Under 14/15s

TRAINING PHASE 14 - 15 years (TECHNIFICATION STAGE)

Even taking into account that at this age there are differentiated characteristics of the previous phases/stages, it is probably in this that more variability is manifested. One aspect that causes this diversity is the differences that arise between the biological and psychological ages of the players. 

These differences are maintained between the players, usually until the end of this phase/stage. 

One of the important features is the appearance of the "player's opinion" (especially at the end of the phase). If something does not fit your opinion or preference, it is debatable, and therefore, it will be "discussed." In this sense it is important that the coach has objective and understandable arguments and facts that support and solidly argue his indications.

In this Phase/Stage all the training will have a great relationship with the Collective Game; that is, the corrections and experiences that the player develops in each of the technical, tactical and collective actions, will be related to the established game structure (System, style, demarcation, etc.). 

We can, however, continue to carry out specific training for the cases that are considered necessary, such as the improvement of some specific aspects (some technical or tactical manifestation, some slogan-specific collective action), which for whatever reasons the player still does not dominate optimally. 

Characteristics of the structure and activity of this stage: 

• 2 Seasons. 
• 4 Sessions. 
• The Specialist remains. Already applying the figure of the "coach", above all, with the cadets of last year). 
• The player must manifest the Optimal Action/Response to the Gaming Situation. Perfecting it in relation to the demarcation in which it plays. 
• Mastery of the Universal Foundations by Demarcation.
• Specialized training of the footballer.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SEASON IN RELATION TO THE AGE OF THE PLAYERS

• We enter the adolescent stage. This is a stage full of possibilities, but surrounded, at the same time, by an important problem. 
• A number of abrupt changes take place in the adolescent's body that lead to the need to restructure the body scheme. Football will help you get used to the new lengths of your limbs, weight and strength development. The phase of the restructuring of sports-motor capabilities begins: 
  •  Efficient slower movements. 
  •  Frequent inconstancy in sports performance... 
• This phase is followed by a stage characterized by the stabilization of the conduction of movements and the development of individualization of motor behavior. 
• We move from manipulating objects to manipulating ideas. This represents access to the abstract world and the use of "concepts". 
• The player will therefore already be able to draw conclusions from his game and assimilate the orientations given to them by the coach. 
• It is the moment when the memory capacity reaches its maximum level. 
• Boys tend to observe, analyze and synthesize (reason why one action is better than another) being able to quickly analyze the possibilities of a certain play, and choose the best one. 
• Emotional instability, decreased perseverance, fluctuation of attention, inadequate self-worth, polemical opposition, and even desire for protection and dependence can easily be observed. 
• The coach should keep in mind that learning will make sense to the teen as long as it is meaningful, self-motivating, and based on experience. Some issues to consider are that: 
  • It can help the player to clarify and verify objectives and motivations towards football (where he wants to go and why...). 
  • It can create a climate that favors the maturation of the experience (proposing that the player himself determine the errors and corrections appropriate to each action ...). 
  • He must accept the emotional functioning of adolescence, respecting the expressions of his affectivity (avoid mockery or recirculation,...). 
• The coach, consequently can be key to the continuity of the player in the sport, must be a filter to the abandonments that occur at this stage. "Training in grassroots football" – Isabel Gázquez Pérez – ED. Paidotribo. 
• They develop their own opinions and convictions based on their "autonomous" knowledge and judgment. 
• Adults' concepts and claims are not accepted when they seem incorrect or unjustified. 
• Social relationships in the team continue to be consolidated more and more. The first relationships with the other sex appear, whose opinions and points of view are often taken into account and influence. Jürgen BrauBbe and others – "grassroots football training programs" – Ed. Paidotribo.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SEASON IN RELATION TO PROGRAMMING

• We enter fully into the stage of technification, that is, the specialization of the player within the collective game. 
• Consequently, the training of technique, tactics and collective actions will be carried out within the context of the game, correcting and seeking the effectiveness of the activity (rather than the generic improvement of the actions / situations), relating it to the forms of play of the team and the specialization of the player in relation to his demarcation and his characteristics. 
• In the area of the Competition, in this cycle we will already work on the aspects developed so far, but that previously the coach will have DESIGNED AND ESTABLISHED, in relation to the characteristics of the players, that is, we will look for in each case, the proposals that fit the capabilities of the player, so that they can manifest a high degree of effectiveness in their game, and to achieve, consequently, a maximum specialization in its activity. 
• In the area of Goalkeepers: Within the programming of the contents of this cycle, we see how in the following tables, for the isolated format, there are two objectives or contents. In this case, the first objective-content will be developed in the 1st session of said micro-cycle, while the other objective-content will be developed in the 2nd session of the same micro-cycle, always within the first 40' - 60' of the session in isolated format, that is, working only with the goalkeepers. 
  • The 2nd part of the session, in a format shared with the rest of the team, will be used to train the goalkeeper in more collective skills in his interaction in the game with the rest of teammates and opponents. That is why the work of the goalkeeper must be compatible with that of areas such as competition especially, or collective play. 
  • Logically, for this type of organization, the training group in isolated format, will no longer be as before, with the participation of 6-8 goalkeepers, but will work exclusively with the two goalkeepers of the same team. This will first cause isolated format work to be more analytical, and at the same time there will be much more repetition and workload. 
• In relation to physical preparation: We will not distinguish variants between the first 3 cycles / seasons of the process (we consider the 4th cycle -2nd year cadet- differentiated from the first 3). In any case, the coach must adapt in each cycle the variables (progression, specificity, etc.), in relation to the characteristics of the players and their evolution.
• In the area of Psychology: at this stage we will carry out the same objectives set in the previous stage (Children of 2nd year), the coach must adjust each aspect to adapt them to the differences that could manifest in the group (age, characteristics of the players / families, levels of manifestation of each objective, etc.).
• In the field of technique and tactics, the proposals of the collective situations raised in the trainings for the improvement of the technique-tactics in the different objectives of the planning, both for the team itself and for the opposition, we can define them:
  • Generically (alternating different collective forms in defense and / or attack).
  • Relating them to the actions of each demarcation

GENERAL OBJECTIVES OF THE SEASON/CYCLE

• The most appropriate execution to the game situation, of each of the aspects that are manifested in the match.
• Achieve a high level of efficiency in the game.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SEASON IN RELATION TO THE AGE OF THE PLAYERS

• The aspects exposed in the previous cycle (14 years) are consolidated and reaffirmed. 
• A number of abrupt changes take place in the adolescent's body that lead to the need to restructure the body scheme. Football will help you get used to the new lengths of your limbs, weight and strength development. The phase of the restructuring of sports-motor capabilities begins:
  • Efficient slower movements.
  • Frequent inconstancy in sports performance... 
• This phase is followed by a stage characterized by the stabilization of the conduction of movements and the development of individualization of motor behavior. 
• We move from manipulating objects to manipulating ideas. This represents access to the abstract world and the use of "concepts". 
• The player will therefore already be able to draw conclusions from his game and assimilate the orientations given to them by the coach. 
• It is the moment when the memory capacity reaches its maximum level. 
• Boys tend to observe, analyze and synthesize (reason why one action is better than another) being able to quickly analyze the possibilities of a certain play, and choose the best one. 
• Emotional instability, decreased perseverance, fluctuation of attention, inadequate self-worth, polemical opposition, and even desire for protection and dependence can easily be observed. 
• The coach should keep in mind that learning will make sense to the teen as long as it is meaningful, self-motivating, and based on experience. Some issues to consider are that:
  • It can help the player to clarify and verify objectives and motivations towards football (where he wants to go and why...).
  • It can create a climate that favors the maturation of the experience (proposing that the player himself determine the errors and corrections appropriate to each action ...).
  • You must accept the emotional functioning of adolescence, respecting the expressions of your affectivity (avoid mockery or recirculation,...) ...
• The coach, consequently can be key to the continuity of the player in the sport, must be a filter to the abandonments that occur at this stage. "Training in grassroots football" – Isabel Gázquez Pérez – ED. Paidotribo. 
• They develop their own opinions and convictions based on their "autonomous" knowledge and judgment. 
• Adults' concepts and claims are not accepted when they seem incorrect or unjustified. 
• Social relationships in the team continue to be consolidated more and more. The first relationships with the other sex appear, whose opinions and points of view are often taken into account and influence. Jürgen BrauBbe and others – "grassroots football training programs" – Ed. Paidotribo 
• Important age for the acquisition of more elaborate game principles. 
• Know how to listen, rigor and tolerance. 
• Some intellectual confusion.
• Concern for great values.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SEASON IN RELATION TO PROGRAMMING

• This cycle is the last of the training process and consequently the player must be prepared to access High Performance. We will therefore dedicate the activity of this cycle to the evaluation, correction, and adaptation of all the aspects developed in this process, so that the player at the end of the season manifests the optimal level for this pass to the next process. 
• In this cycle we will already work on the aspects developed so far, but that previously the coach will have DESIGNED AND ESTABLISHED, in relation to the characteristics of the players, that is, we will look for in each case, the proposals that fit the capabilities of the player, so that they can manifest a high degree of effectiveness in their game, and to achieve, consequently, a maximum specialization in its activity. 
• In the area of Competition, in this Cycle, the work to be done in terms of planning will be unified in each micro-cycle, that is, there is no scheduled planning but the planned activity (Correct the errors manifested in the competition and work the variants that are established in each micro-cycle in relation:
  • The type of opposition that the team will have to face (it will be established by the analysis and the subsequent programming that these analyzes determine).
  • To the variables that are introduced in the team itself (changes of alignments, forms of play in attack and / or defense, needs and / or sporting objectives, etc.). 
• In the area of Psychology: We assume that the aspects raised in the 3 previous cycles are fully assumed, otherwise, we will share the objectives of this 4th cycle with what has been pending from the previous 3 and consider important. 
• In the area of Goalkeepers: In the event that, as a result of the analysis of the goalkeeper's performance in the competition, it is determined that the goalkeeper has not fully or mostly assumed all the skills worked during the previous cycles, it will be convenient to develop an extra season of technification, under the same structure and programming as the 3rd cycle of this Stage. It will be important to identify the main deficiencies and, based on them, modify this programming emphasizing the presence of these needs in the programming and, consequently, influencing with a greater number of sessions for the reinforcement of these. 
  • Therefore, and even doing a job very similar to the 3rd. Cycle of the Technification Stage, a work program more typical of the Performance stage will begin to be introduced, in which it begins to be individualized according to the needs of our players. 
• In the field of technique and tactics, specific work of actions related to demarcation

GENERAL OBJECTIVES OF THE SEASON/CYCLE

• Perfect the player to develop his game optimally, in relation to his demarcation and the forms of play used by the team.

Footballers between 12 and 15 years old

• They are years of rebellion of nonconformity of criticism of self-confidence of dejection in which these children will neither agree with themselves nor stop being so.
• These are years of profound changes before which the coach will remain very attentive very understanding and very hopeful.
• They are also years of consolidation of the preceding ages while forgetting these ages of aspiration to be greater while growing instability of continuous comings and goings, as who says between applause and rejection successes and failures that they harvest.

 Intellectual growth

• In order for the coach to perceive at all times the degree of attention that his players pay to his indications that he is not satisfied with the fact that both without a word are limited to bowing their heads. It is convenient that you demand their assent or doubt with the word.
• Players at this age are always looking for the why of things but in depth without asking for asking inquiring the meaning of each of the orders they receive
• The desire to find convincing solutions from reasoned thinking drives them to reject any superficial formulas proposed to them. They are willing to establish complex relationships for example in the conception of the game they like to face the limit situations do not shy away from the difficulties are fajan if necessary with theoretically much superior teams without feeling complexed ...

We want to insist on three aspects of this intellectual growth that if well oriented will create many difficulties for the coach in his task of leading the team. We refer to selfishness, relentless criticism and obsession with results:

• The excessive selfishness with which some footballers at this age are entrenched in front of others is their coach are their teammates. Selfishness that leads them to reject any reasoning warning or call to disciplinary order to give it a team based on the conviction that they know everything or that they can do everything apart from the non-existent security for them that could come from others,
• It is a false self-esteem – we have stressed that it is an excessive selfishness – that prevents them from progressing in their necessary learning – they are children of age to know and practice many new concepts – and prevents them from integrating with others in that common effort that obliges without exception all the components of the team.
• ... Relentless criticism is another aspect to which we draw the attention of team managers. We have always admitted criticism as an element that reveals the degree of human maturity of all children and adults, but reducing criticism to its implacable versions seems to us to disfigure its value of analysis and that it contributes nothing to the task of all.
• When these children insist or are prone to it in the negative evaluation of the reality that surrounds them, they hardly pay attention to their self-criticism while on the contrary they turn against gestures or against the wordsor against the decisions of others.
• ... Any team manager with this negative attitude of those who insistently will only look at the failures that will be and will not appreciate the full reality of the team should be very careful. Criticism in these ages, is contagious is a sign of rebellion typical of those who want to grow up as it is and can constitute a hindrance in the good progress of the equipment difficult to annul if it is not stopped in time.
• The obsessive concern for results is the third aspect that we submit to the consideration of the coach at these ages. Children following other models that are proposed to them from the adult world appreciate immediate success more than the learning process, which is slow by definition with ups and downs and that is unconcerned with the fame of the present time.
• The boy wants to compete as soon as possible he wants to show his talnto without waiting for his football category to settle on a more consistent foundation he wants to appear before others before he tried to be better and he is eaten by the rush to prove that he knows how to win a game. Plausible desires all of them as long as they were combined with the priorities established by the educational guidelines.

Again the coach is presented, in the performance of his managerial functions exciting moments and at the same time difficult for his understanding, his patience, his method of work, his analysis and his future projects:

• To achieve, for example, that these young footballers willingly accept to confront their own reality and that of others, is an exercise in serene self-criticism and accepting all the consequences that will derive from it, would represent one of their best successes.
• The same as if he managed to get them to accept his guidelines even if he forced them to rectify in the conviction that it is he as a teacher and coach who is right in those matters ...

Social growth:

... The child footballer and cadet escapes even more in these ages of the family and finds in the team his most natural and most beloved seat. He needs to assert his independence which he otherwise gives to the group. He likes to recognize himself as a member of that teambecause he doesn't just recognizehimself or doesn't quite accept himselfas he is...

The coach will take advantage of these experiences of his players to guide his direction:

• In the attempt to strengthen the union between all the members of that team whatever the cause of why they are comfortable ...
• In the attempt to fix the concepts of authority since the appearance in that team of the bossesor leaders more or less spontaneous will help him in his managerial task by insisting for example on team discipline or the rigor of minimum tactical rules ...
• In the attempt to enhance the concept of mutualaid or support concepts that go beyond what tactics mean. It is an attitude of an ethical value that meets the needs of the others in the group and that is related or not to the systems of play in training and in matches. Attitude that predisposes the footballer to give the best of himself wherever he is needed even on the bench ...

Affective growth:

Here in these ages is where the changes in the development of the personality become more evident and take on their deepest radicality.

• First, children reflexively realize that their bodies begin to mature sexually.
• Secondly, there comes the time when feelings claim their now preponderant role in your life.
• Thirdly, and as a consequence of the previous situations, these children are bewildered by new experiences that keep them perplexed. 

The coach even as team director does not have all the answers that meetthe vital demands of his players, and must seek the collaboration provided by other technicians or experts ... Anyway, the coach will know through certain symptoms what may be happening in that time of affective growth:

• You can know states of excitement or agitation usually transient that take over the inner world of these children and that prevents them from making the right decisions even those that are directly related to the gestures of football. The oscillations, for example, that are noticed between joy and sadness between good humor and bad mood canbaffle these children to unsuspected limits.
• Even feeling linked to their friends within the group, theirinstability would lead them to confront them without knowing for sure why they behave like this.
• They would close in on themselves in an attempt to find there the root of their bewilderment, when in reality this inward flight will further distance them from possible solutions... They become surly and lose their interest in what for them remains their first dream, that of playing football.

The coach must enhance the positiveaspects of the behavior of these playersto annul any feeling of negative individuality giving them that margin of confidence that stimulus that degree of complacency that allows them to turn to a more committed realization of football ... Other guidelines with which coaches can act will be to insist on their more responsible integration into the dynamics of the team... It could even assign, to whoever suffered from this situation some special task some relevant function within the team with which to stimulate him to offer the best of himself.

... The coach should therefore not live with his back to these situations as if there were no reason why children as a rule will not spontaneously tell him what happens to them. Andhe remains the reference for all his players.

 Ethical growth:

In these ages the world of values is strengthened... We refer to generosity to the sense of justice, their desire to copy the models and their desires for activity...

... The coach will not need to appeal to reasons other than those of strict dedication to good play to verify that the effectiveness of his orders is instantaneous.

• The sense of justice that is revealed in these ages allows the coach to value, for example, fair play, respect for referees, mutual respect not only to set the rules of conduct of the players among themselves but those that govern the relations between him and his players ...

The coach has a great resource for children to give free rein to their imitative interest. However, we warn that the repeated copy of the model copies verbatim of their gestures of their attitudescould nullify the creative gifts of children ...

• Finally, and withinthat world of values that we remember as a provider of ethical answers, we cite the desire that children manifest in these ages for activity, for the incessant movement that we already noticed in previous stages and that now is consolidated as a more consented and better esteemed decision.