GAA Coaching

[screenexile]

Just a great article from Stevie McDonnell in his column today. Insightful, knowledgable and useful it's as good a column I've read this long time!

http://www.gaa.ie/gaa-news-and-videos/daily-news/2/1508120908-point-taken-steven-mcdonnell-on-football/

[AZOffaly]

I agree with most of that article. It's vital that the coach understands WHY the drill is being done, and that the players understand how it is supposed to help them in a game, and what is being worked on.

Secondly I really agree with COACHING as opposed to running drills. I've seen several coaches just simply picking drills, setting them out and letting them run with no intervention. This is where the skills or attribute has to be coached. The old IDEA concept is important here. Introduce, Demonstrate, Execute, Attend. With Attend being very important.

A good article. The one thing I didn't like is the remark about cones or space markers. It's cliched to sneer at coaches who put out cones, as if they are just bluffing. But the cones are not important, they are just markers to help the drill run smoothly. As long as the coach does most of the rest of what Stevie says, then a hundred cones is not an issue.

[brokencrossbar1]

Just a great article from Stevie McDonnell in his column today. Insightful, knowledgable and useful it's as good a column I've read this long time!

http://www.gaa.ie/gaa-news-and-videos/daily-news/2/1508120908-point-taken-steven-mcdonnell-on-football/

He must have been watching some of my training sessions to see the right way to do it

[Sportacus]

Could I have some views on Go Games u-8 and u-10. In matches we pick a stronger team and a weaker team, as do the opposition.  But it's been divisive with kids and parents catching on that there's a sort of 1st team and some have been annoyed if they aren't on it.  Plus the weaker team is left very weak - they would need a couple of the stronger players to bring the wee ones into it.  Anyone any experience / advice on this?  My feeling is to change it and pick 2 even teams, the kids should all be in it together and it's not supposed to be competitive anyway.

[Zulu]

An interesting and difficulty situation. A lot of paediatric development experts argue you should mix the teams as this will bring on the weaker players and this may well be true but there are practical issues too. We tend to separate players by ability when playing blitzes so that kids get to play against other kids of similar ability and by and large the kids are fine with this. However, we also use mixed ability teams for some tournaments and I think we'll try to do more of this in the future.

Like everything I think a mix of both should be used in both training games and and 'competitive' games. This gives the kids a chance to play at their own current level but also to play with and against kids of various abilities. If your current strategy is causing problems then I'd certainly change it a bit as few clubs can afford to lose players and no club should be happy to do so.

[naka]

Could I have some views on Go Games u-8 and u-10. In matches we pick a stronger team and a weaker team, as do the opposition.  But it's been divisive with kids and parents catching on that there's a sort of 1st team and some have been annoyed if they aren't on it.  Plus the weaker team is left very weak - they would need a couple of the stronger players to bring the wee ones into it.  Anyone any experience / advice on this?  My feeling is to change it and pick 2 even teams, the kids should all be in it together and it's not supposed to be competitive anyway.

i mix both teams up so each has a range of abilities because at that stage it should not be about winning but enjoyment( altho tell that to parents) i also encourage the stronger guys only to hold the ball for 5 seconds tops so that they have to pass
from my own experience i played with county footballers who only grasped playing at say 16/17
people develop at different times and with small clubs it is better to keep everyone involved rather than lose kids who see themselves as weak
for myself my son is a young 9 and would be weak but i can see him developing and in his own wee mind  as we send out evenly matched teams to go games he  is more than happy to go because he is not in the reserves

[ballymac]

In regard to go games and selecting an 'A' and 'B' team, I feel that you should put stronger players in one team rather than mixing them. The whole concept of go games and two touch football is to allow weaker players to get more touches. I also agree with the idea that weaker players will develop when playing against stronger player, but that is not the case with all players. There is also a chance of frustrating better players who will not want to play in a weaker team or will become arrogant and show off.There are certain players who are not going to make it. Also tell parents if they are not happy with their son/daughter playing on the b team to get some extra training done at home.
My club run very successful tournaments at u 8 u 10 and u 12 level and the simple reason why they are successful is because we play 'A' and 'B' teams and the 'b' team score counts as we work on an aggregate score basis. This allows the so called weaker team to count and feel that they have contributed. Also it allows up to 24 kids to compete per club.

My only gripe with the Go Games is the fact that it gives parents the impression that their child will get to play football every week, as some weeks you may have a challenge match or go to a tournament. This came to light in our club a few years ago when a parent complained about their son travelling to a tournament with his team and never got a game. Turns out it was an u10 tournament played on an 11 a side basis and this child was just too old to play at u8 level and was a 'weaker' player. The coach had 22 players and couldn't get them all on as he had to select a panel of 15 players, tournament rules.

Regarding the weaker team players, they should also receive different training, because if they are at different levels on the field of play then they are at different levels of skills development. If you can manage to have a skills assessment done at the start of the year then middle and at end of year you can see how players are developing, plus a weaker player can have a 'bigger' improvement than a stronger player and this gives him encouragement. e.g. solo test weak player scores 5 strong player scores 9, after training etc end of year scores weak player 9 strong player 10. The weak player can see how he is developing.

[AZOffaly]

I would normally mix the kids, but one thing I would throw into the equation is the 'zone' concept. If I have two teams of 6 or 7 year olds, I will divide the pitch into 3 zones, (backs, midfield, forwards) and the players can only stay in their designated zones.

I would then endeavour to have the weaker lads in the same zones, or in zones with fellas slightly stronger than them. The stronger lads in their own zones etc.

I wouldn't do this all the time, but this approach, in my experience, is a good compromise

Occasionally I will do a strong and weak team, but it's not my favourite approach.

[brokencrossbar1]

The 'zone' concept is not just something to be employed at underage level. One problem I have seen many times over is how the team loses its shape at senior level. What I have done is play the zonal system where all backs and forwards must play their zone, bar 1 on each side. They are floating players and can drift into the MF zone. MFs can go anywhere. The emphasis is to get players, particularly forwards, to move into the right areas. With solo restrictions it also encourage them to accurately kick the ball.

[AZOffaly]

Nice one BCB, yes, it can work well at adult level too for differing reasons, as you've outlined.

[Sportacus]

Thanks lads.  The logical thing for us is to try it differently next year - mixing teams.  We don't have big numbers and the weaker team is getting annihilated most weeks which couldn't be helping them.  Bringing in a couple of players from the stronger team would make a difference - robbing Peter to pay Paul I know, but we have to try something.   

[AZOffaly]

Hi Sportacus,

In my opinion, while winning games is good, and the kids like the competitive element, no doubt about it, I see my job as a kids underage coach is to develop all the kids you coach as much as possible, and to make sure you retain as many as you can as well. Prime importance is on instilling the basic skills in all the kids, recognising that some will always be better than others.

If you think that your weaker players will improve by having a sprinkling of stronger players with them, or against them, then go for it. You have to develop the weak lads and the strong lads. If you deliver a batch of hurlers or footballers to the under 12s, with a mastery of the basic skills, then no one will care if Ballygohome beat them in a blitz because you played a mixed team.

[ck]

My own coaching philosophy would be to break a game down into passages and work on those passages through made up drills. "Drills" in the traditional sense only offer ball handling advantages therefore for me they are only used in warm ups.
Weak coaches will copy drills and make a session look visually appealing. Strong coaches are those who actually coach players to play in a specific way and make them better and more confident players in the process. Strong coaches will care less how a session looks.

[small white mayoman]

Could I have some views on Go Games u-8 and u-10. In matches we pick a stronger team and a weaker team, as do the opposition.  But it's been divisive with kids and parents catching on that there's a sort of 1st team and some have been annoyed if they aren't on it.  Plus the weaker team is left very weak - they would need a couple of the stronger players to bring the wee ones into it.  Anyone any experience / advice on this?  My feeling is to change it and pick 2 even teams, the kids should all be in it together and it's not supposed to be competitive anyway.

At the moment we play a Strong and Weak team when we play other teams . What we have noticed is the the lads in the "weaker team" have come in in leaps and bounds they have got used to playing with each other and since they started this year the improvement is there to be seen. I don't think the same improvement would have been made if we were to mix the teams at the start of the year  because if we were to the stronger lads in both teams would be on the ball more.

[AZOffaly]

Could I have some views on Go Games u-8 and u-10. In matches we pick a stronger team and a weaker team, as do the opposition.  But it's been divisive with kids and parents catching on that there's a sort of 1st team and some have been annoyed if they aren't on it.  Plus the weaker team is left very weak - they would need a couple of the stronger players to bring the wee ones into it.  Anyone any experience / advice on this?  My feeling is to change it and pick 2 even teams, the kids should all be in it together and it's not supposed to be competitive anyway.

At the moment we play a Strong and Weak team when we play other teams . What we have noticed is the the lads in the "weaker team" have come in in leaps and bounds they have got used to playing with each other and since they started this year the improvement is there to be seen. I don't think the same improvement would have been made if we were to mix the teams at the start of the year  because if we were to the stronger lads in both teams would be on the ball more.

Hence the 'zones'.