Coaching the individual and the collective

1. A framework for individuality to flourish

I have always believed that if you want to work on individual talent, individual needs and key factors, it must be in a structure. You must work within an idea.

Every team/club/academy has to have that identity and I believe every individual needs that net where they know what the team wants, expects and is working on. From there they can develop their own game.

2. Share your vision and talk openly with the players

It's very important that at the beginning of the season you meet as a group and establish the identity of the team and outline how you would like to play as a collective, so each individual can flourish.

During those first few weeks we will observe each player and try to work out how they may best fit into the overall framework. This should be a two-way process and it's crucial to ask the individual, what do they think? What sort of player do they think they are? What are their own experiences? What positions have they played previously?

3. Encourage the players to set their own challenges

We film every game and a number of training sessions. Every player is then given a 6-7 minute video with their own clips and then we sit down and go through what we call the key factor reflection process.

On the day before the game each individual establishes their key factors. They write down what they think is relevant to them. We don’t interfere. Then before the game they will come and present their key factors and their ideas. We don’t judge. We just get informed. Then they play the game.

4. Focused individual reflection

After the game the players have a day for reflection; watching the collective team clips and the individual clips. The idea is that they go away and they reflect. Some of them reflect by themselves, others like to reflect as a team or as units or pairs within the team.

As individual player and coach we will then discuss. The player will outline their key factors and then we will have a discussion around the following questions: why did you choose those key factors? Within that selection of key factors, what made you think that was so relevant for you?

Through questioning, some of their key factors may change and we will agree a common ground. This is crucial because being told you have to do something is not the same as having a chat and coming to an agreement.

If we tell players to work on these three factors, some of them won’t even bother to ask why. Then obviously there is no thinking behind it. The players have to find their own three key factors. They work out their own reflection and then come forward to discuss.

5. Value of relationships

It's important that we have a connection with the players. We talk about the key factors, we have the reflection together and then we agree certain key factors that they can work on for the next few weeks. But they are free to change and revisit their key factors through their ongoing reflection process.

6. Concise discussion with a purpose and conclusion

We don’t like player meetings to be any longer than 15 minutes. Also, it's very important to have a conclusion at the end of the meeting.

The first few minutes is for reviewing the game. Then the middle part we watch the clips. The final few minutes we agree concrete, specific, key factors for the next game and how to achieve them. The how is for them and then we can start tailoring our practices based on what they have told us that they need.

7. Design practices based on the player achieving their key factors

The individual player and their needs should be at the centre of all practice design. We will consider what the players want and need to work on.

Whatever the overall theme of the practice, which will be designed to help the collective, each individual should be in their position to help each individual link the practice to the game and their key factors. For me, every single practice should have each player in their relevant position.

8. Observe closely and provide relevant feedback

During practice sessions it's important to focus on observation. Just as you wouldn’t try to coach everything within a practice, it's the same when observing the key factors and providing feedback. The feedback only has to be relevant feedback attached to that practice and the aspects of the game the individual players are working on.

9. Player-led team-talks and discussions

Encouraging players to take the team talk or debrief can encourage them to think in a different way. It's good feedback for the coaching staff because you see what they're thinking and what they believe.

It's another way of checking learning. We can see it on the pitch but also how they reflect and discuss the game in the one-on-ones and the way they present in the team talks is another measure.

10. Mentor system for new playersIf we have new players who join part way through the season the established players will sit down with the new players and provide an insight into how we do things.

The current players will learn more about the new players and then it's for the coaching staff to sit with the mentor and mentee and try to facilitate it so that they understand each other and don’t go off topic.


Edu Rubio is currently assistant head coach at Crawley Town FC.

This article was first published in The Boot Room magazine in April 2015.