History

First designed in 2012 after hearing a World Cup and Champions League winning striker describe his first youth coach as the most important person in his football career. The 7 Skills Challenges seek to ensure the children are constantly aware of their learning aims whilst playing modified versions of the game which ensure maximum time on the ball.

I come at coaching as a teacher, not as an ex-player or academy coach. The 7SC aim to be a model of Hatties’ visible learning philosophy, they give clear outlines for player success, clear guidance for coach feedback and a framework for constructive parental comments during matches.

The System

The skills are Goal Keeping, Shooting, Dribbling, Passing, Touch, Heading and Chipping.

The players develop these skills through playing mini games, the Challenge rubrics are never used to ‘learn’ the skill, they are only used to measure progress. The games are called, Rodizio, Jogo e Já, Tick Toque, Jogo da Morte, Copinha, Cachorro Grande and O Pássaro, (in English; Rotation, Throw and Go, Tick Tock, Game of death, World Cup, Top dog and the Bird).

The technique challenge rubrics have been designed to strike a balance between Hogarths’ kind / wicked environments, and deconstructing the game to a point at which consistent measurements can be made. The progressions of difficulty represent an application of Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development. Progress is tracked using an adapted version of the martial arts colour grades, white grade to black.

Pick a skill, develop it, measure it and use it.

Each of the seven games allows the players to get countless repetitions of skill practice in an atmosphere I describe as ‘collaborative competition’, they have opponents, goals, win/loss, team-mates and time constraints just like a full match but each player might be focusing on different skills, or levels or applications of those skills. When a player feels ready to demonstrate their increased competence in a skill, for example dribbling with their other foot, they can take the challenge. If they pass, the letter D (in this example) is coloured in on the wristband.

Once the letter is coloured in they return to the same games. Using a model inspired by Mark Bennett’s work the players have a new definition of Unacceptable, Acceptable and Excellent, based on their new skill level. They are now challenged to find and solve the problems the game presents in the application of the ‘new’ skill at Acceptable or Excellent levels. This process pushes them to develop the skill so that they are ready to take the next challenge, and so on. When each letter on their wrist band has turned black they move up to the next colour grade.

The intention of this cyclical learning loop is to replicate Ericssons’ model of elite talent development, delayed automaticity, it further correlates to conversations I have had with elite players who have described memories of their childhood training mentality.

Click the buttons below to view each of the Challenges.

For the sake of completeness I have the following warm ups and fitness criteria in the same format and philosophy as the seven skills. But I don’t really use them.

Learning is Winning.

The wristbands and levels are the visible difference to other training methodologies, but I have found that they are simply the foundation for a more structured learning conversation, between coach and player, and more importantly between parent and player.

The challenges ensure that the player is only ever held to account for skills they know they can do.

Taking the skills back into the same games allows the player to have a familiar environment in which to experiment, and clarifies things for the coach when observing this attempted application.

The conversation now can focus on the real challenge of applying techniques; Identifying opportunities to use the skills; Affordances, and problems to overcome in order to perform the skill with Excellence; Environmental Constraints.

The games now become the players laboratory, where they can try out countless solutions to the Environmental Constraints. In a competitive but amicable atmosphere.

When the parents come to watch the games they are aware of what their child has been attempting in training and they can use the 7Skills Clicker app (which costs $2 from the Apple Store) to help their child focus on real learning aims, even in the heat of a competitive match.

Its all free, have a read, let me know what you think and if you chose to use it then please have the honesty to credit the website as your source. 

Should you feel the need to contact me

7skillschallenges@gmail.com

The Colour Bands

I have clearly stolen the martial arts colour grade system and applied it to football.

The logo on the wrist band allows me to keep a record of player progress by blacking in each letter as they achieve the challenge at their colour level. The remaining letters form an individual action plan for each player. No spreadsheets, notebooks or assistants required.

They can also be used to wipe sweat away!

I am not looking to sell stuff here but people have asked about the wrist bands shown on the site. I suggest you find your own version but for those who wish to know;

The wrist bands shown are 15cm / 6 in long, 100% cotton with a machine stitched logo. Made in China and shipped to any address in the world.

A player package contains 8 bands: White, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Purple, Black, plus an extra white band for when the player loses it. A minimum of 10 player packages per order.

The cost of one player package is US$35 plus shipping and tax.

Expensive ? It provides the curriculum, record keeping, motivation and Kudos for 7 years, the maths works for me.