Influenced decision-making behavior
That's enough! Wrong decision again!
Clear situation for you as a trainer. Your player is in a good attacking situation in the final third. With one pass through the interface, your striker can run directly towards the goalkeeper. What happens? He continues to dribble and then plays the pass to the outside.
Wrong decision, missed chance to score. Missed the equalizer and lost the game.
You saw the interface immediately, as did some of the players and your assistant coach. Even some parents groaned because the ball wasn't "put through". This situation doesn't necessarily occur several times in the game, but when it does, it's crystal clear what needs to be done.
Did the player who was in the situation also see the interface? At least we often assume this and make a mistake:
We automatically project our experiences onto our players.
Suppose you are 34 years old, coach a U13 team, have played football for 12 years and have been a coach for 5 years. You also saw countless Bundesliga, Champions League and European Championship/World Cup games and discussed game scenes with colleagues.
Your wealth of experience as a player is as large as your players are old. As a coach, you also deal intensively with possible solutions and Messi's countless brilliant moments from the CL are also stored in your memory.
You call upon these experiences again and again during the game and demand them from your players, even though they may not even have the experience you require, let alone be technically able to implement it.
To avoid such mistakes, here is a crucial tip:
First ask yourself the following question:
Does the player have this level of experience to play the ball through the interface?
If the player has the experience for the interface ball, then ask him the following question:
“Do you remember the attacking situation in the 27th minute of the game when you dribbled past the 6-point line and then played the ball out in front of the central defender? What other options did you have?”
By rewriting the situation, it is easier for the player to remember and “put themselves back” in that situation. With the open question at the end, you actively encourage him to talk, which allows you to see whether he has actually seen the option.
The following answers are possible:
- The player didn't see them = The player therefore has problems with fixed or peripheral perception of game situations.
- The player saw it but did not choose it = The player has either decision-making problems or action problems, i.e. problems in the technical implementation
If the player has problems with the technical implementation, you have to ask yourself how often you have trained the interface ball under game-like conditions.
In summary, you should take the following two points away from this article:
- Don't project your experiences onto your player
- Ask open-ended questions to find out where the player's problems lie
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us
Author: Tammo Neubauer
