|| TRAINING
THE BACKWARD FADING OF A CHAIN
ALAN MAHER //
Alan Maher was a long-time member of United Soccer Coaches . He was a high school teacher and longtime soccer coach on Long Island . He spent summers in the Netherlands working with the KNVB . He passed away a few years ago .
When I was working , I used to frequent one restaurant about two times a week for lunch . ( It was cheap .) I got to know the waiter very well . He knew that I was in education .
He came to me one day with a problem . He was the MC for the initiation rite of new Elks in his lodge . He had to memorize about 20 lines to recite to the new members . This made him very nervous . This was a most difficult task for him to do .
I assured him that it was an easy task if he did it the right way . So I explained how to do it the right way .
When people need to learn how to memorize , most start at the top and work their way down . Thus , the first line is memorized and then the second , etc . Let us look at what is really happening .
The first line is memorized . It is then recited from memory and then the second line is memorized . Then lines one and two are recited and the third is memorized . As you can see the first line is the most reinforced and the second is less reinforced and the third is even less reinforced .
By the end , the top is really reinforced , and the recitation grows weaker and weaker as it is recited . By the end it is very weak . Is it any wonder that students tremble at the thought of reciting something ? The whole learning experience is backwards .
I told the waiter to read through the whole twenty lines and memorize the last line first . Then read through again and memorize the next to last line and recite the last line from memory . Then read through and memorize the third from the bottom and recite the last two memorized lines . And continue in that fashion .
Can you see what is happening ? The recitation gets stronger and stronger as the “ learner ” progresses through the material . Once the first line is recited recall gets stronger not weaker . Think of it .
This is called the backward fading of a chain . Not a bad name . Athletic training can be done the same way .
Think of an exercise that begins with about three players at midfield . The coach passes the ball to one of the players . This is followed by passing and running off the ball . The purpose is to finish with a shot . Often the ball is lost and the coach yells , “ Next three !” The shot was the most important thing and it never happened .
I recently saw a coach train four keepers of high school age . They stood in a line by one goal post . The first one ran to the middle of the goal and the coach took a hard shot to the corner of the goal . If the keeper missed the ball , the coach yelled , “ Next .” Understand that the keeper never even touched the ball , and it was all over . I always thought that the purpose of keeper training was to develop the hands in catching and stopping the ball .
It was clear to me that the coach was more interested in shooting practice for himself than helping the keepers .
What to do ?
Wiel Coerver gave me two examples of the backward fading of a chain back in 1982 .
He had two players stand about 10 yards apart and drop kick a ball back and forth … to the hands . ( The last line to be recited .) Then each player took one step back . ( Next to the last line .) They continued until it went well . Then they stepped back again . In a short time they were far from each other and kicking into each other ’ s hands .
If they had started at a far distance , they would have missed most of the time . ( The first line .)
Then he had players shoot at the goal … in the corners . They started about 10 yards out . When it went well , they stepped back one step . They moved back one step at a time until they formed an arc around the edge of the penalty area .
Then they practiced shooting from there with a high degree of success . Then they stepped back again . He was very happy .
I was familiar with the concept , but now I saw it in action in soccer .
Teachers need to ask , “ What is the purpose ( of the exercise )?” Coaches need to ask the same thing . If the purpose is to have a good shot on goal , make sure that it happens . If the purpose is to have the keeper catch the ball or at least stop it , then set up the exercise to do just that .
I was trained by Frans Hoek , the Dutch keeper . He taught me to begin with two keepers passing with their hands to give practice to holding the ball … easy balls that they could catch … technique only . Make it work before you make it hard .
It is a long title . The backward fading of a chain . Oh , and yes , it is great to memorize poetry . See , back to where we started ! n
56 | Soccer Journal