( On july 2017….
This articles was written more than 5 years ago, and I realize I wouldn´t write it again today. Happily I can see many things have changed on our on-field work since then, and we are taking much more care on our players now. Happy to see Football training keeps developing as fast as the game, let´s see what´s next!)
Training you realize every day you have to be back at the starting point. Everything you believe before training, can become nothing when we finish. People say the best way to improve is to un-learn, which on my opinion it means evething you have learned before and you considered it as good, has to be put in doubt every day, to be able to adapt it to our new reality which changes constantly.
I have hade the chance to have listened masters like Paco Seirul·lo or Juan Manuel Lillo, his advanced pupil. From start they look crazy, brilliant people but unable to connect with the reality. Genius nobody can comprehend. The advantage to have listened them that many times, it is that suddenly you realize they were right.
¨In FC Barcelona, our main objective is to Play Better.¨ Paco Seirul·lo
¨I wanted to hear the set-plays they had, I already watched them but I wanted to listen. Because when you listen, you don´t listen the play, you listen the feelings. Loud voice, they believe. Soft voice, they don´t. And that, doesn´t come with the videos. So the ones with loud voice are the ones I am going to keep.¨ Juan Manuel Lillo
We plan drills, tranining sessions taking into account the moment of the season, the training load, the playing system, the game model, but are we thinking on the players? Not much.
Why we tend to forget and leave for the last the main characters (the only ones) in this game? At the end, they will be the ones they have to play, fight, suffer, run, jump, encourage themselves, keep the score, create, smile,… Are we planning any training session for them, to promote or stimulate those situations? Not much.
Lately, many people have been talking a lot (myself, for instance) about how important is the feedback post-training to know about players opinion, which is his mood and feelings, as very important concept to have good control on the team, but and at the beginning? Are we asking them how they feel before the session? What they want do do? What we need to improve? And if we do so, Are we listening them to the point to change our plan because of their answer? No. We are planning what we believe they need to work on and after we ask his opinion. But, If we are wrong? Are we waisting our time if we are forcing our player to act in a way they (the main characters, remeber) don´t believe?
Isolated training, global, integrated, game plan, tactical periodisation, microcycles, physical training, test, video editing,… Are we too busy (or pretend to be) in many things less important than our players? There is something more important than them?
The objective of this article is to open up question marks, and to do not close them never more, in order to keep seeking in this incredible world of human relationships and the training process in football. Speaks one is starting to un-learn!