What can football learn from other sports?

Why does this apply to coaching in the winter?

I cut my coaching teeth growing up on the Isle of Man, where the winter months can be extreme by UK standards. For example, I can remember one session I was taking with a school senior team where we reluctantly took the decision to abandon ship when we noticed, through the wall of sideways rain-come-hail, that the full-sized goal was being blown straight down the astroturf and was accelerating up to a sprint pace.

What those experiences did teach me, though, was to plan ahead and try to figure out small but significant methods in which I could keep the players as active as possible – the Archimedes levers. I was trying to strike a balance between playing, learning and avoiding freezing in the windchill.

Not many grassroots coaches or players are lucky enough to have access to an indoor 3G each week and we often make do with whatever facilities we can. However, this shouldn’t necessarily mean a barrier to achieving quality outcomes at a tempo that ensures the impact of the weather is minimal.

For those who have had any experience with our coach education courses, the phrase STEP should sound familiar. I’m going to pick apart this acronym and look at what we can learn from other sports regarding what practices we deliver for our players.

You may notice that there's a bias towards invasion games that are played to a central target or goal. I’ve chosen many of the following rules and adaptations with an eye on the physical return. However, this isn’t in isolation and has a knock on effect across The FA Four Corner Model.

1. Space

The size and shape of playing area can alter the player experiences. If you look at the physical demands of a sport played over a relatively large area – like Australian Rules Football or Rugby Sevens – compared to a smaller area – like handball – then you may start to notice some differences.

In my own previous testing, using nothing more than a Fitbit and speaking with the players, I’ve looked at the difference in 5v5 played on a full-sized pitch compared to 18 x 44 (the penalty area). The latter has significantly higher anaerobic returns due to it’s short, sharp nature and the former played at a much slower aerobic pace due to the amount of area available per player.

Shape matters: play in a triangle and your players will almost constantly be cornered in possession and will often have to use strength in order to shield the ball. Whereas, play in a circle, and you remove the corners – which keeps the ball in play more.

2. Task

The rules by which a game is played have a major bearing on the tactics applied. Here are some rules I’ve experimented with that may promote thought to help during the winter:

Hockey

• The 'self take' rule: introduced by hockey has seen the game speed up significantly. Certain fouls or stoppages can be restarted by a player passing to themselves from a dead ball. Simple application to football: restart with a pass or dribble.
• Outcome: ball stays in play more. Try observing in your own matches at training how much time is lost to players arguing over free kicks, corners and throw-ins.

Basketball

• The 'front court/back court' rule: once the team in possession has crossed the halfway line with the ball, they cannot re-enter their own defensive half.
• Outcome: this effectively halves the playing area in an instant; it forces quicker decisions and actions, and end-to-end play. If you want to apply this to football, consider halves, thirds and quarters – once you've passed, there's no going back.
• The 'shot clock' rule: after gaining possession, the attacking team have a limited time to score/shoot.
• Outcome: depending on the time limit, a potentially faster transition, more counter attacking and end-to-end play. 

 Futsal

• The 'four second' rule: at a restart, the attacking team have just four seconds from gaining control of the ball to get it back into play.
• Outcome: quicker decisions and actions, and more ball-in-play time. 
• The 'Goalkeeper back-pass' rule: after playing the ball out, unless they're in the attacking half of the court, a goalkeeper can't receive the ball back until it's been touched by a player from the opposing team. 
• Outcome: teams who are in possession are effectively 'a player down' and so have to work harder off the ball to create, maintain and exploit space. This also forces more transitions. 

3. Equipment

Some minor adjustments can have a significant impact on the outcomes of your practices.

Goals
Use smaller goals and the ball will probably stay in play more with the players having to get closer to the goal to score. Use bigger goals and you may notice the play condensing into a smaller and more central area as players attempt to defend it.

The ball 
In another completely unscientific study I undertook recently, I wanted to measure any difference in time the ball was in play with a normal ball compared to a futsal ball.

• Age group: U11 (13 players, 6 v 7)
• Pitch size: 55 x 25yds
• Surface: Hard sand-based astroturf
• Conditions: sunny and calm
• Game time: 15 minutes. One ball (size 4)
• Rest time: 5 minutes
• Results: when using a football, the 'in play' time was 6 minutes and 42 seconds (or 44.7% of the game time); in contrast, when using a futsal ball, the 'in play' time was 9 minutes and 22 seconds (62.4% of the game time). This demonstrates a significant increase – and was achieved by simply switching the type of ball.

Multi-ball
If nothing else, just having a good supply of balls dotted around your area (or in key start-zones for your practice) will reduce the amount of time that the ball is 'out of play' because your team has to fetch it. Over time, these small changes can really reap dividends.


4. People

Rolling subs
On a visit to Sweden a few years ago, I was lucky enough to take in my first ice hockey game and was fascinated throughout. Not just at the speed of the game but also at how little time the players spent on the ice at any one time. I could rarely spot a player who spent more than a minute in the game and I soon forgot about the match and focused on what the players were actually doing. I noticed that the game at an individual level seemed to be: get on the ice, produce a series of sprints up, down and around the rink and then quickly sub off for a teammate. Often this would happen to all six players at the same time.

Naturally, I started to experiment and observe what happened with a similar approach in small-sided football games - starting with one sub per team in a 5v5 who rotated on and off in number order every 30 seconds. Then varying the number of players on and off at any one time and the rest period I noticed certain sweet-spots where the intensity of the practice and the pace of play would reach a point where it would remain high and constant when the work and rest ratios were well balanced.

Note also the trade-offs between high and low numbers in practice. High and they will likely spend more time away from the ball. Low and there’ll likely be a shift towards more time on and around the ball. Different physical demands.

Power Play
Some sports such as ice hockey and futsal have periods where teams are uneven in number. There can be high value in playing uneven numbers at times rather than opting for the more traditional floating/magic player who plays for both teams when in possession.

The above are just a few rules and ideas that I’ve borrowed in my own practice previously and especially at times where I’ve wanted to increase the physical load of the practice for certain reasons.

Have you borrowed any rules from other sports? If so, what did you notice?

This article was first published in The Boot Room magazine in October 2016.