Using TIC to develop complete players for Eagles

My football coaching career was sudden and short. It started when the  junior college where I lectured decided to start a football programme and I applied for and got the job. It ended after three years when I had become both physically and mentally tired. I had been saddled with starting both the male and […]

My football coaching career was sudden and short. It started when the  junior college where I lectured decided to start a football programme and I applied for and got the job. It ended after three years when I had become both physically and mentally tired. I had been saddled with starting both the male and female programmes from scratch, it was quite an experience. Budgeting, scheduling and traveling were just a few things I had to deal with. Also not forgetting my teaching duties. But my most unforgettable experience is the joy of learning the act of coaching through the art and science of coaching modern football.
Last week while I unpacked my ‘green Xmas tree’ in my attic, I also had a stumbling chance to look into one of my packed boxes aptly labeled ‘soccer coach’. I decided to take a look at what treasures I had in the box; it was full of football DVDs and a whole lot of big binders. Binders I had collected on my many coaching clinics that I attended. Learning to coach soccer/football was at the very essence of my life at that time. I spent money on educational programs, I abandoned soccer refereeing to concentrate fully on coaching and I really enjoyed every moment of that adventure.
My one find in the ‘soccer box’ in my attic was a very tempting lecture note and was due for a re-read. It was in a binder from a coaching workshop in 1999 and it was all about TIC. Before I re-read the manual, I had forgotten about that acronym TIC, which stands for TECHNIQUE-INSIGHT-COMMUNICATION.  After reading it again, I decided to test a few of my football friends and none had ever heard of TIC and yet all are critical of football coaches, from Keshi to Wenger.
I really do not expect non-football coaches to know TIC but I will take this opportunity to explain it and then grade Nigerian players on it.
Technique in football is the basis of playing the game; it is the means to an end. The better your technique, the better a player you are. Passing, receiving, shooting, heading and dribbling are few of the techniques a player must acquire and master. To become a technically proficient player, you must repeat and refine these techniques over several years. In the famed Ajax academy (De Toekomst), I have watched 10-year-olds pass and receive with all parts of their bodies for ninety minutes, three times a week and do nothing else.
Insight is a little bit trickier to understand but I was coming from a playing background in basketball and I found football insight to be similar to what is referred to as high IQ in basketball. Here is an example of what high IQ is in basketball; I will drive hard to the basket to force a help player who is guarding my team’s best 3-point shooter. My shooter will make an adjustment after taking a few open shots from the decisions of hard drive to the basket; he will now shot fake the retreating defender and get to the rim. No matter what your basketball IQ reads, you need to have good technical skills to survive. This translates to football very easily: making the decision in the attacking third to split the central defenders with a direct run instead of a pass, and then slip a runner behind them. Insight is simply a player’s ability to make the correct judgment of a pass or run, to choose the correct answer to a problem on the field. Insight should never be confused with tactics. Football tactics is the X and O of coaching, it is pre-game instructions and half time corrections but it is not football insight.
When we talk communications in coaching, many see it as a one way thing; coach to player, never player to coach. But TIC, communication is way more than talking to your coach or to your team mates; it is your relationship on the field of play to your opponents, to the hostile or friendly crowd, to the referees, to the playing surface, and even to the natural conditions of rain, sun, wind and light. A player’s ability to assimilate all these factors and come out and play his or her game is what makes a player complete. Let’s remember that our Super Eagles complained about the playing surface in our loss in Congo; does anyone believe that Messi would under-perform because of a field surface? Part of what makes a good and complete player is the mental strength he or she possesses. Our players complain about too many things in football; the other team was time wasting (we do the same when it is to our advantage), the referee was not fair (if you have 15 shots in a game and only 2 were on goal, you can’t blame the referee). Communication in football is simply about understanding the plan for a game. Planning for a game should be simple, what players need to do in the game must be clear and understood. A coach cannot continue to instruct players all through the game, players must be as efficient as they can be using all they know about the game.
Evaluating the players of the Super Eagles using TIC – Technique, Insight and Communication – puts the team at 50%. Technique for most of the team is decent, that is why they play in European leagues, but insight and communication is underdeveloped in most of them. That is why we don’t see them feature more in first team football. You need these three components to be a very good player and as far as I can tell, we don’t put emphasis on developing a complete player.
These components must be addressed together, they complement each other and in as far as we neglect it or are not aware of its existence, then we have serious problems in Nigerian football.
Goal.com