Is it just me or has modern training gone far to complicated.some drills involve about 12 different moves.far too complicated for my liking.the figure 8 one has to be the most pointless one overdone again and again.when you have a headache rather than two sore legs after training i think its time to rethink.a bit of shooting practice never did any1 any harm either.whats your opinions on the january training?

Ros2013 (Roscommon) - Posts: 529 - 16/01/2014 20:51:07    1532793

completely agree...the majority of trainers are doing drills for the sake of doing drills. We were training last year and I as manager asked the trainer what was the point of a particular drill to what relevance did it have to our last game or even our next game... NONE.

Coaches are too quick to engage into drills and moves without the correct insight to why they are doing so.. Drills should be tailored to specific needs of the players or to improve certain aspects of the game... not just because it looks good.

Horsebox77 (Kerry) - Posts: 5491 - 16/01/2014 21:19:50    1532804

Coaches aren't fools these days, the game has moved on. An average team doing 'complicated drills' all year will have a significant advantage over a good team doing basic drills 9/10 times.

RebelCork (Cork) - Posts: 789 - 16/01/2014 21:20:47    1532805

what this advantage you speak of?? All our lads were running around in training last year like headless chickens, trying to complete ridiculous training drills ( looked good from the sidelines)...... and guess what??...... they ran around the pitch in matches like headless chickens too!!!! you can't beat hard work...

freddy2 (Wexford) - Posts: 215 - 16/01/2014 21:57:39    1532832

I would be of an opinion football/hurling are simple games, over complicated sometimes by drills. I think drills etc are now being replaced by tactical work, half forwards to simply drop tools and retreat to their half back line...midfielders dropping into half back line to cover roaming half backs, sweeper systems etc. The only real way you can drill this is in game - which in itself improves fitness and skills by actually playing the game, not by kicking the ball diagnol and following the pass - usually kicking to a lad who needs his own ball at the best of times.

GetOverTheBar (Tyrone) - Posts: 1388 - 17/01/2014 08:10:32    1532841

Black and Decker

daytona11 (Kildare) - Posts: 4012 - 17/01/2014 09:18:20    1532850

Drills in isolation are of no use to anyone, they have to compliment either a tactical philosophy or a specific game plan otherwise you end up with what the Wexford posters described, chaos. I don't coach football but I do coach track and field and drills are fundamental to what I do, however they serve a specific purpose in what we call 'Chaining', that is breaking down an event into its constituent parts, e.g. long jump. You don't simply spend an hour getting loads of kids to speed down the long jump runway and leap into a sand pit, you work on their run up, their lift at the board, their landing and then bring it all together eventually. Football coaches tend to drill because, well thats what you always did and they simply don't know any better. Maybe a bit of online research could broaden their minds a bit or even a proper centralised online GAA manual taking into account modern day techiniques including warm up and cool down drills.

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 17/01/2014 09:41:12    1532858

RebelCork
Coaches aren't fools these days, the game has moved on. An average team doing 'complicated drills' all year will have a significant advantage over a good team doing basic drills 9/10 times.

Simply not true. Donegal won sam 2 years ago using the most simple of simple drills going. They just upped the intensity.

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts: 16187 - 17/01/2014 09:54:21    1532865

Yup. No tactics, no team selections, no drills. Jimbo just told the lads to "up the intensity".

joncarter (Galway) - Posts: 2692 - 17/01/2014 10:07:35    1532873

joncarter we are talking about training drills here, and the drills donegal used were quite old-fashioned and simple. They have stated that the only difference was that they just had to be done at full tilt for the duration. If someone slowed down at the end they started again, or done punishement training. Obviously every team has tactics but that isnt the topic here. Unless you are suggesting that they didnt use any drills but just done 100% tactics instead?

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts: 16187 - 17/01/2014 10:15:43    1532877

Joking aside I do agree with you. Joe Brolly talked about how complicated it was but the Donegal players perfected the system within a year so it couldn't have been to intricate.
I believe that a lot of managers these days try to make themselves look clever by trying to turn a game of football into a game of chess. A lot of the time its best to keep it simple.

joncarter (Galway) - Posts: 2692 - 17/01/2014 10:24:11    1532880

The whole game and tactics should be broken into "Drills" but they were labourous drills but instead game situations (at county level anyway).

Everyone knows the story of Colm mcFadden training with 3 markers on him. That was just done over and over again until he was use to it.
For a defender the drills are all about when and where to apply pressure. Again Donegal I have heard of code words which more of less meant that when the ball was retrieved the Half backs would all bomb forward and cause the opposition a problem.

From game to game or as the team plays more together a manager/coach should notice areas which need improvement and then drill for them scenarios.

I remember last year one whole session was designed around taking quick frees. The following game we scored 3 goals through getting up quick and getting ball moving before the team had a chance to retreat.

dstuction (Donegal) - Posts: 1209 - 17/01/2014 11:04:46    1532895

The reason why I was a big fan of McGuinness and his work at Donegal wasn't the type of football, drills, athleticism etc...although impressive. It was the work he done to their minds - I mean they were absolutely hammered by Armagh and Cork badly, to take that basic same group and mould them into All Ireland winners a few years later is a credit to just how much sport is a mental thing as opposed to repeated intricate drills that caught everyone out.

I know a club team in Tyrone, a successful one I know what they did for training every night for the past year, to say simple is an understatement, yet they had a great year, most of these things come down to application.

GetOverTheBar (Tyrone) - Posts: 1388 - 17/01/2014 11:11:34    1532899

I've a nice Black and Decker here. Two switches - ON/OFF and Clockwise/Anti-Clockwise.

Does all you need. No need to over-complicate things when it comes to drills
.

doublehop (Kildare) - Posts: 4172 - 17/01/2014 11:26:23    1532907

If drills are dominating training sessions then players wont think for themselves in matches. Match situations need to be replicated
competitively with players marking tightly. Drills are ok to enhance skills. Practice of team shape,frees and all set plays,along with making space for scorers are paramount in Soccer and Gaelic coaching.

Brinsley Swartz (Mayo) - Posts: 2225 - 17/01/2014 11:27:46    1532908

Good coaches read the tapestry of a game like a book and apply in training what suits their players/team. Kick outs in both Gaelic and Soccer require practise continually. Look how Cluxton and Dublin have perfected the kickout. When Cluxton finds a free running colleague
the ball is usually ahead of the Dublin backs,This means defence is sound and as bonus the backs are on the front foot to join the line and attack. It has taken a lot of training time to perfect this to the level that in a tight All Ireland final it is executed perfectly.
It takes zilch seconds to get the ball 50 yards with one kick. It takes a lot of opposing players out of the game.It also means that there is no need to "work the ball out"through the backline and risk heavy tackling and losing possession.

Brinsley Swartz (Mayo) - Posts: 2225 - 17/01/2014 11:57:25    1532921

Good coaches read the tapestry of a game like a book and apply in training what suits their players/team. Kick outs in both Gaelic and Soccer require practise continually. Look how Cluxton and Dublin have perfected the kickout. When Cluxton finds a free running colleague
the ball is usually ahead of the Dublin backs,This means defence is sound and as bonus the backs are on the front foot to join the line and attack. It has taken a lot of training time to perfect this to the level that in a tight All Ireland final it is executed perfectly.
It takes zilch seconds to get the ball 50 yards with one kick. It takes a lot of opposing players out of the game.It also means that there is no need to "work the ball out"through the backline and risk heavy tackling and losing possession.

Brinsley Swartz (Mayo) - Posts: 2225 - 17/01/2014 11:59:21    1532923

I don't know. Everyone has their own experiences. I'm a believer of simple things done right.Drills involving 30/40 yard passing while under preassure from a marker, 6 on 6 at high intensity and then basing drills on given games. Shooting practice under preassure. Club training has to take a look at itself. I feel a lot of lads just use the January and February months as a way of avoiding the gym and if there was a bit more fun and practical work done on the pitch a lot more lads would be seen in the summer months. I like to play football not chess.....

Ros2013 (Roscommon) - Posts: 529 - 17/01/2014 14:54:57    1533059

I like to play football not chess: Chess is Very Dangerous Game these days so would definately prefer Football to playing Chess

chriscart580 (Meath) - Posts: 376 - 17/01/2014 15:15:37    1533071

If the simple drills are done properly and at speed then there should be no need to complicate them.
I hear lads give out about truck and trailer because there is 3 or 4 balls in the drill. All that is needed is good hands, calling the persons name and being able to give a proper pass now what is complicated about that.
Another one is the 3 man weave, one mistake and it breaks down but done properly and it can rip a defence apart and you see alot of teams playing like that.
This is what we done last year and a bit of shooting from 30 yards and then into an A vs B game.

Jackos_Wacko (Kerry) - Posts: 417 - 17/01/2014 15:41:23    1533086