and what they need to develop to solve the next level of the same problems..."
Cone to cone drills serve 1 single purpose and that is to get from cone 1 to cone 2 with as clean a skill as possible and anything outside of that is associated negatively.
In games the ball is on the ground far more than in players hands or in flight so to try and totally eradicate the ball hitting the ground in any activity is ridiculous.
If your players can get the ball to an area close to their intended target than that is good enough in a game situation which then makes kicking games focusing on exactly that a better option then unoppossed kicking to pre-determined targets.
I'm not saying to never do cone kicking drills but you can't expect everyone to hit every target and then get upset about it and a better way might be to split your group into groups who can perform adequate cone kicking drills and those who will benefit more from kicking games where any kick is a winner.
"...Players are more likely to discover movement/game solutions if they are scaled right...It’s the number of interactions, not necessarily touches, that is important...Condition games to create clear intentions and an atmosphere to encourage players to explore..."
I posted about this last week in how to break up your training to scale for players of multi abilities by splitting into high, medium and low level groups and then have them play against each other so almost everyone gets to practice close to their own individual challenge point and then everyone has the opportunity to enjoy and improve football, not just the best kids getting all the kicks and having all the fun while the others stand around, watch and then drop out altogether.
"...Analysis shows the most common interactions in Soccer are 1v1 (25%), 2v1, 1v2, 2v2, 3v2, 2v3, 3v3 (90%) so coaches need to develop scenarios to coordinate these numbers in training...Occurrence/affectiveness of these game problem solutions (capabilities) is a better measurement of player improvement so coaches need the ability to observe/analyse these small numbered interactions as well as 11v11..."
Again covered last week where splitting into 3 groups means less players per group and thus more interactions per player.
"...Provide less verbal information as it can distance players from what happens in the match so it should be used more to guide interactions...Players need to be attuned to opposition but don’t train that way...The best players read the opposition..."
Coaches need to stop yelling from the sidelines during games, and training.
I saw a junior football coach yelling at his player from about 75m away to have a shot at go but to also concentrate, repeating each phrase at least twice in 5 - 6secs.
1 - They can't hear you.
2 - If they can hear you them a barrage of instructions severely hinders their own decision making so let them decide for themselves and if it's, wrong it's wrong, but also a learning opportunity.
3 - Again if they can hear you then how can they concentrate on kicking the goal when you're yelling at them?
What it all gets back to is your own coaching during training and you can't instruct things during games that you haven't even mentioned at training once throughout the season.
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