Day three of the UEFA A licence (part 2) was broken in four parts; a morning lecture and on-field practical, two afternoon lectures and an evening lecture. The morning lecture and on-field practical was delivered by Kevin McGreskin, who has acquired his UEFA A licence from three separate football associations. Kevin is an elite performance specialist, and is the Technical Director of SoccerEyeQ. McGreskins session was entitled Developing Game Awareness, and centred on the idea that the technical, tactical and physical difference between elite players is often minimal; the thing that separates the best from the rest is that the best players consistently make better decisions while under pressure. The execution of skilled performance in football involves three stages: perception (the input of what the player sees), decision-making (the processing or thinking that the player does) and action (the output of the player doing). In a 90-minute game, elite players spend less than two minutes in possession of the ball. They take less than two touches per possession and have between 40-50 interactions with the ball. Over the course of a game, 98 per cent of a players time is spent in the perception and decision-making stages - yet very little time is ever spent developing a players ability in these areas. The three levels of situational awareness in a game are basic perception (the ability to take in information), realization of relationships (putting context and meaning to the information) and anticipation (recognizing patterns of behaviour). The five things that dictate the roles and responsibilities of players on the field are the ball, teammates, the opposition, the area of play and the state of play. The first three are dynamic variables (always changing), while the final two are semi-static variables (sometimes changing). The on-field practical session focused on the dynamic variables - and it was one of the best sessions Ive ever seen or participated in. McGreskin used visual overload to train the players abilities in perception and decision-making. He did this by introducing colours; coloured gloves, bibs, footballs and tennis balls. McGreskin started with a very simple passing drill; two players 20 metres apart, each with a ball, with a player in the middle. The middle player received a pass from the first player, played it back and turned to get the ball from the second player. McGreskin then increased the visual stimuli to overload the players visual perception and decision-making process. He did this by getting the players to wear one red glove and one yellow glove. When the player in the middle received a pass, he had to look over his shoulder to see the opposite player (who was instructed to hold up one coloured glove as the pass was struck). The player in the middle then had to call out the colour of the raised glove, before playing the return pass and going to receive the second ball. Adding more and more variables increased the difficulty; shouting out the colour of the glove being raised, tapping the inside of the opposite foot from which the coloured glove was on, introducing coloured cones around which the ball had to be carried before playing the return pass, etc. McGreskin then proceeded to introduce interactive passing drills, where two teams of eight players (one team in green bibs and one team in blue bibs) passed two balls in a 30x30 grid, alternating passes from a green-bibbed player to a blue-bibbed player. Again, more and more variables were introduced to increase the difficulty; recognition of an external player holding up a coloured glove, calling out the colour of the glove before receiving the pass, introducing coloured footballs to correspond with the bib colours of the external players, introducing coloured tennis balls that had to be released to a teammate before receiving the pass, etc. It was an incredible session, and put paid to the myth that training perception and decision-making skills cannot be done. The morning session was adequately captured by a quote in McGreskins lecture, from Abernathy, 2008: "Coaches should consider routinely using demanding secondary tasks concurrently with the practice of primary sports skills as a means of stimulating the continued automation of primary skills and the refinement of multi-tasking skills of athletes." The first lecture of the afternoon was delivered by David Platt (not the former England international), who is a UEFA A licence coach, a performance coach for the Team GB Olympic squad and a regional scout for Manchester United. Platts lecture was entitled, The Winning Mentality: Recruiting, Assessing and Building Mental Toughness. Platt explained that of the four components of player development (technical, tactical, physical and mental), only the mental side of development has yet to be fully explored. He gave numerous examples from his previous work, including as a coach at Liverpool FC. In his work with Team GB Cycling, he outlined the core values that the team has created: commitment (sacrifice), ownership (its up to you), responsibility (benchmarks) and excellence (do your best). An interesting area of discussion surrounded the recruitment and retention of players. Platt stated that off-field behaviour reflects on-field behaviour - you simply cannot flick a switch and expect a players behaviour to change. So how a player behaves off the field - on social media, for example - often impacts a clubs decision to recruit or retain that player. Platt ended his presentation by advising the coaches to identify and be clear on their cultural and generic criteria for mental toughness. These core values should then be central to their recruitment, retention and development processes. Phil Abbott, from Academy Soccer Coach (a session planning software company that the Irish FA uses for all of its coach education courses), delivered the second lecture of the afternoon. While Abbotts session was very brief, he outlined the many areas in which technology plays a role in the modern game. He outlined the criteria for professional club academies in England to enter the EPPP (Elite Player Performance Program), as well as the funding that is involved for clubs in that program. Abbott presented some other interesting bits of information: 65 per cent of the population are visual learners; the brain processes information 60,000 times faster than text; and visual aids can increase retention of information by nearly 400 per cent. The message to the coaches was clear - technology can aid in your ability to get information to your players. How you choose to use that technology is entirely up to you. Desi Curry, the Technical Director of the Irish Football Association, delivered the evening session. His topic was Modern Trends in Football, and was an extension of the lecture delivered the previous evening by Phil Melville and Nigel Best. There were five topics that were discussed and debated by the coaches: - What are the key technical aspects that are increasing/decreasing in the modern game?- As a coach, which tactical formation would you choose to play, and why?- How, as a coach, would you plan to counter the counter attack? - What are the key factors affecting set plays?- As a coach, how do you prefer to defend/attack corner kicks? I wont go into to detail about the discussions that took place, as it would likely fill a book! But I will leave you with this quote from the evening lecture that I found especially pertinent to Canadian soccer: "Leaders take people to where they want to be; great leaders take people to where they OUGHT to be!" Bobby Clarke Jersey . The Redskins announced Monday that the quarterback who led the team to the Super Bowl championship in the 1987 season will serve as a personnel executive. Travis Konecny Jersey . -- Patrick Reed got an early start in golf. http://www.cheapflyersjerseys.com/ . The home side created most of the chances but struggled to break down Braunschweigs resilient defence, resulting in the Bundesligas 1,000th scoreless draw. Ivan Provorov Jersey .com) - The Montreal Canadiens will try to halt their longest losing streak of the season when they host the struggling New York Islanders in tonights clash at the Bell Centre. Scott Laughton Jersey . -- Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Farmar will be out for roughly four weeks after tearing his left hamstring. During this most divisive election year, there have been questions about whether Donald Trump, 70, and Hillary Clinton, 68, are too old to hold this nations highest office. Athletes in this age range are long retired -- and their coaches often are too. Grandparents at this age are being asked by their children if perhaps they might not need to be driving long distances or getting behind the wheel at night. ?John Force is 67 years old, and last weekend he earned a record-extending victory by driving his Chevy Funny Car 319.45 mph, covering the 1,000-foot dragstrip in 3.965 seconds.Juan Ponce De Leon died 495 years ago this month after being shot in the thigh by a poisoned arrow during his second trip to Florida, a place he had named, where he had continued to search for the fountain of youth. Poor Ponce was looking in the wrong place. The fountain of youth is located a full continent away from the Florida coast. Its in Yorba Linda, California, and the liquid that flows through it is not water. Its nitromethane -- with a little Peak antifreeze mixed in for good measure.On Sunday afternoon in Denver, Force gulped from that fountain on live television, earning his unmatched 144th career NHRA finals victory and checking off the mind-bending 29th season that he has won at least one national event. This win might set the stage for an autumn run at a 17th Funny Car championship.There are more statistics to list, but there isnt time. Force is already on to the next race, this weekend at the Sonoma Raceway. Thats cool, because theres really only one stat that matters here. Its the one number that automatically puts all the others into perspective. Those 67 years.His children arent demanding that he hand over the keys. On Sunday in Denver, he defeated one of his four daughters, 28-year-old Courtney. His grandchildren arent begging him to slow down and drive them to the toy store. On Sunday, long after the grandstand had been emptied, Force was making one more run up and down the Denver dragstrip, this time at a near crawl, piloting a scooter with his toddler grandson riding in his lap.This is who John Force is now. He has always been a prodigious talker. But now his legendary 300 mph rants are packed with reflection and philosophy.We are all put here on this earth to do something, whether its to be the governor of a state or the guy who empties the governors trash cans, he said earlier this year. I used to think I was put on this earth to be nothing. Then I thought I was put on here to be a football player. Well, you know what? I wasnt great at football and I really wasnt great at being nothing. Then I thought I was put here to go 300 miles per hour, setting myself on fire and blowing myself up for these fanns out there.dddddddddddd I am pretty good at that. ...But now I realize thats just part of my purpose. These kids, these grandkids, my wife, thats my purpose, man. I tried racing when I didnt include them as much. Thought I was having fun. I wasnt. Now were having fun. And Ill be doing that until my time here is done.For mere mortals, that time would have been done multiple times over. He isnt being hyperbolic when he speaks of setting myself on fire and blowing myself up. Hes done both multiple times. So many times that in the 2011 Body Issue of ESPN The Magazine -- the one that fills its pages with photos of youthfulness titled Bodies We Want -- there was a two-page spread of Force, then 62, buck naked with descriptions of the scars that crisscross his skin like a Rand McNally Road Atlas. Burned off fingertips, a knee that looks like a zipper, and a sewn-up hole where a bone used to be sticking out of his wrist.It was titled The Body You Dont Want.Force has lost blood, skin and his closest friends. Still, he races on. In 2007 his protégé Eric Medlen was killed via a brain injury so horrific that it has been hard for physicists, let alone physicians, to describe. Force didnt walk away. Instead, he led a wave of safety innovations that have changed the sport, even while rivals questioned every step of the process.Forces physical aches and pains are nearly matched by the pitfalls of his business. It wasnt so long ago that his auto manufacturer unexpectedly walked away. So did his sponsors.People say to me, Why in the world do you keep digging out of holes to keep doing this? he said earlier this spring, when he was mired in the one-year winless streak that was eventually snapped in Denver. Ive been digging out of holes my whole life. I had polio when I was kid. I grew up in a trailer. Yeah, Ive won a lot of races, but you know what? I raced for a dozen years before I even won a race. Why do I keep going? Because my life came without a safety net, man. If I dont keep swinging on that trapeze deal like I do, guess what? Splat.Force is an astronaut without NASA. Hes a stuntman whos never heard Cut! Hes Evel Knievel played with the fast-forward button pressed to 8X. Out here, away from the drag strip, we might wonder why he keeps going. But down there, on Nitro Alley, where the fans line up six-deep, wearing gas masks and 20-year-old John Force T-shirts, screaming his name and laughing along to every diatribe, they never ask when hes going to stop.They just want one whiff of that nitro, one quick shot of 300 mph wisdom. One quick sip from Ponce De Forces Fountain of Youth. Black China NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China NFL Jerseys China Wholesale NFL Autographed Jerseys Wholesale Throwback Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Online ' ' '