The Superiorities in the Attacking Phases in Football/ Soccer.

 Author: Oscar Mendez.

Briefly we will explain what we understand about the superiorities in Football/Soccer since in my opinion, after  seeing many people that are not coaches or have coached, talk or use these terms that later many coaches begin to use them incorrectly due to the confusion created (Specially in Great Britain).

First I want to make it clear that these concepts of attacking among many others, were a small part of what I mentioned before about the change of Paradigm in training and that I was lucky enough to be a part of since I was Studying and Coaching at the time in Spain, many changes that were created not only in Methodology, in Tactics and collective technique by the people from F.C. Barcelona based on concepts of Johan Cruyff.

Concepts like the third man, liberate or free up a teammate, third man and many others that were based on these superiorities or how to take advantage of them.

Like we have talked here several times before, from the changes in Paradigm and methodology, training traditionally  will never enable us to achieve this because there will not be enough time to teach these concepts  since when we train un-specifically  or out of context , we will have enough time to teach these concepts and later perform them automatically or pre-consciously in a match.

                                  Laureano Ruiz. Creator of F.C. Barcelona Method.

First I will mention the most common and used for several decades in Football,  that most of  people know or have heard about and used before.

NUMERICAL SUPERIORITY.

We can define it as simply having in a zone on the pitch one more footballer or player than the opponent. Overlapping or Underlapping  to create 2v1 situations either on the sideline or inside has been used for many years and the most easily recognized, trained and executed.

Joan Vila. Chief of Methodology of F.C. Barcelona.

POSITIONAL SUPERIORITY.

We can describe it as having a player in a zone where he can create disparity and the possibilities of the opponent to defend him by another player (defensive cover), will be reduced because in the zone where he does this, it’s  too close or near the opponent’s goal and the time to defend or execute that defensive cover will be not enough or too short.

I always give the example when I coached the U-20 in U.D. Las Palmas in 2006-07 season where we had  players like Jonathan Viera (ex U.D. Las Palmas, Valencia C.F. and Beiging Guoan) and Vitolo (Ex U.D. Las Palmas, Sevilla F.C. and Atletico de Madrid), these players we would look for them to have duels,  to receive the ball near the opponent’s box in situations where they would create scoring chances and  it would be very difficult to defend since once these players beat their defender, the possibilities of another defender to create a defensive cover would be impossible.

                                  Francisco Seirul-lo. Creator of Structured Micro-cycle.

THE SOCIO-AFFECTIVE SUPERIORITY.

We can define it as the more we know each other with a teammate, the better we can play together.

If a player trains specifically, playing or doing things he will do in the matches, the knowledge of his/her teammates and their characteristics, the strong and weak points will be every evident and easily exploited. If my center forward is extremely fast, or slow, if he is right footed or left, if he likes to receive the ball on his feet or to the space , if he is good protecting the ball etc.

It will be easier for the footballer to interact with his/her teammates knowing all this information regarding his/her teammates.

                                           Philosophical Father and first promotor of F.C. Barcelona.

THE QUALITATIVE SUPERIORITY.

We can explain it with a simple definition from Pep Guardiola.

It is not the same to play a 10v10 than a 4v4 or a 2v2. 

The complexity is much lower and it will be easier for us to generate disparity.

The principles of possession and positional play are based on generating and taking advantage of superiorities and starting many times from a 11v11 for example and finishing on a 5v5 or 4v4.

It is much easier and less complex, to be able to finish a play on a 4v4 than on an 11v11.

 

 Once I had an international player that used to tell me, “When I return to training, I hate you because I become a substitute, when I leave again, I love you for what I have learned”.

Juanma Lillo.

 

Las Superioridades en las Fases de Ataque en el Fútbol.

                    

Autor: Oscar Mendez.

 A continuación vamos a hablar de las superioridades en el fútbol ya que en mi opinión, luego de haber visto  a gente que no son entrenadores ni han trabajado en el fútbol y mencionan cosas que pueden llevar al error o confusión.

                                          Laureano Ruiz (creador del método F.C. Barcelona).

Primero aclarar que estos conceptos de ataque entre muchos otros, fueron una pequeña parte de lo que mencionaba acerca del cambio que se inició y me tocó vivir cuando nos mudamos a España entre muchos otros a nivel de Metodología o forma de entrenar, de táctica y especialmente de técnica colectiva donde la escuela del F.C. Barcelona tuvo una gran influencia basándose en conceptos del Cruyffismo.

Conceptos como el tercer hombre, liberar y / o buscar hombre libre y muchos otros más  se basan en esto, ya sea para crear estas superioridades o para explotarlas.

Hemos hablado ya hasta el cansancio, de los cambios de paradigma y metodología, donde entrenando de forma tradicional, esto nunca nos dará el tiempo para entrenarlo porque al entrenar “lo físico” de forma descontextualizada, es decir de forma inespecífica, no nos dará el tiempo para que nuestros futbolistas entiendan primero esto, lo entrenen y lo puedan hacer en un encuentro de forma “automática”, es decir, sin pensar conscientemente de ello.

 

 

                                                Joan Vilá. Jefe de metodología del F.C. Barcelona.

Primero voy a mencionar la más común y utilizada desde hace muchos años y que seguramente todos la conocen y de alguna forma buscan explotarla.

Esta es LA SUPERIORIDAD NUMÉRICA.

La misma la podemos definir como simplemente tener en una zona o sector un futbolista más que el rival. El desdoblamiento o 2c1 para generar superioridad numérica tanto por fuera o por dentro es muy común y se viene usando desde hace muchas décadas  y es la más fácil de percibir, explotar y entrenar.

 

 LA SUPERIORIDAD POSICIONAL la explicamos como a que un jugador nuestro que tenga posibilidades de generar desequilibrio reciba el balón en una zona donde el equipo rival no pueda efectuar una cobertura defensiva. Es decir, si nosotros tenemos un delantero que pueda generar desequilibrio, si lo recibe  cerca del área en un duelo, el tiempo para hacer la cobertura de los defensas se reducirá y este podrá generar una situación muy clara de gol para finalizarla.

Yo siempre doy el ejemplo cuando trabajé en el Sub 20 de la U.D. Las Palmas en la temporada 2006-07  y contábamos con Jonathan Viera (ex U.D. Las Palmas, Valencia y Beijing Guoan) y Vitolo (ex U.D. Las Palmas, Sevilla y Atlético de Madrid), estos quedaban en zonas de duelo cerca del área, generaban desequilibrios donde la defensa rival no tenía tiempo para hacer la cobertura defensiva cuando el defensa era superado. Es generar posibilidades de desequilibrio en zonas donde la cobertura defensiva se hace casi imposible por la velocidad del desequilibrio.

Si ese mismo desequilibrio se hace en zonas en el centro del campo, generalmente habrá cobertura defensiva porque el tiempo será mayor que al borde del área.

 

    

Francisco Seirul-lo Vargas. Creador del MIcro-ciclo estructurado.

          

  

LA SUPERIORIDAD SOCIO-AFECTIVA.

Esta la podemos definir como que mientras más nos conocemos, mejor podemos interactuar o jugar mejor y ser mas eficientes y efectivos.

Si un futbolista entrena siempre de forma específica, es decir jugando o haciendo lo que hará en los encuentros, el conocimiento del compañero será mucho más profundo que no haciéndolo  o haciendo cosas que no están relacionadas con el juego. De esta forma sabrá los puntos fuertes o débiles del compañero.

Si le gusta que se la den al pie, si es velóz o lento, si es derecho o izquierdo, si remata desde fuera o le gusta penetrar conduciendo….etc.

 

                            Johan Cruyff. Padre filosófico y primer exponente de esta escuela.

LA SUPERIORIDAD CUALITATIVA.

Esta la podemos definir con un ejemplo tomado de Pep Guardiola.

No es lo mismo jugar un 9c9 que un 4c4 o 2c2. La complejidad es muy inferior y nos será más fácil generar desequilibrios.

Los principios del juego de posesión y juego posicional se basan en generar y explotar las superioridades y comenzar desde un 10c10, y llegar al borde del área en un 4c4.

Es mucho más fácil y menos complejo, poder finalizar en un 4c4 que en un 11c11.

 

“Tuve un jugador internacional que me decía: ‘Cuando vengo al entrenamiento, te odio porque no me pones; cuando me marcho, te quiero por lo que he aprendido”.

Juanma Lillo.

 

Is it posible to apply Tactical Periodization outside of Europe?

 Author: Oscar Mendez.

When I returned from China where I was working, several colleagues of mine and Friends mentioned to me there was a famous coach here in Uruguay, coach of one of the most important clubs here and who was also in charge of coaching courses in the University, said publicly that “tactical periodization can not be applied because in South America we don´t have the material conditions to do so”.

First I want to make it clear that even though I know this colleague personally, I don´t have a personal relationship with him and in no way this is based on a personal attack but rather on a different professional   point of view.

Understanding of this Methodology.

Like I mentioned before, it is not possible to understand, a methodology like T.P., created by Professor Frade if we do not begin to  realize that it is created under a different Paradigm (Paradigm of Complexity) that traditional education where we have learned before  which is the foundation of all learning done in primary, middle and University schools. We will not understand it if we see it from traditional point of view.

Doing this from the Cartesian Paradigm.

I think that I mentioned this before, when we begin learning with Professor, and also this was mentioned by the Professors teaching us, when they studied with him for the first time, we begin reading and analizing authors that are not sport related but rather scientific disciplines based on the Paradigm of Complexity that have little to do with Football or sports. This is something that many coaches complain in the beginning when studying with him. That it had little to do with specific training. Expecting maybe they give you a booklet with secret recipes or exercises.

This is the reason.

When we study with Professor Frade, the first thing that we begin to study and discuss is regarding this, about the change in Paradigm because “this is the tool that allows us to see another reality, to see the game from complexity….like a whole”.

If we really pretend to learn, understand  and apply it, we must read and study a lot, it is not enough to read a couple of books and think that we understand and know how to apply it.

I have seen things on magazines in English that have very little to do with T.P.

We must take into consideration it belongs to a  Paradigm different than before, and once we realize this we will begin to understand it very differently, and this will allow us to see it from  complexity …and in my opinion how the game of football-soocer really is.

Besides the theory, in my case have read many books in Spanish and Portuguese and hundreds of monographs or papers, am still learning. In other words, the learning process is never over because this reality is never over or constant, but dynamic, changing all the time. It is always adjusting to new scientific data.

There are no shortcuts.

 

It is not a fashion, it is not nor will be temporary.

We see sport journalists, obviously expressing themselves without any foundation, saying  that there are coaches that are older but they are discarded by clubs because they don´t use fancy terms that are used in modern football.  (recent example of Boca Jrs. Head coach Miguel Angel Russo).

It really has very little to do. The problem is that the athletes that played at higher level can notice this immediately because inevitable , specially when you don’t win, will always be comparing coaches and processes.

I want to stress that this is not linear, the age of the coach has very little to do with how he/she sees the game and its training,  from complexity , but rather the coaches’ mental structure that allow him/her to do so.

It is worth noting two aspects on this subject:

There are many Young coaches that repeat things they hear on videos or conferences of famous coaches without understanding what these terms really mean, and why and how are trained and they try to do this to fool people in sport direction in different clubs to find Jobs and place themselves on working market. Later they last very Little or are fired since they do not have a solid base or understanding of the game or its training:

They tend to make more difficult things that are simple and things that have a high level of complexity, they don´t see them as they are.

As Professor Frade says one thing is complexity, another is difficulty.

Sometimes we may use them as synonyms but they are really not.

An exercise of 3v2 can be very simple, but its complexity can be rather high that classify it this way.

Many coaches over-complicate things that are really very simple and they don’t  see  or recognize complexity that is different from difficulty.

A leaf that has fallen from a tree is not the same as that same leaf when it is a part of that same tree, where it is a system within another system. That is complexity.

The other aspect is that because they see the game from a mechanical-divided and disassociated view, are unable to understand and teach the game to their players from a complex point of view and as a whole.

The footballer maybe is not able to speak openly about these things because of intellectual deficiencies for example, but this does not imply that they don’t notice or they are dumb. We have to remember that Intelligence is not merely the intellectual capacity but rather a set of capacities  although many people still seem to think so.

As a colleague and friend told me once, “They don´t understand the game, let alone are able to teach it to their players”.

 

What has happended in the last decades, this transformation that in my opinion was generated in Spain, Portugal and later Germany is not a fashion trend, but rather a  different “perception” of understanding of the game and its training. As Romario use to say “of being able to see the game with someone else´s eyes , the eyes of Johan Cruyff”, but rather I would add the eyes of complexity and as a whole.

The isolated date in football does not matter any more.

It doesn´t matter anymore how many kmts my team has run, how much percentage of possession or Quantitavee data or numbers , but rather the relation and influence this data has in the game.

I will give and example that happened to me when I was working in Spain of seeing the game and its training from the old Paradigm to the new:

I once worked with a Physical Trainer of  same club  bu different division that I was told me once that, “He knew that his players ran 12 kmts of average per game, so he tried for his players to run this distance in the trainings, in the park, the fastest way possible because this would enable to be closer to victory than losing”. Of course his team had a lot of problems during the season and many injuries.

This is a clear example of seeing the game from two different paradigms.

That his players were not doing on an intermittent way (like in a game), that were working different energetic systems, re-utilization of lactate, that they did this on a different complexity, different positions on the pitch the effort was different (amount of sprints or amount of low intensity running for example), with a lower emotional stress, and all the possible changes that can occur in a game (numerical advantage, disadvantage, be winning, losing etc).

It is not  by accident that most Premier League teams apply this methodology or similar methodologies.

It is not random that most coaches come from these 3 countries I mentioned above (Portugal, Spain, Germany) and the fastest we open our minds to these things, the more time it will take us to catch up (in other continents) and be competitive again.

 

 

         Some consideration for its application.

 

What generated this article was the commentary by the colleagues I mentioned above and that many colleagues and friends knowing  that I was studying with Professor Frade and his people (Professor Maria Vieira, Jorge Reis, Filipe Morais, Miguel Lopes among others), told me about this Professor saying T.P. could not be applied here or really in poor places like South America where we do not have the same training facilities and materials..

And it sounded rather harsh because this “colleague” did not know that we had already applied it in youth/Grassroots football here in a 1^st Division Club (Montevideo Wanderers F.C.) from the under 16 and under 15 in the 2014 and 2015 seasons with kids born in 1999,2000 and 2001 and where many were able to play in the U-20 National Team of Uruguay and also several were sold to Europe, Mexico, Brazil and the U.S. and many of them are playing in the 1^st division squad.

Applying T.P. is more difficult in these ages because we have to understand that these ages are the ages of development specially hormonally (Testosterone and Growth hormone), and we have to pay special attention to Physical Dimension at these ages.

If we were able to do it with relative success in this age, how can it be done with kids closer to  or in a professional level?

As professor says when we train T.P. we must train specifically, it is not training in Camp Nou or Santiago Bernabeu or Man Utd ptch but similar to where we are going to play.

Prof. Frade mentions what are team is going to do in the match and what we have to do to neutralize the opponent.

You don’t need anything special rather than a space similar to where you are going to play, balls, bibs, cones, and very little else.

We train how we are going to play, this is not done running around the pitch, in a park or a beach.

Intensities are similar to how we are going to play.

We apply this type of training under several Methodologic Principles (Principle of Horizontal Alternance in Specifity) which will shape our week, and other principles like Complex Progression and Propensities. All of this done in specificity.

If we can not train like we are going to play, we will not be able to play correctly.

Es posible: aplicar la Periodización Táctica en el fútbol Sudamericano?

 

Autor: Oscar Mendez.

Cuando retorné el año anterior de China donde me encontraba al frente de un Club, hablando con colegas y amigos me comentaron que un conocido entrenador de un equipo “Grande” aquí en Uruguay, que además de ejercer como entrenador estuvo a cargo de la cátedra de los cursos de táctica en la Universidad, comento públicamente que “aca no se puede aplilcar la Periodización Táctica porque no existen los recursos materiales para hacerlo”.

Primero aclarar que aunque conozco a dicho colega, no tengo relación personal ni es mi intención incurrir en ningún ataque o agravio personal sino en aclarar una postura  de la cual difiero.

Comprensión  de dicha metodología.

Como comenté anteriormente, no es posible comprender una metodología como la P.T., creada por el Profesor Frade si no comenzamos a comprender que la misma proviene de un paradigma diferente (Paradigma de la Complejidad) que lo que hemos aprendido anteriormente y de lo que nos ha formado tradicionalmente a todos ya que es la base de nuestro actual modelo de aprendizaje-enseñanza en las escuelas, liceos  y Universidades.

Hacer esto desde el Paradigma Cartesiano.

Creo que lo comenté antes, que una de las cosas que primero comenzamos a hacer y también lo mencionan los profesores que lo vivieron anteriormente cuando por primera vez conocieron al Profesor Frade, es que comenzamos a leer autores que provienen de este paradigma de disciplinas que poco tienen que ver con el deporte o fútbol y esto descoloca a mucha gente.

Para correr, primero hay que caminar.

Nosotros al estudiar con el Profesor Frade, lo primero que comenzamos a dar y hablar es sobre esto, sobre el cambio de Paradigma porque estas son las “gafas o lentes que nos permiten ver otra realidad, al juego de forma compleja …como un todo”.

Si realmente pretendemos aprenderla, comprenderla y aplicarla, debemos leer y estudiar mucho, no alcanza con leer un par de libros y pensar que lo entendemos y sabemos aplicarlo. Como muchos hacen aca.

Debemos comprender que proviene de paradigmas que son diferentes a lo anterior, y teniendo esto en consideración comenzaremos a entenderla de forma muy diferente que si la vemos desde el paradigma cartesiano, y esto  permitirá cambiar la óptica de ver el juego de forma compleja….en mi opinión como realmente es.

 

 

 

Además de lo teórico, yo en mi caso luego de leer muchos libros en Portugues,  Español y cientos de monografías, sigo estudiando y aprendiendo con el Profesor Frade en este momento. Es decir que nunca se termina el proceso de aprendizaje  porque dicha realidad no es constante, no es fija  sino dinámica, cambiante. Siempre se está amoldando a los acontecimientos nuevos que surgen.

No es una “moda”, no es ni será pasajera.

Vemos a periodistas, obviamente partiendo desde la ignorancia o desconocimiento, hablar que hay entrenadores con más edad que son descartados por clubes porque no aplican términos modernos o aspectos nuevos que se utilizan hoy en día. (Algo que escuche hace poco del actual entrenador de Boca Jrs Miguel Angel Russo en Argentina).

Cabe aclarar que en mi opinión tampoco esto es lineal, es decir, que la edad de un entrenador tenga algo que ver con como percibe esto sino en su estructura mental  y como ve él al juego  y como se lo transmite a sus futbolistas en los entrenamientos y encuentros.

Vale remarcar dos aspectos sobre este tema:

Que existe muchos entrenadores (entrenadores generalmente muy jóvenes) que repiten términos sin saber en que consisten y como y para que se entrenan, hacen esto para perpetuarse en  un puesto de trabajo. 

Obviamente luego duran lo que un caramelo  en un patio de un colegio. 

Tienden a complicar aspectos  simples y hacerlos dificiles y aspectos que son complejos no los perciben como tales porque realmente no los reconocen.

Como afirma el Prof.Frade una cosa es la complejidad, y otra la dificultad.

Un 3v2 puede ser complejo pero no es difícil. En realidad es bastante simple pero es complejo porque implica aspectos que lo clasifican como complejo.

Mucha gente complica aspectos que son en realidad muy simples y no perciben la complejidad de las cosas que es diferente a la dificultad.

Una hoja de un árbol en el suelo no es lo mismo que esa misma hoja  cuando forma parte de un árbol, donde es un sistema dentro de otro sistema. Eso es complejidad.

El otro aspecto es  que existen entrenadores que al ver al fútbol de forma dividida y dis-asociada, reducida, de forma mecánica , ni comprenden , ni enseñan a sus futbolistas ni entrenan de forma de entender al juego en toda su complejidad y de verlo como un todo. En realidad intentamos hacer que los futbolistas identifiquen o reconozcan esa complejidad y por ende comprendan el juego.

El futbolista puede ser que se le dificulte hablar de estos aspectos por deficiencias intelectuales por ejemplo, pero esto no implica que no se den cuenta o sea tontos. 

Vale recordar que la inteligencia como capacidad es un conjunto de valencias y no solamente la capacidad intelectual como piensan muchos periodistas deportivos.

 

 Como me comento un colega y amigo, “No comprenden el juego,  y menos aún pueden enseñarles el juego a sus futbolistas”.

 Lo que ha sucedido en los últimos años, esta transformación que en mi opinión se generó en España, Portugal y luego Alemania no es una moda, es una visión diferente de lo que es el entrenamiento y el entendimiento-comprensión del juego, como decía Romario, de “ver al juego con otros ojos”, el mencionaba los ojos de Cruyff pero yo agregaría los ojos de la complejidad o de forma holistica.

 

Ya no importan los datos cuantitativos de forma aislada.

 Ya no importa cuanto corre un futbolista, cuantos minutos de posesión de balón tiene mi equipo sino donde y en que situación, los aspectos cuantitativos de forma aislada son solo eso ...datos, 

Lo que importa es su relación con la calidad del juego y como influyen en el mismo.

En esto podemos reconocer la influencia del Big Data en el análisis del juego.

Recuerdo el  ejemplo de un Preparador Físico de un Club donde trabajé, me dijo una vez que si sus  futbolistas corrían en promedio 12 kmts por encuentro, en consecuencia  él los hacía correr esos 12 kmts lo más rápidamente posible (carrera continua) en un parque porque esto le garantizaría ganar. No solo que esto no ocurría sino que su equipo era una enfermería por la cantidad de lesiones musculares que tuvo.

Esto es un ejemplo de ver al juego de forma simple vs una forma compleja.

Que sus futbolistas lo  hacían en forma intermitente, que lo hacían trabajando otros sistemas energéticos en los partidos  que él empleaba en ese ejercicio, que lo hacían según la complejidad  del partido, que lo hacían según la posición donde jugaban ya que unos harían mayor cantidad de sprints o trotes, otros menos, que lo harían con mayor desgaste emocional o menor, según el rival esto cambiaría,  según el trámite esto cambiaría , que no entrenaba lo que jugaba etc.

 

No es casualidad que en la Premier League, la mayoría de equipos apliquen  dicha metodología o metodologías similares.

No es casualidad que en la misma liga la mayoría de entrenadores vengan de estos 3 países que antes mencioné y mientras más rápido nos demos cuenta de esto y seamos abiertos a que podemos y debemos aprender, más rápida la adaptación y evolución de nuestro juego al fútbol moderno y volveremos a  ser competitivos nuevamente.

Aplicar, tomar aspectos de metodologías o táctica de nuevas corrientes o pensamientos, no tiene nada que ver con la identidad de juego.

Menciono esto porque lo he escuchado una y otra vez decir a periodistas deportivos.

Esto no tiene nada que ver con la idea o modelo de juego de cada equipo, sino con como entrenan.

La P.T. en realidad re afirma más la identidad que un equipo tenga más que cambiar la misma, porque Vd va a estar entrenando y haciendo repetidamente lo que pretenderá hacer en los encuentros.

          Algunas consideraciones para su aplicación.

Lo que generó que decidiera escribir sobre este tema fue el comentario que mencioné anteriormente y que varios colegas, sabiendo que estaba estudiando con el Profesor Frade y toda su gente (Profesores Mara Vieira, Filipe Morais, Jorge Reis, Miguel Lopes  entre otros) me comentaron sobre este tema ,que “en Uruguay no se puede aplicar la P.T.”.

Y sinceramente me resultó bastante chocante, mas considerando que desde la temporada 2014 y 2015 nosotros en Montevideo Wanderers F.C. desde la 7ma y 6ta división, bajo la tutela de los entrenadores  Vicente Estavillo (coordinador divisiones formativas) y  Alfredo Arias (ex entrenador del 1er equipo y actual entrenador del Deportivo Cali) comenzamos un proceso de P.T. con chicos en ese momento eran parte de la sub 15 y 14 (Categorías 1999, 2000 y 2001) y donde varios de ellos no solo lograron ascender al 1er equipo sino a la selección sub 20 de Uruguay.

Algunos de ellos ya fueron vendidos a diversos clubes de Italia, México, M.L.S.  y futbol Brasileño y de la  generación más pequeña varios están jugando en el primer equipo y Sub 20 de Uruguay.

Este fue el objetivo trazado además de lograr entrenar y jugar de una forma determinada.

Hablar que no se puede aplicar la P.T en Uruguay, mas aún en juveniles, en pleno proceso de desarrollo físico y pubertad, y como  nosotros ya lo habíamos hecho con relativo éxito habla por sí solo y le da mayor magnitud a dicho comentario basado en el desconocimiento.

Como no se va a poder aplicar si lo hicimos con chicos pre púberes con éxito?

Acaso no contabamos con esas dificultades nosotros o entrenabamos en terrenos de Europa o teníamos materiales que nadie contaba en el medio?

La P.T. habla de entrenar en especificidad, es decir entrenar donde se va a jugar o en condiciones parecidas a donde se va a jugar. No en el Camp Nou o Santiago Bernabeu.

La P.T. habla de entrenar aspectos del juego que nuestro equipo va a intentar hacer y no dejar hacer al rival.

No se necesitan materiales extraordinarios, apenas balones, conos y chalecos o petos.

Esto se hace jugando, no se hace corriendo vueltas alrededor de un campo o en un parque o playa.

El Prof. Frade habla de entrenar a intensidades similares a como vamos a jugar (siempre de forma específica).

El profesor Frade habla de dosificar todo el volumen de trabajo en la semana mediante el principio de alternancia horizontal en especificidad, de modo de llegar preparados al encuentro.

Buscando que determinados comportamientos que queremos que afloren en los encuentros se practiquen una y otra vez (Principio de las Propensiones).

Que la complejidad de las sesiones vaya progresando, de menor a mayor.

Como no se va a poder aplicar esto?

Si no es posible aplicar esto, es decir  “entrenar  como vamos a jugar”, entonces no es posible jugar al fútbol.

Si se debe tener claro que se va a trabajar,  no delegar todo el trabajo a los Profes o Preparadores Fisicos y tomar una postura mas activa dándole total importancia al juego donde por comodidad , incapacidad o  inseguridad se le otorga la mayoría del tiempo de trabajo a "Lo Físico".

Quizas este realmente sea el problema,

 

The 6 drivers of Neuro-Plasticity and its relation to Football-Soccer training.

 Author: Oscar Mendez.

I always remember when we were studying and learning in the 2000´s with Professor Horacio Anselmi in Rosario, Argentina and later here in Maldonado and Montevideo (Uruguay), one of the things he mentioned among many revolutionary things for the time , was that the future Books of Physiology and Training in Sport would no longer be about muscles and cells, but rather on Hormones and the brain and nervous system and its effect on the training process.

Now a days, 20 years later we are re discovering the role that   hormones play on our body and their influence on our health (Insulin, Cortisol, Glucagon, Growth Hormone etc) and how they affect our overall health since many of the diseases are based on metabolic issues.

Thanks to the new technology we have nowadays, we have discovered that many of the things we did many years ago were not correct and were based on assumptions that were made and that didn´t have the technology we do now.

This also applies to Tactics and Methodology, where Professor Frade was way ahead of his time and now thanks to the technology, we can see and prove it was really the way he said.

The term “Plasticity” was first used in 1890 to Behavioral Science by William James in the beginning of Psychology. The first person that used the term of Neuro-plasticity was a Polish Scientist by the name of Jerzy Konorsky.

It refers to the Physiological  changes in the brain that occur as a result of our interaction with our environment. From the moment that our brain begins to develop in the uterus till the day we die, the connections between the cells (neurons) in our brain re-organize to our  needs of adaptation.

This dynamic process allows us to learn and adapt according to our experiences.

Structural Neuro-plasticity refers to the strength in the Sinapsis and whether this connection is modified  or changed.

Functional Neuro-Plasticity refers to the permanent changes in the sinapsis due to learning and development  (Demarin, Morovic y Béne. 2014).

Definition of Neuro-Plasticity.

We can define  Neuro-plasticity as “The process by which the brain is constantly re-organizing itself all along our lifetime”.

These are events that occur constantly in our brain.

The Synapsis are constantly appearing and disappearing in our body.

 

Their influence on modern training.

For decades, Footbal-Soccer training in general, was based on track and field sports.

In sports that had very little or nothing to do with Football or were totally unspecific to our sport.

Now in modern training, we have seen how Football  has adapted to modern science and the new scientific findings , as well as other Paradigms (Paradigm of Complexity).

Now Physical trainers are not the ones in charge or have the initiative, they are not the most important in the coaching staff as before, but they are part of a Coaching Staff, along with other trainers or coaches, where of course the Physical Sub- Dimension is evaluated but we do not plan and do exercises based only on Physical Dimension but rather on the Football effect the task demands.

“Because  Fitness in football is not Physical anymore,  but rather Football-related exercises  due to the complexity of the game and the influence of the Tactical Supra-Dimension  has on the game”.

 

 

 

Does Transfer in functional training from an unspecific exercise to a specific one  really exist?

I do not know if this was applied in other countries and training cultures, but in South America and Europe we were taught that if we applied an unspecific exercise of Strength, Endurance or speed later we would have to transfer that load or stimulus to a specific one and later we would see the improvement on physical aspect.

This could apply to any type of exercise on the Physical Dimension, either strength, endurance-resistance or speed and quickness.

Many years after, many studies have concluded that this “transfer” does not exist, (going from working General Strength for example to Specific strength for example). This was made famous among others by French P.T. Gilles Cometti for example.

 

We went from training muscles to training movements and the nervous system now:

 

Many colleagues and Friends here in South America, knowing that I lived and worked in Spain for many years ask me when they see in videos teams in Europe training specific movement and actions of the game.

Do they really train this way or do the other type of training (General Exercises), do they do them somewhere else or in a Gym?

I remember that Rui Faria when he was working with Jose Mourinho in Chelsea in an interview mentioned this because he was accused of lying or not being honest when he mentioned that they do not do this type of training.

Well…the explanation or reason is this.

This is the reason why in Europe we train differently in relation to other places.

Here in South America we were taught to focus on the Hill Law, The recruitment of motor units while in Europe were based in more recent studies and evidence that suggests that we should focus on specific movement/motion patterns and Neuro-plasticity. They ware just based on other paradigms.

This way, strength for example is trained specifically in the Physical Sub-dynamic, performing specific movements similar or the same to the activity that a footballer does in a real match.

 

This way when we training the Physical Sub-Dynamic we base our tasks on specific movements where they have a high level of intensity that we have in a game, where we have many stops and starts, where the actions are short and very intermittent and also discontinuous , that use specific energetic systems that are related to the game and where we practice what the player will do in a real match with a low level of complexity (because if complexity is high, level of intensity will decrease).

 

Unspecific training and its relation with muscle injuries:

I think on this topic, Dutch Famous Coach Raymond Verheijen has mentioned many times the problems that unspecific training can have on footballers.

Before we use to think and were taught, that since we had this “Transfer” from a general /unspecific task to a specific one the physical load or stimulus was the same so we would not calculate them as two separate stimulus and both were not added.

Now that we know that we are applying twice the amount of Load since they are not transferred but added up, this is something that many Trainers and coaches do not seem to notice or know.

Of course we are not implying that when we have many muscle injuries it can done by only one factor since we know the use of other specific energetic systems, reutilization of residual substances, muscle imbalances and other reasons play a very important role but of course it has a relative level of importance.

This is not due to bad luck, this is why many teams have tens and sometimes hundreds of injuries and others have very little.

 

  

The 6 drivers that promote  Neuro-Plasticity in Football are:

1:  Repetition.

The more we do something the better and more efficient we become doing it.

As it is popularly known, Repetition is the mother of Perfection and latest research seems to agree.

 

2: Intensity.

The higher the intensity of the task, the more it will demand on our nervous system.

When  high levels of emotional and physical stress in an exercise are present, and when the footballer does specifically, when he will have to perform it in the game that stimulus will already be learned and it will not be a new stimulus where he has to adapt. He will be already familiarized with it.

 

3:Timing or coordination.

We can define it as “ The neurons that fire together wire together”. When we initiate a movement different muscles intervene in that movement that are activated on different parts of the brain and nervous system. The more we do this, the more efficient we become in executing this movement.

 

4: Dificulty.  

The tasks or exercises must have an optimum level of difficulty. Not too simple nor too difficult. Enough difficulty so that there will be an adaptation or learning but not too much where he/she will not be able to solve them.

 

 

5: Specificity or be specific.

We must train what we will do on the matches and games. As Jose Mourinho says “You will not see a pianist training, running around a Piano”.

Neuro-Plasticity will occur according to the specificty that we will train.

6:Prominence or that it has meaning.

We have sensory maps that allow us,when something is relevant or important to us, and in those cases there is a higher level of plasticity that when we do something that is not important or relevant to us.

This doesn’t appear to happen when we train something that has no meaning or significance, when it is boring or doesn’t attract us .

 

 

 

"The images we experience are brain creations  caused by an object, and not mirror reflections of the object."

Antonio Damaso.