coaching resources for Australian Football (AFL) and other team sports

Coaching Style of Play in AFL – Rob Wiley Videos

Written on August 6, 2010 by Mark Upton

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Whilst this site covers all team sports it is specifically aimed at Australian Football (AFL). One of the reasons for this was that, when we started the site earlier this year, there was a real lack of quality online resources and information available. Hopefully we are contributing to wards changing that.

The good news is that we are not alone. I have inserted below these fantastic videos from the AFL’s community coaching page. They are produced by former West Coast Eagles assistant coach Rob Wiley, a highly regarded figure in AFL coaching circles. The series of videos go through modern styles of play, or game styles, to get you thinking about the game. Rob poses questions and challenges you as a coach to think about how you go about coaching certain scenarios and phases in the game.

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Tags: AFL, ball movement, coaching, Decision Making, defense, forward line entry, game plan, game style, offense, Rob Wiley, setups, stoppages, structures, style of play, transition

10 traits of successful coaches

Written on July 30, 2010 by Mark Upton

Earlier in the year I was lucky enough to speak with Patrick Hunt, the coach education expert from the Australian Institute of Sport (you can listen to an audio interview with Patrick on a range of coaching topics in this post).

One thing not included in that audio interview was the discussion our coaching group had with Patrick where we asked him about the traits of successful coaches. With his vast coaching experience and acquaintances across the globe we figured he may have learnt a thing or two about the actions, attitudes and behaviours of great coaches.

Below is a list of the 10 traits he came up with, in no particular order (note: I have taken the liberty to expand on these).

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Tags: AFL, basketball, coach education, coaching, culture, group dynamics, leadership, learning environment, Patrick Hunt, successful coaching, traits

Our 1st Coaching E-book – Developing a Playing System

Written on July 22, 2010 by Mark Upton

There hasn’t been much action in the way of new posts in the last couple of weeks. The reason for this is we have been busy applying the finishing touches to our 1st ebook called “Developing a Playing System – The 4 Stage Coaching Blueprint”. This is a completely FREE coaching resource that is now available for you to download and read.

The book has been produced to be a generic resource for team sports and goes through a step by step process for implementing any system – whether that be offense, defense, restarts, stop plays, special plays etc. Coaches at almost any level should find something of value within this book that could be applied to their own coaching environment. The approach used is derived from practical experiences in coaching systems along with the scientific fields of skill acquisition, performance analysis and the human learning domain.

To get your copy of the ebook you can sign up using the form on the right of this page or get more details by watching the video on this page.

Enjoy, and as always, we would love any feedback on the book.

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Oh no! The opposition have worked out our system/style of play – what now?

Written on June 29, 2010 by Mark Upton

Here is the scenario. You are a new coach implementing a system or style of play. In Australian Football (AFL) this could be systems related to counter-attack plays out of defense, kick ins, stoppage setups/exit plays, or forward entry. You carefully design and implement your training activities and teaching methods to fast-track your players in their execution of the system. Along comes the competition phase (aka real matches) and suddenly the opposition work out what you are doing and try to counter it.

What now?

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Tags: ball movement, coaching, counter-attack, defense, forward line entry, game plan, game style, offense, stoppages, structures, style of play, system, teaching, training, transition

Designing drills for AFL – applying a constraints-led approach

Written on June 18, 2010 by Mark Upton

For those following some recent posts on training and the use of game-based activities (or “game-sense”, “tgfu” etc), I thought it might be useful to provide an example of a practical implementation. In the video presentation below I use Australian Football (AFL) and a handball game as a practical example of how to implement concepts such as “constraints-led approach” to training activities, “implicit learning” and “overload”.

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Tags: AFL, coaching, Decision Making, drills, game based training, game sense, handball game, learning environment, skill acquisition, Skill development, teaching, tgfu, training

Phil Jackson Coaching Philosophy – master of creating a team culture

Written on June 16, 2010 by Mark Upton

Whilst this site is primarily focused on Australian Football (AFL) I am always interested in anything coaching-related from other team sports.

As such, on the eve of game 7 of the NBA playoffs I thought it was appropriate to insert this video of Phil Jackson and others discussing his coaching philosophy and methods. Jackson, looking to claim his 11th championship as a coach, has compiled a record and reputation that now competes with the greats of coaching in any team sport across the globe.

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Tags: basketball, coaching, culture, game plan, game style, group dynamics, leadership, offense, phil jackson, philosophy, team chemistry, triangle offense

Observing “off the ball” when coaching in training or games

Written on June 9, 2010 by Mark Upton

Watch the video below for some thoughts on the importance of coaches observing “off the ball” during training drills and games.

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Tags: AFL, coach education, coaching, Decision Making, defense, drills, feedback, game based training, instruction, Kicking, observation, off-ball, Skill development, teaching, training, zone

Video Analysis & Training

Written on June 7, 2010 by Mark Upton

AFL clubs are in a fortunate position to have the technology and resources to potentially carry out very powerful analysis of their matches. One of the valuable things in the last 3 years has been access to footage taken from behind the goals that basically allows the coach to see all players on the field. By using video analysis software such as Sportscode this vision can be combined with the standard side on vision to provide a comprehensive insight into events on and off the ball.

In the video below I go through what this looks like but more importantly discuss why it is important for any coach to analyse the game from an “off-ball” perspective and how this is applied to training (specifically game based training drills). I also suggest an option for coaches who are coaching at lower levels to still get this perspective.

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Tags: AFL, coach education, coaching, Decision Making, drills, game based training, game sense, sportscode, technology, tgfu, training, Video, video analysis

How do you coach during game-based training drills?

Written on June 2, 2010 by Mark Upton

Recent posts on this blog have had a theme about training, and in particular “game-based” training (insert other terminology here such as “game sense”, “tgfu”, “decision making” if you want). It is a topic I am really passionate about.

With that in mind I wanted to share an experience from our training session this week. It concerns how you might coach during these types of training drills and activities. Listen to my thoughts by clicking on the “play” button icon below..

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What are your coaching experiences in this situation? Share in the comments area below.

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Tags: coaching, Decision Making, drills, feedback, game based training, instruction, learning environment, questioning, Skill development, teaching, training

Please, no more lanework drills!

Written on May 31, 2010 by Mark Upton

I am not a fan of kicking lanework drills – in fact I think they may be the greatest misuse of training time imaginable. Some of the reasons for my dislike of lanework is that it practices a kicking scenario that is hardly ever seen in a game (how often does a player lead out and mark the ball then keep going in that direction and kick to another lead? Maybe once a game), promotes leading players to lead without any timing or technique, and promotes only leading up at the kicker which inhibits players learning about how to present into the space behind (it is rare to see a young player come into the AFL system that has a good feel for using space behind).

The good news is that, with a little bit of creative thinking, you as the coach can make some modifications to lanework that will dramatically increase the value of the drill.

In the video below I do a bit of a “whiteboard” session to give some examples of what is possible with little increase in effort or resources. As I mention at the end I am sure there is a lot of other good stuff that you guys have done that would make it even better. I, and I’m sure other coaches, would love for you to share them in the comments area below…..

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Tags: AFL, coaching, Decision Making, drills, forward line entry, Kicking, lanework, Skill development, teaching, training