Want more ideas on how to reward your teams? An informative break down of personal metrics
Boys U10-12 individual metrics
Hi everyone,
In my previous post, we discussed a number of attainable collective metrics – team passing, Move of the Day & ‘Around the Horn’, among others – and their implementation throughout a 30-contact-hour outdoor season in BC’s Central Okanagan region in the spring and fall of 2014. While the team results of coaching within the Play Better framework were striking, Play Better allows coaches to pursue individual player progress as well. That is where our attention now turns to.
Daunting performance bandwidth
Where numbers in an urban setting are larger, coaches often have the luxury of expecting that all their players will be within a certain performance bandwidth, especially those at higher performance levels. Needless to say, this makes life a whole lot easier from a coaching perspective: the players are motivated and well-adjusted, their basic skills are good, etc. But while this is often assumed in many coaching courses & drills, it does not necessarily hold true for those at the bottom of the developmental pyramid in the same regions or in less populated areas. And this was certainly the case with our team this past season. So much so that I feared that we would be hammered week in and week out – with all the consequences thereof both on and off the field. Faced with this possibility, I soon wrote to the SA asking for (and getting the assurance of) support in the event things went south for us…
Play Better: the perfect tonic
It soon became evident, however, that Play Better acts as the perfect tonic for issues like this. The reason is that Play Better provides the framework within which two key conditions for long-term player development across any spectrum can be met in the near to medium term: (i) a healthy incentive for individual player development and (ii) a proper framework within which players can develop without the negative influence of the over-invested coach and/or parent.
The fact that our passing philosophy and Moves of the Day on the collective side of the equation had started to take root by the end of the spring meant that we were ready to release our boys to be creative and have fun with the MotDs in the fall. The advantage to doing so was that when our team was unable for whatever reason to reach its weekly passing target, the players were still able to earn ‘points’ for our charity by executing a MotD in the right place at the right time. Moreover, having used this metric in futsal for several years already, I knew that the players naturally take over from the coaches in encouraging one another. Believe me: peer-based encouragement does wonders for long-term player development!
Steady progression with in-game tasks
With this mind-set established by September, we then slowly ratcheted up the individual demands. For instance, the breakdown of in-game tasks for our first game in the fall was pretty basic:
Group 1 (three players) – switch the play three times per half
Group 2 (three players) – do not let the ball bounce
Group 3 (three players) – no diving in
Group 4 (two players) – touch-tight defending
Group 5 (two players) – attempt 10 passes before turning to shoot on net
Only six weeks later, however, the tailored in-game tasks had expanded to reflect a more sophisticated understanding of the game:
| Position |
individual metrics |
| Holding MF |
3 x Around the Horn/3 good passes back to ‘keeper per half/overlap |
| Box-to-box MF/Holding MF |
3 x Around the Horn/2 shots or crosses per half |
| Outside FB |
3 x Around the Horn/3 good passes back to ‘keeper per half/overlap |
| Player 4 |
(emergency loan to shorthanded team) |
| Striker |
3 good passes out wide & run diagonal/shoot or look for rebound |
| Player 6 |
(injured) |
| Outside MF |
3 good passes per half |
| Striker |
3 good passes out wide & run diagonal/shoot or look for rebound |
| Outside MF + ’Keeper |
3 x Around the Horn/2 shots or crosses per half |
| Outside MF + ’Keeper |
5 good passes per half |
| Outside FB/Holding MF |
3 x Around the Horn/3 good passes back to ‘keeper per half/overlap |
| Outside MF |
3 good passes per half |
| Outside FB |
3 x Around the Horn/3 good passes back to ‘keeper per half/overlap |
Additionally, the boys also had two other team rules imposed on them: everyone had to (i) pass the ball 10 times before taking a shot on net & (ii) pass our way to Zone 14 to create a scoring opportunity. Together with the collective metrics, all this made for an increasingly eye-pleasing brand of footie!
To be fair, the boys were not able to execute all of these individual tasks perfectly. Indeed, the way some of our players were wired made that expectation wholly impossible. But even the weaker players started to get it at their individual levels. The fact is that our experiment with Play Better this past season proved that players could become aware of these ‘games within the game’ and their development simply benefited as a result. In providing the framework for this kind of mental development, Play Better made it possible to go out, have fun and just play better.
Cheers,
R.
