Today we have the pleasure of sharing with you our conversation with Javer Rabanal, director of methodology at the Eredivise club Willem II. Javier introduces us to their methodological approach, which is applied consistently and coherently at all development stages, from the youngsters (6 years old) to the U21s. He also tells us about the importance of a club's identity - its idiosyncrasy - and how the methodology is completely adapted to Dutch football and especially to their own club. Here goes!
Sonrisa de Gol (SdG): Could you please introduce yourself?
Javier Rabanal (JR): My name is Javier Rabanal, I am from Tenerife, and I am a UEFA Pro Coach working as Director of Methodology at Willem II, the Dutch club from the Eredivise.
I have been coaching since 1998, mostly in amateur and senior teams, including womens' football. As well as working in the Canary Islands, I have assisted in camps in Canada and directed an Academy in Changsha, China.
I have a degree in Physical Education and a Masters degree in High Performance within the Spanish Olympic Committee, as complimentary formation.
SdG: Could you briefly describe the methodology of Willem II?
JR: In general terms, I would say that for us the most important thing is that players have the greatest possible experience related with the game, for which we look for long times of motor compromise in training sessions, trying to manage at the same time a degree of specificity during the proposed drills.
Obviously, we have objectives by levels of game that, even though they are described by ages, are not linked to these.
I would say that we are a club that uses very little analytical coaching within the groups and we try that the player develops the understanding of the game, making him participant of his own development. In this regard, we are Constructivist with a touch of Cognitivism.
SdG: Is your methodology adapted to the Dutch context? Or is it a totally own methodology
JR: We use a totally adapted methodology to the Dutch context and to Willem II. We have done the coaches' formation nearly from 0 and, even though there are common elements that can be applied within other areas, most of the people who produce content pay attention to the needs of our coaches towards their work with the players.
SdG: The first thing that comes to mind when we speak about Dutch football is the famous Dutch school of Rinus Michels, Johan Cruyff, Louis Van Gaal, etc. What incidence do the Academy players have in your first team? And how can we relate this from a methodological point of view?
JR: The start of this project actually repsonds to the absence of Academy players in our first team, even though our teams from the Academy obtain good National results. In this regard, we are undertaking a change in our philosophy, prioritising formation and patience with the player before the score of the weekend.
Loads of our players are "late borners", so they usually play against guys who are biologically one or two years older.
In terms of methodology, we aim that the player tries to generate advantages and, at the same time, avoid imbalances that the opponent may generate just because he is faster of stronger. Our idea is that when the guys grow up and the "forces are balanced", emerges the total footballer that we are looking.
Currently we have 3 players from the Academy in our first team. During preseason and National Team stoppage, the guys going up are doing a great job, so the fans are starting to get familiar to see Academy players with an excellent performance level.
SdG: In some of your talks, you discuss the phase space. What importance do they have in traning within your methodology? What is the degree of autonomy of the player within this context?
JR: I think that phase spaces are an interesting concept in the theoretical formation of the coach and, also, the player. What interests me about these spaces is that the player identifies himself in them and assumes the functions and correct role, always deciding if he wants to swap that space and, therefore, his role.
The player must receive the appropriate information and decide, accordingly, the best for the team. They are free to experiment in traning sessions until the decisions they make in this regard emerge in a fluid and comfortable way.
SdG: So, from this point of view, how do you introduce the phase spaces in your traning sessions? Do drills/contexts with fixed spaces predominate? Or do you give an extra degree of freedom so the spaces are more dynamic?
JR: We are actually not obsessed with phase spaces during training. We start with fixed spaces from which we move into bigger spaces with subdivisions until we reach real pitch dimensions in terms of space, but we usually do not speak about phase spaces themselves.
SdG: Football has been understood, traditionally, from a technical, tactical, conditional, and if you want, set plays point of view. Paco Seirul·lo speaks about the Human Sportsperson with the corresponding structures (emotional, social, afective, competitive, creative). Do you have these structures into consideration? If so, how do you introduce them within structured traning?
JR: First thing I must say is that we do not want to immitate La Masía and what they do in there. I think that imitating it would be an error.
We understand the football player as a whole but we do not take into consideration the classifications in terms of phase spaces nor the structures of the human being nor the vocabulary introduced by Paco Seirul·lo in our daily routine as an obligation.
We understand the phase spaces, as I said before, from a point of view of of the comprehension of the game. Regarding the players' structures, we know that they exist and are there, but we do not categorise drills or training sessions attending them. Also, our vocabulary is the traditional one because, also, the nuances of these concepts get lost in translation, so for us it is not a priority.
SdG: We have talked about training and players, but let's keep our focus on the coaches. What is the profile of coach you look for at Willem II?
JR: We look for young coaches, willing to learn, and with superior studies as well as having an open mentality.
In the Netherlands it is very hard to obtain the coaching badges, as they are very expensive and ex professional football players have always preference over the rest of students, so they keep most of the places. It is for this reason that most of what the coaches learn until they are accepted to take the courses comes from their own investigations and what we give them from the Department of Methodology.
On top of that, we look for coaches with a good English level that permits him to communicate properly. And, today, we are looking for Dutch coaches. We do not have the economy to bring people from abroad and we hope that this will not be necessary in the future.
SdG How is the methodological approach transmitted to the coach?
JR: It has been a process that has take a few years. We try that coaches have a wide and common understanding of the game so they can speak in terms adapted to our line of work.
From there, we have a general vision of the work's division during the process, from the 6 years old up to the 20 years old. From that perspective, each coach understands that the player is in a process and that they have to focus in corresponding aspects.
Finally, we intend that the coach has a wide understanding of the different situations of the game that must be solved by the player correspondigly with their age, the tools that they need to solve them, and how to train their implementation.
We use to do this with periodic meetings as well as we use technology to keep sending them several PDF documents that generate in them given questions that are resolved later in personal periodic meetings. This also permits us having a loop of positive feedback that helps us improving the system.
SdG: In Dutch football it seems like an obligation to play a 1.4.3.3. What degree of autonomy does the player have? Do you see positively a change of system as long as the principles of play are respected? Or you have a methodology linked to a system?
JR: Actually, today's Dutch football tends more to the 1.4.2.3.1. than the 1.4.3.3. and it is only a few teams playing a "pure Dutch" 1.4.3.3.
In our case, when the kids play 3v3, 5v5, or 7v7, they do it with structures that may be relevant when they play 11v11 with a 1.4.3.3., which is our main system.
The coach must develop this system as a priority and the change in the early ages is quite restricted. When they become U15, we start developing a second system that usually is a 1.3.5.2. In their last stages before they become U21, we do not only look to keep this system with an associative style, but we also want them to understand a 1.4.4.2. counterattacking style of play and, in some cases, a completely direct style.
We finish the interview with the feeling of having learnt a lot and have expanded our knowledge and horizons a bit more in a small time frame. From this moment, at least from our part, Willem II have a few more followers.
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