Research has shown that words and terms used commonly during soccer training do not have the same meanings and understanding even among coaches of the same organization at the highest level of development.

I found myself stumbling onto an interesting subject when three years ago I noticed that the odp coaching circle I had just joined used the term “Technical” a lot. Feeling a bit inadequate I proceeded to find out what this technical thing about skills was and how it differed from the more traditional skills that I was used to. As a Ghanaian and english being a second language I always settled for the lowest common denominator or least complicated explanation. However, the time had come for me to updated my education. After asking a couple of players and getting two different answers, I had to be bold and confront a nice coach about it. Before long she was checking with someone else about it, whose answers did not jive with another coach and…voila! A discussion was born. To my great surprise and relief people were divided on the answers. Since then I have taken these questions everywhere to try and find definitions in the soccer world for them. I discovered that most of the use and application of terms were based on familiarity with the circumstances within which they were learned. Shedding light on the phrase “you coach the way you were taught”. As my list of unanswered questions grew the obvious question came to mind- How am I going to break the game down for a nine year old to understand? What is the clear difference between skills, technical skills, and technique? What is ball-handling, and ball-control? Go ahead and Take a shot at them. After you have taken a shot at the first three questions now, define a skillful player, then define a technical player. How do the two differ? Which skills are technical and which ones are not? Now make sure that the definition for “Technique” is consistent with what is termed “Technical skills” and then tie it all together to explain what one would mean if one described somebody as ”a very technical player”. Even the terms Coach and Teach struggle to find a place in soccer circles. This being the case, one can imagine how complicated and confusing things must seem for the player, especially in our culture where most of our soccer education is institutional not cultural. This explains why when kids return from a summer camp and I ask them, “what did you learn?” I always get a blank stare and then… “ you know… skills”. The fact that kids cannot clearly state what they learned, suggests there is a problem at the very root of our developmental programs that definitely retards learning and growth.

By identifying a problem, my responsibility in part, is to attempt to solve it. With further research I compiled a FUW (Frequently Used Words) of FSM. This is a glossary of words and terms with precise definitions to give my players and their coaches a unified understanding of what is being taught, and what is being learned. This has helped players to better understand their development in terms of who they are, what they need, and precisely what they have to do. At the same time, it has solidified our coaches’ knowledge and their ability to give very vivid and specific feedback to players. This very small change has revolutionized learning at Ferdie’s Soccer Magic Academy.

FUW is available to you on-line at www.soccer-magic.com I hope it is as useful for you as it has been for us.