Analysis of Joe's Football

AS and A Level Physical Education (Sport & Coaching)

Mark Timson

Sport Science

Observation & analysis

Section 1

Skills required to fulfil the positional role Elements/qualities

Necessary to produce an affective performance.

General fitness: - This is required within sport because when in a game situation the player’s level of skill needs to be obtained throughout the whole game. General fitness within the game of rugby includes: -

Stamina /endurance
Strength
Flexibility / suppleness (and)
Speed

Stamina or Endurance- This is the body’s ability to keep going for long periods without tiring. There are two parts that make up Endurance: -

Cardiovascular Endurance – This is the ability for the heart to deliver oxygen to the muscles over a long period(s) of exercise. As the lungs also pay a part in this it can also be called: ‘Cardiorespiartory Endurance’
Muscular Endurance- The ability of the muscles to maintain and repeat contractions. This kind of stamina is important in rugby, as the muscles contract a lot in the same way, as you play for long periods of time with very short recovery time i.e. at breakdowns of the game. If this didn’t occur, you would not be able to last the whole match, as you would quickly tire, from the same and repeating contractions made by the muscles, also stamina is required as the muscles need to work at a high performance rate for long periods of time. You must also have the stamina to release short quick actions. Also you wouldn’t be able to maintain a high skill level throughout the game. Which in the game of Rugby when skill level drops it may lead to injuries.

Strength- this is the force exerted by your muscles when they contract. This force gives the forward and backward movement wanted by the muscles when they contract. This is vital to a game of Rugby, as Rugby is a full contact sport lower and upper body strength is vital to oppose those who may be bigger and stronger.

E.g. In a scrum strength is vital to push the opposition of the ball, and also in rucks and tackles. Strength in the legs can help with driving and tackling to over power the opposition, also strength helps when kicking , whether it be goal kicking or clearance, strength may help in the distance gained.

Flexibility/ Suppleness- this is the movement range found at a joint in the body.

This is an important factor within the game of rugby because the flexibility is used to perform various movements and actions. E.g. the flexibility is important in rugby as the body can often occur in not normal positions so the flexibility of the body has to be great. I.e. when tackled/tackling sometimes your body will have to adjust to perform the tackle but not in the standard way. The body needs to be flexible to perform a huge range of actions within the game.

Speed - This is the time taken to fulfil a certain movement / action to move the body part into place or body over a distance. It is important in Rugby, as speed is vital in rugby. Speed in the sense of quickness over distances may help you as a player to run quickly to score or to make a try saving tackle. Also speed is essential as ‘quick hands’ may make space or quick rucking and ball release may give your team an advantage over the opposition by catching them unaware.

Specific fitness: - As with general ...

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Specific fitness: - As with general fitness it helps with your game but specific fitness really helps the player become better. It involves a number of qualities, which are needed to play the sport at a higher level of skill. The following areas of specific fitness help the game of hockey for the player.

Power & explosive strength
Agility
Balance
Co-ordination
Speed of reaction
Timing

Power and explosive strength- this is the combination of Speed and strength. This is needed within, as explosive amounts of power can break a defence or make a big hit which would ‘rattle’ the opposition and give you a mental edge over the opposition . The explosive power / strength is needed for quick, sharp powerful actions within a game situation. This explosive strength is useful as when attacking as a quick explosion of pace or change or direction can end up in a making of many metres in the field.

Agility- this is the ability to change the body’s position and movement quickly. This is a key factor within Rugby, as quick changes of direction can be a very good in Rugby by creating space and turning defence in to attack. By a quick change of direction a player can dodge, and create space for other team mates to come into and make full use of the space.

Balance - this is the ability to hold the body posture and correct body position when in the game. This is important in Rugby because a good body position in scrums and rucking etc means that the technique is correct as the weight of your body is evenly spread making your body momentum hard to stop because you have control of your body because you are balanced. When being tackled if you are not balanced you can not control the momentum of your body, therefore you can not position yourself safely and correctly for your team to benefit.

Co-ordination - The ability to move body, limbs etc into position smoothly and accurately with what you’re body tells you to. This is important in Rugby, as, body –eye co-ordination is vital to see a situation and then generate the correct action needed. E.g. before going into contact situations is there support for you to offload to? If so the pass has to be quick and accurate as the time is very limited and the decision must be made very quickly. Or if attempting a drop goal, is the situation correct for it and then is the distance kickable. This decision must be made smoothly and quickly to create the right technique for kicking.

Speed of reaction - This is the time taken for which the body reacts and adjusts to a certain situation. In rugby it can be useful to react quickly, as you may be able to intercept the ball, make a quick sharp tackle very quickly with good speed of reaction of the situation faced. It also might help you in spotting positions and reacting accordingly.

Timing- this is the ability to react at the right moment. This is very important in rugby, as timing is everything. When making a tackle if the timing is not correct the situation may become dangerous. If the timing isn’t right the body position may not be safe /correct so injuries may occur. When kicking a ball to goal if the timing of the pint of kick isn’t right the accuracy and power may be disturbed .If when going up in a defensive line and your personal timing isn’t correct you may leave a gap for the opposition to go into, or even give away a penalty.

Techniques /skills performed well / room for improvement –

Strengths: -

Vision - spatial awareness
Handling – quick , technique
Awareness of others

Tackling

Weaknesses: -

Timing- kicking

Joe’s vision within the game situation is excellent as he sees a gap within the defence and accelerates his whole body to that space by his agility to move his muscles quickly and perform explosive power into that gap. This was good, as he was able to make space and break through the defence by awareness only. Joe was also able to see gaps that he could go through before receiving the ball as the spatial awareness of his positioning and of others was that good that he created space for others and himself. The angle of Joe’s running was good as again he could see a gap and catch the opposition unaware.

The handling of Joe was very good, as he was able to pass accurately and with the right technique to reach players and again create space with his handling. When Joe came to a contact situation the quickness of his handling and the accuracy of it was good enough to keep the game flowing and keep his team with the possession of the ball. Joe’s quickness of hands was good enough to again create space for others. His awareness of others and their position was very good as he could anticipate the movement and speed of players supporting him or attacking towards him. This meant he could get into the right position and communicate with his team to move them into the right position also.

The tackling of Joe was excellent as he got into the right position early to make an affective tackle. His explosive power and body position and agility sometimes was good enough for himself to turnover the ball. The explosive power was very quick enabling Joe to take control of the tackle situation by using his strength to the maximum output.

The only weakness that I could see within Joe’s game was his kicking as it became inconsistent as he tired. The accuracy became inconsistent maybe this was due to the timing as he kicked the ball. The timing of Joe’s kicking may be brought on by Joe concentrating on the target instead of the ball and the body-eye co-ordination leading to incorrect timing. It may be also due to lack of confidence on the task in hand which may lead to the timing not being spot-on.

Contribution within the Game.

Joe’s contribution within the game was again very good, as his communication to others on his team was very good. He called very specifically where he wanted support and the ball from others. When defending Joe became a leader and organised his side to make sure that they were in the correct position at the right time.

As I have said his awareness of space allowed him to gain and create distance by going through gaps that appeared. The support play of Joe was again excellent as he was always near the ball to help and when defending did his job to support the side.

In the position that Joe played in (Centre) he remained in his position and did the role that went with the position, as he didn’t get dragged out of position too much. But when he did he was quick to see the gap the he had left so quickly either communicated someone to cover for him or cover him.

Suggestions how the performer might improve / modify

Their performance of the skill/ technique.

Joe needs to increase the consistency of his kicking this is due to the lack of timing of the kicking technique. It might be also to the technique that he uses to kick the ball. When doing the practice he should ensure the he takes his time and doesn’t rush the technique of the kick. To improve the accuracy of the kicking with himself and a partner he should practice kicking to targets at different ranges and angles.

When doing this he should ensure that his balance is correct and his body position is right when taking kicks. The position of the ball when it is in his hands should be the same to guarantee consistency and the technique should be the same every time he approaches to kick. He should also try to increase his stamina by doing training to help him with his stamina so he doesn’t tire so quickly.

Description of Practice / situation to aid performance

To improve the accuracy of his kicking, Joe should practise aiming at targets set out before. To increase his confidence of his kicking he should start at very short distances .He could do this with a partner standing first of all 10m away gradually increasing to 40-50m. Once this has been done to a sufficient level of accuracy he should start to try more demanding angles from on the pitch to touch for example working across the pitch to gain greater accuracy in all areas of the pitch. When again this has been done to a sufficient level he should then try to kick from facing the goalposts from a side angle and try to hit the post upright. When doing these practises Joe should try and be as accurate as possible, if he sustains the correct technique and the correct body position and balance the timing will be automatic the accuracy will come with this. If he keeps control of the ball and his strength and not try to kick it to hard to direction of the ball should be such of what he had in mind.

Diagram- 1.

Distance (varied)