Post tournament sitting at the airport with time to kill.
Just reflecting on the past few days and debriefing at the airport, I thought it would be important to come back with some pointers regarding our unbelievable weekend and some feedback regarding our vision and moving forward at The Pro Project.
Firstly a massive thank you to all parents and families that came down to support us during the Christchurch International Tournament.
We would never be able to attend these tournaments if it wasn't for the help of the parents.
Big thanks to Shane for director of Football work, Kevin for team analysis & tent, and for everyone's continued support.
I am so proud of the players who were representing us and for putting in some unbelievable work, not only that, but I am also proud of how we acted as a collective.
As you would have seen in our recent newsletter, moving forward, we will be selecting tournament teams based on participation in our programmes. This means that players can lead up to games with our clear thoughts and idea of style of play, togetherness and standards that we drive throughout all our sessions.
"Training like a Pro, competing like a Pro and having a great time with fellow ambitious players ... the ultimate The Pro Project experience."
I hope that this experience has taught us:
FOOTBALL IS TOUGH
Demanding and in general a difficult sport to play. Players need self confidence and inner drive as well as technical, tactical, physical and emotional strength.
During the game, I regularly spoke to the boys about being an independent player, making quick decisions and believing in their choices. You probably would have heard a lot of 'be smart' and 'be hard to beat' a couple of my favourite effective go-to's.
TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE
Players need to be technically excellent in these high performing environments.
I am massive on the technical part of the game, spending more time on the ball at high-speed intensity, repetitions of passing & receiving.
There are a few distractions in our area in terms of mythology of training and I just want to reiterate our main message regarding developing as a young football player.
If the boys want to be footballers - play and practice more football actions.
If the boys want to be sprinters, do more sprint training.
Growing up in the Manchester United Academy, through the ages especially 8-13 years, 5 out of 5 days a week of training, we were out on the pitch. We didn't start gym/conditioning or any other type of training until 15-16 years old.
However, technically ability will only get you so far
The other side of the game tackling, working, running will become more important the older the boys get. In our 40 minute games, if the boys have 20-30 actions which would be a total time of around 1-2 minutes on the ball throughout the game - it is important that they are aware of the 'off the ball' duties.
Understanding your role/positioning/organising/ reading the game is key, players will only learn this by training it and doing it again and again on the pitch.
Goals will win you the game, competing will win you the tournament.
Every pre-match talk this was my main point. I want our players to compete and stand up for themselves, they more than did this after bouncing back from a difficult first game.
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog".
TOURNAMENT SELECTION
Football is competitive, team-mates are competing against each other for starting positions. I have responsibility to look after our players but also the team.
If we want to compete then difficult choices have to be made, and in tournaments this is the case compared to club football which is development based.
I will ensure that everyone always plays a part (e.g. in a semi-final, everyone will experience playing and I would never leave anyone out for a full game) however, I am looking at confidence levels, work-ethic & energy, game understanding & more when selecting players/making subs.
"Playing against different teams with different style of players makes you more adaptable."
EXPOSURE
Football is never plain and simple, there are never two actions that are the same, and that is why football is so exciting and unpredictable.
The more our players can practice at game-intensity under a big of 'self made pressure', the more successful and resilient they will become in the long run.
"Train more, work hard and enjoy the long up and down journey."
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