“Indian Football my view – ©️Jatin Tyagi”

General views:-
Once I opined that at the age of seventeen, no Indian footballer would be so well built like Sergeant, the U-17 World Cup footballer of USA. It would never happen. As it would never happen, Indian kids would not play football. Is it so?
According to general views football is a body contact game, so our country has no scope in world class football. But I always think that if Indian kids get the chance of world class training facilities, then they can do miracle. As example, Indian U-17 team played well in the final round in World Cup 2017.
But most of the football lovers in India believe that India would never play world cup football. Now our ranking is 108. In my opinion if India plays more International matches, we can easily move above 95 in ranking. Now, 32 countries play in the final round of World Cup Football. FIFA may take the decision of allowing 48 countries in the final round of World Cup Football any time. If Indian Government and AIFF jointly take a project of Mission World Cup and take suitable steps to achieve it, it would not be impossible.
I discussed the problems of Indian football elaborately in my previous Article. Now I want to discuss matters regarding the measures to overcome those problems from my experiences. These measures would cost nothing and can easily be taken but ir depends on the good will of the football administrator of the country.
India in other games.
Before discussing, I would like to explain here the situation of some other games in our Country. I think there were mere some individual performances that glorified Indian Cricket forty years ago. India as a team never brought any success in cricket before 1983. It was never played as a team game then. And the overall scenario was not up to the mark. We could not bowl fast. We could not bat against fast ball. We could not field well. We had some good spinners only. We played spin well in slow track and on the other hand the other countries except Pakistan, (then Srilanka was not there) could not play spin bowling well. We achieved some sporadic successes in Test Cricket depending on the spinners. But, now we are able to bowl fast, bat against fast ball in fast pitch in abroad also and field athletically. So, it means that Indian can. We have the potential to perform at the highest level. And now our country rules the whole cricket world and I think it will be continued for next twenty years. We have now a good number of world class cricketers. I think it was possible for IPL Tournament. Though it is a limited over cricket,, still it created tremendous impact on the youth cricketers to perform in other format also. Now an upcoming Indian cricketer gets the chance to play about eighteen matches with world class performers in IPL Tournament. They have been practicing with world’s top class cricketers for three months every year. So when this Indian player plays International match, he is not afraid of them. They have been automatically groomed and well acquainted with the temperament of the top class cricket.
Forty years ago our hockey team was the best. But now they did not even qualify for the world cup. Australia, Germany, Holland, England easily beat us. It means, though we had potential in Hockey, we lost it gradually. The other countries adapted significantly the changes in the game. But we did not change our style of play in Astro-Turf. Ultimately we lost our position. Our glory was lost. Now we are below 10 in ranking. It is a matter of dismay.
Significantly we are now able to perform in some individual games like Badminton, Boxing, Wrestling, Shooting in the highest level. The players, in these games are nurtured in Academy, where they get the world class training facilities. The players, who can afford the cost of Academy, are grown up and perform well in World class competition. It means we have the world class ability to perform if we are groomed up properly.

The Role of ISL
So why can’t we achieve the same success in football? Now ISL has been playing for last seven years. Still we are far from success and our ranking is gradually lowering. We have seen many football coaches from different countries in last thirty years. We have seen Spanish, English, Italian, Brazilian Coaches in ISL teams.
I believe that the standard of our ISL is just at par to the fourth Division of La Liga, EPL, French, Serie-A or Bundesliga or at par with the third Division of other European League. Is it a matter of despair? I think not at all.
Some football fans call this ISL as a football circus. Initially many aged players came and played in ISL. It lasted for two seasons. The organizers had no options then. They used those aged Merkie footballers just to promote a newly born Football League in an under developed football country. Then the scenario has been changing and top class performances were viewed in ISL, especially in last year. Initially we did not have enough number of quality Indian footballers to play in ten teams of ISL and ten teams of I-League. So the quality players were shared in ISL and I-League both. The organizer of both the leagues had to compromise. We need a pool of four hundred players to run these two leagues side by side.
Now we have enough number of good footballers. Now we have a pool of more than four hundred good footballers. It is a positive sign for Indian football and it was possible for ISL. ISL spent huge money to the quality Indian footballers also. About four hundred Indian footballers earned an amount of more than one Crore in last four years. The number of footballers earned in Crore is much greater than any other sports in India. I think, more than fifty Indian players earned more than 10 Crores from ISL. It is much greater than the average income of a successful white collar job holder like Doctor, Engineer, Bureaucrat or other professional. So a silver lining is found in the despair situation and it is possible for ISL.
Philosophy of Indian football.
Can we able to define Indian football in a single word? I think, no will be the appropriate answer. We can define some football playing countries in a word. Brazilian football can be described as the best example of attacking football. They believe that attack is the best defense. The Dutch football can be described as total football. The Dutch players are able to play in every position except Goalkeeper. Spanish football is a combination of pass and support style of play. German football is known as their fighting spirit with power and never giving up mentality. Argentina plays compact midfield oriented football keeping balance in attacking and defensive zone. English play high pressing game with high intensity now. They left their kick and run football. Italy play counter attack based organized defensive football which is most popularly known as Catenaccio system or door-bolt system. But the Indian football has no specific style of play.
So which country should we follow and why we should follow them?
Our country is a big country with diversity in culture, food habits, languages, religions etc. On the other hand, every European country is small in area with one speaking language. They can easily build up a football culture around the country. The populace of the European country is very negligible compared to India. The infrastructural supports, logistic supports per hundred footballers in those countries are far better than our country in every respect. For Example, a group of twelve boys in Germany is trained by one Licensed Coach and two trained assistant coaches. It is not more than fourteen in every European country. But in India the ratio is 40: 1.
So if we desire, we should follow Germany, it would not be realistic. In fact, we should not adapt the philosophy of any other developed football country. We have to just take the right philosophy and system which would be suitable for our players. Every good feature of developed countries should be grabbed first and molded for using it in Indian climates and cultures.
We always talk about infrastructure. But we don’t know what this infrastructure actually means. Everyone discusses on some ingredients/accessories like cone, marker, mannequin, board, stick etc. as infrastructure. But actually the infrastructure primarily needed is a playable ground, secondly the boys of same age group and thirdly a knowledgeable Coach. I think these are easily available in our country.
Now I just would like to remind everyone that Belgium is now the No 1 position in FIFA ranking and this country just jumped to no. 1 position from 66, in last 20 years. Belgium, a small European country, spent twenty years to reach the no. 1 position from 66.
What is the vision of Belgium philosophy for development of football? The vision of Belgium philosophy for development of football is very simple. It based on one plan, one vision & one mission for the whole nation.
Coach education is the key-word for their development. All types of coaches like head of coaches, academy coaches, regional coaches, referees, talent coaches, children coaches, school coaches will follow the same principle and objective. They meet, collaborate, exchange their experiences and share their views in same direction.
Their coaches are asked to stop thinking about their teams. The coaches are asked not to take care of about winning the game only. They are asked to start thinking about the individual players. Their main focus is on performance. They do focus on support to develop player especially creative player.
Their motto is that no talented player can be missed. The coach will only be a mentor with helping hand. They coach to develop today for perform tomorrow. Their approach is always player centric. They believe that leadership quality will grow bottom up. The jobs of the coaches are as elevators and coaches are to give children roots to grow and wings to fly.

They believe that the freedom of play is license for all creativity. Their philosophy is that every child is born with full of creativity. During the development stages, winning every stage, they have emphasis on the development of technical, tactical, physical, mental skills according to age and level. By step by step they begin to see the process. They take the game as a tool not a goal. It is not about winning but about learning. Their philosophy is never they lose; they win, or they learn.
Win is not their main objective. They develop beliefs, values for change of behavioral attitude to sustain their Culture. They emphasis quality control of coach education, implement of realistic coaching. They seem, the coach is not the norm, the player is the norm. The coaching switch is all about the individual players. They believe first of all that players are human beings. They create freedom environment to maximize the playing potential. They extend physical and psychological support to their players before, during and after the game.
They consider three pillars; Fun, Formation & Attitude. Making mistakes simply means the player is learning faster. They are instructed to avoid match coaching with the focus on the winning of the team. They are instructed to stimulate match coaching with the focus on individual development. Sometimes one wins sometimes one loses, it matters little to them. They never indulge in the unequal battle between early and late mature footballers.
They make an environment that makes talent flourish. Potential is always preferable than performance. They don’t throw away any kids. They always give them time to develop. From U- 15 team till the senior team they spread one consistent message all over the journey.
Is it very hard for us to follow Belgium philosophy? I don’t think so, because Belgium philosophy is nothing but the basic principle of football learning which every developed football country follows. Nothing is new in it. It is plain and simple. But in India, the implementation of this philosophy is very tough.
We got success in Cricket in this way without following any other counties. Now we must get success in football also without adapting any country’s philosophy. We have to build up our own philosophy. We should take only the guidance of football experts of a single particular country of Europe for a long time. Some believes that India is a sleeping giant in football and I hope it will come true.
But what will be the philosophy of Indian football?
Football is played in different styles and formations in different states in our country. Punjab plays kick and run football style, Uttar Pradesh plays hit and run. Goa is fond of playing small passes, while Bengalis love dribbling. South Indians love mid field oriented wing play where as the North East States are fond of continuous running. The National team consists of players from all the states. So what will be the style of play of Indian National Team?
In my opinion, our country needs synchronized, possession-based and consistent performance-based philosophy. Passion, talent-hunting and right philosophy can help Indian football developed. India, with immense talent and passion for football need positive environment, right quality and quantity of matches. Two major Leagues, ISL and I-League have to be worked together in a system where all clubs co-exist. We should implement across age-groups, starting from grass root level, more specifically from six years. We have to make a data base of kid footballers, so that age manipulation can be prevented.
We need to improve the coaching-system and coach-education learning from the past. We need to focus on the same philosophy for the entire nation. We have to discuss, find the solution out and implement the same as a nation, obeying that philosophy. All the budding players bind to play with the same philosophy. The entire system should not breach its philosophy for an individual. We have to emphasis on principle-based coaching system like in a real match. Indian coaches should be given more opportunities of coaching in all levels.
We can’t play high intensity and high pressing football at a stretch, but we can play safe and the match is won by the team who played safe.
Role of Indian Coach.
I think there is no basic difference in U-10 level footballers. I have found many promising players in U-8 and in U-10 also. We have more quality kids than any other countries in grass root level. Then the players’ performance deteriorates. The role of the coach is very vital here. In India a coach generally nurtures 40 footballers of mixed age groups. This practice should be stopped first.
The Belgium model starts with the U-6 kids. The kids are allowed to play 1 V 1 first. They are allowed to dribble, running with the ball and score only. The coach never instructs them so that the kids can enjoy freedom of play. The duty of the coach is to look for creative players. They all have scored goals. In this age group the kids only think about himself and not about his team. The kids are allowed to play 2 V 2. One of the two kids is Goalkeeper. They prepare six pitches and each team is allowed to play for six minutes. Then the team and pitch are changed. Thus they can play against different players with maximum time. In this way they train them for two years. Then the U-8 & U-9 kids are allowed to play 3 V 3. What they learn in 2 v 2 and 3 v 3 game they now apply it in 5 V 5 single diamond system. The concept of passing when dribbling is not possible is introduced. The passion for football is created at this stage. The laws of the game are also taught. In this way they train them for two years. Then the U-10 & U-11 kids are allowed to play 8 V 8 in double diamond system. After four years they switch to 11 v 11 game. Then there are five defenders and five scorers. The kids are allowed to play four quarters + time out (After 1st quarter and 3rd quarter). After every quarter all substitute players come within the field. In this way, all the players play at least 50% of the playing time. The size of the pitch, when the kids started was 20 Yards*12 Yards. Then it gradually increases. In this way, they bind all different stages into a developing line. Everything will be the same but the change is in the size of jersey. In Belgium training method, learning is compilation or accumulation of previous experiences. Football is a brain sport, it is not merely a body contact game in Belgium. So they develop the brain of a kid from beginning. The players come to play game. So they are given the opportunity of playing game. Without losing a single player during the course of journey, the entire training procedure is continued.
Is it very difficult to follow this principle of learning in any country? Actually in a small country, with a single speaking language, it is easily developed. In India it is very difficult. But I think it is not for the size and diversity of our country, the coaches are very much responsible for this. Most of the Indian coaches focus on winning and winning by unfair means also. They even indulge in corrupt practice like age cheating and it is very common in Indian football. As a result we use to lose the promising kids before blooming because of this unequal battle of actual aged and forged age.
I think if we scrutinize the system or philosophy or school of thought of different countries, then we find that the basics are almost same. We should not indulge enough in tactics, fitness level, mental condition etc. in junior level. We have to emphasis on their individual freedom, individual skill development, scouting talents and player for the futures and give them sufficient time to grow up, to bloom with a specific attitude following the ultimate philosophy of playing for the nation.

So we should emphasis on bringing all types of coaches under the same umbrella. Frequent exchange of experiences amongst themselves, collaboration of thoughts, will develop a football culture of a specific style and type throughout the nation. We should avoid the ego centric renowned football persons, who are always engaged in bullying others and trying to be under the search light of media. Most of them are still in their playing ages. They always try to judge everything with respect to their time frames. Some of them feel jealous to the boys getting opportunities of modern football and present status of successful players.
We just follow the above process step by step consistently to sustain success. To follow a particular country, which ever may be, will not be appropriate for us for different reasons. We did not play in World Cup football. We are not among the leading football countries in Asia. There is a dearth of good number of trained coaches. But we have a huge number of talents. So we should emphasis on the basics with those talents for ten years at the primary step.
It is unfortunate to say that our licensed coaches, attaining the license, forgot the aim of coach education programme. They forgot what they taught in the course. They use to behave like a driver, who while training was several rules and techniques, drives in his own style and breaks the traffic rule in a frequent manner. The educated coaches are just following the car driver. Most of the coaches have no specific plan for coaching. They just come and start training. They behave mostly like a physical trainer. They spend most of their coaching time in physical exercises without ball. They use to do it in grass root level also. They are more familiar to the static ingredients than football. The coach sometimes forgets his main ingredient that is football. As a result most of the kids lost their interests in football and they are forced to leave this game.
But the coaches were taught a different thought. We are lacking not only in good coaches but also in right philosophy. According to Belgium philosophy, without a good relationship bonding, there is no learning development possible. A coach needs to see learning through the eyes of the players. And the best coach is the best inspiration. The Coach always makes a kid feel special. This quality of a coach is his own specialty. It has immense impact on the kids.
Now everyone in football world watch You Tube Videos. There are thousands of videos in You Tube. The presentations of these videos are very good. Watching these videos, most of the coaches try to practice it in his school. But they never think about the external factors. They never take into consideration that the climate, the weather condition, the age group, the aim, the period etc. are different from the contents of the video he is following. His brain is already polluted by these types of football videos. He can only be properly guided by frequent exchange of experiences amongst themselves, collaboration of thoughts etc.
In football world, people think that experience of higher order is knowledge. In India there is a strong belief in everyone that the coach must be a good footballer. A footballer who played many matches for his National team has lots of experiences, but he should not be placed as a knowledgeable person in football chain. And knowledge should always be placed in higher order than experience. There are several instances in modern football that the most successful coach did not play much football in the youth level also. Presently most of the successful coaches are very young. They have taken the coaching career at the age of 19 or 20 years. They are now performing very well.
If this general opinion is admitted then every teacher should be a PhD degree holder in the Education System also. But in our primary and secondary education system there are so many knowledgeable teachers, who did not have the graduation degree. They might be called less qualified but they built so many successful careers. The subject of football is not like Rocket Science. It only needs knowledge and that knowledge might be acquired by any one, who is intelligent, passionate and with a peasant personality.
Coaching is nothing but the subjective application of the objective knowledge, because subjective knowledge is true for everybody. If it is not true for everybody, it is an opinion. Coaching knowledge is such a thing which is same for every coach. Playing football is practical and an ex-footballer may perform better in this practical, but everything else except playing football is theory. The ex-footballer may not be the best in this field. One’s subjective opinion is theory but it is of little value. So intelligence should be welcomed. Our mission is improving football coaches, the level of coaching in football.
In football world there are always some heated debates. No one easily admits that two plus two makes four. Everyone has the trends to disagree with everything other than him. No one is flexible. There are some incompetent coaches, who are unaware of the fact that they don’t know. They never try to anticipate external factors. They never evaluate their experiences. They don’t know that theory can’t be evolved without critical evaluation. They always evaluate their players not their coaching style. Coaching is constant and players are variable to them. They have one season experience and they repeat it for years to years. They survive only by changing his job from one club to another club.
We have to eliminate these types of coaches. We have to hand over the baton to the matured and stable person who has sound football knowledge and focus on our philosophy. He may be less experienced but knowledge is a must criterion.
In our country, we have 437 AIFF Grassroot Leaders, 43 AIFF E License Coaches, 5775 AIFF D License Coaches, 285 AIFF C License Coaches, 329 AFC B License Coaches, 22 AFC PRO License Coaches, 21 AFC Goalkeeper Level 3 Coaches. The data has been collected from AIFF website. It might be there are some overlapping and some coaches, who did not register yet. Most of the coaches have no work. They got training spending his hard earned money. Those who got job get very poor honorium. It is more astonishing matter that more than 95% coaches were not experienced footballers. The experienced footballers are either less interested in coaching or licensing process is very hard to him. But these experienced ex footballers had been easily engaged in club coaching before the introduction of licensing process. Someone says, language is the main bar to them for licensing course. But I think if regional language is introduced, the scenario will not be changed.
Proper Scouting.
To search out those talents, proper scouting is necessary. In India scouting is a new concept. Here it is done in a most casual manner. There are no professional scouts in any club or any team in our country.
The players are called in a trial. No match performance is considered. The coaches and officials play the role of a scout. Sometimes big players send the names and those players are placed in the squad without showing performance. No one knows the minimum norms of finding the player who has the potential for the higher or next level.
I believe that some of the best talents may not even be playing for a club or a grass root team. At least three competitive matches are required to find a talented player. But we always select players from trials. Trial means gathering of lots of footballers. There are promising footballers, tested footballers and also some mediocre. Most of them are from different age groups. We select players from those five hundred footballers in a most unscientific way. Generally, in this process the coaches always look for height and they eliminate the promising young player, who is skillful but not well built. This is just because of the fact that coach did not watch him. The best potential may be overlooked. Thus most of the young players are nipped in the bud by the so called coach cum scout.
Some of the European countries followed this principle of finding height first in the recent past and they faced a huge set back in the long run. Now the developed countries leave this concept of finding footballer with height. If height is the ultimate, then the football world is dominated by the Scandinavian countries. There are no scopes for Mexico, Spain, Argentina. The football world could never see Maradona, if he was eliminated for height in his childhood. If only power is considered then the African countries will rule over the football world. We could never see Lionnel Messi, as he was some hormone deficiency in his childhood and he was treated properly.
In India football agents play the role of a scout and former player plays the role of a scout and earn commission from the club for supplying footballers. They are not salaried. They are just like a Commission Agent. In Europe a leading club has about seven hundred scouts, can we imagine?
We have seen that the non residential Indians in different countries are able to play quality football. So it is established that the Indians have the ability of playing quality football in highest level. We just have to find the unpolished diamond and polish them properly.
We always criticize our footballers. But no one tries to understand that the developed football countries are far ahead of us and we can’t reach their standard over night. Japan has taken a 100 years project in football. We know that Japan is the most disciplined country in the world. Still it has no remarkable performance in football. They just qualify regularly in World Cup, and have been eliminated in the first round. (Except once).
The bodies of average Indian kids are very flexible. I think every Indian kid can perform dance. This quality is an inborn quality found in an average Indian kid. I have watched several dance programmes in Television and watching the dance performances, I am simply overwhelmed. Football also needs flexible body, which the Indian kids have. While scouting, this quality is to be judged and taken for consideration. These kids will be trained easily the football techniques.
Academy
We see that nowadays academies/football schools are built in India by some leading football clubs of Europe. But these types of academies/football schools are nothing but commercial ventures of that club and part of their business policy. In this process their clubs will be benefited but not the Indian Football.
No European club deputes their scouts in the South East Asian countries. If they have the motto of developing Indian football, instead of establishing academy in India they may scout Indian kids and train them in their own academy. But they never did it. They might also have a philosophy but their philosophy does not suit for India. So I think that it’ll have negative effects on our national team in the long run.
Now many academies/football schools are established by the Indians also. But they are also doing business like the foreign clubs. Use of drugs in adolescence period is now very much common phenomenon in North East states and Punjab, Haryana. The working parents have no time for their children. They know that their children will never be a Doctor, Engineer or Academician. Hence some of the guardians send their children to these football schools just to detach them from the filthy atmosphere and just to engage them in Sports. We could not get any quality footballer from these academies/football schools. In this way, the parents like to get rid off from the daily life tension.
But now Reliance Foundation is doing very well. It has been performing just like MRF Pace Academy in cricket. We need more academies like Reliance foundation instead of commercially running Minerva Punjab. In India, such types of hundred academies are to be established. It is not very difficult in India. There are so many Commercial houses, who want to spend money but they are afraid of spending money in this unprofessional football environment in India.
Academy is a must, because the footballers are nurtured in a disciplined manner to some extent in the academy only. Highly developed football countries are welcomed but they should not be allowed to spread their philosophies. If we allow them to follow our own philosophy then it will be beneficial to our nation. Otherwise different philosophies of different countries create conflicts in every level and will have negative impacts and spoil our national team in the long run.
Now time is very short. We can ask our Govt. to allocate money for fifty promising kids and send them in different football schools in a particular country. If I have to prescribe, they should be sent to Belgium, because Belgium has developed tremendously in last twenty years.
There are other types of football institutions which may be termed as coaching camp. Actually these types of coaching camps are playing the key role in Indian Football. Academy accreditation is a major thing and accreditation is taken to run it commercially. It is the actual fact because if the academy has accreditation, then the packaging will be lucrative. But if we encourage these coaching camps then it will be beneficial more. If all the kids are registered through its coaching camp, and when he will be selected for a club or academy, these coaching camps must be paid for that transfer. As most of these coaching camps are running by a devoted football lover, he must be paid a honorium for scouting the potential.
The Sports Authority of India did a commendable job in football, especially in North East States. We got T Aao, our Football Captain from North East states Then Akum and Kiran Khongsai performed well in national level. But these North East States were out of National Football Map. Whenever SAI started its operation, the North East States are the main supply line of Indian Football. But I think; now SAI has been running in a casual manner. All the coaches are doing their jobs like other Government employees. Their scouting process is very bad. Most of the players are selected by recommendation. SAI may provide national level footballers but we should expect international footballer from SAI.
Tata Football Academy initially performed a great job in Indian Football. But now it is running casually. The facilities of training for international level have been withdrawn. Perhaps the management had lost their Focus. I just want to remind everyone that I M Bijayan and Bhaichung Bhutia were not scouted for Tata Football Academy. These two instances are sufficient to prove the problem in Scouting in our country.
Relation between coach and players.
So many Educational reforms took place in our country. Some of those reforms were very good; some of them were not so good. We know why kids dropped out; we know why kids did not learn. We know, it is either for poverty or negative peer influences.
Recently a new Educational reform is accepted. The outer world is changing continuously. Today will be back dated tomorrow. But can we ignore values, relationships and human bonding? We rarely discuss the values and importance of human connection, relationships amongst the kids. We should not forget that no significant learning can occur without significant relationships. Learning is nothing but understanding relationships. Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.
In football academy we have to recruit knowledgeable football coach who can build relationship amongst the kids of different states, of different castes and creeds. If it is not followed, our national team will not succeed.
So it is the first job to find out those persons who have passions for football and dream for football. Football coaching is not like other jobs. A football coach will always coach the kids in a joyful manner. A football coach must be analytical and critic of himself. He praises them for their goods, never criticizes their bad, challenges the players but extends supportive hands to them to achieve their targets. He always uses football language and careful about their individual problems.
He always maintains what he preaches. He always tries to be a role model like a champion, behave what he expects from his students. He encourages them to take risks, to think anew. He tries to make a difference in every aspect.
Now what do I mean by “behave what I expect from my students”. Every teacher expects that his students would reach in time, they are properly dressed, the students do not make any noise during sessions, and the students do not use mobile phone during classes. His students will not be allowed to leave the class without valid reason and to be absent without prior information etc. These are the minimum expectations of a coach from his students. Now if the coach himself does not follow the same then the discipline would not be maintained and the kids do not obey me.
Now what do I mean by “encourages them to take risks, to think anew”. In my opinion improvisation is the key word in football. Nothing new would be happened without improvisation. Football is a game of deception also. A coach should always encourage the kids to do something new, even taking risks.
Isolated method of training vs football technique training.
There is an age-old debate between coaches of two different schools of thought. One school of thought believes that technique training should take place in football training and the coaches belong to other school of thoughts believe in isolated technique training. It is going for many decades in football world. It is nothing but opinions against opinions or experience versus experience. Both the school of thought had been theorized. So the conflict is theory versus theory also.
Technique in football means executing a decision and not just executing a technique like in. There is no ideal stereotype technique because each game situation is different. In their whole life, they will never pass the ball twice in the same way, because the circumstances and the opponents are always just slightly different compared to last time. And these circumstances, opponents are called external factors. External factors are variable with respect to space and time.
In an isolated training situation without opponents a player does not have to make a decision. They believe that children have to start with isolated technique training before they can do more complex football training. As it is obvious that there must be some external factors, in isolated method these external factors are absent.
So players should develop football technique in football situations because football technique means the execution of a decision. Players are not challenged and as a result will not improve their passing. A child is not matured enough to take innovative decision when he faces the challenge at that stage. He has been puzzled in match realistic situation and committed mistakes.
A good footballer must have the following qualities while playing. The qualities are mainly
a) awareness b) scanning capacity c) peripheral vision d) dribbling technique e) receiving with a perfection f) good first touch g) art of body feinting/deceiving h) sense of passing safe side/safe foot i) sense of weight of the pass j) concept of goal side and ball side k) sense of off the ball running l) concept of team formation m) application of offside rule n) his role in combination play p) strength of chasing or hard pressing in high intensity game r) technique of avoiding the marker s) ability of transition to attack and defense t) improvisation against opponent u) shooting and heading capacity avoiding the opponents and v) power of taking momentary decision.
A goalkeeper must have the following qualities.
i) Timely outing power ii) good gripping technique iii) good distribution technique and iv) good reflex.
Developing those qualities in isolated method is not possible. A mannequin can’t jump, tackle or run or act likes a footballer. So how do the kids learn what is tackling distance in isolation method. A cone is not like a defender. So how do the kids learn how to chase or how to dribble pass a footballer.
On the other hand, practice in isolation may develop some bad habits. The habit of looking up while running with the ball will never be grown in the kids. The habit of calling/signaling team mates is not grown in the kids. No action in football match is repetitive. So motor skills, the life-long companion of a footballer, have not been developed in isolation. As the kids do not face any problem in isolation, decision making power can’t be developed.
The kids must be trained in a method where the brain, sensors and motor system are synchronized. Practice in isolation is a stereotyped training process, and there is no scope of developing creativity power. The player will be predictable and no sense of team game is grown. He has no concept of five “W”s ( Who, What, Where, When, Why). If the kid is able to solve problem, he will be motivated. But isolation method does not support him. Without opponent, goalkeeping and situation practice are meaningless. In a single word, Practice in isolation is of no use in comparison to match realistic practice. As there is no direction or aim to win, it can’t be a fruitful training method.
On the other hand, those players who struggle even in the most simplified football situation, isolated technique training is the perfect exception on the rule.
So, we have to maintain the balance between Isolation method of training and technique training. We should avoid isolation training up to junior level. Small sided games are the only method to develop technique and skills up to junior level. I think dribbling technique and receiving technique vary player to player. The player did it in his own style. This style had been developed and it could not be incorporated from outside. At junior level, these two qualities may differentiate two players.
Then we may have introduced isolated training method for polishing the technique more. Isolation method is useful for warm up and pre-season conditioning also.

Written By: ©️ Jatin Tyagi

आप सभी मेरे साथ जुड़ सकते हैं नीचे दिए गए लिंक पर जाकर और अपने विचार रख सकते हैं। धन्यवाद 🙏

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