Victorian Football League (VFL) coach at Werribee FC and Geelong Grammar School Coach, Matt Dowling gave us the full low down as to impact of our NEW Footy MatchPlay Cards©️ on his coaching.
Challenging players decision making:
To be able to implement Footy MatchPlay Cards©️ with school students to young footballers that haven't quite had that experience of playing for a long time, just gives them a really clear scenario around what we want them to try from the match simulation that they're playing or the training practice.
They also challenge the opposition to match that or counteract that and engages all players, challenging the players that have the scenario to actually fulfill that Footy MatchPlay Card©️ and challenges the opposition to counter it or how are they adapting to the way that they're playing rather than just throwing a ball in and saying go for your life.
Using Footy MatchPlay Cards©️ to give structure to lessons and sessions has been really beneficial for myself, but also a lot of other coaches that I've kind of passed them on to and have involvement with at their various age groups of their coaching or school or club level.
Preparing players in real situations:
The game of AFL is chaotic and unpredictable, requiring a high level of decision making, the best players are the best decision makers and being calm and composed in those chaotic moments is so important. We are slowly moving towards more coaches understanding this but there's still kind of the old school stand off the back of cones, lane kicking,
"Footy MatchPlay Cards©️ are so beneficial because they give the coach, experience or not, a great structure to be able to start and be confident in what you're implementing."
You see the small little wins that players get on their faces when they achieve a team or player challenge on Footy MatchPlay Cards©️. The way I have used them is when players complete a challenge card we move on to the next one or we progress or we swap and have to try and counter it.
The opportunities with Footy MatchPlay Cards©️ are endless in terms of what the benefits they provide to the team and to the players, as well and coach.
What I love about Footy MatchPlay Cards©️ is that they give you a really good basis to be able to implement into lots of different parts to training, so they certainly don't take away from your own individual flair as a coach as to how you want your team to play specifically, like very much I still implement a game plan, this is how we want to play, we train that way but it's so great to then once you're doing a match simulation and the team understand how they want to play as a team, throw a Footy MatchPlay Card©️ at them and then they go, okay, "how does our game plan stack up to this and what do we do?".
"Since implementing them into training and in scenario play, you get to game day and players feel a lot more confident, nothing is a surprises them anymore because we have done it in training with Footy MatchPlay Cards©️."
One of my favourite Footy MatchPlay Cards©️ is "GROUNDED" if the ball hits the ground it's a turnover so in the handball games especially, use that one a lot because it's just kind of ball hits the deck, opposition picks it up and that attacking team that was in possession, now they've got to quickly transition from offence to defense so I love that card, I bring that out all the time in training.
Developing players who can communicate:
It might be a small-sided handball game or it might be a full ground or half ground match simulation training and we want to add extra challenge in for players around time and score. I really love the ones that challenge players communication and promoting certain players to speak.
not only do not only do you get to take a bit of heat out the game in terms of only one side talking but you get to hear a lot about how they do communicate so what are some of the words that they're using you know who's a big driving force in terms of communication.
"You get to see leaders and promote other leaders in the playing group as well!"
We sometimes add secret challenges and give out Footy MatchPlay Cards©️ during the game. It suddenly changes the game and influences how players think. The skill of the coach do you keep it secret with all these cards or do you keep it known and if I keep it secret that's obviously got one impact.
Again, it just, all these things just get back to communication and get back to just experience, just understanding the situation. Footy MatchPlay Cards©️ are fantastic. I really encourage coaches and teachers to get out and take a look at them and get them into their own coaching. They're invaluable.
Share:
Adding team challenges with IFK Stocksund
Why Melbourne Victory FC use MatchPlay Cards