Reflection on Selection...

Something was said to me today that got me thinking.

Getting some shopping after work, an acquaintance said; ‘He, (Southgate) needed to play his strongest side, fittest, hungriest, every time, what was he thinking?’. I found myself uttering a quick answer, a bit defensive, but it made us both think? ‘maybe the squads for the world cup should be just 14 then if that’s the case’. Was my tart answer.

After a pause, he said; what about overplaying, injuries, when we need replacements, yellow cards, knocks, that’s rubbish! My next question then was; (and I realise I was still being facetious to a point), when would you play the replacements then? Quarter final? Semi? First knock out?

‘NAA, don’t be silly, we only use them when the first choices are fatigued, or injured’.

It occurred to me then, some people for the best of intentions want us to win, but fail to see the bigger picture; In my opinion, Trippier, Henderson, Stones (amongst others) Kane included have done well, people simply believe that they should be away from home, in a pressure cooker, play three tense games in an attempt to get out of the group, ‘’keep momentum’’, win a round of sixteen game, a quarter final, a semi final and be ‘’hungry’’ for the final, Did anyone else see a few on the bench, strapped, using Ice, & rehydrating, stretching?

If an Eric Dier came out in the semi for his first game after a month of no tournament football, make a clumsy tackle for a penalty, I assume for some it would be ‘’I never rated him any way’’…

As an esteemed colleague said to me recently, ‘football is about seeing the bigger picture, compromise and planning for what you want to achieve and by understanding the players in front of you’. The landscape changes, you need to look after those in your charge and in a world cup, the opportunities for all your troops to enter the gladiators arena are few & far between.

In my opinion, If we fail to beat a good Columbia side next Tuesday, having giving players a rest, and others a chance against Belgium it will not have lost us the game. However, if we do perform, and move forward, we will be in a much better place and fresher for it. 

Decision Making - A reflection..

Decision Making - A reflection..

On a number of occasions over recent weeks I have heard the term ‘Decision Making’ used by coaches, it seems to be much more prevalent in conversations & feature much more now in terms of 'coach speak'. You hear it used in sessions, coach education & a variety of informal learning environments.

Delivering practices that allow players to develop their ‘Decision Making’ skills & thought processes are widely accepted as a positive link to building cognitive, creative players.

I recently witnessed a session with a group of under 13's. Positively, the session had been active, fun, directional and game related. Therefore it had a huge amount of positives. However, during a brief chat (& in praising) the coach after, it transpired that along with his plan of working on switching play, he wanted to also develop the players ‘decision making’ for match days in other areas. 

As this was an informal observation & the first session I had seen nothing further was discussed. However, during a mentoring session some weeks later, I was fortunate to see the same team in a game situation. Although the team were enthusiastic, & enjoyed the game they lost narrowly. The coach remained positive:

Listening to the de-brief after: 

(Coach) Well played, I thought you did very well, however, what have we been working on recently? (Player) passing & Decision making (Coach) Good, & I really think we’re 

getting there, there were some great decisions made….  

(Player) But when do I know if what I did was the right thing, I wasn’t always sure?

An excellent reflection from the player I thought...

So, Question: how do we help the young player determine what a good decision is?

The right decision? The better decision? In other words, learn about ‘what are good decisions in context’? 

This surely must come down to the planning, interventions & the environment set by the coach. This coach is certainly on the right pathway..  If  we look for a definition on decision making, one is: 'The cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or course of action among alternative possibilities'. 'the belief’ I feel is really is important here for the players. This can be embedded with some powerful specific, individual praise.

To explain further: We should indeed deliver practices that are close to the game, where the ‘RANDOM’ & unexpected occur. But, for the players to learn what a ‘Good’ decision looks like, surely they must have some guidance on:

1) What we were looking to achieve in context

2) How we achieved it

3) Therefore, why the decision was a good one

A chance to review the outcome & what you the player 'believe' happened?

(A chance for confirmation & reflection)

The skill will come in letting the players play the game, enjoy the game, experiment within the game but being mindful of what the process is and what they are trying to achieve. Why this happened & why this didn’t happen. In other words, we must make mistakes in order to log learning but we must also know ‘why’ a chosen course of action was a ‘good course of action’ a successful course of action. 

Some academic research talks of ‘Decision Making’ as: 

Decision making follows perception & precedes action. It is vital that this takes place for a skilled performance. 

Decision Making (A Definition):- The cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or course of action among alternative possibilities.

Perception (A Definition):- The organisation, identification and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent & understand the environment.

There are a number of definitions & theories, however the common ground that makes the subject so important in the development of our young players is that both perceptual skills & decision making are learned and developed through experience.

Scan, look, notice, adjust, learn. Decide.

‘Doing the right thing at the right time’ is another statement often used, but if we take the simple theory that our decision making is improved via real experiences, being placed in an environment where we are encouraged to ‘TRY’ to ‘LEARN’ to ‘HONE’ and develop this then surely the way our practices are delivered is vital in developing these skills.

In summary, players will need to know the context to be able to understand what is the ‘preferred course of action & Outcome'.

Yes we need the ball rolling but we also need to remember, ‘why and what we are looking to achieve'..