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[Football] Blueprint According To...Stephen Fraser
“We never bothered with sand dunes and hills and roads,” he later said, “we trained on grass where football is played.”
At the time it was a revolutionary move, as were most of the practices he introduced to the club, but nowadays they are accepted wisdom. What Shankly had done was to look at how things were being done and questioned whether they were fulfilling their purpose. Framed that way, it is easy to conclude that spending a morning running up and down a hill isn’t going to result in a better football player.
“Everything we do here is for a purpose” Shankly used to love to say. And so it should be for any coach. Doing a training session simply because that is what you are used to doing or it is how you yourself trained simply isn’t good enough. You have to know what it will help you achieve and how that fits in your overall training plan.
Stephen Fraser is someone who strongly believes in this. A young coach who is currently working at St Mirren’s Academy – one of the finest in Scotland – he argues that “activity alone is not sufficient to develop talent.”
“It has to be focused practice and always have a purpose to improve the players as individuals.” As he explains when talking about his blueprint, football takes place in a very dynamic environment so why do players train in a static environment?
The full interview can be read on Blueprint for Football.
[Football] Why Coaches Need To Look Within To Develop a Football Philosophy
Whilst the idea of a philosophy is in itself a straightforward one, how one arrives to it is rather complex; it isn’t simply a case of claiming that you want to play with the ball on the ground. Different situations force coaches to adopt different ideas and their philosophy must be adaptable enough to follow suit.
“Philosophy has become a bit of a buzzword in coaching, and is sometimes either very generic or very unclear.” So say Ray Power, a youth coach who has devoted time to look at what is meant by a philosophy and how one – anyone, irrespective of level they’re coaching – can develop a philosophy.
Those thoughts are contained in his book In Making the Ball Roll - a must for any budding coach - and we’ve spoken to him to learn more about the various elements that coaching should encompass as well as about the most recent tactical innovations.
The full interview can be read on Blueprint for Football.
[Featured Article] November 2014 Twitter Feedback
If you like to read #finefootballwriting you should all follow @paul_grech - Paul serves you almost everyday with good links.
— Björn Grafström (@bjorngrafstrom) November 28, 2014
@paul_grech @counterattack9 @sfraserRed A Fantastic read for any coach, especially youth sports coaches
— NKFitness (@NKFitnessUK) November 25, 2014
Just re-read @paul_grech's 'Il Re Calcio' - fascinating collection of stories of Serie A.
Worth a buy. #Calcio
— α υ Я (@DMRI05) November 25, 2014
Blueprint According To...Stephen Fraser http://t.co/JR7F2qPz9M via @paul_grech pic.twitter.com/LryoQHBr7V
— Hazri Z Ziswandy (@ziswandy) November 25, 2014
Another great interview from @paul_grech with @sfraserRed a coach @StMirrenAcad http://t.co/3Im309zRow
— The Coach Diary (@Coachdiary) November 24, 2014
Another great interview by @paul_grech with @power_ray "How does a coach develop a philosophy" http://t.co/gWBy3XciBt pic.twitter.com/iWkXrJZ399
— Hazri Z Ziswandy (@ziswandy) November 18, 2014
Developing a Football Philosophy http://t.co/vyBuseSXxf Great interview with @power_ray by @paul_grech . @CoachingFamily @Inspirethegame
— Andy Edwards (@andyeeeee) November 14, 2014
#ff @paul_grech A fantastic writer whose work you can find here http://t.co/MlILiSEGMx also shares more great articles than anyone I follow.
— FMAnalysis (@FMAnalysis) November 14, 2014
http://t.co/w4oWBfp6bA @paul_grech
— Joe-Lynn Micallef (@JoeLynnMicallef) November 9, 2014
[Featured Articles] Twitter Feedback
Chair Held High: Mondonico's Torino http://t.co/WpBSiOtWXp via @theinsidelefty . Great piece by @paul_grech, there. Glad that i've read it.
— Ionuț Ștefănoaica (@FCBSpecialBlog) October 30, 2014
This, by @paul_grech for @theinsidelefty on Torino's 1991/92 team and their run to the Uefa Cup final, is wonderful http://t.co/BegJpKqRy3
— 3 o'clock somewhere (@3ocswhere) October 30, 2014
@paul_grech Loved your piece on the '90s Torino side. Knew they lost the final to Ajax but didn't realise they came that close!
— Emmet Gates (@E_I_M_G) October 28, 2014
@theinsidelefty Great read @paul_grech thank you for the always appreciated piece on #Torino. #FVCG
— Luis Bessone (@LepraGranata) October 27, 2014