Recently the England national team have changed the way they ask players to learn. It came about following the poor performance in the last World Cup – needs must. They’d been beaten By Uruguay by tactics which they had worked on a lot in training and team meetings. The old learning methods had not worked.
Continue reading “Footballers and learning: thoughts for the coach”
The FA UEFA Professional Licence has been revamped. It now uses a Competency based approach and is the only one of any world federation to do so. it is considered by top Coach Educators in Europe to have set the benchmark for excellence.
Graham Obree’s 2012 autobiography The Flying Scotsman is a painful read (1). It’s more a book about depression and dealing with it than a book about cycling. Paul McGrath’s autobiography, Back from the Brink is equally painful(2).. Obree fights bipolar disorder and in between times trains to the point of black out. McGrath drinks for 24 hours then turns in a man of the match performance for Aston Villa.
Obree broke the world hour record twice and did so using a bike he’d fashioned himself and rode in a flat out racing position. McGrath had a sixteen year playing career with most of those years fuelled on alcohol. Top talent often has a tenuous grip on top performance.
Continue reading “Top talent has a tenuous grip on top performance.”