Saturday, December 19, 2009

The Arsenal Way confirms the importance of Technical Training and Character


The Daily Mail newspaper ran some great articles this week on the Arsenal Academy system in England. During Arsene Wenger's time at the club Arsenal has established themselves as a leader in youth development. Rather than spend $60 million dollars on players, like Manchester United and Manchester City, the club has increasingly developed its own players. The advantage of this model is that the players have a greater loyalty and affiliation to the club and tend to stay longer. In addition, they can be schooled from a very early age top play "The Arsenal Way". Not all the Arsenal youth players have or will graduate to the first team but as mentioned in the article, they will have a great chance at becoming professional players, at some level.


From the Brazilian Soccer Schools perspective, the article highlighted many of the ideas that Simon Clifford has been preaching for 12 years now. For players to become successful in the game, they must be practicing more and more with the ball. Steve Bould the Arsenal youth team coach highlighted again that young English players are still behind young European players in terms of weekly training time..." "Its hard because I look at Spain, France or Holland and the kids are training four, five or six times per week at young ages at 15 we get ours three times a week (which includes a game) at the very most"

Consider now the young players in Canada, who may only train once or twice a week...at a low tempo, without a significant technical component and being taught by volunteer coaching staff who have not had the opportunity to spend time learning the game and what is best in terms of youth development. Therefore, when the players do train they may not be spending time on the correct training activities.
Steve Bould, the Arsenal coach, also highlighted an important component of youth development...character! For players to play at a higher level, they must learn how to overcome adversity and develop skills to overcome "problems". Daniel Coyle also highlighted this as an important aspect of a child's development in his book "The Talent Code". The struggle to master a new skill or to work out how to receive more touches in small sided games against older or more experienced players is a very important part of development.


No player will be able to instantly juggle the ball 300 times in succession without constant practice. It is the young players that keep practicing and have the belief in themselves that they can achieve a higher level of play....despite any obstacles or setbacks...who will ultimately be successful. That player may not necessarily be the best player today, they may have been told by a Rep coach that they are too small or not aggressive enough. If they keep working on their technical ability and have the determination and passion for the game to be successful...then these types of players will be our best players in future years.

If the young Brazilian players are spending 12-15 hours a week working on their ball skills and the young European players are training five or six times each week...Canada must adopt the same philosophy towards technical development if we wish to be truly successful in soccer.
I was asked this week when Canada would have a good national team. It is a question that I get asked very often. My answer was the same as always....2030! The majority of our Brazilian Soccer Schools players will be between 25-30 by then!

Read More on Arsenal's Youth Academy System


Tuesday, December 8, 2009

How are talented young soccer players developed?








During my 15 year coaching career the question that I am most commonly asked is "how are talented young soccer players developed?" "What is the secret?".

The pursuit of this answer drives many of us on and the quest has taken me to Crewe Alexandra Football club in England, discussions with top youth and professional coaches throughout the world and several hours of coaching education in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.


My work during the last 12 months, I believe, has taken me closer to the answer than ever before. In November 2008, I offered my first Brazilian Soccer Schools (BSS) class in Burlington, Ontario. The BSS syllabus covers every area of football and whilst our coaching is by no means exclusively Brazilian there are 4 key aspects that have their origins in Brazil:

  • Futebol de Salão
  • Emphasis on Individual Skills
  • Increased time training
  • Physical Training  
The program has been developed by Simon Clifford. In 1996, Simon travelled to Brazil, as a primary teacher, to witness firsthand the way in which this country systematically produces the world's most talented soccer players. Revitalised by his discoveries, he soon founded the first Brazilian Soccer School in Leeds, and the organisation soon spread like wildfire across the United Kingdom. There are now over 700 schools worldwide, coaching 1 million children in 61 countries, and the reason is as follows; Brazilian Soccer Schools’ Futebol de Salão methods dramatically improve the technical proficiency, physiology and psychology of a footballer.


Daniel Coyle, author of the Talent Code, reviewed Simon's methods and concluded that young Brazilian players are the most skilful because ".....they’ve been practicing that creativity for their entire lives." On his blog, Daniel illustrates how the game of futbol de salao has helped create one of the world’s greatest players: during the last 10 years - Ronaldinho of Brazil. The early part of the video illustrates Ronaldino's close control, vision and anticipation of the play.



The video then takes us back to where it all began for young Brazilian players like Ronaldino - the futbol de salao court. Their skills were developed in this environment and their creativity was nurtured and developed. They were limited only by the extent of their own imaginations. A far cry from the normal development path of young Canadian players.....who are often handed an extra-small size shirt at aged 2, in U3 house-leagues, and instructed to go and play! When they get older we then pack the sidelines....and instruct them to "take a big kick!"


In truth we are not helping our younger players. We are not providing them with an environment that they can succeed in at aged 2. They should we working 1:1 with their parents at that age and spending time getting used to different parts of the foot. From there, they should be spending a significant amount of time each week with the ball on an individual basis - 20 hours a week if they wish to match the experience of young Brazilian players. Success and measurements should be based on their number of consecutive juggles, the number of pele sprints they can perform in 30 seconds ...not how many trophies they have won!

We now have 100 players/week in our program....as Daniel Coyle stated in his best selling book "The Talent Code".....in reference to the work of Simon Clifford and Brazilian Soccer Schools.....more stars are on their way!

To learn more about our Brazilian Soccer Schools work in Canada, visit our website at www.icfds.com/burlington or visit the Brazilian Soccer Schools UTube Channel at www.youtube.com/user/BSSchannel

Daniel Coyle is the author of The Talent Code Journalist and New York Times bestselling author Daniel Coyle visited nine of the world’s greatest talent hotbeds — tiny places that produce huge amounts of talent, from a small music camp in upstate New York to an elementary school in California to the baseball fields of the Caribbean.

He found that there’s a pattern common to all of them — certain methods of training, motivation, and coaching. This pattern, which has to do with the fundamental mechanisms through which the brain acquires skill, gives us a new way to think about talent — as well as new tools with which we can unlock our own talents and those of our kids.

You can follow Daniel's work at http://thetalentcode.com/