the 3 essential ingredients

Research led by Anders Ericsson and others regarding the acquisition of expertise is changing the way soccer (indeed all skills) is taught. Recent popular books including Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers and Danny Coyle's The Talent Code, expand on that theory and find real world examples of the development of expertise. All of this forces us to look closely at such things as talent, effort, precociousness and success, challenging our ideas, philosophy and technique of teaching young players. The way we look at development has changed.

Players are not born, their made, there are the 3 essential key ingredients:

1) Correct Accumulated Practice

So starting at the earliest ages movements and techniques done correctly give players the early start their bodies are ready for. With these recent discoveries technical movements become even more paramount. Mindless practice doesn't cut it; content needs to be correct and practiced the right way. Going slow, repeat the trying parts, and correct mistakes. Fluidity and speed will come as you accumulate correct movements. Deliberate practice entails more than simply repeating a task - playing a C-minor scale 100 times, for instance, or hitting tennis serves until your shoulder pops out of its socket. Rather, it involves setting specific goals, obtaining immediate feedback and concentrating as much on technique as on outcome.

2) Inspiration

"Working hard is the greatest skill of all" --John McEnroe

Training in the "flow state" of true deliberate practice is not easy. If you don't love it, you are unlikely to work hard enough to get very good. Most people naturally don't like to do things they aren't "good" at. So they often give up, telling themselves they simply don't possess the talent for math or skiing or the violin. But what they really lack is the desire to be good and to undertake the deliberate practice that would make them better. Kid smust be exposed to the possibilities and pathway of the learning process. After all, whether it's soccer or chess, or a musical instrument, learning is a as a lifelong long endeavor. Building that love of the game is the priority.

3) Master coaching

Building expertise during these years requires help and feedback and guidance from disciplined, committed, teachers who tell the student what he can't tell himself. The development of great skill seems to require the help of people who have the ability to grow talent in others. Building inspiration, providing the correct movements at the right times, and overseeing the learning process.