Some time ago, Spalletti said that “now Napoli is showing compactness and mentality, and we have a group of friends”. The players must be united on the field and not necessarily friends, however, these words indicate important aspects of a group. A sign of this mentality concerns Insigne who despite leaving at the end of the season continues to play his fundamental role. A team must be united, and there are no alternatives; Sarri has also understood this and with Lazio has re-established a climate of greater union with the players by improving the human relationship with them. An example on all, in our league, is represented by Mourinho that in exchange for the maximum commitment of the players supports the team whatever the difficulty. This is not the old system of carrot and stick but empathy, which in the case of leaders consists in pursuing the chosen objectives while understanding the needs of the players. Napoleon already said this when he affirmed: “I win my battles also with the dreams of my soldiers”. United we win, we have always known this, the strongest armies of the past were based on this concept. In competitive terms, it must be applied with the awareness that the commitment of all is essential, the best players are not needed if they do not know how to play together. The most recent example of a lack of unity and a presumptuous mentality was provided by Inter in last week’s derby. Milan was psychologically compact until the end while Inter showed, over time, a level of cohesion centered on a lower and lower level of intensity and aimed to maintain the acquired result. In the end, the most motivated and united team won. In summary, cohesion is synonymous with common purpose, willingness to sacrifice for the team and intensity of play. A team that is not very united can win a match by using the quality of the single players, but it will never win a championship or obtain salvation if it is not united.
Tag Archive for 'squadra'
In soccer, as in all team sports, it is good to remember that in order to win, “The champion team beats a team of champions”, indicating that even the ideal team composed of only champions must still integrate the skills of each one despite possessing a priori a better quality potential at the individual level.
So how often does the favored team win?
A statistician Chris Anderson together with a behavioral economist David Sally have studied this phenomenon [2013] and found that in the European soccer championships this happens in just over 50% of the games, the percentage rises to about two-thirds of the time in German handball, USA basketball and football while in baseball it is about 60% of the matches. To understand team performance we must reduce the focus on the intrinsic value of the teams highlighted mainly by the level of individual talent and put more interest in the study of the skills needed to work together.
What to do to increase the likelihood of winning?
An important key parameter for distinguishing winning teams from others relates to the positive/negative connotation and frequency of dialogue between players on the field. It has been shown that the three positive effects most cited by players are:
- Increase in player coordination that stimulates mental repetition of critical situations.
- Improvement of their concentration and the refining of the precision of their movements.
- Increase in their ability to make correct decisions accurately and in the shortest possible time [Farina and Cei, 2019].
10 key points to be aware of and know how to accept in table tennis to be a winner.
- Table tennis is a sport in which every player makes many mistakes
- You can win till the last point
- Concentration must be high and consistent at every point and up to the last
- You have to react positively immediately after every single mistake
- The service is decisive
- It is necessary to have a specific pre-race routine
- It is necessary to have a routine between the points
- Even the champions are in trouble but they know what to do to get out of it.
- In defense: play an extra ball!
- Chen Bin, coach of Ding Ning, Olympic gold medalist: “Table tennis is not just about hitting the ball on the table, you have to return the ball, you have to feel how the ball comes towards you, and visualize how your ball will end up on the opponent’s table when you hit it again”
The most serious problem for a team and athletes is to think they are good.
This belief immediately puts people in a condition of greater satisfaction and fuels the expectation that everything will go well as they expect, so we will win.
Feeling fit and being aware of your personal and team skills is certainly important. Often teams think that this condition is enough to achieve success. They don’t understand that it is necessary but not enough.
To play at a high level, you have to have the skills of a high level team. Then you have to prove it on the pitch.
Arrigo Sacchi says that the motivation must be exceptional, because on this basis the player is constantly striving to improve himself. That’s what Carol Dweck has called a growth-mindset. Those who don’t demonstrate it are destined to have what the coaches say: a mental block. In other words, these players have a rigid mentality that leads them to think that their talent and fitness are enough to be effective in their work.
Serious mistake. They will strategie the match without the motivation to play at the best. They will enter with the conviction that they will play well so spontaneously, and when faced with the difficulties of the match they will not be ready to adapt, because they hadn’t foreseen it.
Per mentalità s’intende il modo di concepire, intendere, giudicare avvenimenti individuali e sociali. La partita di calcio è una tipica situazione di confronto sociale fra due squadre, ognuna delle quali vuole imporre il proprio modo di giocare attraverso le azioni svolte dai calciatori durante l’arco dei 90 minuti.
Conoscere la mentalità di una squadra permette di prevedere come reagirà di fronte a situazioni emotivamente intense, come ad esempio subire un goal decisivo negli ultimi minuti di una partita. Permette inoltre di sapere quali sono i giocatori che reagiranno meglio o peggio in situazioni imprevedibili.
La mentalità di una squadra è determinata da un insieme di fattori tra loro interagenti che comprendono:
- La qualità organizzativa della Società di calcio – Il sistema organizzativo consiste fra l’altro nell’insieme delle strategie e strutture organizzative, nel sistema decisionale, nel sistema di programmazione e controllo, nello stile di leadership, cultura, clima e valori. Migliore è l’efficienza e l’efficacia della qualità organizzativa, migliore sarà la capacità della squadra e dell’allenatore a giocare con una mentalità vincente.
- La qualità dell’immagine della Società di calcio – Si riferisce alla soddisfazione dei bisogni di appartenenza e di identificazione della squadra e dei suoi stakeholder. Questa dimensione riguarda in prevalenza, l’autorevolezza della leadership societaria, la sua credibilità, la personalità e la competenza professionale delle sue figure chiave, i risultati e il prestigio conquistati nel tempo.
- Gli obiettivi della squadra - Si riferisce agli obiettivi della stagione in corso (ad esempio, vincere il campionato, arrivare tra le prime quattro, restare in Serie A) sono obiettivi di risultato. Vi sono poi anche obiettivi di prestazione (raggiungere un determinato standard prestativo individuale e collettivo) e obiettivi di processo (centrati sul miglioramento di singole abilità tecnico-tattiche, psicologiche e fisiche). Riguarda, inoltre, lo sviluppo di una mentalità di squadra che sia in grado di darsi in campo nuovi obiettivi in relazione alle diverse fasi di gioco di una partita. Comporta il sapere sfruttare a proprio favore i momenti positivi di un match, così come richiede la presenza di un piano pre-ordinato per affrontare le fasi di gioco negative o di maggior tensione agonistica.
- La qualità tecnico-tattica della squadra – Si riferisce al bagaglio di competenze calcistiche e alla loro integrazione nel gioco di squadra, che determina molto di più della semplice somma delle qualità dei singoli calciatori. Maggiore è la competenza tecnico-tattica della squadra associata a un ottimale grado di preparazione fisica, maggiore è la probabilità che la squadra sappia affrontare ogni fase della partita con la mentalità vincente.
- L’intelligenza collettiva – Si esprime attraverso prestazioni che sono superiori a quelle che ognuno potrebbe fornire singolarmente. La qualità tecnico-tattica è parte dell’intelligenza collettiva; la coesione e la convinzione si riferiscono ai suoi aspetti relazionali e cognitivo-sociali. Quindi la domanda che bisogna porsi è la seguente: “in che modo i calciatori devono interagire in campo allo scopo di mostrarsi uniti e fiduciosi delle proprie competenze di squadra?” Napoleone era solito dire di vincere le sue battaglie anche con i sogni dei suoi soldati, questa frase è una metafora efficace di cosa si debba intendere per intelligenza collettiva.
- L’orientamento motivazionale dei calciatori – I calciatori e la squadra nel suo complesso devono manifestare una mentalità orientata alla crescita e non pensare, invece, che la mentalità vincente sia qualcosa di data una volta per tutte e che non debba essere allenata in modo continuativo. La tabella 3 mostra le differenze fra chi ritiene che la mentalità sia un’entità statica e scarsamente modificabile e quelli che invece ritengono che la mentalità può essere ulteriormente sviluppata quale che sia il livello a cui si gioca. Un esempio di applicazione al calcio di questo concetto può riguardare l’acquisto di un calciatore. Generalmente questo avviene sulla base del bagaglio tecnico e tattico, si ritiene così che un giocatore che fornisce ottime prestazioni in una squadra debba per forza farlo anche in un’altra poiché la sua abilità lo garantisce. In molti casi questo però non è avvenuto e ciò è probabilmente da attribuire a questa idea statica della mentalità che non tiene conto delle diverse condizioni che vi sono tra un club e l’altro e come queste influenzano l’adattamento del calciatore e di conseguenza la qualità delle sue prestazioni.
Diagramma della mentalità (modificato da Dweck, 2009)
|
Mentalità statica |
Mentalità orientata alla crescita |
| Intelligenza statica | Intelligenza può essere sviluppata |
| Evita le sfide | Affronta le sfide |
| Reagisce agli ostacoli in modo difensivo o rinuncia | Persiste di fronte alle difficoltà e agli insuccessi |
| L’impegno è poco considerato | L’impegno è percepito come il mezzo per padroneggiare |
| Ignora le valutazioni negative costruttive | Impara dalle valutazioni negative costruttive |
| E’ spaventato dai successi degli altri | Impara dai successi degli altri |
| Raggiunge rapidamente uno standard prestativo ma è inferiore al suo potenziale | Raggiunge elevati livelli di successo |
- Lo stile di leadership dell’allenatore – Ogni squadra ha un leader che la guida ed è responsabile delle prestazioni che vengono fornite, questo leader è l’allenatore. Non deve sottrarsi a questo ruolo che è di guida nei confronti del gruppo, di distributore di ruoli e di compiti da svolgere con precisione e fermezza. E’ il principale motivatore della squadra, deve conoscerne la psicologia così da trarne fuori il meglio che sia possibile.
Yesterday Champions League matches showed a resilience problem in some teams, such as Tottenham (it lost 7-2 to Bayern) and Atalanta (2-1 to Shaktar). Both teams were unable to react positively to the difficulties of the match.
In fact, resilience refers precisely to the ability to react immediately to a problem. It is the ability that allows people to react to defeats by going back stronger than before. These people, rather than being overwhelmed by failure and blocking their determination, find instead a way to rise from those defeats.
Let’s also say that teams that often lose matches, as in this period in Serie A (Spal, Sampdoria, Genoa and Milan) and those that, usually, play below their level show a lack of resilience. The same goes for the coaches who lead them.
- To develop the resilience players and teams need to:
- Know the situations you have to deal with in detail
- Have a plan to deal with them successfully
- Be prepared to adapt immediately to new and unforeseen situations
- Believe in one’s own personal and team skills, making the maximum effort to implement them
- Be able to react positively and immediately to an error
- Communicate and support companions throughout the match
- Reduce tension when possible and during game breaks
These are skills that should be constantly improved. For the coaches the questions are:
- Am I aware of the importance of resilience?
- Am I convinced I can coach it?
- How often do I coach it in my team?
Salma al-Majidi, 27 years old, is the first woman manager of a male team in Sudan. Soccer is very diffuse in the arab world and FIFA has presented her as the first soccer manager.The team is Al-Ahly Al-Gadaref in the city of Gedaref in Sudan at east of Khartoum.
In basketball the cohesion is a need to achieve the team primary goal: cope with the opponents with confidence and grit. The internal rivalries, if not limited to few episodes are wasted energies and keep the players engaged in activities with a disruptive impact on training and match. The team must always think in terms of US and the coach should encourage the participation of players, listen them, treat everyone with the same criteria and avoid favoritism, support altruistic behaviors and reduce the individualistic behaviors.
Magic Earvin Johnson’s story is an example of how even a champion have to move from too individualistic behaviors to greater cooperation with the mates. In fact, when Magic played in the Los Angeles Lakers also stood out for his dedication to teamwork: passed and defended rather than thinking about scoring points. It was Magic to explain to his coach Pat Riley as he had established this great attitude.
When he was a little boy, playing Youth League basketball in East Lansing, Michigan, his coach told him he was the best player of the team and he should have to shoot the ball all the time. He did it, scoring most of the points of the team, which won all the time. Despite these victories the other teammates looked miserable, were depressed and nobody thanked or appeared pleased about what he was doing. Magic also was not lucky and he did not want to be this kind of player. He decided to change, becoming more altruistic, defending and passing the ball to the mates. The team mood changed completely and the mates became much more motivated, increased their skills and continued to have success.
What about your team, the players put aside their ego and work to be cohesive independently of the match momentum?
“The advantage of playing at home is universal in sports. Major-league baseball teams consistently win 54% of their home games, while their hockey counterparts take over 60%.
In many of the NBA’s early seasons, home teams were regularly winning 66% of their games. But why?
Perhaps home fans cheer on their local heroes to incredible feats. Perhaps the bed in a superstar’s mansion is more comfortable than the road hotel’s. Maybe stadiums have been fine-tuned to the liking of the home team. Maybe jet-lag hinders performance.
Or maybe, under pressure from roaring and judgmental local crowds, it’s the officials.
Since March 2015, the NBA began assessing referee calls (and notable non-calls) in the final two minutes of all games within five points, posting daily reports on its website. Last month, The Pudding compiled the data and open-sourced the results for public analysis.
Does the home team receive favorable officiating? Does it explain the NBA’s home-court advantage?
We can break down NBA calls into three categories: correct calls, incorrect no-calls, and incorrect calls:
In every category, the home team benefited.
In recent years, in basketball and elsewhere, the home advantage has been evaporating. The decline has been slow and steady in English soccer over the past century. In baseball, where home-field advantage has been at some of its weakest levels in recent years, it’s thought that closer supervision of umpires may be to thank.
And perhaps it shall be in the NBA, as referees come under more scrutiny, it disappears in basketball too.
The two-minute database will continue to grow, and we’ll continue to learn more about how refereeing affects outcomes.”
(By Oliver Roeder)
Home Court Advantage by Referees’ Calls
Team benefiting from correct calls
(Refs correctly called an infraction against the other team)
Home team - 51%________________49% - Away team
Team benefiting from missed calls, an incorrect no-call
(Refs let team get away with infraction)
Home team - 52%_______________48% - Away team
Team benefiting from incorrect calls
(Refs screwed up – called an infraction on the other team)
Home team - 56%_______________44% – Away team
Listen from Arrigo Sacchi what does it mean for him motivation, training and have a dream.
