Most every coach grasps the importance of the details in a training session. The difference between passing to someone and passing to someone's left foot can be the difference between scoring a goal and surrending a chance the other way. As the players and teams improve, the details in training become ever more important, and ultimately form the narrow margin between an elite professional and a player in a 5-a-side league.
As we have begun playing after the extended winter break, the importance of the details in coaching preparation have been made more evident to me. Since the first of the year, our first team has played three, won two, and our reserves have now played three, won two and drawn one. In every case (including our terribly unfortunate loss to Rochdale) I believe we, as a coaching staff, we better prepared. Our players had a clear idea of how our squad was organized, the qualities of our players, and the likely organization of the opposition. In the Rochdale match, I think perhaps I didn't emphasize enough the danger their #4 provided and necessity of preventing her from running the ball on the flank. Two of the chances we gave away were due to failure to stop the #4s run early.
The organizational detail extends beyond just team set out. Our players have a good idea where each other will be and that affects the way we play: on the right wing, Kim wants balls wide and behind the fullback to run onto, however in the same position, Hannah wants the ball played to her feet so she can combine with the center forward. On set pieces, each player knows where they need to be. When watching a professional match, if you've ever wondered what the bench coach is doing on the sidelines showing all of the charts to the substitute, most of that is covering set pieces. When the player enters the game, he knows where he will be on attacking corners, the two or three free kick setups a team uses any given day, defending corners, which player he is in the wall, and even the programmed runs to make if a ball hits the wall or is caught be the goalkeeper. Here at Preston, that is one of my duties. I take the substitute to the line and make sure she knows where she is on set pieces and who else, if any, is having their task changed.
The details matter. Not only do the players have a better sense of the match, thus allowing them a little more creative freedom because they know, in broad strokes, what the rest of the team (and likely the opposition) are doing, but knowing that the coaches have the details right gives the player a little more confidence in the entire operation. Our manager, Andy Burgess, had well over three hundred appearances as a professional player. We try to bring as much of the professionalism into the game as we possibly can, from the way we warmup, to the way the changing room is set up, to the charts for the players. If the players have confidence in us, in their teammates, and in the club, they will play with confidence in themselves. All the little details add up, and results come: our Reserves (playing with nine players age 18 or younger) beat the heretofore undefeated league leaders 3-0 on Sunday. Our first team plays in the Lancashire Challenge Cup Final on 11 March. The details matter.
