The second scenario where you could plan your weekly sessions adapting them to the opponent is when your players have been trained during several years in the flexible application of a certain game plan. This will only be possible in clubs that have established a unified model across all categories, including a plan that sorts the necessary content throughout time depending on the learning capacity of the player in each age and using a training methodology that will allow players to interpret the opponent’s game and adapt to it. Logically, these abilities cannot be acquired in a single season and it is not recommended to think that players that have been playing for different academies during their youth, with different methodologies and game models each of them, will be able to master any game model to that degree of individual and collective adaptability.

The final conclusion after these short considerations is that in many cases coaches carry out deep analysis of the opponent’s game model (sometimes with the help of staff members who will perform several tasks) and imagine solutions as if we were talking about a chess battle. However, in the end, when the match comes, many of the situations that were anticipated do not occur as they were imagined. And, in our opinion, this happens because coaches often do not pay enough attention to the correct evaluation of their own players (because they do not have available any suitable performance indicators or because they evaluate conducts right after they have been trained) to know which conducts they really master at a high enough level that will allow players to adapt them to different circumstances.

Want to learn more about Training Methodology?

In case you want to know more about the different methodologies you can use for training and how to adapt the content to the player’s age and skill level, we recommend you two options: Training Methodology Course (10h) and Youth section inside our membership.

In the Training Methodology course, we explain how to create your own training drills and sessions following the Ekkono Method, and taking into account the player’s age and skill level. In this course we go through which elements you should use during the first part of the training session and which ones should be used during the main part of the training. Also, we are going to show you how to manage the information during the session and give you some behavioural guidelines to apply both in training sessions and in the competition.

Also, we recommend you checking the Youth section we offer inside our membership. There are 4 blocks of content (Methodology, Planning, Game Analysis & Physical Fitness), each with 8-10 lessons. In these lessons, you will learn how to design training sessions for youth players, when to teach each concept based on the player’s age, which type of concepts should be taught for the offensive and defensive phases, and how you can improve your young player’s physical condition. Each lesson has a self-assessment activity or quiz at the end, to ensure the maximum comprehension.

Find out more information by following the link below.