Self-reflection. How often do you?

Hi everyone, thanks for joining me on another issue! The titles refer to two of the top ten this week. How good are you at Self-reflection? and how good are you at teaching your players about it. I honestly believe it’s one of the most powerful tools we can give our players when done correctly. The ability to be able to objectively look back on where you are in comparison to where you want to go, make adjustments, and draw on the impact everything has made on you. Definitely something to research if you haven’t already which you can start to do with the articles coming up. Right on to the top ten

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Top Ten of the Week

1. I like this from Dan Abrahams. Would you do this with your team? Self-reflection can be the most powerful tool you can give someone. Bringing together your team to know what someone's weaknesses are and how to cover for them is also something I would love to try and see if my players could incorporate into their game.

   Daniel Abrahams @DanAbrahams77

   Here's a crazy idea: Every footballer in your team shares one thing that hinders them when they play. The team as a whole decide how they're gonna help each other to deal with those hindrances. You, as a group, put this first in your next game Leadership...Teamship!

2. Some personal self-reflection for you this time. I really like the fourth picture of being able to write down areas of your life like themes and what you would like to achieve. This then allows you to look at the smaller steps needed to achieve them. If you get this down on paper then it will allow you to see the massive growth you've made during the year, even if you didn't achieve your overall growth, but also allow you to know where you are going. Countless studies have shown writing down goals helps you to achieve more than just thinking them.

   Anne-Laure Le Cunff @anthilemoon

   A few slides from yesterday's annual review workshop - recording available in the @ness_labs community library if you want to do it in your own time 🥰

   

   

   

   

3. Interesting question from Todd Beane. Do your sessions demand thinking and creating solutions from players. Have you tried to implement some more challenging sessions in the warm-up? Something to think about

   Todd Beane @_ToddBeane

   QUESTION. Are you implementing cognitive training or compliance training? In the first, athletes think; in the second, athletes obey. CONSIDER: How many valuable minutes per training are you sacrificing in the name of “warm-up” or “fitness” or “skill drills”??? #TOVO

   

4. Something to think about here from Lauren Johnson. When was the last time you left your comfort zone.

   Lauren Johnson @_laurenjohnson_

   Comfort: - ⬇️ urgency - limits growth - reinforces autopilot - gives us a false sense of accomplishment Discomfort: - ⬆️ urgency - expands comfort zone - fosters critical thinking - humbles ‼️Reminder: comfort isn’t always good and discomfort isn’t always bad.

5. This is less about the link to the sessions but more about what Jose Mourinho is saying. Do you give our players enough room to make decisions, are your sessions set up so they're consistently having to make them like they would in a game?

   Keepitonthedeck @Keepitonthedeck

   "𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐄𝐑 𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑" - 𝐉𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐨 𝟕𝟎 𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. DOWNLOAD ⬇ ⬇ keepitonthedeck.com/downloads/the-…

   

6. This model from the team at connected coaches will help you in your session planning. I like the simplicity it gives that also allows you to be adaptable if numbers aren't what you expected or key people don't turn up.

   ConnectedCoaches @connected_coach

   Our article contains practical measures to help you on your return to coaching Learn how to use the STEP Model alongside the Plan, Do, Review process to ⏫ your confidence & adaptability skills so you can create safe, engaging socially distanced sessions bit.ly/2OIoHkd

   

7. This study looked into the effects of small-sided games and some of the normal constraints within it. key takeaways. when included outside players, there was less dribbling. Also 4v4 +2 players inside and 2 players outside had less intensity (according to heart rate) than 4v4 and 4v4 with two players inside the zone.

   footballscience @MCRumpf

   Heart rate, technical performance, and session-RPE in elite youth soccer small-sided games played with wildcard players #footballresearch #footballscience #footballspecificinfographics

   

8. I know it can be hard to know if you should use cycles (length of time spent on a subject) and the amount of time spent on it. Here a blog from Hamish Munro outlines some things to think about.

   Mladen Jovanović @Physical_Prep

   Hamish’s presentation from 2016 showed how he approaches microcycle planning in soccer. Now two years later, Hamish has upgraded his presentation and wrote an excellent article that you can read on our blog. tinyurl.com/y4azg3ou

   

9. Struggle to get your players to know when's the right time to run with the ball, how to utilise this effectively? this article from Graeme Carrick from the FA will give you some insight into a key part of the game.

   FA Learning @FALearning

   𝙏𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙠𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 🔥 @GraemeCarrick looks at how you can improve your players' ability to move forward with the ball ⏩⚽ 👇

10. Always nice to get some book recommendations. How many of these ten have you read? Are there any more that you would recommend?

    Paul Kilgannon @carver_coaching

    Nice for the book to feature here... Many thanks to @KieranShannon7 for the support 🙏 Viva la revolution! irishexaminer.com/sport/otherspo…

    

    irishexaminer.com10 sports books to read this Christmas: Humble beginnings, champagne lifestyles, and painful endingsFrom the mainstream to the margins, from award-winners to sleeper hits, our writers select 10 sports books to read from the 2020 crop

That’s it for this week. Happy Holidays to all (Have a great Christmas if you celebrate it like me). The next newsletter will be out a little late than usual due to Christmas so it should hit your inbox on the 28th. If you know anyone who is a coach, thinking of becoming a coach or like this type of content then please forward using the share buttons below :-)