First Assistant Coach - My “Vision”

This “vision” is the result of more than 35 years connected to football and more than 20 as a coach. It is a vision based not only on the empirical evidence of my successive experiences as a head and assistant coach, but also on the regular reading of different authors (with greater or lesser scientific rigor) and also on the systematic observation of different training and game contexts.

This vision is not a manual of “good manners” on how an assistant coach should be, but it only seeks to provoke an introspective analysis of each one who reads it, seeking to value, sportingly and financially, a position that is not always valued.

?This position, mediatically speaking, should be low profile, appearing on the network, just to value the work of the team and/or the leader, always being part of something, and never looking for the limelight to aggrandize their own ego.

?- the Pillars-

I believe that the first assistant coach's task must be based on 5 basic pillars that guide and lead his/her performance as a transformative intellectual, as Giroux (1997) defines teachers, I believe that coaches should be constantly reflective, rethinking, restructuring and constantly rebuilding their knowledge, their ideas and “their football”.

?Loyalty emerges as a fundamental pillar, which supports the strength of a leader, who brings together the efforts of the technical team. This same loyalty must be reciprocal between the same and the leader, fostering trust and respect but without ever neutering the critical spirit of the head assistant coach, who must have the opportunity and sufficient openness to positively confront his leader with his ideas, and the leader should be willing to listen, analyze those same opinions, to later make his decision, which at that moment should be everyone's decision without exception and defended to the end.

The assistant coach may be more or less competent from a tactical point of view, but his loyalty is non-negotiable, as José Gomes (2022) says to the newspaper o Jogo in which he states that “competence may not be enough if there is no loyalty”.

?The second pillar will be Knowledge of the game, the Assistant Head Coach must have a very high knowledge of the game at all times of the game, and know in depth the ideas of the head coach, and must also have the ability to study and analyze each part of the game intensively, because the detail will make the difference and in the end it could be the difference between success and failure. This study should be, whenever possible, before it is necessary, trying to study the game every day, analyzing what the team itself does in a critical and reflective way as well as what others do, not with the intention of stealing ideas, but to try to adapt them to your reality and the reality of the head coach.

?But the assistant head coach should not only have a deep knowledge of the game, but also have a General Knowledge (third pillar) of all areas that directly influence or are linked to the training and game process. The Assistant Head Coach should not be an expert in physiology, but should have sufficient knowledge to communicate fluidly and positively with the physiologist. The same should happen with the nutritionist, physical recovery, psychologist, analyst or other members of the technical staff, monitoring and valuing everyone's work, but above all, looking for the needs and ideas of the head coach to be fulfilled, so that everything goes well, to protect the head coach from some "minor" conflicts by giving “the body to the bullets”, reducing the wear and distraction of the head coach, with matters sometimes only accessory or insignificant.

?As a fourth pillar, perspicacity and efficiency, as characteristics that are very typical of those who carry out this position, the perspicacity to understand everything that revolves around the team and the game, helping the head coach, putting possible scenarios and trying to help him prepare adapt to different situations, minimizing surprises and unpredictability. Efficiency, due to the scope of the position, should be another fundamental characteristic, in a profession in which effectiveness and optimal performance are greatly conditioned by the short time we have to perform each of the tasks.

Finally, the fifth pillar, the task of ensuring the harmony and pooling of efforts of the entire technical team, so that the Maestro (Main coach) manages to get us all to play the same melody, in tune and in the correct tone, avoiding that within the technical team there is disruption, division and intrigue. This Harmony is achieved by being attentive to signs and responses in times of stress, promoting private and group conversations, advising and explaining the best way to go, always together, focused and in agreement with our leader.

?This Vision will always depend on the cultural and sporting context in which we operate, the tasks of an assistant coach will certainly not be the same in England or Saudi Arabia, nor in league 1 or in premier league. Another factor that conditions their functions will always be the type of leadership that the head coach exercises, how he shares and delegates tasks and even the confidence he has in his coaching staff.

- Weekly Tasks –

? Pre microcycle

o Know the next opponent in detail;

o Construction and organization of the weekly content schedule;

?? Pre-Training Session

o Meeting/communication with the Physiotherapist to know the athletes' status;

o Meeting/communication with Physiologist;

o Pre-training technical meeting;

o Adjust the training session according to the athletes' condition;

?·??????Training

o Direct and assist the different training exercises as established;

o Control exercise and training session times;

o Record training actions and ask the video-analyst for images of those actions to analyze post-training;

o Pay attention to the athletes' behavioral details;

o Focus on tactical correction, especially those that affect your tasks on game day;

???????? After training

o Analyze training critically (individual);

o Post-training meeting that includes training visualization (includes moments analyzed during training by the coaches);

o Meeting/communication with physical therapist;

o Meeting/communication with physiologist;

o Preparation of the next training session;

- Match Day Tasks –

??????? Pre-game

o Focus on detail, every detail is important, paying attention to all behavioral, social and structural variables;

o Put into practice the game day plan, which must contain the countdown match;

o Prepare together with the other elements involved the pre-warm up /warm up and rewarm up (interval), both of which must be programmed to the minute and previously trained (whenever possible in private and pre-season games);

?·??????Match

o During the course of the game, he should be analyzing and intervening on the blind side of the game (away from the center of the game), to correct behaviors that the head coach can hardly observe, complementing his vision;

o You must communicate with the video analyst that it is on a higher level, to complement the information;

o There should be another assistant coach on the bench, viewing the game in video support, with enough delay to analyze important details quickly;

o Responsible for tactical schemes during the game and for changes to be made in substitutions;

o Collect information and communicate during the game and at half-time to the head coach;

·??????post game

o Whenever possible, brief conversation before the flash and press conference;

o Whenever possible, see what the opposing head coach will have said in the flash or press conference;

o Behavioral analysis of the team, paying attention to details, protecting the leader, filtering the noise and collecting the important information;

o Review the game “cold”, critically, producing a succinct report;

o Meeting/communication with physical therapist;

o Meeting/communication with physiologist;

o Start a new cycle (prepare the next game);

Loulé, June 9, 2022

(Arlésio Coelho – UEFA PRO LICENCE desde 2013)