I came across this on Instagram one day.
A strong part of me reacts to this by suggesting it comes from someone who pushes 1-on-1 training sessions. I have no idea if that’s the case here or not. My mind immediate goes there, though.
Yes, I can be quite cynical at times. 🙂
Putting that aside, however, my reaction to this meme comes down to what the speaker really means. Is it that players must train individually on their own outside what they do with their team to really develop?
If that’s the correct interpretation, then it poses a couple problems.
First, it minimizes the role team training plays in skill development. Yes, a given individual is almost certain to get fewer reps in a team setting than in an individual one. Probably less feedback as well (though I address this in The Perfect Drill). The context of those reps matter, however. If properly structured (big caveat), the team-setting reps will be of higher quality. That’s because they are much more representative than would be individual reps.
More representative = better transfer to use in game context = fewer reps required for the same gains.
In other words more reps does not necessarily mean more development.
Second, it assumes that the player knows what they need to work on (a major issue for inexperienced players). Also that they can get quality support in those individual reps. A player who doesn’t know what they really need to work on, or how to do that in an effective way, isn’t likely to get very far. Similarly, a player working with someone who doesn’t really know what the player needs to improve on, or lacks the coaching ability to do the job well, won’t see the kind of gains they need.
There’s also the question of training load. Big difference in this context between someone whose team practices once a week and one that has five sessions each week. A player who triples their rep count by adding an individual session is very likely to see benefits from doing so, even if they aren’t the best quality.
I wholeheartedly agree that someone looking to maximize their potential must put in the work individually. I’d just challenge where that work needs to be done in a lot of cases. For many, the bigger gains from individual work come from doing S&C, studying video, taking with their coaches, and things like that.
That all said, we should expect players to have maximum focus on skill development when those practice opportunities are put in front of them.
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