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Performance goals versus Learning Goals One thing that may contribute to the answering of the questions on the previous page is for coaches to consider the balance between performance goals and learning goals.
A performance goal is something that can be measured e.g. pass completion percentages, chance conversion percentage, number of tackles made and so on. A learning goal is something that someone is trying to get better at e.g. recognise when to play forward, try to spot when to deliver the cross, working at when to run with the ball and when to pass.
One of the risks with performance goals is that players (and coaches) do what is required to meet the target at the expense of learning about decisions. For example, if I have a target to achieve an 85% pass completion rate, do I make decisions on the best pass to play for the situation or do I play a pass to help me achieve my target? If my objective is to deliver 10 crosses in a game, if I only get eight opportunities to cross, have I failed? If I deliver 10 in the first 20 minutes, have I succeeded and were they effective crosses delivered relevant to the situation?
If my objective is recognising when to play forward, the discussions the player can have (or we can have with the player) at opportune times in training and competition could be:
1. Tell me about some of the decisions you made… 2. Watch these clips of your forward passes – anything you see?
3. What things suggest it may be a good time to play the ball past the opposition?
Such discussions and reviews may help players to recognise the things that trigger certain decisions and how to use these recognitions to improve for next time.
Later on there may be an opportunity to combine our learning goals with performance ones. For example – Try to recognise when to play forward and retain the ball 60% of the time. This hopefully gives some links to recognition as well as some margin for error (which can decrease over time) which supports the fact that playing forward, possibly, is a more likely a risk to the retention of possession.
Practices There is a motivation approach called self-determination theory which suggests that a person’s motivation can be enhanced in completing any task if the task provides some autonomy (some independence or freedom), is delivered at a competence level appropriate to the player and is related to them (the position they play, the actual game of football or a particular situation that is relevant to them at the moment).
In thinking about this in relation to your coaching, maybe consider:
1. Do the practices you utilise offer some opportunity for players to choose/be independent?
2. Are they pitched at a level that is challenging for players, ensuring they spend some time struggling whilst achieving a degree of success?
3. Do they reflect the game of football, the positions the player experiences and do any provide the chance for players to work on things relevant to them?
The example overleaf, on the theme of playing forward, provides a whole-part-whole approach to practice (related), allows coaches/players to decide who fulfils which roles at which difficult level (competence) and allows players to choose a task from the unit and individual lists to focus upon during the session (autonomy).
The practices are all games in type, which links to previous suggestions from The Boot Room issue 6 around Teaching Games for Understanding and The Boot Room issue 8 around Skill Development.
Those interested in further reading may wish to look into the work of Deci & Ryan, Jeff McCrae, Jeremy Kagan and Dylan William.
Ben Bartlett is a FA Youth Coach Educator working with coaches and players in academies and centres of excellence.
Ben’s previous roles include FA Regional Coach
Development Manager for the East, Technical Director for Women's and Girls’ football at Chelsea FC and nine years in a range of coaching and development roles at Colchester United.
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