Jamie:
Hello and welcome to CoachCast by England Football Learning: the coaching podcast designed to give you expert insight, session ideas and a platform to discuss your coaching questions and challenges. I'm Jamie...
Louise:
And I'm Louise.
In this special show, we're chatting to an expert about problem solving, to find out why it's important to help your players develop these skills and how you can do it.
Jamie:
Hi there, and thanks for tuning into this special episode of CoachCast. We covered some great topics in our first season, but as we still have plenty to chat about, we've entered extra-time to bring you even more insight. Today, we're delighted to be joined by Amy Price who's here to talk about problem solving. Hi Amy, welcome to the show.
Amy:
Thank you for having me.
Louise:
Hi Amy, thanks for your time today. So before we start, do you want to tell our listeners a little bit more about yourself and your role at the FA?
Amy:
So, my role at the FA is Women's National Coach Developer where I work with coaches in the women's professional game at WSL, Women's Championship, National League, Super League Academies and RTCs I'm also studying for a PhD, so I'm six years into that. Not long left. It's been a bit of a marathon and this is all focused towards game understanding in football where I have investigated what this is from a psychological standpoint, specifically how players approach and solve problems in-game.
Louise:
That sounds really interesting.
We'll get into that a little bit later. So first of all, can you get us started by explaining; what problems the game presents to our players?
Amy:
So football is an invasion game, and the purpose of the game is to stop and score goals by outwitting your opponent. And space, time, numbers and people are some variables which could influence the game problems and the complexity of these game problems. So for example, a generic problem in football could be defending an overload, and this problem can become more or less complex really, depending on how those four variables are interacting with each other. You know, with this example, space could be larger or smaller to defend, time available to defend could increase or decrease, numbers in defence and attack could change, and the people, i. e. their skill sets could differ, and all game problems are underpinned by the rules of the game of football. We have various rules such as the offside rule in 11v11, we have the idea of using our feet and our hands, these rules affect the nature of the game problems. And these rules are important because these rules distinguish the nature of football and the way you play football from other sports. Even if some sports are tactically similar, like football is similar to basketball because it's an invasion game, but these rules give football its uniqueness and we must solve problems within the boundaries: these rules that are set. Some more primary rules in football could be, you know, as I said, outfield players use their feet, it's a game of scoring goals, there's a target to attack and defend against a goalkeeper who can use their hands, the attacking team have some way of restarting the attack and the defending team must have some way of getting the ball back. So all of the problems that we see in football are actually underpinned by these rules and these rules influence the principles of how we play and the FA have their principles of play in attack and in defence and they've been defined and refined over the years. Ultimately, these principles, in my opinion, are known as 'game logic'. It's just the logical way that you might interact with a problem. For example, penetration, support, compactness, they're all principles of how we might play the game and how we might solve the problem.
Louise:
Okay. So with that being said, why is it so important for players to be able to problem solve when they're playing football?
Amy:
Well, because football is simply a set of problems to be solved and both teams, their aim is to solve problems and set problems. That's how you make progress in the game. That's ultimately how you score or stop goals. There could be loads of problems in one game, there could be multiple problems. So players need to recognize which problem is a priority to solve or to set and they also need to recognize that some problems are particularly stubborn. Some are really difficult to solve and take time and take multiple attempts at solving. For example, you could say that defending an overload is a problem that could have occurred in the game. The players need to recognize this in the first place. Have they thought about ways to solve this problem? And then have they communicated with their teammates? Have they also tested out some ideas to see how the opponent responds to their solutions? And if they don't do this, then they're likely just to repeat the same actions and they're likely just to not make progress because they just keep doing the same thing, and that problem is still a problem. And so therefore they're not really making enough progress to either stop goals or score goals, which is the ultimate purpose of football in the first place.
Jamie:
So as a coach, how do you help them recognize the problems that they need to solve, then?
Amy:
I think there are loads of different ways that we could support players to recognize the problems in-game, and that's the key is to actually support them as the game is happening in real time to see that problem and not just after it's passed. I think many people relate to problems as they can see them and experience learning more effectively if it's real for them in that moment. we could design practices too that make a game problem explicit, whether this is a simple or complex problem, players will need the opportunity to play and practice and not just to play and practice, but with the coach supporting, with teammates supporting and having conversations about this problem and how to tackle it. Really good questioning from coaches could provoke reflection as well, and I feel this is a really good way to get inside the player's mind, to really try to identify what and how they're thinking. So for example, you might ask the question: how have you got success in this practice so far? Or what is preventing you from being more successful in this practice? Or what have you noticed about the opponent? And how is the opponent making it difficult for you in this practice? And how can you make it more difficult for your opponent? So all of these different open questions get players to make their thinking obvious to you, which then allows you to respond appropriately with your next coaching interaction. We probably also need to remember that like, there are lots of different things in a player's development journey which supplement problem solving. So not just the stuff I've mentioned so far. sometimes we need to be explicit and direct with players around the game and build up their knowledge of football; whether that be technically, tactically or strategically; but we need to help the players to have a good knowledge of the game so that when they do face a problem they have knowledge to refer to. to help them to solve that problem. And for example, using visuals such as demonstrations, such as use of a tactics board, and actually providing explanations for players, this could be on the pitch or off the pitch, but providing explanations that showcase the why behind certain ways of solving problems and this will help players to deepen their understanding of the game.
Jamie:
Is the step framework something that could come in handy when working on problem solving at all?
Amy:
Yes, definitely. I think the step framework is a useful tool if it's used appropriately. What I like about the framework is that those factors, you can modify them to make the problem more or less complex for the players. So the coach can look at these factors and use them to design problems. And I feel like the key with the framework is just for coaches to really understand why they've utilized this framework in the way that they have to modify the game and to design these problems. So if we go back to the example of defending, and we talk about defending an overload, defending in more space with fewer defenders, using three goals for the attackers to score into for prolonged periods of time is an example of a really complex problem to solve. And that's not just cognitively challenging for the players, that particular problem, but it's physically, technically, tactically challenging, too. So, how can we look at that in a more simple way for players at times? I feel also the skill of the coach with this framework is to match the appropriate level of challenge for the players. So it's our decision as coaches at times to understand what those players need in terms of a really complex problem to solve or a less complex problem to solve. Because we might not want the challenge to be high, sometimes we might not. And for all the players in our group, they probably have a different threshold of how much challenge they can cope with. And also this begs the question to coaches around actually, it's not just about the framework, it's about the interactions and interventions we have with players once the framework is applied, because some players might need more support and some players might need more stretch.
Louise:
So you mentioned at the beginning that you've been doing a PhD, could you tell us about the research that you've been doing and explain how your findings can help provide players with the tools that they need to problem solve?
Amy:
Yes. So this all started when I was intrigued around video game design and why is it that when people play video games, they become really good at making progress, solving problems and learning how to play that game and there's no coach present? I found that really interesting. Ultimately, I feel coaches are striving for that within in their coaching sessions in terms of players learning making progress and performing well, and I wondered how we could borrow the principles of learning which are embedded within video game design and apply them into our practices. And in time this evolved into something known as a digital video games approach to coaching, which essentially is underpinned by five principles of design. We'll go into some detail of those in a moment, but ultimately, within all of this, it's about how do we get players to have a deep understanding of the game so that they can problem solve? And within that problem solving, how do we get players to be aware and in control of what they're thinking as they're thinking it, so that they're better able to notice the problem, apply a solution, see if the solution is actually working or not, and if it is, change it. Sorry, if it isn't working, change it, and if it is working, great, continue with that. And these five principles that I spoke about; we have missions, level-ups, superpowers, pausing, and safe progress; you know, and this doesn't mean we're taking a video game or a
console out onto the pitch, this isn't any of that, this is actual coaching, normally with your bibs and your cones and how are we designing this learning experience using these five principles? So firstly, missions, it's like the end goal. You set the end goal of the game. So, say in a video game that you might play, you know that the point of the game is to potentially unlock the princess from the castle, for example, well actually, can we do that in football coaching? So the goal of the game is to unlock players from their zones because you might start with them locked in. You don't have any technical or tactical focus to the session. I haven't just said anything related to football there, I've just said unlock players from zones. How you do that, it's up to you, whether you have to try out dribbling, whether you have to practice your defending, it doesn't matter. But we focus on the mission, the end goal. And that's quite hard at times for coaches because we're trained to think about the technical and tactical objectives first, and be really specific around the skills and the techniques that we want players to learn in that practice. And we're saying that's not the case here, because actually you want to keep that nice and broad so players can decide which skill is going to help them solve the problem. The next principle is levels and levelling up. So in a video game you start with a simple problem first, and as you achieve that problem, as you solve it, you level up and then the problem becomes more complex. But what you learnt previously in the last problem still applies as you move to the next problem. And that's why players in video games become really good at progressing through levels. So can we design a really simple problem in our practice to start with? And as players achieve that, the next problem is slightly more complex. The next one is super powers. In video games, it's a really important part of problem solving because sometimes we just get stuck on a level where we get stuck with a problem and we need something to make us more effective to change the skill set of ourselves in that game for a short period. So Sonic's fast feet is a great example. You know, you jump up into the tree, you earn this token and you get to run really fast for five or 10 seconds and run over all of the baddies. How can we put that into football? It could be invincibility; maybe there is something in the game which we can access or earn which makes us invincible. Nobody can tackle us for 10 seconds or maybe we can run off side and
that's okay just for a few seconds and it allows us to interact with the game differently and overcome problems. But importantly, those superpowers are to be earnt by players and not just handed out by coaches, because by earning them, it gives players opportunities to reflect on whether they need those powers or not, when to use those powers and how to use those powers. The next principle is pausing, and pausing is really about players deciding when and how they might like support or challenge. Rather than typically in coaching it is the coach who dictates when to stop the practice to ask a question or when to set a challenge or when to demonstrate, it's now about the players deciding that. So there might be moments where they need to pause in order to collect their thoughts, in order to reflect in order to plan. And with this pausing, you might offer the players a framework because obviously with young players without a framework and you just pause, it could become a little bit carnage and children saying lots of different things and not getting anywhere necessarily. So if you could give them a framework, I use the 4C framework and I put it on my whiteboard and I just say, "When you pause, you can choose to cheat, to be challenged, to have a clue or to change something in the practice." And that just gives them a little bit of a framework and they might only be able to choose those things once in that particular practice because probably what you don't want is children deciding to constantly cheat. And when I say cheat, by the way, I mean that from the point of view of video game design, because in video game design, a cheat might be, I'm going to phone up my mate and ask, "Tell me how to do this, please." And you know, it's kind of like that shortcut, so to speak. Sometimes people need shortcuts and that's okay. The challenge is, you know, is what it says on the tin: How can the coach challenge that person if they have asked for a challenge? Clue: an opportunity to coach. You might ask a question, you might have that conversation with a player. They're asking you for that, which is a real key difference than you assuming they want that from you. They're asking you for that. And then change is actually, they might want to change something in that practice in order to make the problem more difficult for the opponent or easier for them. Could be something like change the position of the goal, for example. And then the last principle is save and progress, because in video games you rarely have to start from scratch if you've already achieved and made progress through the game. You turn it off, you come back to it tomorrow and you restart the game from where you left off. So if we apply that principle to our training sessions, when children come back to us next week and we do training, can we start from where we left off? So if they finished on level two, let's restart from level two, because that's the challenge that's relevant to them. That's where they got to. And this approach encourages mastery and it encourages players reflecting away from training and thinking, "Oh, when I come back next week, that's what I'm going to do on that level, that's how I'm going to solve that problem." They might even pick up the phone to a friend and start talking, "Yeah, that's what we're going to do, we'll do that next time." So it encourages that real in-depth strategizing and thinking about the game and mastering these solutions and approaches to solving problems. Ultimately, with all of this, it's underpinned by meta cognition, which is thinking about your own thinking. Ultimately, in terms of skills, really planning and re-planning, can we get children to be strategic? Can we get them to have a plan, and then another plan, and then another plan? So they're always thinking about what to do next and why it's also about testing and tweaking what you do, because you might want to test out something against an opponent, you know, I might want to test whether I am quicker than the player marking me, I might need to know that so that I can approach this problem and solve this problem. So I might make real quick run in behind and see actually, is his he or she quicker than me, and use that information to inform how you play the game. And then the last one is setting problems, and we have mentioned this before, it's not just about solving, it's about understanding whatever I do has a consequence and an effect on the opponent. So how will whatever I do make the problem harder for them and easier for us.
Louise:
Such an interesting subject. And I'm imagining a lot of coaches out there thinking of different things they can do in their sessions, but can you tell us if there are any other approaches that coaches could use to help players develop problem solving skills?
Amy:
I think there are loads and I think it's not necessarily lots of big things but lots of little things in how we coach. So firstly, we can role model as coaches, we can share with our players how we'd approach a game problem, we can be open with our feelings as well at times concerning game problems as coaches. You know, sometimes we might find something difficult, we might get frustrated or we might be pleased with the progress we've made and all of this is important with problem solving and we should demonstrate that to players at times and verbalize our reasoning. You know, if we have designed a practice in a certain way, or we've come up with a certain game plan or ideas, why not share your reasoning with players and then they can start to understand how you think and potentially learn from those processes. I think players have an opportunity to improve their problem solving away from training, not just at training. So we sometimes need to be clear and support players to know where they can find help away from the football pitch. And when I say help, I mean, are they aware of the learning resources that they have at their fingertips away from the football pitch such as YouTube, really good example, Football Manager or FIFA, or simply watching football live or on the TV. We could also encourage players to be specific when they ask us questions, or when they ask someone else questions. encourage them to be specific with their questioning, not just a broad question but try to get them to be really clear on what it is they want help with and why they're finding it challenging. You might even ask players to think about writing a diary or a thinking journal which they can do away from training and it really gets them to think about what they're thinking and write it down. It gives you a great insight if they give you permission to read it around their thoughts around football and their performances and their training sessions. I also feel that we should encourage
players to set their own goals as much as possible, because as we said before, goals drive humans, goals drive football players and problem solving is linked to those goals. So it would be good for them to have goals and for us to know what those goals are. We can also use like, tactic boards and have football conversations with players and just like talk about stuff. You know, what happens if that player does this? And if I'm in this 1v1 situation here, if I took the ball this side and then you can start to have those chats, you can watch games and clips together and start to talk about what you see and you can even ask questions like, "Oh if that was you, what would you have done there?" And then that starts to get them to think about their own capabilities as a player. Well actually I might not have done that because I'm left-footed or I might not have done that because I'm really quick, you know? So it starts to get them to think about it from a point of view of what they're capable of which is key. And also, on the field, keep referring back to those goals the players have, whether that be as an individual longer term or whether that be their goals for that training session or in that practice. Provide feedback and don't underestimate as well the value of doing debriefs. You know, I've been there a million times, when you do your session, it's an hour session and then all of a sudden you've got one minute left, "Quick, get all the balls and cones!
Were off, we've got to go!" And actually we didn't get to review that session and look at, you know, did we solve that problem? Did we make progress? How did we do with that? What could we do next time?
Jamie:
You've mentioned so many different ways that players can develop their problem solving skills. But what age do you think players need to start learning how to problem solve?
Amy:
I'd say as early as possible. Kids really young are capable of problem solving in other domains because we see it we see kids as parents, we see kids grow up and solve problems in stuff outside of football. So why can't, you know, young players learn to solve problems at training and games? And actually I think what would help with this is do we need to always
plan our sessions from a technical and tactical point of view first? You know, sometimes we might just think about a problem. Today, we're working on problem solving. You know, I don't mind what skills you use, I don't mind what techniques and tactics you use. It's just about problem solving today because the game is simple in the end; it's about stop goals, score goals.
Jamie:
So then, how do you judge if your players have developed the right skills or if they actually need more support?
Amy:
I think this is when it's really key with relationships to start with. So spend time building those relationships with your players, that's really important to start with because there needs to be a mutual respect and a trust with you and your players and you need to try and understand the player as a person because otherwise we could make judgments on somebody's, you know, development with their problem solving and their skills, but we don't really understand them. So spend time, I would say looking at that first, and then over a period of time after you can maybe start to be more specific with your observations around how they engage with practices, how they engage with the game. Begin to ask questions, you know, what was your goal there? What was your intention? What were you trying to do? What did you see? What did you notice? So that you can start to understand their thought process and not just make a judgment based upon their action, you know, because it could have just been a technical error, but we don't actually know what they were trying to do. And then observe again, ask the questions and observe again and repeat the process.
Louise:
I think there are some really good points there. So if we're going to wrap up now, do you have any further top tips for coaches who want to work on problem solving?
Amy:
Yeah, I'd probably say start with the game problem when you're planning. What is the problem that you're wanting the players to solve initially? But I guess once that ball rolls, the problem could change. You know, other problems could come up and so it's about as a coach maybe being comfortable with that at times because it might not all go to plan and then also just finding out how the players are thinking and not just what they're thinking. So using those questions that we've spoken about before to get inside their head a little bit
Louise:
Perfect. Some really good insight there. Thanks, Amy.
Jamie:
Now, this is the part of the show where we're joined by a grassroots coach. We'll hear about their experiences so far and find out what coaching challenge they're currently facing. Our expert will then provide them with the guidance they need today. We're delighted to be joined by Adam from Nottingham. Hi, Adam. Welcome to the show.
Adam:
How are you doing, guys? You all right? [Louise;] Hi, Adam. Thanks for joining us. So if we start off, could you tell us a little bit about your coaching journey so far?
Adam:
Yeah, sure. So I've been involved in the girl's and women's game for about 10 years now. So it started off sort of locally at a small grassroots clubs working with junior age groups, then went to work with the under-18s over at Nottingham Forest and now currently Head of Senior Football and managing the first team of Notts County Women.
Louise:
Okay, can you tell us what your coaching challenges that you're currently facing?
Adam:
Yeah, so one of the challenges we're seeing this year is looking at sort of problem solving with players, especially with some of the players that have come to the game a little bit later on, a little bit of an older age and sort of the balance between sort of giving them the space to solve problems, but also perhaps being a little bit more explicit with that information, to support them and support us, I guess to get results.
Amy:
Adam, so what's the club's aim and team objectives in the short and longer term?
Adam:
I think short-term for us, it's consolidating after the promotion we've just gained and sort of building the foundations, continuing to build the foundations of the club in the longer term. We want to see ourselves in the National League and be a sort of solid mainstay in there and also to help support the development of our younger players to our junior pathway to be able to feed into the senior section, so we can call today our homegrown players and have a sort of study run of players coming through, playing the way that we like to see the game played and understand the culture and values of our club.
Amy:
What kind of behaviours would I expect to see in your environment? What is valued?
Adam:
We sort of value openness and togetherness, sort of two of the big things. And I think in terms of we've got a real sort of family feel with a group of players that we've got a very sort of close-knit group and you understand what it means to sort of play for the club and play for each other. We have a very sort of open environment in terms of communication. We like players to feel heard and understood and valued and we'd like them to sort of share with us their thoughts and feelings, as well. So that really important for us at the club. [Amy;] So have you had any conversations with players so far about the challenge you described to us concerning getting results versus or/and problem solving? [Adam;] I think not explicitly so far. I think it's something that's come up now and again, but not something that's regularly come up. I think it's more of a conversation we probably had as staff behind the scenes in terms of that challenge that we're facing currently, probably not so much forward facing the players at all.
Amy:
Because I was just thinking the way you described your environment and obviously given the club's longer term aims and sort of this season where you're looking to consolidate those performances and that learning that's occurred since you've been there, I was just wondering to what extent you might engage with some goal setting with players? Because I suppose when it comes to problem solving that's embedded within players or teams, people having goals in the first place. So have you gone to that extent with individual players or the team yet in terms of setting goals?
Adam:
Yeah, so we have some sort of team goals for this season, both sort of in the short and long term if you want to call a season long term. And then beyond that, but no, we've had sort of in depth reviews of players over the closed season, and we'll probably touch base with those again in terms of that individual development of the players, and that's right the way through from some of those younger players to 16, 17-year-olds we've got with us up to some of the older players that have been in the game longer or potentially been at the club for a little bit longer. Within that there'll be some elements of goals for them in terms of personal goals, but also goals related to the team and related to the units that are playing in, as well.
Amy:
Because maybe when the goals become more explicit for players, you know, the process goals, not necessarily the outcome of number of games won or anything like that. Although that is also important, maybe if the goals, the conversations around goals were focused more around the process of how we might achieve those results that we're looking to achieve. The idea of problem solving could become more natural for players, and also the idea of you telling and informing players and giving players information at the right points to help them to achieve those goals. And also, I just wonder, if there were goals, would that give you a bit of a license to recognize and value when players have made progress towards achieving those goals? Because that's a key part of problem solving is actually making progress and recognizing when progress has actually been made. And then lastly on that, I guess in those conversations, you could speak with players around or ask the question maybe to players around how much support and how much stretch they want from you. Because I'm assuming you have varying levels of ability in the group, because you did mention some players coming into your group with maybe less experience compared to some other players who have been there a number of years.
Adam:
Yeah, definitely. I think it is an interesting point on that as well because there are sort of pluses and drawbacks to both of that in terms of the development. But yes, certainly. I think the goals need to be quite place-specific and I like the idea of the point you said around when to give the appropriate support, cause I think that's one of the things we've been challenged with as well in the sense that we want to create an environment where players can, sort of learn to be adaptable and problem solvers and creative in the way that they play versus when is the time to sort of be a little bit more explicit with information and tell players what to do, whilst also sort of fostering an environment where players can be creative and explore and, you know, make lots of mistakes and learn things that way as well as just just being sort of instructed on how to play or how we want them to play. [Amy;] And maybe because asking players what they want from you could support you with your decision making around when to tell and when to allow that exploration. I also was thinking and actually sometimes we look at problem solving and we separate it from winning or getting results and we see it as maybe two different things. But I was thinking, I wonder if by reframing the language in and around the environment that you've created with players linked to learning. problem solving and winning and actually appreciating how those three things interact. They're not separate because ultimately learning how to problem solve is important so that we become more effective at winning, kind of all combined. So I wonder how just the general conversations and language within the coaching environment could support you and the players to feel more comfortable around the idea of telling and then the idea of being silent and not saying much at all?
Adam:
Yeah, I think that's a really important point and it's something we're sort of working on as a staff. I think more more times than we perhaps realize some of our players want us to be explicit with information sometimes. So yeah, I think the more we can understand the individual players and how they want to learn and how they best learn and what occasions they'll want information given more readily versus when they want to actually go and have a bit of a time themselves and work things out for themselves is a really important point.
Amy:
I know we've spoken previously, Adam, about the idea of female players really wanting to know the rationale behind all of the stuff we might be doing as coaches. They're quite curious in many cases around the why, and I just wondered to what extent you share with players the why behind your coaching behaviours, whether that be to intervene and to stop and to tell, or whether that be to allow players to struggle and find their way?
Adam:
Yeah, I think probably on reflection, I think we're, as you say, players in the women's game are more curious and ask a lot more questions and I think we provide rationale regularly in t terms of the sessions and sort of practice design. We provide rationale to players, but we probably on reflection of your point don't communicate as readily or as often around the rationale behind those interventions and when we're sort of supporting players or like you say, when we're giving players a bit more space and perhaps those conversations would help players to understand that a little bit more and hopefully improve the outcomes also.
Amy:
I think it's really important as well as coaches not to feel guilty for the decisions that we make because we made them for a reason. You know, we know our players and we know their goals as we spoke about before. And I suppose direct instruction nowadays might not be as highly valued as it has been previously in coaching over the years, but actually it's an important skill to have as a coach. You know, you're working with senior players, so it's probably vital for players to experience that telling at times because it's improving hopefully their knowledge of the game to then be able to problem solve in the future. I think sometimes that sort of scaffolding almost around, you know, they're giving them some of that initial information and which almost essentially then sets them on the way to do some more stuff on their own is probably something to reflect on as well for us, I think. And like you say, perhaps not being afraid to be so direct in that information that we give and the instructions that we give, but perhaps there's a way of or maybe what your thoughts are around, you know, like, say, potentially implying those things initially and almost allowing that scaffolding process where players can then take that chunk of information maybe, and then run with it and continue to explore and develop past that point.
Amy:
I think there are techniques you might use in training, maybe even matches, might be more challenging in matches, but how often would we say to players, you decide when you'd like to pause, when you would like to speak with me, when you'd like to have those conversations and ask those questions, when you'd like to be told. Because usually in coaching it's the coach that decides that. "Oh, I'm going to intervene. Now, I want to say this. Now I want to ask this question." It will be interesting to see if the players were able to make those ecisions, how they would engage with the coach. [Adam;] Yeah, I think that's something I'm quite keen to go and explore a little bit. It's an interesting thought. I think again, you know, on reflection we always make the decisions as coaches around those interventions. Players do sort of approach us and have conversations around the development, but it's very rarely during a session, it's often more after the fact or when we're having a review or having a discussion around sort of playing time or ways that they want to improve as opposed to actually during a sessio n when things are in full flow or perhaps, you know, players, if we don't notice that as a coach, then perhaps players aren't always readily communicating that and sort of provide an environment where players are able to do that. I find that quite interesting. I think that's something I'd like to go and explore a little bit more.
Amy:
I also believe that the conversation we're having isn't winning versus problem solving. As I said, I do feel it's all-encompassing, you know, winning the game, outwitting your opponent, scoring more goals than them. In order to do that, you need to be effective at problem solving and you need to be able to be constantly learning in the game about how to tackle those problems and how to set the opponent problems. So I feel any effective problem solver needs at times somebody to provide information to them but also needs at times those opportunities to test that information out and see how to apply it.
Jamie:
Adam, while you're here, are there any other challenges or any questions that you want to bring up?
Adam:
No, I think that's good. Like I say, it was just around around that piece and I think the biggest thing around the sort of space and time for players to have the freedom to problem solve on their own versus when it's a good time to give them that information, so that's good.
Jamie:
Well, thank you very much for your time today, it was great to hear from you and hopefully that discussion's helped clear your mind and get you sorted for when you get back to training.
Adam:
Super, thanks very much for having me on. Appreciate it.
Jamie:
We're coming up to the end of the episode now, which can only mean one thing: it's time for a swift session. This is where we challenge our guest to come up with a session idea that relates to the theme of the episode. [Louise;] So today we're looking for a session idea that's designed to help players problem solve. It also needs to be fun, engaging, and quick for coaches to set up. It can involve any number of activities but you'll only have 30 seconds to explain your ideas. Are you up for the challenge?
Amy:
I'll give it a go.
Louise:
Okay, let me just set the timer up. So 30 seconds on the clock, time starts... now.
Amy:
So you could have a game with zones where players are locked in and the mission is to unlock your team from all of the zones. And the way you do that is through scoring more goals than your opponent. And after you've played for five minutes, you decide which player to unlock if you are the team that has scored more goals than your opponent.
Louise:
Oh my goodness. That was the quickest we've ever had, I think. So that was obviously very swift and obviously quite a simple idea behind it. So is there anything else that you'd want to add to kind of give any more context?
Amy:
Yes, so there's no technical and tactical focus in this. I've kept it broad. It is about scoring more goals and stopping your opponent initially being locked into zones. And when you become unlocked, it's quite interesting because then the problem slightly changes, becomes slightly more complex for the team who have unlocked somebody because now there are more possibilities for that player who can now roam the whole pitch. And you could add pauses into this, you could add superpowers, you could add lots of different aspects of coaching, but what I provided to you is it in its most simple form.
Louise:
So, before we finish the show, do you have any last key messages for coaches to take away?
Amy:
I think that the key to all of this is trying to appreciate how the game initially is in its most simple form: time, space, numbers people on the pitch, and how all of these factors can influence the complexity of the problems that players are facing, and try to support players with recognizing problems in the first place and using lots of different coaching methods and approaches to develop their game understanding.
Jamie:
Well, that was absolutely great, Amy. So thank you very much for joining us on CoachCast. It's been fascinating listening to your insight. It really, really has and I'm sure it will prove to be helpful for coaches developing their players problem solving skills.
Amy:
Thank you for having me.
Jamie:
Right, that's all we have time for today. But if you want to find out more about what we've discussed in this episode, head over to thebootroom.thefa.com and check out how to develop a decision maker and using televised games to help players learn. You can also visit our YouTube channel, England Football Learning to watch how to help players solve problems during training.
Louise:
To keep in touch with all of our content, make sure you hit that subscribe button on YouTube and follow us on Twitter where our handle is at @EnglandLearning. And if you just want to chat about today's episode or you want to jump into a coaching conversation, you can do so on the England Football Community.
Louise:
We hope you enjoyed this special episode of CoachCast. To make sure you don't miss out on further specials or season two, why not subscribe? From all of us are England Football Learning, thanks for listening.