HOW DO MELBOURNE DO IT?

2 weekends ago after Melbourne easily dispatched of the Western Bulldogs, Christian Petraka was very honest in what they wanted to do in a post game interview with Channel 7:

The biggest points I noted were:

1 - "...we wanted to trust the tackler in 1v2's" meaning let's not have other players rush in to assist in tight, trusting the single Melbourne player there to get the ball, make the tackle or put huge pressure on whatever the disposal the opposition gets out of there.

2 - "...we wanted to cover the outlets..." meaning they will allow a pressured disposal coming out of that 1v2 because in the time the single Melbourne player has provided by applying huge pressure, they have been able to set up in front of the ball, limiting damaging post clearance possessions for the Bulldogs, who have made a mockery of teams via this so far in 2021. It's very hard to cut off the ball on the inside and the outside at the same time, and it's very demanding and not sustainable for an entire game so you gotta give up something and for the Dees, it's that initial possession if need be, and they're sitting pretty on top of the ladder because of it.

3 - "...hold corridor..." of which Fox Footy have highlighted a bunch of times so far this year and I saw it first hand against my Swannies when I went and watched the game live 4 - 5 weeks ago. We push as much as possible to go through the corridor but for 2 quarters we either didn't want to try or we literally couldn't, although we were able to break free a bit more in the final quarter but it was to late. By setting up in the corridor and only giving wide options to the opposition, the Dees don't work as hard defensively and conserve energy for later in the game (best 2nd half of the year so far as well I believe), there's nothing ultra attacking coming at them from the opposition so they are controlling everything that is happening even when they don't have the ball and like Richmond, they tease you to take easy options in the hope that they can then box you in a corner where you have to go down the line to not just to their outnumbered situation, but there 2 big intercept backline marking players in Lever and May.

4 - "...if we force them skinny then that's ok..." so if the opposition still manage to possess the ball while chipping into the Melbourne defensive press they were still happy as they still have the outlets covered, the opposition is working into little, if any, space for continuous possession football and at some point they will still probably have to kick long down the line to Lever and May.

5 - "...don't let then roll in..." meaning if they managed to possess the football then keep defensive numbers in the corridor so they can't roll in-board and open up the fat side of the ground.

It's important to remember that everything happening is not relying on any special individual talent, except maybe the intercept marking players which really works because of the outnumber they have when the ball is being kicked to them.

It's a system where everybody holds responsiblilty for keeping that system in check by applying pressure when they don't have the ball and holding defensive shape during opposition slow play, which occurs when great pressure is applied in the first place.

Simply cue changes from "make the tackle or else" to "hold the ball up for as long as possible" may be all it takes to be able to do this at any level of football because the player that goes for the hero tackle at 100 miles an hour but misses and then gets side stepped, breaks the defense down straight away but if he performs a mix of corraling and forward pressure at the same time, it might just enough give your team an extra 2- 3 seconds which is more than enough time for almost anyone to cover 20 - 25m.

Here's a video on what that might look like:

CONTRAST LEARNING 5/5

                                           

1. Simpler activities/games can serve to necessarily decrease the complexity/difficulty to enlighten situations/problems and guide decisions. Grouping players ensures you can meet most them where they are within training activities.
2. The decision of how you teach the game lies in putting your team in place to win the next game v developing smart players over the long term. Are you balancing both of these correctly?
3. Cognitivism and construictivism can satisfy the needs of learning in competition or academy-type training where cognitivsm features more directiveness from the coach. Constructivism is meant to be more beneficial for the individual but should also be relatively efficient as long as it’s harmonised in terms of the conditions/contents of the game.
4. In that sense coaches need to make clear what they want to achieve with their players and the interaction they want to add over the experience of the play itself. And as importantly, be clear with yourself so you're not aimlessly jumping from 1 to the other.
5. Coaches need to refrain from adapting prescriptive behaviour for the development of tactical behaviour even if it can look more efficient to correct actions or to prepare the team to perform. In fact, behaviour would not contribute to the development of full potential/adaptive play. Provide numerous scenarios/situations for your players to train in and at most, simply provide them an end result and let them self organise their own movements and behaviours around those constraints.
6. Players also need to develop key competencies, like creativity, in order to be resourceful in responding to specific situations of play. This is also reflected in being able to find solutions to problems subscribing to your game model/plan as much as performing disruptive solutions for the same principle. Allowing room for creativity in and around your preferred game model gives he most creative players an "out" when confronted with tough situations where instead of using excess psychological resources to find a solution around your  game model's contraints, players can use their own creativity instead at a far lesser cost as creativity is instinctive and is essentuially "thoughtless".
7. Approaches associated with interactionism (constructivism/ecological/socio-cultural), thus fit the needs to instill such autonomy in players as opposed to teaching with the aim to assimilate all solutions, drilling a player with a rich environmental process.

So there it is - 46 points and over 2000 words on contrast learning but if you're new to this type of coaching then give this as many re-reads as you need if you're feeling extrelmy motivated, give the actual review article a read.

As always let me know your questions on the socials. 

CONTRAST LEARNING 4/5

1. Players will respond differently to the conditions of play based on the complexity/difficulty and player competency. This higher degree of required cognitive activity can delay execution/impulses to play so a balanced proposition of new content will help players perform without suffering delays for extended period of time whilst learning. The reinvestment theory suggests that relatively automated motor processes can be disrupted if they are ran using consciously accessed, task-relevant declarative knowledge to control the mechanics of the movements online, and it also argues that the propensity for consciousness to control movements online is a function of individual personality differences, specific contexts and a broad range of contingent events that can be psychological, physical, environmental or even mechanical. Player decision making is based on the player competency so different players will make better/faster decisions in the same environment than others - so is breaking up large groups more than we currently do be a good move or not? You don't wanrt to make a situation so hard for players that they overthink everyhting, including basic/automatic functions, as performance on even those most basic skills can decrease dramatically (the yips!)
2. Approaches to teaching must be consistent with the capabilities of the individual to receive new content of the game, learn it, integrate it into their own play and than perform it under pressure. Pressure can be introduced by far more than physical means via modifying parameters of the activity/games to decrease/increase the number of possibilities in the play as well as the pressure of time and/or space in the play which would influence the complexity/difficulty of the game. This also puts players in the position to judge the best oppurtunities in the moment of the game and increase the speed of execution of their actions obce they identify them. How can you intorduce pressure to your activities tactically, technically and/or psychologically?
3. The number of players/targets reflect the quantity of possible opportuinities of actions that can be explored, even though they will depend on the perceived and than processed information that is used to make decisions in situations of play and the more information there is, the more complex the situations of play (problems to solve) can become and on top of this, different types of targets and other rules can be applied to also influence decision making and the response to situations. Your bottom end reserves players don't see what you're top end senior players see and studies have shown that decision making can be influenced by means other than physical game play so how can you help bridge that gap?  
4. As learning players are facing new content in both technical and tactical aspects at the same time, they will 1^st need exercises that balance both contents (technical/tactical) since they will likely not be able to perform all demands when required so there is an advantage to planning back and forth between less complex and difficult situations along the learning phase, especially for exercises dedicated to content of the game. Try levelling up your activities so have a level 1 for your lower tier players which is the activity at it's most basic and maybe 1 - 2 layers on top of that then a level 2 activity of the same game content for your upper tier players which might be more situational/scensario based activities and allow the mid tier players to swing from 1 to the other as they build/lose confidence, have/don't have success. 

CONTRAST LEARNING 3/5

                                                 

1. Those who have played a lot of "street ball" in tight spaces won’t have the tactical knowledge to receive passes outside of those tight area’s although they will excel at keeping the ball for themselves in those tight spaces. So they’ll succeed for themselves but not the team and they need to break the habit of calling for the ball so close to the ball carrier. The opposite of this, being able to position yourself to get the ball on outside, but not the inside, also holds true.
2. The initial player above would benefit from proposing an option of passing from a longer distance to create space, specifically staying wide/deep to open the ground to spread the opposition defense and decrease density around the ball, of which the player will need to develop new competencies to carry these out. Design your activities to provide a variety of problems for your players to solve while maintaining a focus of attention.
3. Changes in habits like this must occur in the action by implicit learning or by repeating the situation without repeating the same action and if this fails then make the situation smaller and more specific via a small sided game with constraints that persuade the player not to perform the usual actions they do. 
4. Start with a few rules and use more as they see success, with the success part being crucial to boost the player  psychologically as they shift to harder scenarios.
5. A typical behaviourist approach in this situation would have the player aim to perform the prescribed actions or they will suffer a negative consequence, so they’d perform the successful actions "under duress" and possibly be successful but then fall back into old habits later as it isn't yet an autonomous action. Provide time over multiple sessions to reach this point, 1 exposure to a situation doesn't incur learning for when it happens in  a game.
6. The objective should rather be to make them judge when they should perform such a movement as opposed to simply rehearsing an instructed movement off the ball. Game Intelligence!
7. Behaviourism might seem simplier and thereby more approachable but it still leads to more limits than benefits in the long term. Are you training for development or training for success?
8. The needs of learning particular contents, like getting out the back of the defense in footy, the characteristics of that action and the context in which it is inserted, altogether create a more constructivist approach and questioning players is key to gathering them in a common, shared understanding of the play and resulting roles in the organisation of the team. Game Model!
9. Make players experience the problem so that lessons/training become significant/representative to them and it can help build their own knowledge around the specific aimed content. This also allows them to learn where such knowledge would embed itself within the the game and the representation of the play that will help them recognise and solve situational problems when they arise later in games.
10. Constructivism is capable of guiding these contextualised lessons and enlighten important options when they occur in the play, and such guiding should consist of emphasising the pre-objectives and objectives to reach (get numbers to the contest and press up forward defensively, make them turn the ball over and have numbers to transiton forward).
11. Reminding players of the objectives can redirect intention of their actions without prescribing/teaching pre-objectives which help players create the conditions needed to execute the aimed actions without actually instructing them.

CONTRAST LEARNING PART 2/5

                                           

1. The development of shared/complementary knowledge (mental models) allows team members to do the right thing (know-what) at the right time (know-when) and for the right reason (know-why). Which of these do cone to cone drills focus on ya reckon?
2. Game situations differ all the time and decision making in context of play is highly constrained by time more than anything else. Does your training reflect this?
3. Players with more knowledge are using less cognitive effort to make their decisions and are also better placed to learn new things through the game, meaning their ability to make better decisions also helps their ability to accumulate new knowledge and that helps them play better. Is all training created equal and does this entice you to maybe break up into training groups?
4. In team sport players are required to manage 2 fonts of information at the same time – the coaches instructions and the play in front of them -  which may help self-organisation and to co-adapt to perform together in play, but all this information processing occurs too slowly to get away with in games. How much information are you giving players to try and decipher during training and does the activity design fot their capabilities?
5. Tactical decisions are cognition rich as they embody content such as intentions, perceptions and judgement.
6. To be consequent to the particularities of decision making in the context of play, actions in that context must be explored featuring a minimal complexity from early stages of learning, which will help players insert their actions in the play even if they don’t know how to do them yet. Different players, depending on where they are currently situated in the game intelligence continuum, will perform different acts within the same drill regardless of if you want them to or not (don't run there, run here!).
7. Context fulfills an important role as it defines whether the player can afford to perform in the specific context of play given their competencies and not only does the game itself shape the way players decide in the play, but it also conditions how they learn to play, and how they behave in a response to new situations.
8. Providing situations of play that will offer the right opportunities for the right content is a prerequisite of learning, even before teaching, and these conditions will also favour learning as it emphasises content although this context alone will not make learning automatic as the player will still have to challenge their skills to learn new contents. Things will look messy before they look pretty, if they even reach that point.
9. To transfer learnings to actions mainly depends on the actual opportunities arising in play and under inappropriate conditions of play players confronted with the obligation to deliver an immediate/efficient outcome in the play, will limit themselves to actions that can be judged as safe but not aligned with the content to learn and they’ll fail to explore new solutions and thus fail to learn new content. Provide psychological safety for all training activities and games.
10. For small sided games, in addition to coherent conditions, the teaching approach should emphasise that the lessons that have to be pulled out of the play from the situations/problems will help the player take ownership of the content that can help them make better decisions.
11. Games should be designed which prevents the excess of information that comes from the coach (too many triggers).
12. Be sure to add reviewing type activities like questioning/thinking exercises to help construct knowledge and are important to learn/perform new content. Don't be in a rush to get through this bit either not thinking you're being effective because there isn't any percieved "work" being performed.

CONTRAST LEARNING PART 1/5

                                           

I put this review article in my files not long ago and finally made my way to it late last week but failed to realise that when copied into my files it was 30 pages long and suffiuce to say, it was a very dense read and took me many goes to finally get though it while summarising it with my own notes.

I was finally able to dot point the 30 pages down into 6 and I'll break that into 5 parts for you starting today.

Have a pen and paper handy as you go through the 5 parts to jot down any similarities you have within your own training and also things you could change and/or improve upon.

1. Behaviourism is your step by step approach (ball grip, to ball drop, to foot contact when teaching kicking for instance).
2. Constructivisim is the development of skills via game play only.
3. The middle option is cognitivism which is an approach in teaching consisting of instilling behaviours under control but features an active learning/processing of the information, to assimilate knowledge.
4. It bids on the changes in the knowledge beforehand which requires a highly demanding mental activity, especially for memory, because the knowledge has to align with an external demand or guiding (you learn a stab kick in isolation but do you know when to use it during a game and what that affordance looks like in real time?)
5. This aims the instructions, correction and/or information to emphasise the natural cues from the environment that reflect the objective information, but that cannot alone lead to learning to play (give someone a hammer and they'll try and hammer a solution for everything - Hulk Smash!)
6. From that point the player is already given more responsibility and autonomy in choosing what to do during the play when using cognitivisim compared to behaviourism, but still features control over the action which is similar to behaviourism (drill design around the capabilities of the player allowing them to search for their own solution based on what they currently have in their own tool box).
7. Behaviourism and cognitivism are both considered to articulate objective knowledge but only cognitivism and constructivism are recognised as interactionist approaches, since the are inherently conducted within the context of play, so these 2 approaches reflect the conditions for the learners to reach their potential in relation to their autonomy in reading the play and making decisions.
8. Both approaches show a greater applicability to the play at the expense of behaviourism with constructivism being more relevant to the need of building competencies for autonomy.
9. Constant change in the environment of play needs specific characteristics in the knowledge of the game, the decisional process and the capabilities favouring the non-linear learning of the game (trying to solve the same problem  many different ways).
10. Tactical knowledge is the source of decision making and is developed through repeated experience of play and is not necessarily conscious or implicit.
11. Players are mostly able to learn new content if they can make sense of it because it is significant to them.
12. The association between new content and previous experience is capable of motivating the player to explore, fail and/or improve and this owned knowledge will emerge through the experience of favouring conditions of play and opportunites of the game, which will practically help players construct it and to review its content (knowledge gained via self exploration tends to stick far better and longer than spoon-fed knowledge).

MID-SEASON BREAK

It looks like we're in for an extended mid-season break, potentially until after the long weekend so let's all take some time to take stock and see how we can improve on our processes and thus results, so far this season.

As always ART has you covered so here's a quick list of our membership options and packages:

- Level 1 Membership (coaching/training articles)

- Level 2 Membership (coaching/training articles + training programs)

- Level 3 Membership (coaching/training articles + training programs + training drills)

- 20 Game Sense Drills Package

- Footy Focus Program (youth based program)

- Footy Club Bundle (80-odd pages consisting of 7 different program/content peices)

If you're familiar with my content than you'll be well aware it's not just the rehashed stuff you'll get from other places, it's an extremely holistic approach to coaching and player development 100% focuses on local and amatuer football clubs, qith their limited resources (time/equipment/man power) always at the forefront of every peice of content - such is my background.

There's a few other bits and peices on the membership options page above too!

Use this week or 2 away from football to get some extra work in to be fully preprared for when we return - I have about 220 pages of reading to go (down from 500!) so I'm-a continue getting through that and look forward to actually finishing it.