Webinars
Take a deeper down into the It’s Just a Sport Methodology and relive our monthly webinars.
In February, we focused how to develop a session to improve the player’s abilities to build up through the center channel. We used IJAS Chunking Tools to highlight player needs and designing the session based on player needs.
In March, we focused how to develop a session to improve the player’s abilities to convert scoring chances. We used IJAS Chunking Tools to highlight player needs and designing the session based on player needs.
In April, we focused how to develop a session to improve the player’s abilities to press high and create scoring chances upon recovery. We used IJAS Chunking Tools to highlight player needs and designing the session based on player needs.
Saskia Giebl is a Human Learning and Performance Scientist at UCLA's Bjork Learning Lab. More importantly, she’s passionate about sports and how we can improve our methods to coach sports. When she first approached me, she told me that she was aware of the disconnect between the world of science and the coaching world. She felt that researchers needed to do a better job to bring what we know about learning to the practitioners in ways that could be helpful and effective. She wants her research to lay the foundation for good, sound coaching methodologies.
Without reflection any growth is by accident.
From the moment that you begin your season to the moment you begin the following season, there is no time to stop. No time to think. No time to reflect.
In this infinite scrolling life, there is no (perceived) time to reflect. You become subject to your experiences instead of making them your object. You are not experiencing your life. It is experiencing you. You are a passive onlooker instead of an active participant.
You need to stop ingesting and start digesting.
In this webinar, I take you through the process of reflecting on matches, and as a result a season as well.
You will also receive a Match Observation Tool for you to use.
Karl Aksum is the U19 Odds Ballklubb (Norway) manager. Karl is a world-leading authority on visual perception in elite football.
However, I have always been drawn to another aspect of Karl’s work, his game model. It was very clear to me from his X (Twitter) that Karl knows how to effectively use his Game Model in his Coaching Workflow.
Now, after having spoken with him, I am sure he is one of the best coaches out there implementing a Game Model to help his players and play some fantastic football.
In this webinar, Karl takes us through some of his principles and how he uses them to plan matches and create training sessions.
Football is experiencing an identity crisis, what happens when all football begins to look the same?
As Juanma Lillo has pointed out, the globalization of methodologies has resulted in homogenization of football. Many football authors, like Jamie Hamilton, have given this issue light with the emergence of terms of like ‘Relationism’ and teams like Fluminense and Malmo.
Chris Bentley, one of my mentors and current Mississippi Soccer Association Executive Director, and I attempted to better understand this problem in this discussion.
Chris and I have been following this problem for years, as we describe it, CUT AND PASTE.
Far too often, methods directly copied from one environment with a particular set of conditions and culture and applied to another environment with a different set of conditions and culture without ever stopping to think about the consequences.
We invite you relive our discussion to identify and tackle this problem together.
In this webinar, Chris and I will discussed the following:
WHAT IS CULTURE?
CULTURE: INPUT vs. OUTPUT
UNIQUE EXPRESSIONS OF FOOTBALL
DANGERS OF CUT AND PASTE
PRO FOOTBALL vs. YOUTH FOOTBALL
CLUBS THAT HAVE LOST THEIR WAY
OUR BRAIN AND CULTURE
PLAYING STYLES REQUIRES TRUST
Antonio Barea is one the brightest football minds I’ve had the pleasure of working with. He’s not only incredibly insightful but also extremely kind as he is willing to share everything and anything he knows. He will never withhold any insight.
Antonio’s career has taken him from the lower leagues in Andalucia, Spain to Russia working for the Spanish National Team in the 2018 World Cup. He has done everything in between including developing methodology, scouting, analyst, assistant coach, and first team coach.
You can see his CV here.
What I was most interested in is how a coach on their own journey can gain as much insight in their experiences as possible?
I wanted to follow the breadcrumb trail back to Antonio’s beginnings to see if there are any key moments that propelled his insight so that we may be able to replicate certain situations for us to develop our insight as well.
You can read more about Antonio’s journey here.
In this webinar, Antonio and I discussed the following:
THE SUPPORT OF LOVED ONES
HOW TO MAKE FULL-TIME COACHING A REALITY
TOOLS TO LEARN MORE EFFECTIVELY
HOW TO WATCH FOOTBALL TO ACTUALLY LEARN
LEARNING FROM BUSQUETS
HOW TO NURTURE FOOTBALL IQ
In January’s 2024 webinar, we re-created 2v2 match situations to better help the development of individual players in these kinds of situations.
The first part of the webinar, using the real examples match examples from top football we identified common patterns.
Before doing that we had to identify the best way to succeed in these situations. It all comes down to indecision. We want to create moments when the defender does not know how to best act.
At individual level, players must develop game understanding in order to create indecision. Game understanding comes from consistent exposure to match-like situations.
We looked at some possible examples for training 2v2 situations for getting behind the last line and in the build-up. They are simple activities in nature but there is an incredible amount of depth when players experience them.
In this webinar, I discussed:
UNDERSTANDING ATTENTION
CREATING INDECISION
2V2 MATCH SITUATIONS IN SCORING AND BUILD UP
RECREATING SITUATIONS IN TRAINING
INDIVIDUAL PRINCIPLES TO FACILITATE
In March’s 2024 webinar, we designed training sessions to provoked team principles/intentions.
The first part of the webinar, we discussed the theory behind training and how we can improve our process by starting with game situations.
In the practical part of the webinar, we looked at submissions of team principles/intentions to gauge the effectiveness in the training session design process. We then used two principles to create to training session activities to provoke those team principles/intentions.
In this webinar, I discussed:
THE PURPOSE OF TRAINING
TEAM INTENTION/PRINCIPLE LANGUAGE
SETTING THE SCENE FOR THE DESIGN PROCESS
MANIPULATING GAME CONSTRAINTS TO PROVOKE PRINCIPLES/INTENTIONS
In May’s 2024 coaching seminar, we took a microscope to the transitional moment, specifically looking at the transitional patterns of Manchester City and Real Madrid.
The first part of the webinar, we discussed the football theory about what transitions actually are and the key area to manage to execute effective transitions.
In the practical part of the webinar, we looked closely at each team’s specific behavior in different moments…
In this seminar, for each team we looked at :
REST DEFENCE BEHAVIORS and GUIDING PRINCIPLES
COUNTER ATTACKING BEHAVIORS and GUIDING PRINCIPLES
COUNTER PRESSING BEHAVIORS and GUIDING PRINCIPLES
Each of these behavioral patterns were demonstrated with our 40 clips from Champions League matches from 2019-2024.