What does it mean to be skillful?

Hi Everyone, welcome to another edition of our Coach Insights newsletter! It’s been a really interesting few weeks getting back into football again, well here in the UK. Some sessions have been great but others haven’t gone as planned. Such is the life of a coach anyway… BT Sport has put out a great video of Wayne Rooney, Marcus Rashford, and Rio Ferdinand talking through their time in football, not that Marcus’ is any way finished yet, but always interesting to hear the perspective from players and there are always golden nuggets of information to takeaway. One of which is highlighted in the top ten. I also want to say a massive thank you to everyone who’s been passing on the newsletter, we’ve had a rush of new sign-ups, which is great, word of mouth is the strongest indicator that you’re doing something right so like I said a massive thank you. Right on to the Top Ten

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The Top Ten Of The Week

1. Last England player to win the FIFA best player of the year award. Yep Lucy Bronze, who happens to be one of the best RB in the world, giving some of her tips that have helped her become a skillful players

   https://thebootroom.thefa.com/resources/coaching/becoming-a-skilful-player-lucy-bronze

2. I've spoken about this before but, what is your definition of skill. I actually think it's vaguer than you realise. Most think of dribbling when it comes to skill but you can be skillful at many different aspects of the game. Here the FA outlines their main elements of skill. Body, Ball, decision making. Do you agree with those three or do you think there is more or less?

   https://thebootroom.thefa.com/resources/coaching/skill-what-does-it-actually-look-like

3. An interesting article looking into the most in-form striker of the last two or three years (I'm talking performing consistently and being fit consistently) something to keep in mind when talking to your strikers or attacking players.

   Rory Smith @RorySmith

   Robert Lewandowski is the purest number nine of his generation, and (probably) the best striker on the planet. He’s also getting better with age. A look inside the mind of a machine.

   

   nytimes.comThe Making of a Goal MachineBayern’s Robert Lewandowski is the most complete, most ruthless, most polished striker of his generation. But what we see is only the finished product.

4. Does performing really well mean your players are learning? it's an interesting question put here through the talk from Robert Bjork on the difference between learning and performance.

   Paul A. Kirschner @P_A_Kirschner

   Robert Bjork on the difference between learning and performance in under 5 minutes.

   

   youtu.berobert bjork - dissociating learning from performancePerformance is something that one can easily measure. How well does a person remember some facts? How well can an athlete perform a particular task? Learni...

5. Looking for a new podcast to get into on the subject of coaching. Some nice recommendations in here that I'm going to try to add to the list.

   The Coaches' Journal @TheCoachJournal

   You get to recommend one podcast to a fellow coach, what are you going with?

6. Want to know some of the benefits of kids playing multiple sports as they grow. well the team at SportsPsychTips have seven for you here

   http://www.sportpsychtips.com/2021/05/the-six-benefits-of-playing-multiple.html?spref=tw

7. This is a really interesting conversation between 3 Man Utd legends (well 2 and one well on his way to becoming one). Can your players slow down and stand still in the important moments? Space isn't just created by moving.

   Paul McGuinness @Paulmcg8

   “Stand still to create space” a great football tip @NormanWhiteside uses - it was also given by Teddy Sherringham to @GraemeCarrick when he was a young player at West Ham - if you stand still defenders will often flow past you to get a defensive position leaving you in space

   

8. a bit of coaching inspiration for those of you who have ambitions to take your coaching journey as far as possible. Brenden Rogers...

   The Coaches' Voice @CoachesVoice

   "Hopefully my journey will give coaches of a similar background that possibility that you can achieve it." #BrendanRodgers #FACup #LeicesterCity

   

9. Dan Abrahams has used shared mental models here but I guess the old school way of describing what Yuri Tielemans is explaining is buy-in. Are your players bought into you, your ideas, your methods, it's so important to becoming a successful club and I don't mean success as in trophies or winning games but progression and enjoyment too. Look at the most important lines he states as well "He's always trying to improve me as a player but as a person as well." The connection to the manager goes beyond tactics and the pitch.

   Daniel Abrahams @DanAbrahams77

   As @AndrewAbraham11 just tweeted...here’s an example of meta-cognition and a shared mental model. Knowledge-of the game is so important in elite sport (and developing elite sport) My addition here would be a shared mental model around the mental side of the game

   

10. Ever wondered how to support a player who you've dropped or who has been dropped by someone else? The infographic here from the believe perform team that's made for teammates but some of the points translate.

    BelievePerform @BelievePHQ

    How to support a teammate who has been dropped from the team. Check out thsi great article: believeperform.com/the-me-in-team/

    

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That’s it for another week. Thanks for joining and as always if you have any friends colleagues, coaches who you think would enjoy our newsletter share using the buttons below