Teaching tactical thinking and decision-making.
Making the right decisions in situations of uncertainty is one of the most required skills in high-level football. The physical and technical ability of the players depends mainly on their ability to make the right decision about what to do in complex and uncertain situations at the right time.
Tactical thinking is understood as an operational thinking that favors correct decision-making in complex situations. It’s convenient to stimulate this skill in all players from the beginning. By achieving an optimal level of understanding and integration of the principles of the sport and individual movements, tactical thinking will be successful. That is, the correct understanding of the circumstances and situation will promote the motor response or technical gesture appropriate to each situation. Not only understanding the situation in which you find yourself but knowing how to read and execute the most appropriate response.
In the stages of sports initiation, it is recommended to work first with the understanding of the game and later teach how to make a correct decision using the right tools or technical gestures to solve this problem. In youth football, it is considered interesting to guide the work of tactical thinking towards comprehensive learning through exercises that require athletes to make decisions without coaches communicating what they have to do.
From Campus Experience Real Madrid Foundation we give great importance to the fulfilment of the basic objectives of tactical development in football. To do this, we expose players to situations that favor tactical thinking:
1.- Knowledge of the game: perception and analysis of the different situations that may arise.
2.- Decision-making: deciding correctly what is the most appropriate movement in each situation.
3.- Knowledge of the individual and team tactics: offensive and defensive behaviors according to position in cohesion with the team and learning technical gestures.
4.- Implementation: appropriate motor application to resolve the situation.
The methodology can be supported by analytical procedures such as practice or observation; by targeted methods such as situations of superiority or inferiority; and by comprehensive methods such as their application in real situations.
Through the stimulation of tactical thinking, players will master what is commonly known as ‘know how to decide”. That is, to know WHAT needs to be done, the understanding of the problem and the objectives of resolution; HOW to do it, identify the proper procedure, and finally, KNOW HOW TO DO it.
