Effective Periodization in Youth Football: The Case for Economical Training

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Effective Periodization in Youth Football The
Case for Economical Training
By Leigh Cullip, Houston Dynamo
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Youth Soccer Out of the Zoo and Into the Wild..

• Ideology for Philosophy Building Blocks
• Create an environment that is both challenging
  and fun by way
• of developing players intrinsic motives and
  transposing them
• into success technically, tactically, physically
  and psychologically.
• Therefore Implementing a player centric training
  model that
• uses a play based learning system

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What is Economical Training?

• Economical training is the Incorporation of the
  components of the game into the methodology and
  structure of the session
• Technical
• Tactical
• Psychological
• Physical
• Think Small Sided Games as the Ultimate Youth
  Soccer Teaching Tool

What is Effective Periodization?

• A Big Picture View on Player Development
• Introducing teaching, and focusing on Core
  Techniques that are age specific and
  developmentally appropriate for the player
• The collection and use of objective data from
  technical testing and from charted performances
  in Small Sided Games
• A system to encourage the learning and
  demonstration of the Characteristics of a Youth
  Soccer Player at Phoenix FC
• The development of a new player promotion policy
  between club teams and developing relationships
  with ECNL/USDA Clubs

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Creating and Developing A Technical Tactical
Periodization for a Youth Soccer Club

• Problem
• Presenting all of the philosophical points means
  teaching a mass of information which causes us to
  run the risk of the overall message getting lost
  and players not taking away concrete lessons.
• Youth coaches need a simplified message so that
  they can better focus their efforts and so that
  coaching points can be wrapped in a theme so
  that the message is more continuously repeated
  and the possibility of learning and retention
  increased.
• A simplified point of view allows the youth coach
  to increase the development of the most important
  parts to develop their teams. age groups
  Receiving, Running with the ball, Releasing
  (passing shooting/ finishing).
• A single clear point of view paints a crystal
  clear picture as to the make-up and character of
  our Club, our staff, our players, and our Way
  from the grassroots right through to the top
  level.

• Solution
• Focus on overtly coaching the club philosophy in
  training sessions and teach the key elements of
  player development via facilitation.
• The key Rs for these ages and for our vision of
  a Dynamo player would be Receiving, Running with
  the ball, and Releasing (passing and shooting).
• The baseline syllabus for 2013 could be to
  develop a skillful receiver, vision based
  players that are creative dribblers, and deadly
  finishers.
• Accounting for this change, and the shortened
  schedule, player development model would look
  like this

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• Focused Training on Fundamental Technique
• What?
• 6 Core Fakes and Feints Matthews, Double Cut,
  Pull-Push, Lunge, High Wave, Fake Cut
• 6 Core Controlling Techniques - Inside/Outside,
  Bk Ft/ Frt Ft, No Touch, Aerial, 1T spin w/
  Outside, 1T spin w/ Inside
• 6 Core Turns Inside Hook, Outside Hook, Drag
  Back, Cruyff, Stop-Turn, Step Over
• Why?
• To utilize the principle of block practice and
  to maybe start to provide the foundations for
  deliberate practice.
• To deliver more concrete, age appropriate
  lessons/ information.
• To bring the Phoenix Curriculum more in line
  with that of a development academy club.
• To provide another opportunity to mine objective
  data.
• To provide us an opportunity to assign and
  encourage homework/ individual training
• How?
• These core techniques will be taught in
  fundamental activities in each warm-up
• Use of small sided games as a core teaching tool
• Once we have taught the techniques, you can
  assign them for homework. The following sheet can
  be used to track the players progress with their
  homework. The way that points are recorded will
  change shift from time/ effort to performance at
  every 6 week period.

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Example of a Technical Tactical Periodization
Chart

• Example of a Typical Two Week Micro-cycle

Week I
Sun Mon Tues Weds Thurs Fri Sat
MATCH DAY Rest Passing Receiving Shooting Finishing 1 v 1 Core Element Training Attacking Rest Individual Training/Homework
Week II
Sun Mon Tues Weds Thurs Fri Sat
MATCH DAY Rest Passing Receiving Individual Possession 1 v 1 Core Element Training Defending Rest Individual Training/Homework
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Objective Data

• Why?
• Objective data will give us more reliable
  information about players and the actual state of
  their growth and development.
• Objective data allows us to compare apples to
  apples when comparing players from different
  locations, age groups, etc.
• Objective data allows us to provide concrete and
  reliable feedback to players and their families
  that paints a very clear picture of the player
  and their abilities at this moment in time.
• Objective data can provide us with evidentiary
  support to either promote players or defend our
  decisions not to promote them.

• How?
• Creation of activities to measure the tangible
  skill set of a player. We can do this testing on
  whatever schedule we deem appropriate.
• A suggestion to set test, score and rank
  players skill, tactics, fitness, and psychology
  if we devise a Dutch Tournament style
  collection system.
• The following tracking sheet has been developed
  to help the coaches track this and other data.
  These should be handed to the DOC each week.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF A DYNAMO PLAYER

• Because these characteristics are such an
  important part of the player ID process, I think
  that we need to do a better job of teaching,
  instilling, and rewarding these traits.
• One way of doing this might be to hold a
  Characteristics Tournament through the CoE
  season. Here, players would receive a point from
  CoE coaches (points which are tracked on the CoE
  tracking document) whenever they are observed
  exhibiting one of the listed characteristics of
  a Dynamo player.
• The points are tacked for the entire season and,
  then, at the end of the season, we announce
  winners.
• We can decide how to organize the tournament top
  point earner per age group, top point earner
  overall, most improved per age group, age group
  with the most points per location, most improved
  age group, location with the most points, etc.
• Prizes can be tickets, scarves, signed
  memorabilia, soccer balls, etc.. Promotional
  items that kids will love.
• In addition to this, we could develop a points
  system to reward players for positive academic
  performances. They could bring and show a report
  card for points.
• I think that a program like this not only
  teaches and encourages the characteristics that
  we are interested in instilling but, because
  these traits are really life skills, assigning
  value to these traits will help our program to
  impact kids beyond the soccer field and, thus,
  help to assign more value to our program in a
  parents mind.

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Thanks for Attending! Q A Leigh
Cullip Houston Dynamo leigh.cullip_at_hotmail.com