Why Encourage Competition In Some Sessions
A comment from the coaching community recently spotted online provoked some real thought about the approach coaches take to make their training sessions more competitive. Firstly, it's important to note that training sessions with a competitive edge help to increase the intensity of a session, and also the application of the players within the training session. Not needed in all circumstances of course, but certainly based on this view of observing training sessions across more than three decades, sessions with a competitive edge tend to operate at higher intensity. So why is that an advantage?. If the belief that the quicker the game flows the more challenge there is for players is to be believed, then the idea is that high intensity training sessions will greatly benefit the training environment in terms of challenging players technique and decision making within match like intensity. The result of that is a greater level of challenge to grow during sessions. But how to create competition within training? (Continued below)
Controversial
This leads us on nicely to the comment spotted online mentioned above. The comment posted under a video showing footballers running after losing a conditioned possession practice read “Running players as punishment if they lose a practice is stone age, that adds no value at all, and it only ingrains in players that running is a bad thing”. The coach who posted the video explained how including short runs for the losing team in his practice added value to the intensity of the session, he felt teams had a sense of attempting to win something, and as a result would give more to do so. (Continued Below)
The Question
So what we want to know is. Do coaches out there feels adding reward or incentive to win practices in a training session adds any value? Or is it a case using some short runs to punish players for losing a practice within a session is not helping at all to build a competitive environment?