COACHING IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY
By ROBY STAHL
BOY’S DIRECTOR OF COACHING
OHIO ELITE SOCCER ACADEMY
During the years 1990-1995 I had the unique experience of being one of the first American born coaches to be hired as head trainer by a foreign soccer club. Over this period of time, I was fortunate to work with Tyreso FF, located in Stockholm Sweden training the men (Division Two), and then in the Women’s Elite Division (Allsvenska). In looking back, I can focus on several areas; 1) The attitudes and styles of Swedish coaches and players, 2) the Elite level Coaching School, 3) and my preparation by our coaching system to coach abroad.
The Swedish culture is based on the ability of the individual to fit into the organization; therefore this is reflected into its soccer style. The team organization and effort is most important. No one player is encouraged to become a “personality” on the field. Time and again I would watch players in goal scoring positions pass the responsibility to teammates in less dangerous areas. This is changing as Swedish players are gaining more worldwide exposure and are being bought by top European clubs.
Club Coaching
My experience as a professional coach in Sweden was an extremely positive one; however I had to adapt my coaching style to get my desired results. Swedish coaches train their teams in complete adherence to the desires of the Swedish Federation, providing for a uniform style of play, but not allowing for innovative practices and new ideas. The number one priority is organization. Each activity is exceptionally choreographed and timed. Players complete the activity before any critique is offered. As an example, if working on wing play for 20 minutes and the winger is doing several things technically or tactically incorrect, the coaches will allow the session to be completed before critiquing. This is completely against my philosophy of immediate feedback. Some of the obstacles I had to overcome in our program were;
- Every player had to be involved in every activity
- Assistants were to have an authoritative role in each training session or they felt the players would not respect them
- The unwillingness to change from “the way we do things”.
- The assumption that players at a high level could automatically perform basic tasks at a high level (i.e. Principles of individual defending).
- Rhythmical training rather than explosive training.
- The unwillingness of the individual player to stand up and become an “impact” player.
Although I call these “obstacles”, I now realize that adapting to the first two items made me a more effective coach and made me organize my training session in a more efficient way.
As my philosophies became more familiar, the players, assistants and my coaching peers enthusiastically welcomed my ideas and some great “brain-storming” sessions took place. Swedish coaches are excellent organizers and my friend Hakan Jansson taught me volumes as to the tactical approach, analysis, and organization of team play. He has some innovative ideas on the technical speed of play. His book “Techniques for the High Speed of the Game”, co-authored with Anton Public is highly read in Scandinavia. I currently am translating the book into English and should be finished by this summer. Their insight was further highlighted as I attended and observed the European Championships, World Championships, along with practices, and tactical sessions of different national teams. The ability to watch matches nightly either on satellite or live was a luxury. As a result, I have installed a dish on my home in Cincinnati.
Swedish players are of an average technical and highly tactical intelligence. They tend not to be overly aggressive, individually expressive or confident in their personal life. Again, fitting into the group being most important. They are fanatics about proper training (especially in the physical realm), very tough in battles on the field, show responsibility for their roles during the match, and are extremely coachable.
Coaching School
The Swedish federation invited me to attend their Elite Level Coaching Course. Enrollment for this nine-day course was limited to only 22 coaches. The emphasis was two-fold; match analysis and leadership.
Classroom lectures identified exactly what match analysis included, and was very detailed. We were given a heavy schedule of live watches to attend, divided up into small groups and given specific areas in which to analyze. Prior to and at the conclusion of each match, we met the competing coaches to discuss that week’s tactics and training objectives. It was not unusual for the Swedish Federation to send coaches to Tyreso FF to observe our games and training and also provide me with a critique.
The match analysis program required each coach to design classroom lectures and training sessions in order to review/improve on the tactical preparation of the teams observed. It was much like those in the US Soccer courses, but more realistic as you had to design sessions for those actual personalities observed, not just the ideal theoretical player. Each session was intensely evaluated as this course is used to identify and train only those coaches who will be recommended as national Team coaches. I was fortunate to be identified as one of the two coaches in our group and only seventeen countrywide to continue the next portion of the program.
Leadership sessions were focused on the development of coaches and players into more effective leaders. Much was conducted through problem- solving. Staff coaches frequently threw the individual a problem in class or during a field session, and expected you to immediately solve it. The week was high-pressured and left no room for errors.
Each year I have the opportunity to attend a weeklong coaching course in the Grand Canary Islands conducted by the SFF. The programs focus on observing four professional teams from Europe as they hold a one-week training camp. Tactical sessions are held for the participants during the morning, with the analysis of one of the pro games mandatory during the evening.
Members of the Swedish Trainers Association receive training magazines from Sweden, Norway, and Denmark full of tactical information. Each country has its own ideas of how their teams should play and be coached. A major difference between the United States and Sweden is the availability of local coaching associations that meet regularly.
Coaching Preparation
I was prepared to perform as a professional coach in Sweden due to my extensive studies of successful American coaches in all sports and my experiences as a soccer player in several countries. I feel the US Soccer Coaching School is second to none, but that past curriculums, demands, and long-range follow-ups at the “A” level only prepares a coach to train at the youth team level abroad. The expectations and demands of senior level coaching schools in Sweden are more rigorous and only the elite (most talented coach) is invited
The time is here for US Soccer to develop and offer a 2-3 week elite coaching course, taught by FIFA instructors, perhaps abroad, in which coaches can observe world class clubs or international practices and matches. Rumors are of a National License that would encompass a full year with one-two weeks of residential. This was attempted ten years ago but never got off the ground. We also must provide funding for coaches to work with top professional clubs. The key is to get coaches actually training teams abroad, not simply observing. The same distinction has been made as to the difference of our players training or actually performing with foreign club. Steve Sampson has made much of this in his selection of players to the US National Team.
The SFF provides opportunities for groups of coaches to travel through Europe for training courses. I was able to arrange to observe top coaches and clubs in various countries and through my relationship with the Scottish Women’s Football Association, train the full Women’s and U-16 National Team.
My Swedish experience was been an extremely uplifting one. It has confirmed my belief that as players, coaches, and administrators we are on the correct path to success. Many countries are stuck within their traditional coaching style or team philosophies, due in part by the enormous pressure to win. This often leads to unattractive performances on the field. We in the US, however, can observe and adopt the best each world power has to offer keeping in mind that it must suit the personality and cultural upbringing of the American player. This cumulating of style, technique, and technical methodology comes at a time when we are just beginning to make a global impact. As an American coach it is an exciting time to be a part.