Developing Creativity

I recently had a chat with some coaching friends and the conversation turned to what the most difficult parts of coaching a youth team were in training.

It got boiled down to four things:

- Variety (finding different ways to present that same topic over and over)

- Technical Coaching (Not having enough manpower or time to spend correcting the technique of individual players)

- Tactical Development (Especially with younger teams, trying to retain focus in slower sessions)

- Developing Creativity (Standing back and allowing players to ‘play’ can often look like a coach isn’t doing anything)

I put this list of options on a Twitter poll and the feedback saw most people voting for ‘Developing Creativity’ as the biggest issue of those listed. So, I’ve had a think about the sessions I’ve used and how ‘standing back’ could be perceived less as slacking off and more along the lines of passive coaching.

First of all, I would set my stall out with the parent group of the squad I’m coaching (unless you are working with an Academy where players are invited in rather than pay-for-play, such as professional club academies. These higher level academies usually very clear parent codes of conduct and take the view of, ‘If you don’t like it leave; because 100 other kids would kill for a chance to be here.’) By setting your stall out in pre-season, you can include items saying that observation is a big part of coaching and that there are times where you will stand back and allow players time and space to try and solve problems or play uninterrupted.

* I actually lost a job after doing an “interview match” in which the interviewer said the parents had been expecting me to shout more. I wasn’t unhappy they didn’t want my services after that, I was unhappy that I was going to miss out on the paycheque from a wealthy private school!*

Secondly, I would tell the players that they are expected to give me the answers from time to time. I am a big fan of guided discovery but there are occasions where straight up discovery is called for. You might even be surprised at the answers and level of creativity you get from players when asking them open questions. And yes, you will also get some daft answers.

Engage players in sessions that demand attention. One of my favourite games is one I stole from the academy coaches at Real Madrid during a visit there a number of years ago. The basic premise is that players should know what is around them and what they are going to do before the ball arrives at their feet. How do you work on and test this? Depending on the age group, I will tell them they need to cover their eyes or look down when I call out and stop a game. Then, they must point to 3/4/5 (depending on the age group/ level) of their available teammates without peeking. They uncover their eyes, see if they were correct and if so, play on. If they are incorrect, the opposition get a free kick from the spot the ball was stopped. I do allow players to say they would dribble into a certain space or shoot if that is a realistic option. To progress this, I ask for more teammates to be identified and rather than just point to a player and saying, “One is over there, two is there and three is there.” I ask them to point in the direction of the player and to name the player also. Believe me, this demands players attention.

To keep players on their toes and prize some creativity out of them, I will set tasks that range from difficult to nigh on impossible. I remember as a kid, I heard about a challenge professional footballers did, going from one byline on a pitch to crossing the other with three kicks and two bounces of the ball. I can’t remember how many times I tried and failed to do this but, it got me experimenting with kicking angles, worked on my technique of striking the ball with the top of my foot, worked on my volleys and; probably accounts for much of Scotland’s penchant for route 1 football! I’m sure you’ve seen videos of players in groups, holding hands and having to keep a ball in the air whilst moving from one area to another. This is creativity. I play a game where the team that wins is the first to score a perfect hat trick (right foot, left foot, header) but, each goal must be scored by a different person. Players trying to shoot with their weaker foot, trying to loft a cross or work out positional rotation without coaches intervening is developing creativity as well.

Any time I think of creativity, I think of Ronalidnho’s toe poke against Chelsea in 2005 and Zlatan’s overhead kick versus England. I don’t ever remember teaching any player to shoot using a toe poke, I have worked on a ‘scrappy finishing’ session with a striker at reacting to saves, deflections and blocks around the 6yd box to score with one touch any way they can, toe poke included. But, I have never said to a player they should stand on the edge of the ‘D’ with defenders closing them down, front and back, and swing away with the toe. I’d like to think that while that technique may not be in my coaching manual, I would applaud any player that found a solution to that particular problem. Much in the same way Zlatan’s ridiculous take on problem solving saw him bicycle kick his way to a fourth goal against England in an historic moment of creativity.

All that being said, I kept on thinking about why I was not a more creative player, what held me back? I can’t say the academy environment in Scotland was particularly enthusiastic about ball-playing or creative defenders. I remember being shouted at by a coach when I dropped off to collect the ball from our keeper at a goal kick, “What the are you going to do with it there?!” Needless to say, I ran up field and the keeper booted it long. It then ran through my mind that many of the coaches I grew up under had the same characteristic of a coach I had when playing in Australia. They were often angry. “Don’t do that!” “Why did you do that?!” “Why can’t you...?” It was an oppressive atmosphere.

I was playing for the 21’s and First Team for a club in Sydney and I had two very different coaches. In the 21’s I was trusted to lead the line at the back, organise those in front of me, the coach chatted with me about tactics, players and the game. I remember two specific incidences which I believe define my time with the 21’s. Although I was playing as part of a back three, I had the chance to step forward and I kept going; part dribbling and part passing, I found my way inside the opposition box to the left hand side of the goal. I fizzed a ball across the face of the goal to a striker who had his shot blocked and then cleared. 15 or so seconds later, I slid in to block a shot on the right hand side of my own goal in the 6yd box. The second incident was taking a free kick. I rattled a left footed free kick about 60yds across field from the left back position to the right winger who caught his opponent sleeping and was in on the keeper to score (I’m right footed). The coach made me feel like I could fly at times. He made me feel like I had enough room to fail without it being tried as a capital crime. I know this because in one of my first games for the club, playing against the club I had just signed from, I played a short back pass to the keeper which the striker intercepted and scored. He didn’t berate me, he didn’t sub me, he didn’t humiliate me in front of the other players. I knew the magnitude of the mistake I had made and he knew I knew it. The coach was Michael Grbevski.

The first team coach was completely different and to this day is the only coach I have properly screamed at. The details of my outburst aren’t actually the issue, it was the lead up to it that caused my actions. There was so much negativity from the coach that in a number of games the captain gave us our proper pre-game or half time talk on the pitch after the coach had his say and was out of earshot. The captain and senior players in the team deserved coach-of-the-year for that season, not the guy that got it, our coach.

To sum that up into one sentence relating to developing creativity - Freedom to fail. Being given room to fail without fear can be enormously freeing and allow for tremendous creativity.

Other than allowing players the opportunity to fail and correct themselves to help foster creativity, is good decision making. That, I can sum up rather quickly. Give players multiple targets to hit in order to achieve something. This might be a simple as a having 2 goals in which they can score. But, having multiple targets means decisions have to be made and having players make decisions time and time again (without fear of failing) allows them to refine their decision making process to a more efficient and effective place than where they started.

There is more to developing creativity than just decision making and not being afraid to fail but I think it’s a good place to start.