Tim Strader

Attention Intensity Intent It was interesting to watch Arne Slot talk about the importance of energy in his coaching practice. When I had the pleasure and honour of working with Arne at Feyenoord we used to talk a lot about helping players manage their energy - both physical and mental. Attention Intensity Intent In the model I use with coaches, intensity is mental energy. I used to talk to Arne a lot about players competing with an optimal level of mental energy (to complement the physical intensity that’s critical for the game). Arne being Arne - he was always open to my suggestions around managing and optimising energy. For me, in this video Arne is talking about the difference between ‘fun’ and ‘enjoyment’. Activities aren’t always ‘fun’ but players tend to enjoy difficult. They tend to enjoy the challenge. Sweat and smiles Sweat and smiles Sweat and smiles Challenging activities also tap attention and intent. Constraints and conditions appropriately set channel attention and a drive a high level of intent. Attention Intensity Intent Ultimately, when coaching actions related to the principles of play you want your players to exploit…do so with attention, intensity, and intent in mind… (Video found on ‘X’ posted by Football DNA - do follow them)

I enjoyed watching this fine clip… What a wonderful coach Mr. Saleh must be - incorporating the ‘competitive mindset’ into his coaching practice. Just brilliant! Coaches like this excite me. They excite me because the foundation they’ve built through their language and process means they truly can develop great competitors. Now all Mr. Saleh needs is to ensure he has the people around him that help his players reach his ‘level three’ and ‘level four’… The thing is, level three and level four are simple to talk about but not easy to develop. They might sound easy - always do your best (level three) and bring others with you (level four) - but human biology and human psychology are slippery little suckers. Especially given they are constantly pressured by socio-cultural factors that so often tarnish player ability to meet the competitive mindset. Let me illuminate through some examples: 1. The brain works in milliseconds firing in thousands of ways in this miniscule time-period sending thoughts, emotions, and feelings into conscious awareness - many of which are unhelpful. Many players (if not all) need to develop skills to manage their inner impulses to do their best. Players need biopsycho and psycho-behavioural skills… 3. The will to do ‘your best’ can actually de-serve doing your best. A tunnel-visioned approach for many (but not all) can evoke game-atrophying stress. An md an insistence on doing ‘your best’ can amplify said stress. Ultimately, at the competitive level of sport, the competitive mindset isn’t obvious - for many it requires a set of philosophical approaches and skills to help players find their sweet-spot of want and will. 3. Doing ‘your best’ isn’t just a will to do your best. It requires the ability to learn - to learn the plays, the tactical game plan, and the responsibilities in your role. Learning is a skill and can be taught (and probably needs to be taught). 4. Mr. Saleh’s level four urges players to ‘bring others with them’. Fantastic - and this requires both psycho-social skills and environmental affordance. Those psycho-social skills are imperative - not everyone is accomplished at influencing others, and not everyone finds the social anxiety embedded in leadership and teamwork easy to overcome. Thus, not only do these players need to be exposed to skills, they also need to function within an environment that helps those skills to thrive and flourish. This requires coach dexterity - the ability to facilitate a process whereby players are willing to communicate, cooperate, and coordinate. I love this video and Mr Saleh’s template. It lays the territory for the really tough groundwork - the deep biopsychosocial work required to create a championship winning team… (Video found on @thewinningdiff1 timeline on X) X)