Never regard sports journalist as enemies
You’re not satisfied with the article in Saturday’s Independent? Don’t despair! Journalists are just people like everyone else, with all their strengths and weaknesses. Journalists have the right to be wrong, it’s just that their errors are visibly exposed to the public, unlike yours. Many of them have their own pet coaches and those they don’t particularly respect. At the start of my coaching career, I was also extremely sensitive to the opinion of other people and media criticism, especially after I had a few drinks. When I read a negative …
In life no effort is wasted
“What are the most important qualities needed to achieve coaching success?”. A lot of people have asked me this question. This is what all young coaches ask. Although they all, considering my age and experience, expect some sort of great wisdom from me, I’ll probably disappoint them with a simple and humble answer: an immense love for people and for football, many painstaking hours of hard work and perseverance. In this I always emphasize that no effort in life is in vain. Every effort, however, even the smallest is always worth …
Say, point and include the players
Each training session, match, competition, or meeting with the players requires the coach’s careful preparation. The way a coach conveys information regarding the opponents, the competition or the game are key. Do you know how much players actually remember from all of this? You’d be surprised! Research conducted by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in the United States reveals that the level of memorising information following a spoken presentation is only 10%, while the percentage after a presentation which includes pictures increases to 51%. After a presentation which …
How to “strip down” the players
Have you ever been taught statistics in school, Maxi? I was taught in school that statistics is an element of applied mathematics that deals with the collection, processing, interpretation and presentation of data. Statistics wasn’t exactly my favourite subject at school and I never would have imagined my friends as football coaches would use them with so much enthusiasm. Statistics become a critical tool for coaches in making crucial decisions. Thanks to statistics, coaches know how far players run, how many passes they make, and how many of them are complete …