The Importance of Teaching a “Half a Touch” Mentality in Soccer

• Linking foot preparation, body position and mental preparation to the technique involved in making a decision leads us to a discussion on Half a touch brain centered thinking and its benefits.
• The Half a touch brain centered thinking process we use teaches the value of the player being able to take their eyes off the ball when keeping their eyes on the ball can be a disadvantage. To make this work, players need to have good teamwork and positional sense and therefore must work hard for each other to make the options obvious but ultimately to have the capacity to develop their “soccer intelligence” on and off the ball.
• Many players will mentally prepare to make a decision AFTER receiving the ball; we teach them to mentally prepare to make decisions BEFORE they receive the ball. This saves them time and space and can be the difference between maintaining possession and losing the ball. As the game gets faster, so is the need for players to master this VITAL innate ability because The game is getting faster using fewer touches on the ball, which creates the need for quicker thinking; quicker moving and better decision making players.
• PLEASE remember, one touch awareness training isn’t all just to teach One touch, it is to teach players the recognition of options of what to do and when and where to do it, before they receive the ball. WE OFTEN PLAY ONE TOUCH TO HELP DEVELOP THE HALF A TOUCH MENTALITY.
• But through this thinking process the decision could result in a pass, a dribble, a receive and turn and run; a run with the ball, a one touch pass, a short pass, a long pass; few touches, many touches on the ball as the next option; anything at all.
• The secret is they enabled themselves to save time and space; to play really “quickly”; or even play more “slowly”; based on the “Tempo of the Game” needed at that moment, due to that “half a touch mentality” training development.

Xavi Hernandez of Barcelona and Spain says:

When you arrive at Barcelona the first thing they teach is LOOK and THINK; LOOK and THINK; LOOK and THINK.

Speed is not necessarily the most important quality. When the ball moves quickly, you are a quick player.

Lift your head, move; LOOK / THINK; Look for spaces. Think quickly, Here? No. There? No. Here? Yes. There? Yes.

All BEFORE receiving the ball. Recognize: Space; Space; more Space… “Before receiving the ball”

I think, the defenders here, so play it there. I see the space and the pass.

Rondo, Rondo, Rondo (which is a major part of SAEA training): Every Single Day at Barcelona.

It’s the best exercise there is. You learn responsibility and not to lose the ball; always 1 touch, two touches at the most.

Ultimately our SAEA training is Teaching Players to play with “Intensity” and “Relaxation” at the same time; and to guide them to think for THEMSELVES to become self determining players through this model.

The Conscious and Sub Conscious Mind and Myelin Production

Every soccer player, like every human being, has two distinct parts of the mind whose primary role is thought and recollection. There is the conscious state and the sub-conscious state. As the names suggest, when you are completely aware of what you are doing, you are letting your "conscious state" guide you through the process.

On the other hand, when you react instinctively, or automatically even, your actions are being controlled by your sub-conscious mind. This isn't just true for soccer, by the way! Even when you are driving or cooking or swimming both these aspects come into the
picture.

Our natural tendency is to think that we are how we think! We tend to define ourselves by our conscious mind or thoughts, which is not completely accurate. When it comes to making a decision after thinking about it, the conscious mind is the king. However, everything that we do, using our conscious mind, only helps create a belief system or habit for our sub-conscious mind.

What does that mean? It means, as we keep making a particular kind of decision, based on a particular kind of thought process, we convince our mind about our thinking patterns, which slowly becomes a habit for us. To quote a simple example – say, you are asked to pick your favorite color between Red & Green, and you choose, say, Green. If this question is repeatedly asked to you, over and over again, there will come a point of time when you won't even need to think about the answer – you will just choose "Green" without blinking. It might even get to the point where you will speak out the answer even before the question is completed or earlier still. Basically, what you are doing is that you have trained your mind to handle that situation in a way where you know exactly what you are going to do. 

Being asked the same thing, over and over again, is just a way of reinforcing that idea into your sub-conscious mind. The decision, originally, was being made by the conscious segment of your mind. However, over time that role was slowly and gradually handed over to the sub-conscious mind, which made it instinctive. That is the exact same reason why you can apply the brakes quickly, when the car in front of you suddenly comes to a halt. That is also why you know how to instantly use a spoon or even how to tie your shoe-laces.

MAKING HABITS When you do something, anything, you trigger chemicals reactions that produce something called Myelin. This myelin forms a cover around your brain's neuron. That is the beginning of the formation of a habit. Every time you do that same thing again, your brain adds another layer of myelin to the existing layer – which makes it thicker. The thicker the myelin, the stronger the habit! The stronger the habit, the more instinctive you are! That means exactly what you already know – "practice makes perfect"! Well; permanent
more like.

The more you practice, the more you know how to do something better. However, if you believe, that a habit cannot be undone, you are right! There is no way of undoing what you have learnt – so you might ask then, how do we get rid of a habit? The answer is, but obviously, putting in more practice to learn something else than you did into learning the habit you are trying to undo. It's just that simple!

HENCE WHY THE YOUNGER WE GET PLAYERS TO OUR TRAINING THE BETTER WITH FEWER BAD HABITS TO BREAK / CHANGE.

If you put in enough hours, more than what you have done before, you will put on more and more myelin on your neurons for a second habit and your second habit will become stronger, pushing the first behind in the pecking order. Basically, your habits are instilled in your sub-conscious mind, allowing your body to respond to environmental triggers a particular kind of reaction, instinctively. Get the right kind of triggers for your mind and you will have the right kind of Myelin layers forming in the right place and the reaction becomes ANTICIPATION..

Back to Barcelona; the first thing they teach is LOOK and THINK; LOOK and THINK; LOOK and THINK.

When you see Xavi Hernandez of Barcelona threading an inch-perfect pass through 4-opposition players, finding a teammate, commentators & fans call it vision. 

However, what they don't realize is that the reason a player can pick out a pass like that is because they have practiced it, studied it, run through that same routine over and over and over again, in practice!

The game is so fast, it is almost impossible to stop the ball, look up and think about what you are going to do, assess your options and then make a decision. 

Instead, training helps players understand patterns of play, patterns of runs and patterns of passes that they should make or
expect.

OUR SAEA Training model focus almost “Conditions the mind” to develop the LOOK and THINK.

What is the LOOK and THINK?

The Continuums “Look and Think” Model of Development

Word Association combining thought and deed

“Look and Think” MUST come first before everything else; decision making in advance of the ball.

• LOOK / OBSERVE / THINK (ALWAYS BEFORE receiving the ball; assessing all options in “Anticipation” not as a Reaction)
• SKILL: THE DECISION (How, why; when and where of Technique; plus its success or not; and why?)
• FOOT PREPARATION (flat footed, off balance?)
• BODY POSITION (open or closed?)
• COMMUNICATION (Verbal and visual)
• CONTROL (If not a one touch pass on, the 1st touch control)
• TECHNIQUE (the pass, the run, the dribble, the turn, the shot; etc)
• TACTICAL MOBILITY (Movement off the ball, finding space; 90% of the game)
• MENTAL and PHYSICAL TRANSITION (Possession changes, Player tunes in immediately?)

Relating Word Association with Actions to identify the Strengths and Areas of Improvement needed in players.

Focusing particularly on teaching a HALF TOUCH MENTALITY.

1. Most players will mentally prepare to make a decision AFTER receiving the ball; we teach them to mentally prepare to make decisions BEFORE they receive the ball. This saves them time and space and can be the difference between maintaining possession and losing the ball. As the game gets faster, so is the need for players to master this VITAL innate ability.

2. Half Touch Mental Development: We ask Players at our training to THINK with a “Half Touch Mentality”, like every time the ball is coming to them they imagine they only have a half touch to play the ball with. 

This will literally FORCE them to LOOK around and THINK of their options before receiving the ball.

On deciding the best option thru a “half touch thought process” it could result in a pass, a dribble, a receive and turn and run; a run with the ball, a one touch pass, a short pass, a long pass;, few touches, many touches on the ball as the next option;
anything at all. 

The secret is they enabled themselves to save time and space; to play really “quickly”; or even play more “slowly”; based on the “Tempo of the Game” needed at that moment.

3. In the Zone: Training your mind as well as your body

Being in the zone generally means being in a state in which your mind and body are working in harmony. You're calm yet energized, challenged yet confident, focused yet instinctive.

4. Mental training: Keep your focus

Training your mind is an important step toward getting in the zone. Aspects of mental training for sports include increasing concentration and focus, controlling emotions, trying to feel relaxed but energized, being calm and positive, and aiming to feel challenged and confident. 

Soccer is played in the mind and preparing the mind for the game is an extremely scientific and sequential process. By breaking things down, sequentially arranging and explaining them, and through incredible amounts of repetition, you create a team that knows exactly what team-mates are up to and what they need to do next.

Hence why playing a specific system and STYLE of play consistently is so important.

The sub-conscious mind is the most important weapon on the soccer pitch. It gives you the speed of thought you need to survive and excel. The more natural you are at reading a situation and picking up cues, the better you will be at soccer.

The more you train, the better you will be able to visualize everything and the better you can visualize, the more trained your subconscious mind will be.

You will then be a step ahead of everyone else.

You will hit those perfect passes or strike the top-corner nearly every time till it comes to a point where making split-second decisions will come naturally to you, and also look magical !

THIS is EXACTLY what we will teach your child where their game will become “automatic” but it takes a lot of time and training, it’s a marathon not a sprint.

Most players play CONSCIOUSLY because they haven’t been trained to play beyond that thought process.

Our training teaches them to think SUBCONSCIOUSLY and in advance of the ball.

The process is:

a) Playing Consciously and making decisions but NOT before receiving the ball (often the norm), and then;
b) Playing consciously and making decisions before receiving the ball, and then;
c) Playing subconsciously and the decision is already made without thinking, the player just “knows”.

When a player is consistently acting and performing at stage c) then that player sees the field in slow motion, is relaxed, everything comes easy (as long as they put the work rate in); and off the ball they have intensity and desire.

And the more the players train in the right way the better they will become, it doesn’t suddenly happen and its done, it is a constant work in progress to maintain this level of thought and action. The players who think they have it made and don’t need to work as hard anymore invariably fail; but add the work rate and they give themselves the best chance to succeed and us the best chance to help them get there.

A BALANCE BETWEEN RELAXATION ON THE BALL AND INTENSITY OFF THE BALL IS THE GOAL

Barcelona Philosophy of Playing Soccer

FC BARCELONA style reflects that the “team” is most important.

The team is more important than any player (individuality)

Having 8 players from their academy in the first team is something that is not happening anywhere else in the world and at the same time they are probably the best team in the world. This past weekend, three more of their academy players had significant playing time in the first team game bringing the number up to 11.

This type of success does not come overnight. Their academy has been working on developing their style of players for 15 years. It is no coincidence that while they won little at National level in the first 10 years, they kept at the same developmental plan and now Barcelona have become the world club Champions. The Spanish national team is currently the European champions and the world cup champions

While their main focus in the eyes of world football is possession, possession and more possession they actually almost start with a reverse mentality to accomplish this. This may come as a surprise to many of their converts on the outside looking in.

PRINCIPLES OF PLAY

1. Transition (from losing to winning the ball)
2. We have possession 
3. Transition (from having to losing the ball)
4. Lost possession

A youth coach at Barcelona told me that at all levels, youth and senior; it is important to teach the players that the best time to win the ball is IMMEDIATELY after they have lost it.

So this encourages immediate high pressure from the closest player or players.

He says after having possession of the ball for a spell, by making the BALL DO THE WORK (as the ball never gets tired) our players in possession are fresh; the opponents by chasing trying to win it back are in a moment of tiredness when they regain possession.

It is during this moment of tiredness (as they are still recovering from their exertions trying to win the ball) that the best time to try to win the ball back occurs.

And psychologically this is bad for players when they have worked so hard to win the ball back, and they immediately lose it again.

It is a simple philosophy but it makes total sense.

If you give them time on the ball, they regain their breath and by making the ball do the work and passing and moving they are allowed to get into their rhythm again and we are then required to chase and try to win the ball back and as a consequence be tired.

Psychologically as a player I know I always felt a lot less tired when we had the ball than when we were chasing trying to win it back, even if the same amount of ground was covered by me in both instances.

I would add that my personal philosophy related to this is that as soon as we win possession of the ball the player winning it makes the easiest and safest pass to his teammate to ensure we maintain possession of the ball, unless there is a clear opportunity of a counter attack or we win it in the attacking third and have a chance to shoot on goal.

By doing so and keeping possession, we have a chance to score and it gives us the time needed to change our immediate team shape from one of defending to attacking.

There is NO TIME to do this and change our team shape if we immediately give possession away with a pass that is high risk AND WE LOSE OUR MOMENTUM.

It is important to encourage the players to KEEP IT SIMPLE and keep the ball AS SOON AS WE WIN IT.

And this is what Barcelona players are taught to do, though they have the individual and collective ability of course to do the unexpected also and take the risk.

I know on many youth teams, we have players who still do not understand this concept and they need to be taught and encouraged to play for the team and not for themselves in these vital transition moments.

Also to add; Barcelona; while they have greatly skilled players; they also have the most hard working off the ball in both attacking and defending (and they encourage and work on this all the time).

If it is good enough for Barcelona it is good enough for all of us.

Finally their training is geared (as ours is) to possession of the ball – this is why one-touch training is so important for both quick thinking and quick play.

Barcelona’s Goal Scoring Secret:

Barcelona is the team of the moment. Everyone is talking about this team, and for good reason.

They are hands down the best team in the world right now and many people are making the case that they are one of the best teams of all time. All this is based on the skill level of their players, the incredible teamwork, quick one and two-touch passing and the way they out play their opponents and dominate the time of possession. It’s no wonder they win so many games and score so many goals.

But there is one part of their game that doesn’t get much attention, and yet it is critical in my view, and is the difference between them being a good team and a great team. It is the difference between them winning games against the likes of Real Madrid and Manchester United.

It is the difference between dominating possession or being in hard fought battles … Last Saturday’s game between Manchester United and Barcelona, who controlled the ball?  Barcelona had 69% of the possession.

So what is this part of the game that really makes Barcelona special? What is it that takes them to a higher level than other teams?

High Pressure Team Defending:

Watch Barcelona play and how they pressure their opponents. It’s incredible. I have to say I have never seen it done so well by any other team in my lifetime. Take a look at the Champions League Final. Poor Manchester United could never get into their rhythm. Every time they had the ball, they were under pressure instantly. They had to make passes quicker than they were comfortable with. This in turn forced them to play backwards or sideward’s far too often or even worse, turn the ball over and lose possession.

A great example of this is the goal Barcelona scored against Manchester United in the pre-season friendly last year. Everyone raved about how Barcelona strung 10 passes together to score a great goal. But what was missed in this was that Barcelona forced Manchester United to turn the ball over in their own half of the field through great high pressure team defending.

Barcelona might also have the hardest working players in order to be able to achieve this success in regaining possession and there are no prima donnas on their team.