Day three of the UEFA A licence (part 2) was broken in four parts; a morning lecture and on-field practical, two afternoon lectures and an evening lecture. The morning lecture and on-field practical was delivered by Kevin McGreskin, who has acquired his UEFA A licence from three separate football associations. Kevin is an elite performance specialist, and is the Technical Director of SoccerEyeQ. McGreskins session was entitled Developing Game Awareness, and centred on the idea that the technical, tactical and physical difference between elite players is often minimal; the thing that separates the best from the rest is that the best players consistently make better decisions while under pressure. The execution of skilled performance in football involves three stages: perception (the input of what the player sees), decision-making (the processing or thinking that the player does) and action (the output of the player doing). In a 90-minute game, elite players spend less than two minutes in possession of the ball. They take less than two touches per possession and have between 40-50 interactions with the ball. Over the course of a game, 98 per cent of a players time is spent in the perception and decision-making stages - yet very little time is ever spent developing a players ability in these areas. The three levels of situational awareness in a game are basic perception (the ability to take in information), realization of relationships (putting context and meaning to the information) and anticipation (recognizing patterns of behaviour). The five things that dictate the roles and responsibilities of players on the field are the ball, teammates, the opposition, the area of play and the state of play. The first three are dynamic variables (always changing), while the final two are semi-static variables (sometimes changing). The on-field practical session focused on the dynamic variables - and it was one of the best sessions Ive ever seen or participated in. McGreskin used visual overload to train the players abilities in perception and decision-making. He did this by introducing colours; coloured gloves, bibs, footballs and tennis balls. McGreskin started with a very simple passing drill; two players 20 metres apart, each with a ball, with a player in the middle. The middle player received a pass from the first player, played it back and turned to get the ball from the second player. McGreskin then increased the visual stimuli to overload the players visual perception and decision-making process. He did this by getting the players to wear one red glove and one yellow glove. When the player in the middle received a pass, he had to look over his shoulder to see the opposite player (who was instructed to hold up one coloured glove as the pass was struck). The player in the middle then had to call out the colour of the raised glove, before playing the return pass and going to receive the second ball. Adding more and more variables increased the difficulty; shouting out the colour of the glove being raised, tapping the inside of the opposite foot from which the coloured glove was on, introducing coloured cones around which the ball had to be carried before playing the return pass, etc. McGreskin then proceeded to introduce interactive passing drills, where two teams of eight players (one team in green bibs and one team in blue bibs) passed two balls in a 30x30 grid, alternating passes from a green-bibbed player to a blue-bibbed player. Again, more and more variables were introduced to increase the difficulty; recognition of an external player holding up a coloured glove, calling out the colour of the glove before receiving the pass, introducing coloured footballs to correspond with the bib colours of the external players, introducing coloured tennis balls that had to be released to a teammate before receiving the pass, etc. It was an incredible session, and put paid to the myth that training perception and decision-making skills cannot be done. The morning session was adequately captured by a quote in McGreskins lecture, from Abernathy, 2008: "Coaches should consider routinely using demanding secondary tasks concurrently with the practice of primary sports skills as a means of stimulating the continued automation of primary skills and the refinement of multi-tasking skills of athletes." The first lecture of the afternoon was delivered by David Platt (not the former England international), who is a UEFA A licence coach, a performance coach for the Team GB Olympic squad and a regional scout for Manchester United. Platts lecture was entitled, The Winning Mentality: Recruiting, Assessing and Building Mental Toughness. Platt explained that of the four components of player development (technical, tactical, physical and mental), only the mental side of development has yet to be fully explored. He gave numerous examples from his previous work, including as a coach at Liverpool FC. In his work with Team GB Cycling, he outlined the core values that the team has created: commitment (sacrifice), ownership (its up to you), responsibility (benchmarks) and excellence (do your best). An interesting area of discussion surrounded the recruitment and retention of players. Platt stated that off-field behaviour reflects on-field behaviour - you simply cannot flick a switch and expect a players behaviour to change. So how a player behaves off the field - on social media, for example - often impacts a clubs decision to recruit or retain that player. Platt ended his presentation by advising the coaches to identify and be clear on their cultural and generic criteria for mental toughness. These core values should then be central to their recruitment, retention and development processes. Phil Abbott, from Academy Soccer Coach (a session planning software company that the Irish FA uses for all of its coach education courses), delivered the second lecture of the afternoon. While Abbotts session was very brief, he outlined the many areas in which technology plays a role in the modern game. He outlined the criteria for professional club academies in England to enter the EPPP (Elite Player Performance Program), as well as the funding that is involved for clubs in that program. Abbott presented some other interesting bits of information: 65 per cent of the population are visual learners; the brain processes information 60,000 times faster than text; and visual aids can increase retention of information by nearly 400 per cent. The message to the coaches was clear - technology can aid in your ability to get information to your players. How you choose to use that technology is entirely up to you. Desi Curry, the Technical Director of the Irish Football Association, delivered the evening session. His topic was Modern Trends in Football, and was an extension of the lecture delivered the previous evening by Phil Melville and Nigel Best. There were five topics that were discussed and debated by the coaches: - What are the key technical aspects that are increasing/decreasing in the modern game?- As a coach, which tactical formation would you choose to play, and why?- How, as a coach, would you plan to counter the counter attack? - What are the key factors affecting set plays?- As a coach, how do you prefer to defend/attack corner kicks? I wont go into to detail about the discussions that took place, as it would likely fill a book! But I will leave you with this quote from the evening lecture that I found especially pertinent to Canadian soccer: "Leaders take people to where they want to be; great leaders take people to where they OUGHT to be!" Jordan Akins Jersey . -- There were a lot of firsts for the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. Texans Womens Jerseys . LOUIS -- Rookie Tavon Austin has missed another day of practice, lessening the odds hell be ready for the St. http://www.authentictexansshopnfl.com/ . 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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- From a pure hockey standpoint, Team Canada is filthy rich in talent.But Team USA was built to steal that fame and fortune at the World Cup of Hockey.The two teams will square off in the round-robin portion of the best-on-best tournament on Sept. 20 at Torontos Air Canada Centre (8 p.m., ESPN). Theyve already split a pair of pre-tournament games in preparation for the World Cup, and their intense rivalry was on full display. The animosity is only going to increase once the puck officially drops.Team USA goalie Cory Schneider described Canada as arguably the best team in the tournament and said that having faced the Canadians in warm-up games will help the Americans.Playing against the best, prepares you the best, Schneider said.Is Canada really the better team, though?No.In terms of team concept, Team USA has the upper hand.Yes, I said it. Bring on the comments -- but just be ready for the I told you so when the tournament is over. Last week I picked Team Sweden to win the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, but this isnt about who is going to win this tournament. Its strictly between Team USA and Canada.The American roster was built to slow down Canada. Every team has some level of depth in this tournament, but Team USA has the right kind of depth. Players have accepted their roles, and the management group quickly gave this team an identity when the roster was formed. The chemistry has been evident during training camp. Ive been covering Team Sweden and Finland, but now that Im back on American soil for games at Verizon Center on Tuesday (Team USA vs. Finland, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN) and Wednesday (Team Sweden vs. Team Europe, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN3), I want to give my impressions of the U.S. team -- whether you want them or not.I understand there are some extremely talented players --?Tyler Johnson, Phil Kessel, Kevin Shattenkirk and Justin Faulk -- who were not selected to the roster, but the vision of Team USAs management group, including coach John Tortorella, has built a team that can beat Canada.I like the fact that many teams in this tournament have focused on small-area games during practice, including Team USA. Those drills help players make quicker decisions in tight situations, and because the talent level throughout this tournament is off the charts, most of the goals scored will be in the dirty areas. Thats where size and skill will be a factor for the Americans.Were trying to get more work underneath the hashmarks so theres presssure and theres some combativeness within it, explained Tortorella.dddddddddddd Its just, how much do you give them? Small-ice games are a very important part of hockey, especially early on when youre with your guys.Canada will score goals -- theres no denying that. If youre wondering how Team USA will produce offense against the Canadians, it has to come from secondary scoring. We know Patrick Kane is going to score, but others on the roster will need to produce, including the likes of Max Pacioretty, Justin Abdelkader, Ryan Kesler and T.J. Oshie. Team USA cant make any mistakes when facing Canada. When they play for real, its going to be fast-paced and its going to be fun to watch.Canada is loaded with plenty of two-way players, but if the U.S. can establish its speed early and maintain that structure and physicality, theres no reason not to think the Americans can beat Canada. Team USA isnt about to completely pound the Canadians into submission or try to beat them in one-on-one situations. The mindset is to keep the momentum and not allow Canadas best players to reach the elite game level.Team USA has to limit Canadas offensive zone possession time. If the U.S. makes a mistake in its own end, Canada will make it count.Im glad we played Canada, Tortorella said, because they are a really good team, probably the best team in the tournament right now. ... I think it really gave us a focus on that we just werent close enough to the puck on our breakout, so we didnt come out clean. We just werent supporting enough, and we certainly werent close enough or really even gave ourselves a chance to forecheck because we got stubborn at the blue line in trying to make too many plays instead of putting it behind them.For this story, I reached out to a few different hockey personnel on both sides of the border. I polled players from other teams in this tournament, and the majority believe Team USA will beat Team Canada.Both teams are talented, probably the best two teams in the tournament, said one current NHL player who is neither American nor Canadian. But the identity and chemistry and the role players, I like the U.S. more.Canada has won three of the past four gold medals at the Winter Olympics, including the 2010 Vancouver Games and 2014 Sochi Games. That international success will end against Team USA this time around. 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