Post by cjeagle on Oct 4, 2012 11:47:01 GMT 8
Since we have one of our own, Sandro Reyes participating in this school, I wanted to share with you guys this article I read on their methodology as described by an American coach who was allowed to train with the Barca coaches responsible for the Barca Escola school. I hope this proves instructional to potential coaches out there.
"At the core of the philosophy and methodology is possession (huge shock I know). Every activity and session was geared around maintaining possession of the ball to create goal scoring opportunities. Defensive sessions were geared around pressing and winning the ball back as quickly as possible. Activities were required to be as game like as possible and include each pillar and moment of the game. In addition, it was important that each activity allowed and included as much as possible everything you can do in a game (dribble, pass, receive, shoot, tackle etc). There were very few restrictions although each activity had specific manipulations to bring out the topic. Each session allowed the kids to simply play the game of soccer and let the game be the guide to learning.
Objectives for each session were clear and specific. Each session included a technical, game, and system objectives. They were very specific for us to only use 1 or 2 coaching points for each objective. I found this to be very interesting as I felt there was time and opportunity to teach more. However, I found it to be very effective. You end up letting the game flow a lot more as well as leaving room for the players to figure out things on their own. Certainly, something I’ve always known and practiced.
I have always felt that coaches show up with too many coaching points which often ruins the practice. The players never have the opportunity to really focus and try to learn what the coach has just taught because their bombarded with new information. However, the Escola almost takes this to an extreme. For instance, in the passing and receiving session they only wanted us to focus on the kids opening their body to the field when receiving. That was it. Nothing more. But what it naturally led to were the players naturally receiving the ball with the foot furthest from pressure and into space. I didn’t need to say it. Simply telling them to open their hips led to the next step.
The structure of the session went along with the objectives. Each session consisted of a 20 minute technical warm up, which included 5′ of skills exercise, 10′ of a technical game and 5′ of stretching. The main part of the session included 3 sections: technique, tactics/game, and system. The technical section session usually consisted of a possession game (rondo was very prevalent). The tactical section was more functional, which added decision making to the technical piece learned earlier, and the system section was a game in which the techniques and tactics learned earlier were implemented within the Escola system (for 7v7 the system is 1-3-2-1).
What I found most interesting, but not wholly surprising, was that every age group followed the exact same session plan. from 6 years old up to 14. Expectations for each age group as well as depth of information, of course, varied across each age group but what was actually done remained the same.
At the Escola, they have technique separated into 8 sections (can’t seem to find my notes as to what the 8 sections specifically were, however). Each attacking technique is paired with a defensive technique. So for instance, passing and receiving is paired with intercepting. Over the course of a month an Escola team will train 8 times, in which 6 of them will be on passing and receiving and 2 will cover the intercepting.
One of the other questions I asked was if they used pattern play. The answer was rather emphatically, no. Both admitted, that in the past pattern play was used, but based on the current philosophy and style of play they felt it created robots. Rather they train their players simply to look for and exploit space. Space is the key term for them. Movement off the ball and of the ball should always be into space while maintaining the group’s width and depth.
I also commented on how much of the session was geared towards decision making rather than specifically on technique. They commented that for them it is different. The players they get already have a good technical base usually formed through unstructured play. So their job is simply to refine technique and focus more on teaching decision making. For us they would recommend more focus on technique, but emphasized that all technical work should be accompanied with decision making. Training technique in isolation they felt is useless for young players.
soccerpurist.wordpress.com/2012/08/20/time-well-spent-with-barcelona-the-escola-methodology/
"At the core of the philosophy and methodology is possession (huge shock I know). Every activity and session was geared around maintaining possession of the ball to create goal scoring opportunities. Defensive sessions were geared around pressing and winning the ball back as quickly as possible. Activities were required to be as game like as possible and include each pillar and moment of the game. In addition, it was important that each activity allowed and included as much as possible everything you can do in a game (dribble, pass, receive, shoot, tackle etc). There were very few restrictions although each activity had specific manipulations to bring out the topic. Each session allowed the kids to simply play the game of soccer and let the game be the guide to learning.
Objectives for each session were clear and specific. Each session included a technical, game, and system objectives. They were very specific for us to only use 1 or 2 coaching points for each objective. I found this to be very interesting as I felt there was time and opportunity to teach more. However, I found it to be very effective. You end up letting the game flow a lot more as well as leaving room for the players to figure out things on their own. Certainly, something I’ve always known and practiced.
I have always felt that coaches show up with too many coaching points which often ruins the practice. The players never have the opportunity to really focus and try to learn what the coach has just taught because their bombarded with new information. However, the Escola almost takes this to an extreme. For instance, in the passing and receiving session they only wanted us to focus on the kids opening their body to the field when receiving. That was it. Nothing more. But what it naturally led to were the players naturally receiving the ball with the foot furthest from pressure and into space. I didn’t need to say it. Simply telling them to open their hips led to the next step.
The structure of the session went along with the objectives. Each session consisted of a 20 minute technical warm up, which included 5′ of skills exercise, 10′ of a technical game and 5′ of stretching. The main part of the session included 3 sections: technique, tactics/game, and system. The technical section session usually consisted of a possession game (rondo was very prevalent). The tactical section was more functional, which added decision making to the technical piece learned earlier, and the system section was a game in which the techniques and tactics learned earlier were implemented within the Escola system (for 7v7 the system is 1-3-2-1).
What I found most interesting, but not wholly surprising, was that every age group followed the exact same session plan. from 6 years old up to 14. Expectations for each age group as well as depth of information, of course, varied across each age group but what was actually done remained the same.
At the Escola, they have technique separated into 8 sections (can’t seem to find my notes as to what the 8 sections specifically were, however). Each attacking technique is paired with a defensive technique. So for instance, passing and receiving is paired with intercepting. Over the course of a month an Escola team will train 8 times, in which 6 of them will be on passing and receiving and 2 will cover the intercepting.
One of the other questions I asked was if they used pattern play. The answer was rather emphatically, no. Both admitted, that in the past pattern play was used, but based on the current philosophy and style of play they felt it created robots. Rather they train their players simply to look for and exploit space. Space is the key term for them. Movement off the ball and of the ball should always be into space while maintaining the group’s width and depth.
I also commented on how much of the session was geared towards decision making rather than specifically on technique. They commented that for them it is different. The players they get already have a good technical base usually formed through unstructured play. So their job is simply to refine technique and focus more on teaching decision making. For us they would recommend more focus on technique, but emphasized that all technical work should be accompanied with decision making. Training technique in isolation they felt is useless for young players.
soccerpurist.wordpress.com/2012/08/20/time-well-spent-with-barcelona-the-escola-methodology/