Whenever we are really talking about football, generally there are World Cup, European Cup, UEFA Champions League, Copa Libertadores and all kinds of global and national leagues, each 1 having their very own top professionals. But among all, just couple of them rise at a virtually legendary level of performance having the ability to single-handedly settle the result. Their names are Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the magicians plus the kings on the pitch.

Cristiano Ronaldo, by his full identity Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, was delivered in Madeira. He was named Ronaldo after the previous American President Ronald Regan. As a teenager he signed up with the Sporting’s youth academy. Later on its Romanian head coach Ladislau Boloni brought him into the 1st squad after recognising his promising prospective for the time to come. In 2003 Manchester United bought the younger Ronaldo after being wanted by Alex Ferguson. In 2008 he earned the Champions League trophy with Manchester, scoring the 1st goal of the final. He furthermore acquired three Premier League trophies and five cups. Real Madrid got his signature in 2009 and being absolutely exceptional this season scoring more than twenty goals so far.

The other amazing football player stated above is Lionel Messi sometimes known in Camp Nou as Mesia. He transferred to Barcelona in 2000 at truly the only young age of 13 when he moved with his members of the family to Europe to get treatment for his growth hormone deficit. He produced his official debut in 2003 in a friendly football game against Porto. Messi established himself as a first team player in 2006-07 season, creating a remarkable season and scoring a hat-trick in Spanish El Clasico. Since 2003 soccer player Lionel Messi has collected five league titles, 1 cup and five super cups and three Champions League trophy and these tend to be really a few of the trophies he won having various individual triumphs.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are brilliant performers on the football field, a pleasure to behold and have various triumphs with their soccer clubs. Anyway to stand tall among the football legends that have ever played the top sports in the whole universe you must capture the ultimate reward of all. Grab a World Cup for your national team and you may leave behind a legacy.

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The concept of “Mental Toughness” is a tried and true rallying call for most teams. Every coach wants players who are ‘mentally tough’, but really what does that mean? I had the opportunity to interview Simon Hartley, our resident Soccer Psychology Advisor, about this hot topic. Simon provided his thoughts in an earlier article about “What Does Mental Toughness Look Like?” and in this interview we delve into the next steps of understanding the topic.

Essentially, our conversation broke down into two key elements:

1. It seems that there are many different ideas as to what mental toughness is. How can we actually see mental toughness in athletes? Is it chest beating and shouting?
2. What do you see in a mentally tough athlete? How do they give themselves away?

Coach’s Questions

• What is a mentally tough player in your mind?
• What are some tactics that you use to cultivate an environment that produces mentally tough soccer players?
• What questions do you have for Simon?

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Does He "Get It"?

As coaches, the only way we can develop players from stage to stage is if we can build on what they’ve learned. No matter if it is tactics or technical – we have to be sure before we move on. As we rush to put on our training sessions and move through our ‘session plan’, we have to be sure we’re not moving faster than our players. But, how do you know if they “get it”?

All of us have seen that look before: it’s blank with the head slightly tilted sideways. It’s a key indicator that the player might not “get it.” Or, you see a player perform almost right on the field – but not exactly. Or still, players chatting with one another and asking questions about the explanation, skill or demonstration. These may be a little bit harder to uncover that competence. And, if you see it in one player, there’s probably a good chance that others may need some further clarification.

Here are four simple tips to check in with your players to ensure they “get it” before you move on.

1. Question: Probably the easiest way to see if they get it. But, also the easiest to fake on a player’s part. This is especially true at formative ages where social acceptance is critical
2. Listen: How confident is the player in their response? Did you simply catch them not listening and in need of clarification?
3. Observe: Can they demonstrate the topic and SHOW you they understand?
4. Write: Coaching whiteboards are excellent opportunities for players & coaches to show understanding. (Hint: It’s very helpful if you don’t have one)

How do you ensure your players “get it” out on the field?

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Umbro talk football and tattoo culture with Deco, the Portuguese footballer who currently plays in Brazil with Fluminense. Deco is famous for time spent playing for Porto, Barcelona and Chelsea. In the video, Deco discusses his first ever tattoo and the inspiration behind his body art. Visit www.umbro.com for more football stories and Umbro’s 1350 line of football shirts and training tops.

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Over the break between the Fall and Spring seasons at our club, we had a group of coaches from the Coerver organization come in to run some sessions for our players.

The players had a fantastic time, and really benefited from the skill activities that the coaches brought to the table.

Watching one of the activities made me think a bit about how as coaches we often settle for adequate (good) rather than pushing ourselves to go for more (better or best). What the Coerver guys did would qualify as best in my book.

I’ll tell you all about it in just a moment.

We can all agree that skill development has to be a major focus of our practice sessions, especially with young players.

A typical activity many coaches run would be two players set up 10 yards apart passing back and forth. You can work on a number of different skills this way.

Anything we do like this to help our players improve is good, but we can do better.

One of our club coaches sets up a 30 yard square grid. Half of the players line up on the inside, half line up outside of the grid (each with a ball).

The players inside the grid check to one of the outside players and perform the skill. After 1 minute, they switch roles.

We are now in a more realistic environment as the players are executing passing and receiving on the move. Much more like game conditions.

This certainly is much better than a static situation of two players standing across from each other. But it’s not as good as it could be.

Players tend to move around in a circle and not aggressively check for the ball. They are doing more moving than executing skills so we aren’t getting as many reps as possible.

The Coerver guys had a twist on this form of the activity that I think elevates it to “best.” A bit of an “Aha moment” if you will.

Same set up, 30 yard square grid. However, they also put a 3 yard square in the center. Players start in the middle and have to go back to the middle between sets of skill reps.

Now they are “checking” much more directly to receive the ball.

One final twist…

Have the players perform a rep with both feet when they check to the ball.

Here’s what I mean:

Player 1 checks from the middle to Player 2 (who has a ball) on the outside of the grid. Player 2 plays a ground pass to Player 1′s right foot. Player 1 plays it back one-time.

Player 2 plays the ball back again one-time to Player 1′s left foot. Player 1 plays the pass back and then heads back to the center of the grid before he begins again.

You can do the same thing with volleys. Player 1 checks to Player 2 (who has a ball in his hands). Player 2 tosses to Player 1 for a right foot volley. Player 2 catches the volley and then tosses to Player 1′s left foot for a second volley.

Now we have more realistic movement and more skill reps.

We’ve gone from good to better to best!

Whenever you are setting up an activity, ask yourself these questions:

Related posts:

1. One-Touch Passing Drills
2. Soccer Drills – Receiving Under Pressure
3. Individual Soccer Drill – Receiving with Creativity

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These are the New 2010-2011 Real Madrid Jersey set customized for my team. I got them from my uncle.

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Mental toughness is a prized “possession” of athletes the world over. Parents talk about it. Coaches demand it. But, how would you know a mentally tough athlete? What traits would they exhibit? What characteristics would you see? How would they behave? What would they say?

What Happens When The Going Get’s Tough?

In my work as a sport psychologist, this is a topic that has always fascinated me. I’ve seen many athletes and teams who have crumbled when they’ve hit tough challenges. I have seen some teams that have imploded at crucial times during a game, or during a season. Some panic if they go behind. They seem to throw their game plan out of the window when they’re questioned. For many years, I defined mental toughness as the ability to stick to the game plan, no matter what. Obviously, I recognise that ‘the game plan’ needs to be flexible and adaptable. However, we should not abandon it completely and start panicking at the first sign of trouble.

I have seen many athletes that seem to shrivel up when they’re exposed to criticism. It is hard for some to take, especially if that criticism is very vocal and comes from 40,000 fans on a Saturday afternoon. In fact, whilst working in a Premiership football club a number of years ago, the coaching staff developed a saying… “when the going gets tough, the tough hide under the treatment table”. We used to see the number of injuries rise (and take longer to heal) when we were struggling and the players were being booed by the fans. The players were actually using the treatment room to escape! Coincidently, our captain (who did the shouting and fist waving) was the most regular visitor to the treatment room if we lost at home.

The Flip Side Of The Coin

Over the years I have also seen many athletes and teams who displayed incredible toughness. Recently, I have also interviewed a range of truly world class people in some very diverse disciplines, so as to understand what differentiates them from their peers. In doing so, I have listened to some incredibly tough individuals, such as mountaineers, polar explorers, adventure racers, extreme athletes and special forces personnel. These people endure some phenomenal challenges, whether it is facing death at the top of an 8,500 meter peak, completing a solo crossing of the Arctic, finishing 66 ultra-marathons in 66 days after being injured on day 2, or running back into battle through a fire-fight to save an injured comrade (and then swimming 2 hours to a rescue boat whilst towing him).

After watching some truly tough people and listening to their stories, I have changed my definition of mental toughness to this…. “the ability to keep going, sticking to the task and not give up, even when every fibre of your being screams at you to stop”.

But not all of us will be at the top of 8,000 meter mountains, or crossing the Arctic Ocean, or running through a gun battle. So how can we see toughness outside of those extreme conditions? Is the tough individual the loudest? Are they the ones who run out of the dressing room screaming? Are they the one who is most physically dominant? Or, are they the ones who will push themselves the hardest? Are they the athletes that are willing to enter their discomfort zone? Are they the people who will venture into the unknown and take on new challenges? Perhaps, the tough athletes are the ones that take complete responsibility for their performance at all times.

Mental Toughness In Action

In 2006, a swimmer (Chris) prepared for the final of a major world event. He’s waiting in the ‘call room’ with the other 7 finalists. One of them, an Australian, comes up to him and rubs his knuckle on Chris’ head. He starts to try to intimidate Chris verbally and physically, he becomes unpleasant in an attempt to undermine Chris’ confidence. Chris sat, looked at him and smiled. He didn’t say a word in response because he didn’t need to. Chris knew that the Australian was in trouble. Why did the Australian feel the need to intimidate Chris? Did he not think he could win the race on his own merit? Did he have to pull Chris back in order to stand a chance of beating him?

Sometimes fear can be dressed up as toughness. Bravado tends to be a façade; ‘fake toughness’. Perhaps it is a sign of weakness rather than strength.

Chris knew that his job was simple. He had to swim 2 lengths of that swimming pool as quickly as he could. He’d worked incredibly hard in training and was as prepared as he could possibly be. He’d overcome considerable adversity to get there, which gave him a deep sense of confidence in his own ability. All he had to do now was to swim 2 lengths of the pool. If he swam quicker than everyone else, he’d win. If someone else swam faster than him, they’d win. If he simply swam as quickly as he could, he’d done his job. It doesn’t get any more complicated than that.

If we want to know what toughness looks like, we can learn a lot from this example. The tough athlete is not the one trying to dominate or intimidate his opponent. The tougher of the two is the one who sat calmly, smiled and looked his opponent in the eye. He’s also the one that remained completely focussed on his job, and refused to be distracted from it.

I doubt you’ll be surprised when I tell you that Chris won the Gold Medal that day!

Simon Hartley is the author of Peak Performance Every Time, published by Routledge.

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It always cracks me up when I attend recreational youth soccer matches and hear parents yelling to five and six year old kids to “put on their game faces.” Don’t these well-intended parents know that these kids have no idea what a “game face” is on the field?

I came across an excellent article from Mike Jacobs this morning who was sharing his thoughts about soccer toughness. And, he included some toughness attributes from Jay Martin, Ohio Wesleyan coach who was recently named D3 Coach of the Year (Congrats, Jay!)

It made me think about toughness on a soccer field. And, when is it age appropriate to start thinking about toughness and mental toughness with  a soccer team. I may throw that question over to Simon Hartley, our resident Soccer Psychology Advisor, for some better clarification.

What do you think? What are attributes of toughness for you as a coach? When is it age appropriate

*****

Here is the original post from Mike Jacobs, the head soccer coach at the University of Evansville:

I had the chance to visit with a high school basketball team yesterday, and in their pre-practice meeting, they were referring to an article that I had also once written about a couple of years back. The article had to do with toughness, which ESPN’s Jay Bilas has a pretty good reference point about.

Bilas has a great reference point when it comes to competing at a high level of sports – he played basketball at Duke University, and after his playing career ended, joined Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s coaching staff; He has parlayed his playing and coaching career into a role as one of ESPN’s top college basketball analysts.

Elements of an article he once wrote on ESPN.com a couple of years ago (http://mdbball.com/Documents/ToughnessbyJayBilas.pdf) still draws references today. I think the reason I still refer to it is that it hit on a topic that every coach stresses with their players – toughness.

I think I was shocked about how many coaches from different sports at all types of levels had read the article, and were able to draw from their own experiences when reading and relating to Bilas’ thoughts.

‘…in almost coordinated fashion, I would watch games and see player upon player thumping his chest after a routine play, angrily taunting an opponent after a blocked shot, getting into a shouting match with an opposing player, or squaring up nose-to-nose as if a fight might ensue. I see players jawing at each other, trying to “intimidate” other players. What a waste of time. That is nothing more than fake toughness, and it has no real value.’

I often wonder: Do people really understand what coaches and experienced players mean when they emphasize “toughness” in basketball? Or is it just some buzzword that is thrown around haphazardly without clear definition or understanding?’

Bilas referenced that where he came to college thinking that toughness was based on the physical, he realized that it had more to do with the mental. I was always taught that strength could be measured in a weight room, but that toughness was measured by what was inside of you – it wasn’t measured in your ability to kick someone on the other team, but in your ability to get kicked and keep playing; it was not whether you were knocked down, but in your resolve that allowed you to get back up.

Bilas also referenced that he thought toughness was a skill, and as a skill, could be developed and improved. He even created a list of items that he thought were a way that toughness was exhibited in basketball.

Soccer Journal editor Jay Martin had taken the lead from Bilas’ article and created his own list of items that displayed toughness in soccer. I thought it was a great reference point for players to draw from, and had even hung it up in our locker room at the University of Evansville.

Some of the key items were:

• Talk on defense: A tough player talks and communicates with teammates while defending, and is so focused on winning that he/she is not only worried about the player that they are guarding, but on helping their teammates as well.
• Play so hard, your coach has to take you out: Tough players work so hard that the coach has to take them out to rest. The toughest players don’t pace themselves. The first time I watched the University of North Carolina’s women’s team play, what I was taken back from was that when some of coach Anson Dorrance’s players came off the field, they needed to get oxygen because of how hard they were playing – you could actually see one of the girl’s chests expanding and contracting due to how hard she was breathing when she came off the field. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a player or team play as hard as that team on that day – they are a ‘tough’ team, and it is no coincidence that they compete for a National Championship on an annual basis.
• Take responsibility for your teammates: Tough players take responsibility for themselves as well as others. If the bus leaves at 9:00 AM, tough players make sure that they are there on time as well as their teammates, too.
• Get out of the comfort zone: A tough player knows that soccer is a game played when tired and sore. When tough players are tired and sore, and feel like they don’t want to run any longer, they run harder.
• Take and give criticism the right way: Tough players take criticism without feeling they have to answer back or come up with an excuse. They want to get better. Tough players are not afraid to tell teammates what they need to hear.
• Show strength in body language: Tough players project confidence and security with their body language. They don’t hang their heads; they don’t argue with officials.
• Look coaches and teammates in the eye: Tough players never drop their heads. They always look their coach in the eye, because if the coach is talking, it is important to them.
• Make every game important: Tough players know that every game is important regardless of the opponent. They know if they want to play in a championship game they must play every game like a championship.

Out of any of Jay Bilas’ toughness rules, the one that I thought this high school team (and their coach) truly embodied the most was‘Make getting better every day your goal’- We always try to stress with our players at the University of Evansville that their goal should be to make today better than their play yesterday. Tough players come to work every day to get better, and you could see by this team’s focus and commitment in practice that they bought into that theory.

Michigan State University basketball coach Tom Izzo said that “Players play the game, but tough players win the game.” Look over this list, and gauge whether your team or children are tough – you can encourage toughness, and the best coaches and parents develop those attributes in their players and children.

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“Football is a simple game made complicated by people who should know better.” – Bill Shankly

Formations, put simply, are a description of how the players on the pitch are positioned. These formations are altered as and when teams are more defensive or offensive and are used at every level of the game from the greatest leagues in Europe to Kids soccer up and down the country in order to get a sense of organization and structure to a teams play.

Historically, the game of association football ( or soccer as we know it ) was a game that had little or no organization. It was a game in which a pass to a team mate was deemed “ not the done thing “ ( who knows what Mr Guardiola would have thought of that? ) and a game that was just basically all out individual attack with little if any regard for defense or team mates.

As the years went by however, the game became more organized and teams began to use more structured measures in order to beat their opponents. Formations were used from the mid 19th century onwards and they were influenced massively by the attacking nature of the game in those days. It was common in those days to see teams set up with seven or eight forward players and with only one true defender.

But, as the game progressed so did formations and the 1920’s saw the first resemblance of formations that we can still see to this very day with Arsenal ( and Herbert Chapman’s ) “ WM “, a formation that consisted of three defenders, two holding midfielders ( as we now call this position ) two advanced central midfielders and three attackers which can be translated to today’s more modern 3-4-3 formation which is used at times by the successful Louis Van Gaal Ajax teams of the 1990’s, previous Barcelona teams and the Napoli team of this year’s Champions League. Other popular formations that be may be familiar with were the 1930’s Metodo formation which won back to back world cups for Italy in 1934 and 1938. This formation can be seen today in a loose translation when we watch Barcelona play, with its 2-3-2-3 set up.

The 1950’s and 60’s saw even more emphasis on positioning players in what was deemed defensive positions, or areas of the pitch that were not seen to be attacking anyway. The 3-3-4 ( three defenders, three midfielders and four attackers ) used by the double winning Tottenham Hotspur team of 1961 was regularly used throughout Europe, we saw it most recently with the fabulous FC Porto team of 2006 that won the Portugese Championship under Dutch Coach Co Adriansse. Other systems that were common place during this era was the 4-2-4 formation which was first devised by Hungarian coaches of that era and this system is the roots of the modern day 4-4-2, with its four man defense, two central midfielders with advanced wide players, and two strikers.

We then started to see formations being used that we are more familiar with in today’s game let’s take a look.

The 4-4-2 which became increasingly popular in the 80’s and 90’s in both Italy and England, giving success to various Clubs both domestically and on the European stage. This formation has lots of variations within it including the diamond midfield ( 4-1-2-1-2 ) and the 4-4-1-1 which would see a “ target man “ playing with a support striker playing “ in the hole “ who would be intended to be a more creative player than his strike partner.

The 4-3-3 used by the Argentinian, Italian and Uruguayan national teams of the 1950’s and 60’s that is used today by numerous teams including Chelsea and Real Madrid. Its variations include modifications to 1920’s Arsenal’s WM formation which we touched on earlier and converts one of the midfielders to a defender giving us a more familiar shape that we now see each week in games across the world. Another variation is the 4-3-1-2 which is a more narrow attacking option that focus’s on attacking play through the centre of the opposition, with a front pairing of strikers backed up by a link up man who would play in a possible “ free role “, this formation can also somewhat be interpreted as the 4-4-2 midfield diamond formation in its similarity. We can also look at the 4-3-3 formation in a defensive way by restricting the attacking responsibilities of the wide attacking players, giving us an essentially 4-5-1 formation when not in possession of the ball.

Over the coming weeks we will look into these formation and others in greater depth including matching up one formation against another to find out what strengths we can find by playing one against the other. We’re hopeful that this will help you Guys in finding the best formation for your players bearing in mind that it is the players that you have at your disposal that influences how you play.

We must remember that where soccer is concerned “ the game never stops “ so formations and the style of play we want to play are never an exact science as players are moving into different positions of the field at all times.

Teams will be successful when they correctly apply and execute how the coach wants them to play on the training field and NOT on the day of the game. If your players are not doing what you want them to do where systems and formations are concerned, then maybe you could look into your training sessions and the communication process during them as opposed to singling out specific players for criticism on the day of the game.

From a building perspective, if you don’t understand your player’s capabilities and your players haven’t developed the ball control skills, it would certainly be futile to try and explain formations and lineups to them. This would be like asking a child to write in cursive without first teaching the letters of the alphabet. First things, first.

Soccer Classroom