Area of Play, Not Phases of Play

by john cartwright

For years coaching here has relied on the use of Phase-play as a method for teaching specific situations or ‘slots’ in the game. These phases, be they for the use of an individual or a small group, are constructed by the coach to familiarize players with either individual situations or aspects of team-play. I feel that this type of coaching practice has several flaws and is unlikely to produce satisfactory improvements, in either individual or team performance.

  I believe Phase-play methods are simply a carry-over of the structured development methods used here when coaching skills and movements for the game. This method of isolating a situation and then practising it as a singular ‘slot’ in play, does not satisfy the important playing ingredients of realistic continuity in the game. There are two specific faults with Phase-play practice:

1. It does not involve enough playing situations prior to or beyond the actual phase of play under scrutiny.
2. The recognition of a Phase-play situation and acting on it successfully in the competitive ‘heat’ of a match is highly unlikely.

Staged restart situations are more likely to prove successful from Phase-play practice, but more fluid and open play situations tend to be less so simply because they are more difficult to construct or recognize in a competitive atmosphere.

 I have always believed that an on-the-ball situation developing in one area of the field derives from what has occurred in the area from which the ball came and is dependant on the actions of players in the area(s) into which the ball may go. Phase-play often limits practice to singular situations, thus reducing more expansive options that may be available to players.

Restricting game-flow opportunities from area to area to players in practice is not the way to develop spontaneity, integration and game variations in those players during competitive match-play.

The movement of the ball and players through def/mid/att. areas of the field with the conclusion of a goal is what the game is about. Movement of players as well as the ball through these areas requires ability, concentration, timing and game understanding. Combined practice through these areas that offers players a total look at all the possibilities, options and needs is what is required if we are to develop the quality of player that can play at the highest levels.  Because of the competitive nature of football, the matter of interference to the flow of the game is a vital issue if success is to be achieved by both the individual and the team. Whether in att. or def. mode players must be capable of making and changing decisions on situations speedily and correctly.  Unless players follow a development program based on realistic practice involving playing alternatives and options and forces changes of decisions to be made as happens in a game, it could quite easily be said that the practice time is wasted.
Phase-play practice resembles the methods used in the theatre when a Director wishes to modify or change a section in the performance; he/she reconstructs the section in question, it is rehearsed and included in the next performances. This may be suitable for the theatre where action prior to the newly learned ‘slot’ and action immediately after it remain unchanged, but it does not satisfy the needs of a game that requires the immediacy of choices and responses to situations that are never exactly the same. The reliance on pre-determined practice methods and ‘straight-line’ thinking has produced ‘straight-line’ players who can only play ‘straight-line football’. The use of unrealistic practice has been at the forefront of our football decline and Phase-play practice is yet another example of the orderly, classroom mentality that dominates our coaching; — organization and simplicity are preferred to spontaneity and skill!
A ‘chicken and egg’ situation (what comes first?) is evident in our game; is it, poor individual skill that needs a simplistic playing style, or has a simplistic playing style only required poor skill levels to play it?
 Either way the result has proved a disaster for our game. From the teaching of individual skill to group and team instruction, coaching here has taken individual fantasy from the game and replaced it with combined futility.
Until we open our minds and subsequently our coaching methods, we will continue to produce football mediocrity and have the audacity to call it football greatness!

NEW MAJESTIC CURTAIN CALL MENU!

Just in time for the opening of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and the Fall theater season, The Majestic Restaurant is launching our new late night small plate Curtain Call Menu - served Thursdays 8-10PM & Fridays & Saturdays 9-11PM.

Join us after your next show for a light supper, cocktails and dessert!

Also, check out recent changes to our appetizer and happy hour menus including our housemade "Corndogs", Tuscan White Bean Puree with Black Tuffle Oil, and our Majestic Gallette (crispy potato pancake with grilled portabellos, roasted red peppers, carmelized onions, and manchego cheese topped with balsalmic reduction).

More information

My last one

Les Bleus are no longer anymore. Our last season ended with a victory but that was not enough to keep everyone happy. This is surely my last writing on this blog.

It started years ago when my son was 5 years old. A group of friend from the same school started the team and I was coaching. People were asking "how come we don't have a French coach? That was funny. For years, we played recreational at JCPRD with the same chore of players. My idea was that if you are friend outside the field, your game on the field should be better. We stayed recreational until the boys were 10 years old.

In Fall 2008, we went to compete against soccer clubs. Just starting in premeir, the league added me on division 3. I wanted division 2. Now the problems started. My colleague and parents started to influence me. The world of competitiveness is insane.

In sport or business, people are hypocrites. I just read something about free market this morning on the newspaper for the liquors store. There is no free market otherwise we should not bailout our banks when something goes wrong. It is like religion - there is a church for everyone. I understand that people want to learn and get close to their faith but if we had one church. We have one book with so many way to teach - Would it be less confusing if we had only one, like school?
It is the same in sports.   You have so many clubs and they are spreading the talent. Coaching is ungratefully job and parents will look at different options all the time. My philosophy was trying to teach the love of the game and create a good environment.

Apparently I felt. I should not have giving up on my teaching, philosophy of life, should not pay attention around me and focus on the kids. Now I regret that but it is too late. I saw a kid that I coached for only one season when he was 13 years old. It is refreshing that somehow you can influence some kids and you are doing it for these reasons. Giving something to them. I have been influenced by others to take me away from my road. Now it is over, I can start again. It doesn't matter to be competitive or whatever, they need love, love of the game, instruction to get better. They don't need to go to a different club or academy. If the kid is talented - it will work out. It is difficult to understand that because it is like everything else, it is a business.

At the end of the day, it all comes back to coaching. Are academy team coaches automatically better than other coaches?

No matter what, I made mistakes - my team is over. I was sad because I know I should not have giving up on teaching because of emotions... but I am also human!

Good luck to the kids...

Soccer Academy

US Soccer started the US developmental Academy in 2007. This was a result of an extensive review on soccer development in the US. The idea was to identify elite male athletes, put them to reach full potential.

Of course, it is not perfect system because of the size of the US. That means the national team is made up of players from academy system not the entire nation. And who are these scouts?

Now we have Sporting KC connected with the largest club, Blue Valley. Are the coaches going to do something different? Is it good for MLS teams to sign home grown players?

. I felt that for all of you whose children are are of age to try out for the Sporting KC Juniors Development Academy teams (U15/U16 and U17/U18) or their U13/14 team it will give you food for thought. FYI, going forward Sporting KC Juniors will only have 3 teams in the mentioned age groups, hence annually "graduating" players form the U13/14 to the U15/16 Development Academy team. I say "graduating" because if a player can not play in the Development Academy he will be replaced and send back to BV!

I will close by saying that development is personal choice whether in soccer, basketball, any other sport or academics. In my opinion, in the case of soccer it must be a fit that includes a review of the following:
• Financial commitment: nothing is free and no one plays for free anywhere including in our club.
• Development needs based on the four pillars of the game: psychological, physical, technical and tactical.
• Coaching style, philopsophy and methodology: is it clearly defined; is there planning; do you see teams/players developing.
• Balance of the team: administration, coaches, players and parents.
• Competitive environment: types of competition, location/travel demands.

Interesting article from the KC Star

Terez A. Paylor
The Kansas City Star

In many ways, Kevin Ellis’ story is one of redemption.

After Ellis, a defender, was announced as Sporting KC’s second-ever Homegrown Player at a news conference Friday, coach Peter Vermes rained praise on him, using terms like “huge upside,” “impact” and “huge ceiling.”

But the truth is: Ellis, a 19-year-old Oak Park graduate who spent the last two years at Barton County Community College, hasn’t always been in Vermes’ good graces.

“He came out last year and tried out with us, and he wasn’t ready from a number of perspectives,” Vermes said.

Ellis was invited to the team’s three-day combine in Kansas City last January before Sporting KC’s annual departure to Phoenix for preseason training. But Vermes didn’t like what he saw from Ellis, a former Wizards’ junior player, and dismissed him before the trip.

“He wasn’t prepared physically at all, and his attitude was one where he thought he’d already arrived,” Vermes said. “I basically told him afterward that these opportunities don’t come along much — some guys would die for one — and you basically threw it away.”

Vermes also warned Ellis that if he ever got another chance, he had better be prepared.

And Ellis couldn’t have been more terrified.

“It devastated me,” Ellis said. “My dream is to play professional soccer, and to have the professional coach tell you that you wasted an opportunity and you’re not ready, it hurt. I didn’t want that feeling again.”

Ellis, however, heeded Vermes’ words. He says he started eating right every day and taking better care of himself. He called Vermes after Sporting KC — then known as the Wizards — finished its season, got the offseason workout plan that the players on the big club had to follow and followed it to the letter.

“It was challenging, mentally and physically,” said Ellis, who adhered to the plan despite his coursework. “A couple of hours every day I was in the gym, and I spent another hour and a half each day working on my game.”

When he returned to the three-day combine this January, he looked like a different player. He was in shape. He knew what he was doing. And most important, he had the right attitude. He earned the trip to preseason camp — the only juniors player to do so this season — and kept improving until Vermes felt he had no choice but to give Ellis a chance to join the big club.

“He didn’t just develop as a player, he matured as an individual,” Vermes said. “I’m really happy for the kid, because I love to see when someone is successful. He worked his butt off to get the chance he has.”

And while Vermes added that it’s safe to assume Ellis will spend much of the season playing in the brand-new reserve league – along with goalkeeper Jon Kempin, SKC’s first Homegrown Player – there’s no doubt in his mind that he has a chance to do some special things somewhere down the road.

“This kid has a huge, huge ceiling, a huge upside,” Vermes said. “I don’t know how far he is from reaching his potential, but he’s already making an impact.”

And this much is for sure – after his initial scare, you don’t have to worry about Ellis letting up.

“When something like that happens and you have opportunity to play for a professional team, the truth is a lot of guys don’t get a second chance,” Ellis said. “But I told myself I’m going to keep working hard, because I’m not going to have any regrets.”