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PAGE 46
by Gary Rue
garyrue@bellsouth.net
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NOTE: Gary did not write these exercises and tips with the
idea that someone would publish them. I subscribe to the
Soccer-Coach-L e-mail list and Gary is one of the coaches that
posts extremely well thought out replies. These are some of
Gary's posts that I collected for use in coaching my own teams.
I approached Gary and he was gracious enough to allow me to
publish them here. If you like what you see or have a
question about one of the exercises you can reach Gary at
garyrue@bellsouth.net
There are
50+ more pages of Gary's posts
categorized at the Home Page of Exercises
of the Day by Gary Rue. Click here and enjoy.
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Session:
Coaching Presentation
Speaker: Bill Beswick
Date: NSCAA Convention, January 17, 2001
(closed session to convention clinicians and speakers)
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Below are notes
furnished to me from Lawrence Fine who received them from a personal
friend of Beswick. This session was held on January 17, 2001 and closed to
the general convention attendees.
Gary Rue
gary.rue@mail.state.ky.us
Beswick is the current sports psychologist for Manchester United. Last
year he was the sports psychologist for Derby County, a team that
struggled to maintain a spot in England's Premiere division. This gives
him a unique view in the mentality of a proven winner compared to that of
a team of team near the bottom of the league.
COACHING IS A PROCESS - start with the end in mind. A coach must
know where he can take each player.
Characteristics
of the Complete Player
Physical
Technical
Tactical
Mental
Emotional
Lifestyle
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Session:
Winners are different -
A Psychological Profile of Elite Players
Speaker: Bill Beswick
Date: NSCAA Convention, January 18, 2001
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Below are notes
from a NSCAA session held on January 18, 2001. The core of the
material were furnished to me via Lawrence Fine who received them
from a personal friend of Beswick.
Beswick is the current sports psychologist for Manchester United. Last
year he was the sports psychologist for Derby County, a team that
struggled to maintain a spot in England's Premiere division. This gives
him a unique view in the mentality of a proven winner compared to that of
a team of team near the bottom of the league.
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Winners are
different
A Psychological Profile of Elite Players
Know where they are
coming from - beyond the technical and tactical, what are their problems?
Start with the end in mind.
The Monster of Success - The Burden of Celebrity
Success yields:
* Greater the risk of failure
* Greater media/commercial attention
* Greater effort needed
* Greater expectation
* Increased challenge
Family, coach, friends have increased
expectations once a child is labeled "talented." These forces do
make them different. It will crush the young men who can't prioritize,
discriminate and aren't mentally tough and emotionally well balanced. We
shouldn't say "talented" until age 12. Their world shrinks and
winning becomes their only reality so most likely the elite that you get
are not psychologically healthy. Parents are still the biggest influence
on
young players.
Personality changes in the progression of top-level players
Initiation
Stage
- Joyful
- Playful
- Excited
- Special
- Talented
Development
Stage
- Hooked
- Committed
- Drive/ambition
- Learning
- Fun
Perfection
Stage
- Obsessed
- Responsible
- Single-minded
- Demanding
- Selfish
- Toughness
- Celebrity
- Warrior
- Global
Anecdote: Beckham
is showcased commercially. Though the rest of the Manchester United
starting team were told they could stay home and rest, Beckham was told
he had to go on a Far East tour in the off-season.
Roy Keane - warrior - he doesn't do friendly games. In prior years when
ManU clinched the premiership early, Keane developed game-restrictive
injuries for the season ending games. He can't get up for them mentally
or physically when nothing is on the line.
When a player is in a dysfunctional family, he may think soccer is an
answer. It gets him away from the family, but someday he will have to
live in real world.
Potential for psychological problems
- Insecurity/instability
- Loss of identity
(one day hero, next day bum)
- Constantly
changing self-esteem
- Loss of
self-belief/confidence (always players whose careers are coming to
end)
- Stress
- Performance
fears: coming off injury, age
- Over
arousal/aggression/violence (Steel before style. Occasionally a
player will go overboard)
- Escapism -
substance/alcohol abuse
- Burnout
(Need to program their "software" - little daily reminders
of love of game.)
- Depression/withdrawal
(If you can't be star, don't be clown.)
"Age of disposable player"
Give a man a reason
why and he will always find a how.
WHY
- Desire to win
- Desire to be
best - achieve mastery
- A need for
intense competition/stimulation
- Emotional need
for success - ego driven. (Good players ARE difficult. Ask yourself
are they worth it? If they are, then stick with them as long as
possible.)
HOW
- Capacity for
focused concentration
- Ability to
respond to intense pressure (must like and thrive on pressure, not
just cope with it.)
- Capacity to
confront opposition aggressively
- Courage to deal
with pain
- Consistent
desire to improve
- Coachability -
ability to learn and adapt
- Intelligence -
learns to play smart as well as hard
Practice at ManU is all competition - even to leave the field after
practice. Player (Nicky Butt) was left alone with the first team trainer
and Beswick one practice. The trainer challenged Butt to hit the top bar
from 40 out. The trainer missed badly on his first couple of attempts.
Butt's attempts barely missed. Finally the trainer hit the bar and went
strutting off telling Butt he needed to stay and talk to
"psycho" (Beswick) in order get his confidence back for
getting beat by the trainer. Once the trainer was off the field, Butt
nailed the top bar with his next two attempts. Beswick asked for an
explanation and Butt said, "You don't want to show up the guy that
helps decide playing time."
A top person is an ordinary person
with an extra-ordinary talent. They must learn how to step on stage as a
performer and then return to real world. They must do emotional calming
after a game. Teach them to move from ordinary to warrior mentality and
back again.
ordinary==>extraordinary==>ordinary
person==>talent==>person
real self==> performance-self==>real self
Top
Level Players Must Self-Manage
- medical/rehabilitation
- family/friends
- teammates
- agent
- psychologist
- media
- strength
- commercial
- dietician
- coaches
Mental toughness starts with the ability to accept who we are. (Don't
blame, but do criticize)
Guideline
for coaches - Handling top level players
- Motivate -
understand it's all about winning which is intrinsic; as a coach I may
attack you as a player, but still love you as a person.
- Sell the vision -
the reason why. It starts TODAY with the work
- Make each player a
part of the journey to succeed
- Help each player
set personal goals (e.g., Beckham to learn how to play center
midfield)
- Find each player's
sense of self-worth and help each achieve it
- Understand whole
player and the potential stress
- Emphasize
intrinsic rewards
Communicate
(find the moment and sell, not yell)
- Never be in awe of
superstars; increase communication and decrease anxiety
- Respect each
player, listen, build trust (60% listening to them, 40% talking)
- 1 vs. 1
communication may get the message across stronger
- Be wary of
criticism or praise - players self-evaluate, so too much praise is
counter productive
- Understand each
player's ethnic and cultural background
- Give honest
feedback on performance
Preparation
- Coach smart, not
hard; sell expertise and personality (always finish with little
challenge/fun game)
- Don't limit
players - let them surprise you
- Allow players to
do what they do best...that requires courage of the coach
- Undercoaching is a
skill - let players think
- Attention to
detail is vital; set pieces win games
- Balance work and
rest
- Beware of player
burnout
- Boredom is the
enemy
Problem
Solving
- Limit stressful
situations
- Be proactive in
dealing with problems
- Focus on what can
be controlled
- Change negative to
positive
- Use peer pressure
where possible
- Teach player
emotion intelligence. Deal with problems rather than react.
- Build a resource
team of experts to support player
- Understand the
effects of injuries on the player's mindset
Closing - If you hold a bird too tight, he doesn't have enough
freedom. If you hold a bird too loose, you lose control. In either
case, you get crap on your hand.
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Session:
Building Competitive
Toughness in Young Players
Speaker: Bill Beswick, Sports Psychologist for
Manchester United
Date: NSCAA Convention, January 19, 2001
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Below are notes from a
NSCAA session held on January 18, 2001. The core of the material were
furnished to me via Lawrence Fine who received them from a personal friend
of Beswick. Later!
Gary Rue gary.rue@mail.state.ky.us
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Building
Competitive
Toughness in Young Players |
Anecdotes:
Even in practice, Beckham will attempt the
best pass, not the easiest; this is frustrating to teammates when
possession is lost, it makes Beckham the exceptional player he is.
After messing up, Shearer comments,
"I'll get the next one." Mental toughness when going through a
time of failure
The Player Journey to Success
Rejection is part of the journey at every step.
Starting
point
<Rejection>
Talent
<Rejection>
Coachability (willingness to learn, adapt)
<Rejection>
Competitive toughness (produces when it counts)
<Rejection>
Success
You judge mental toughness of your team members when they are down one
point (goal). Who steps forward? Who goes quiet? Will your forward cross
the ball rather than finish? Are the heads up or down?
However, the definition of mental toughness
varies for position and type of player, though all must accept the
physical nature of the game.
Soldiers
Solder-artists
Artists-soldiers
Artists
Different team bravery:
- Wanting the ball when the team is
having a bad time
- Trying something unusual when they
might get criticized
- Wanting to make things happen
A modern coach is defined by his ability to coach artists, not soldiers.
Accept that they must make mistakes to learn.
STEEL BEFORE STYLE =
win the right to play.
Don't label a player "good" or "bad"--instead try to
figure out the player's performance problems.
Determine the Ideal Performance State by combining each of the player
attributes with each playing factor.
Player attributes
Physical
Technical
Mental
Emotional
Lifestyle
Playing factors
Talent
Commitment
Learning
Toughness
Dan O'Brian - Toughness is level of suffering you can take. He won the
gold medal in the Olympic Decathlon (10 events); he only finished first in
one event; yet he persevered in the other events, doing the best he could.
Mental skills are like a computer's "state of mind"; rubbish in,
rubbish out
Profiling young players in terms of the attributes:
Physical, tactical, technical, mental, emotional, lifestyle
- exceptional
- above average
- average
- below average
- poor
Define the problem and you're on the way to solving it
Ex: Gascoigne - technically and tactically brilliant, but was way below
average and poor in the mental, emotional and lifestyle areas. If they
could have gotten him at 10 yrs. old...
Must not let problems go until the next day. Get players beyond the
problem.
There are key influences on individual player behavior
- The player's
unique personality. (Character is very important: ask a player what 3
deeds he is most proud of that he did on his own - not compulsory)
- The coach (and all
his staff down to manager and equipment people) and the effect of that
powerful relationship: Are you (the coach) at your best when the team
is at its worst? Reference Dean Smith's " A Coach's Life"
- The coaching
environment. What can you do to build mental toughness?
- Recruit
well - look for a warrior that is also an inspirational leader
- Create
challenge within the team so that game day is easy compared to
practice. For example, a team that loses a scrimmage pays a
penalty; or allow players to pick teams in open so players see who
is picked last
- Create
hurdles for players to overcome
- Put
systems into play that make players assertive. Examples: look for
moments of weakness when 1-0 up because they might use that as
excuse to go into comfort zone; must get ball back after a goal
within 3 passes or run suicides; asking referee how much time is
left is a sign of weakness.
- Teach
players to be accountable. Ask "how did you play" rather
than tell them. Every game has mistakes.
Toughness training = art and science of increasing the talented
players ability to handle all kinds of stress.
Man U teaches its parents and it has support groups for players
families.
What coaches look for:
- courage,
commitment, desire (the software)
- enjoy
achieving personal goals (gives sons envelope with 10 goals every
Jan. 1)
- lifestyle
- work ethic. If a player comes to training with a cold, send home
after commending his attitude
- mental
preparation - can they develop a winning attitude? A team draws a
weak team in a tournament. The coach fears his team may become
weak in competitive toughness. The coach has two different
newspaper articles created with 2 different headlines, one where
his team wins and the other about the huge upset his team
suffered. He showed the winning one during training. Just before
the game, he brought out the upset headline. Fear of failure can
energize a player to victory.
If you have trained your players, all you can do is trust them.
Limiting factor of most players is not talent but toughness.
Envision
a pyramid with TOUGH being the top point in the following:
TOUGH - flexibility, responsiveness, strength, resilience
Disciplined thinking plus acting under stress
Exposure to adaptive stress (physical, mental, emotional)
Building sound base of recovery of good nutrition, sleep, rest
These are the BUILDING BLOCKS OF TOUGHNESS
Even if playing badly, a player with tough work habits can still stay
in game. A tough player will have the attitude that his team lost just
they ran out of time.
Beswick showed a film clip of last 3 minutes of the 1999 Champions
League when Man U was down a goal to Bayern Munich. On the first
corner in that time frame, ManU's 6 ft 4 goalkeeper ran into the
opposite penalty area, yelling drawing attention. Three BM players
went to cover him, expecting a trick play. Another ManU player scored,
but it was the GK that caused the BM defense to lose shape. On the
next corner where ManU won the game, the GK stayed back. This was an
example of the mental toughness to do something to change the flow,
yet still be aware of what his responsibilities were.
James Loehr's book,
"Building Competitive Toughness": Toughness is the ability
to consistently perform toward the upper range of your talent and
skill regardless of competitive circumstances.
- Toughness is
learned
- Toughness
allows talent and skill to flourish
- Toughness is
ideal performance state control
- Characteristics
- fitness, technical mastery, emotional
strength/resilience, proper rest, diet, tough thinking, tough
acting, balance between real and performance self.
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