La Liga Formation Methodology Level 3 – Day 2

LIVERMORE — Despite heavy wind and rain, day two of NorCal Premier Soccer and US Club Soccer’s La Liga Level 3 Formation Methodology Course again showcased nearly 200 coaches on hand to learn from some of the brightest minds in Europe in a 10-hour day at Las Positas College.

While day one focused on introducing several concepts regarding periodization of learning and training models, La Liga instructor Gari Fullaondo, the former Director of Methodology at Athletic Bilbao, shifted more towards technical training on day two.

And that’s where the day began, with a classroom session regarding technique, followed by a field session with NorCal’s 04/05 PDP boys designed to build on the previous lecture.

But the lessons from Fullaondo weren’t limited to just technique, as he took time to demonstrate some simpler aspects of coaching.

There was a moment in training when the boys didn’t understand the objective of the exercise that Fullaondo was attempting to teach, causing the current technical and methodological advisor to La Liga to stop the session.

“I told them the objective and they didn’t understand it, which is my fault,” Fullaondo said. “If they don’t understand it, I must explain it to them again until they get it.”

For some, just the way that Fullaondo spoke with the players counted as lessons that they could take home.

“He did a simple passing exercise around a square, but the way he was communicating to the players on how to recognize the game situations and how to move and use the cones as a reference for a defender, and not give them the answers, but start the problem for them so they could create game-like situations and have multiple solutions,” said Central California Cosmos Director of Coaching Kevin Botterill.

“Gari does a fantastic job, both in the way that he presents but also a lot of the materials presented.

From there, it was back to the classroom to focus on training and physical qualities, followed by a field session, and concluded with a lecture designed to teach coaches a methodological foundation.

“You go to courses like this and you’re learning how to set up the season and how to set up your sessions better and how you can pay attention to detail a little bit more,” said PDP and Santa Rosa United coach Justin Selander. “I think as an organization, NorCal is encouraging our coaches to become better at teaching and therefore we’re going to have better players.”