By Tom Mura
Question - Our 12's team are all confident and excel at training, but once they go into a game there are times when they appear intimidated by the opposition and become hesitant in areas they are very good at. The outcome is a disjointed performance on game day. The coach has come to me for advice on how to get the players to be more confident and less affected by the other teams presence. I have a couple of theories but I am curious if there are some techniques / approaches that can be successful in helping the players.
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There are two things that I would look at if my team where having issues with performing confidently on game days. First, make sure that most of the environments you’re using in training resemble situations that the players will experience in the game. Second, the activities must be performed at game speed.
Confidence only comes from success and the expectation of success in the future. The players need to experience success in situations in training. Then when they see those same situations in a game they can make the connection to what they’ve done before.
For example, you can’t perform 4 v 2 rondo activities in practice and expect the players to transfer those concepts to the game without next putting the players in attack vs defense situations like 6 v 4 going to goal. That will allow them see how the 4 v 2 shape and key concepts transfer to the 6 v 4 game and ultimately the 9 v 9 or 11 v 11 game.
Secondly, the players must be challenged to perform at game speed during every phase of training. I’ve seen teams coast through training sessions and look really good on the ball. Their technique is solid and they understand the key principles of the attacking and defending activities that they’re doing. But then you put them in a game with the pressure of an opponent and they play franticly and without shape or purpose.
Just like players need to see situations in training before they’ll be confident in the game. They must be forced to perform with speed and precision in training if they’re going to be ready to hand the pressure put on them by the opponent in games.
Review your sessions to be sure they have these two elements and I think you’ll see your players performing more confidently and successfully in games.
By Tom Mura
