We believe in two fundamental truths regarding player development:
1.
2.
Environment, Atmosphere & Culture
The Challenge / Success Ratio
Players need to be challenged to progress. At the same time, players need to experience success to motivate themselves to keep accepting challenges. As player development is a fluctuating process, especially with younger players, the challenge/success ratio needs to be constantly adjusted. This is why a flexible structure is so vital: players should be moved between groups as to find their best “fit”, and that best fit changes on a regular basis.
Stable but Fluid Environment
It is important for players to feel the “right” amount of uncertainty in the club environment. Players need to feel safe, but at the same time open and excited about changes and challenges. To enable this the environment needs to be stable but fluid. Frequent evaluation, re-evaluation and adjustments are necessary to help players feel comfortable being uncomfortable.
Player Movement
The freedom of movement for players between groups allows for differences in players’ development rates. For example, a player that began the season in the top training group may be struggling after a month. In this situation it would benefit the player to train in a lower group to achieve the best challenge-to-success ratio.
Coach Rotation
Rotating coaches between teams or groups helps players avoid becoming coach dependent. At some point in the future every player will be coached by someone new and when that happens players will need to adapt. In addition, different coaches have different styles and methods. Rotating coaches increases the chances that a player will find a coach that “clicks”. It also increases the chance that players will get a coach they do not “click” with, and when this happens it provides players the chance to learn how to deal with that scenario.
Different Session Designs
- Beginners: Warm-up game / Activity / Game
- Amateur: Warm-up / Practice part 1 / Practice part 2 / GAME
- Advanced: Dynamic warm-up / Practice part 1 / Practice part 2 / Practice related game / Game
