46,622 that included a couple of strident heckler

Day three of the UEFA A licence (part 2) was broken in four parts; a morning lecture and on-field practical, two afternoon lectures and an evening lecture. The morning lecture and on-field practical was delivered by Kevin McGreskin, who has acquired his UEFA A licence from three separate football associations. Kevin is an elite performance specialist, and is the Technical Director of SoccerEyeQ. McGreskins session was entitled Developing Game Awareness, and centred on the idea that the technical, tactical and physical difference between elite players is often minimal; the thing that separates the best from the rest is that the best players consistently make better decisions while under pressure. The execution of skilled performance in football involves three stages: perception (the input of what the player sees), decision-making (the processing or thinking that the player does) and action (the output of the player doing). In a 90-minute game, elite players spend less than two minutes in possession of the ball. They take less than two touches per possession and have between 40-50 interactions with the ball. Over the course of a game, 98 per cent of a players time is spent in the perception and decision-making stages - yet very little time is ever spent developing a players ability in these areas. The three levels of situational awareness in a game are basic perception (the ability to take in information), realization of relationships (putting context and meaning to the information) and anticipation (recognizing patterns of behaviour). The five things that dictate the roles and responsibilities of players on the field are the ball, teammates, the opposition, the area of play and the state of play. The first three are dynamic variables (always changing), while the final two are semi-static variables (sometimes changing). The on-field practical session focused on the dynamic variables - and it was one of the best sessions Ive ever seen or participated in. McGreskin used visual overload to train the players abilities in perception and decision-making. He did this by introducing colours; coloured gloves, bibs, footballs and tennis balls. McGreskin started with a very simple passing drill; two players 20 metres apart, each with a ball, with a player in the middle. The middle player received a pass from the first player, played it back and turned to get the ball from the second player. McGreskin then increased the visual stimuli to overload the players visual perception and decision-making process. He did this by getting the players to wear one red glove and one yellow glove. When the player in the middle received a pass, he had to look over his shoulder to see the opposite player (who was instructed to hold up one coloured glove as the pass was struck). The player in the middle then had to call out the colour of the raised glove, before playing the return pass and going to receive the second ball. Adding more and more variables increased the difficulty; shouting out the colour of the glove being raised, tapping the inside of the opposite foot from which the coloured glove was on, introducing coloured cones around which the ball had to be carried before playing the return pass, etc. McGreskin then proceeded to introduce interactive passing drills, where two teams of eight players (one team in green bibs and one team in blue bibs) passed two balls in a 30x30 grid, alternating passes from a green-bibbed player to a blue-bibbed player. Again, more and more variables were introduced to increase the difficulty; recognition of an external player holding up a coloured glove, calling out the colour of the glove before receiving the pass, introducing coloured footballs to correspond with the bib colours of the external players, introducing coloured tennis balls that had to be released to a teammate before receiving the pass, etc. It was an incredible session, and put paid to the myth that training perception and decision-making skills cannot be done. The morning session was adequately captured by a quote in McGreskins lecture, from Abernathy, 2008: "Coaches should consider routinely using demanding secondary tasks concurrently with the practice of primary sports skills as a means of stimulating the continued automation of primary skills and the refinement of multi-tasking skills of athletes." The first lecture of the afternoon was delivered by David Platt (not the former England international), who is a UEFA A licence coach, a performance coach for the Team GB Olympic squad and a regional scout for Manchester United. Platts lecture was entitled, The Winning Mentality: Recruiting, Assessing and Building Mental Toughness. Platt explained that of the four components of player development (technical, tactical, physical and mental), only the mental side of development has yet to be fully explored. He gave numerous examples from his previous work, including as a coach at Liverpool FC. In his work with Team GB Cycling, he outlined the core values that the team has created: commitment (sacrifice), ownership (its up to you), responsibility (benchmarks) and excellence (do your best). An interesting area of discussion surrounded the recruitment and retention of players. Platt stated that off-field behaviour reflects on-field behaviour - you simply cannot flick a switch and expect a players behaviour to change. So how a player behaves off the field - on social media, for example - often impacts a clubs decision to recruit or retain that player. Platt ended his presentation by advising the coaches to identify and be clear on their cultural and generic criteria for mental toughness. These core values should then be central to their recruitment, retention and development processes. Phil Abbott, from Academy Soccer Coach (a session planning software company that the Irish FA uses for all of its coach education courses), delivered the second lecture of the afternoon. While Abbotts session was very brief, he outlined the many areas in which technology plays a role in the modern game. He outlined the criteria for professional club academies in England to enter the EPPP (Elite Player Performance Program), as well as the funding that is involved for clubs in that program. Abbott presented some other interesting bits of information: 65 per cent of the population are visual learners; the brain processes information 60,000 times faster than text; and visual aids can increase retention of information by nearly 400 per cent. The message to the coaches was clear - technology can aid in your ability to get information to your players. How you choose to use that technology is entirely up to you. Desi Curry, the Technical Director of the Irish Football Association, delivered the evening session. His topic was Modern Trends in Football, and was an extension of the lecture delivered the previous evening by Phil Melville and Nigel Best. There were five topics that were discussed and debated by the coaches: - What are the key technical aspects that are increasing/decreasing in the modern game?- As a coach, which tactical formation would you choose to play, and why?- How, as a coach, would you plan to counter the counter attack? - What are the key factors affecting set plays?- As a coach, how do you prefer to defend/attack corner kicks? I wont go into to detail about the discussions that took place, as it would likely fill a book! But I will leave you with this quote from the evening lecture that I found especially pertinent to Canadian soccer: "Leaders take people to where they want to be; great leaders take people to where they OUGHT to be!"Sale Air Max Outlet . He says so-called TRT is only one problem and he wants to go even further than the ban. "Its about time," St-Pierre told reporters at a promotional event in Montreal on Friday. "I think its a good thing. Cheap Air Max 90 . Traditional contenders Brazil, Greece and Turkey drew the other three spots to complete the 24-team field for this summers tournament in Spain, basketball governing body FIBA announced Saturday at its meeting in Barcelona. http://www.airmax2018outlet.us/ . After taking two big hits this week -- losing at home and dropping back-to-back games for the first time all season -- Indiana struck back by playing its most complete game of the year. Cheap Air Max Online .35 million, one-year contract that avoided salary arbitration. Plouffe batted .254 with 14 home runs and 52 RBIs in 477 at-bats last season, his second as a regular in the lineup. Wholesale Air Max 95 . PETERSBURG, Fla.CHICAGO -- Colin Kaepernick and the San Francisco 49ers tried everything. Deep throws and out routes. Crossing patterns and shovel passes. Nothing worked.Call it a snow day for San Franciscos aerial attack.Kaepernick completed just one pass for 4 yards before he was replaced by Blaine Gabbert in the fourth quarter, and the lowly 49ers dropped their 11th straight game with a 26-6 loss to the Chicago Bears at a wintry Soldier Field on Sunday.San Francisco (1-11) finished with a record-low 6 yards passing while strengthening its position for at least the No. 2 overall pick in next years NFL draft, handing a third win to one of their main competitors for those prized selections at the top of each round.The winless Cleveland Browns, off this weekend, have the pole position for the top spot heading into the final quarter of the season.The April draft is about all 49ers fans have to look forward to these days.We have to continue to keep building, keep progressing, Kaepernick said. This is a setback, most definitely. But we have to continue to keep pushing forward.Whether thats with Kaepernick or Gabbert at quarterback remains to be seen. Coach Chip Kelly was non-committal when asked about his starter for next weekends visit by the New York Jets.Thats not my decision, Kaepernick said. My feelings on it really dont matter at this point. Im just going to do everything I can to make sure Im prepared.Kaepernick attempted five passes and was sacked five times. Gabbert, who led San Francisco to a 26-20 overtime win in Chicago a year ago, was 4 for 10 for 35 yards.The 49ers previous franchise low for net yards passing was 10 against Detroit on Oct. 6, 1963, and it looked as if that number was safe before Gabbert was sacked by Leonard Floyd in the end zone with 1:55 left.We just had breakdowns here and there all day long and it definitely showed, Gabbert said.While the 49ers are barreling toward perhaps the worst season in franchise history, Kaepernick had been a bright spot of late. He had passed for 1,110 yards and eight touchdowns in four starts since San Franciscos bye week, nearly rallying the 49ers to a victory in Miami last weekend.But San Francisco emphasized the run right from the start against the Bears and Kaepernick never looked comfortablee while playing in a steady snowfall on a typical winter day in Chicago.ddddddddddddI think the weather was something that definitely played a factor, Kaepernick said. We have to be able to do a better job managing that, handling it, and being able to throw the ball still.Kaepernicks 4-yard pass to tight end Vance McDonald midway through the second quarter was the first completion of the day for either team. Phil Dawson then kicked the first of his two first-half field goals, helping San Francisco to a 6-0 lead.Chicago (3-9) got the ball back late in the half, and thats when Matt Barkley started to find his footing while Kaepernick continued to falter. Barkley then directed the Bears to Jordan Howard rushing touchdowns on three straight possessions, putting San Francisco away.We didnt handle the weather very well from a passing game standpoint, said Kelly, who coached with a heavy heart after the recent death of his father, Paul. It was the same for both teams, its not an excuse, they played in the same conditions.Connor Barths 45-yard field goal made it 24-6 with 12:55 left, prompting Kelly to turn to Gabbert. Kaepernick pulled on a red coat with the hood over his head and watched from the sideline, delighting the crowd of 46,622 that included a couple of strident hecklers particularly interested in the QB continuing to kneel during the national anthem to protest the treatment of minorities.Asked about kneeling during the anthem at Soldier Field, Kaepernick paid tribute to former Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, who was killed in 1969 when Chicago police raided his apartment in search of guns.I do think there is significance being here today, seeing that its the anniversary of the assassination of chairman Fred Hampton, Kaepernick said.Being in Chicago, being able to acknowledge a black figure, a black leader like him, is very important and his role in being a leader in this community and bringing this community together is something that needs to be acknowledged.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL---Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap ' ' '