Functional Training is training of players in their positions; specifically, it is training players in the techniques and tactics that are most commonly used in their positions within the team. Functional training occurs in the area(s) of the field in which an individual or group usually operates. Technical and tactical functional training isolates one aspect of an individual or small group’s function within the team. Functional training often begins in the simplest form of any training: a single player performing a required skill.
Functional training and our small sided games are designed to construct simplified forms of soccer each centering around a real soccer problem. The players learn how to play the game by mastering each simplified form. It's more about solving problems than just mastering techniques.
Below is a great article talking about the long term development process and reiterating that players that can't solve soccer problems get phased out by ones that can.
What is our training philosophy?
Here are some quotes and articles that will give you insight on how we developed our training and philosophy
"Football is a game you play with your brain." Johan Cruyff
"My great gift was my ability to read the game" Michael Platini UEFA President
"We are asking our players to compete before they have learned how to play." Jay Miller former US U-20 mens national team coach
"Behind every kick of the ball there has to be a thought." Dennis Bergkamp
http://www.axonpotential.com/more-on-soccer-decision-making-and-expertise/
http://www.axonpotential.com/rubber-necked-soccer-players-have-the-best-field-vision/
Horst Wein – Developing Game Intelligence
The Soccer Brain is The Difference Maker
Playing Soccer vs Playing at Soccer
Why Repetition?
To get from one level to another it takes hours of practice, repetition, coachability, and proper information (coaching).
Conscious Competence Ladder
Some great John Wooden quotes.
“There are actually eight laws of learning: Demonstration, Explanation, Imitation, Repetition, Repetition, Repetition, Repetition, and Repetition.”
"Good things take time, as they should. We shouldn’t expect good things to happen overnight. Actually, getting something too easily or too soon can cheapen the outcome."
"There are little details in everything you do, and if you get away from any one of the little details, you’re not teaching the thing as a whole. For it is little things which, together, make the whole. This, I think, is extremely important."
"I discovered early on that the player who learned the fundamentals of basketball is going to have a much better chance of succeeding and rising through the levels of competition than the player who was content to do things his own way. A player should be interested in learning why things are done a certain way. The reasons behind the teaching often go a long way to helping develop the skill."
"When you improve a little each day, eventually big things occur…. Not tomorrow, not the next day, but eventually a big gain is made. Don’t look for the big, quick improvement. Seek the small improvement one day at a time. That’s the only way it happens — and when it happens, it lasts."
All quotes that fall in line with our coaching and teaching philosophy. Developing talent takes time, repetition, motivation (from the player), hard work, dedication, coachability, and proper information. There is no short cut to success.