Circular football training

- First part -

Given what technical elements the circular stock is made of, let's now see what are the most effective ways to train it and to learn as quickly as possible to execute it in the most correct way. Before getting down to the practical, however, it is necessary to make a premise about the types of human movement that exist and about motor learning so that one can fully appreciate the meaning of a training program.

Human movements can be divided into three categories: reflex movements, voluntary movements and automatic movements (not to be confused with automatism). These types of movements differ from each other in the area of the central nervous system from which they are controlled and the type of stimulus necessary to activate them. The reflex movement is a movement that is activated following a sensory stimulation to a peripheral part of one's body. The stimulus that is perceived peripherally is sent to the spinal cord, where it is processed, which is responsible for the reflex response to the stimulus. Classic examples are the man who retracts the hand after it has come into contact with an intense heat source, or the man who retracts the foot after resting it on a pin. Voluntary movement, on the other hand, is a movement that is activated, precisely, by one's own decision and is controlled by the cerebral cortex. An example would be to grab an object or rotate the head to look at the person you are talking to. Finally, the automatic movement is that kind of movement that has been repeated so many times that it has internalized itself to such an extent that it can be activated and managed without conscious control. It is under the control of areas such as the cerebellum, the thalamus or the striatum. Some examples of automatic movement are walking, pedaling, driving a car (for those who have already done it for a long time), etc. Now, learning a movement necessarily means making it automatic! When a martial artist (or a sportsman) performs a technical gesture, in the vast majority of cases, he must lower it into a tactical context that makes it impossible for him to think of a correct technical execution of the gesture because he must pay more attention to himself, to the adversary or to opponents. It is therefore necessary to repeat a movement, obviously in a correct way, so that it can be internalized to the point of allowing itself to free its mind from the conscious control of the technique. But how exactly do you make an automatic movement? The development of motor skills (ie the ability to perform complex motor performance with the fewest possible number of errors and in the manner most suited to the purpose) takes place through four phases: the first phase, called the planning phase of the plan, is that in where the student learns a movement from the theoretical point of view, observing it and / or feeling the teacher who describes it11. The second phase is that of the operational plan, in which the student tries to execute the movement. But learning takes place through trial and error, so it is more than likely that in the first attempt to execute the technical gesture the student makes several mistakes. Then comparing the information he receives at the peripheral level about the movement he has made with the model that was created during the first phase, he is able to realize his errors by himself (feedback). If an intervention by the teacher becomes necessary explaining to the student what were the mistakes he has committed means or that the student is not able to recognize and interpret the information that the body sends him during the execution of the movement or that he has not well understood the technical model of the action he has to perform. The teacher's intervention must be based on the compensation of the student's gaps. Getting angry with him is of no use, if not to demotivate him and bring to mind the idea of abandoning the discipline (frequent for beginners). At this point we move on to the third phase, called adaptation of the plan: by taking advantage of the previous experience, the student tries again to repeat the movement trying to avoid the mistakes he made before. In the fourth phase, called the definitive motor learning, the student further perfects the technical gesture. At this point you can go down more in the practical speaking of which teaching methods can be used to teach circular football (like any other technique). It is necessary to underline that motor learning always takes place through the assimilation of models by means of processes that aim at the acquisition of experience12. To acquire this experience, it is possible to proceed substantially through two paths (motor learning maps13): orienting one's action towards the most absolute precision of the technical gesture, thus breaking it down into all the movements that constitute it analytically (rigid strip motor learning map or automated), or try to recreate situations aimed at allowing the student to master the technical movement in different situations (extensive or elastic motor learning map. In this case the movement must be taught in a global form). Both of these methods should be used in different proportions depending on the student's level of experience. More in detail14:

LEARNING PHASES15	TEACHING METHOD
phase of the preparation of the desired exercise	During this phase it is necessary to create a first representation of the movement to be learned with basic activities and preparatory exercises.
raw coordination phase	In this phase the movement is taught in a global way, but the student should not be expected to perform it in an extremely coordinated way. It is sufficient for the student to construct the global movement pattern.
phase of fine coordination	During this phase, it is necessary to maintain the global execution of the movement during the training sessions trying not to lose the aspect of raw coordination that previously developed in the student, but an analytical approach to the movement is also necessary so that for each of the components of the global movement the maximum coordination is acquired. The situation in which the movement to be learned is reproduced is standardized, always constant.
consolidation phase of fine coordination or variable availability	In the last phase, the movement that was previously learned in tactical (as realistic as possible) changing situations must be lowered. The pedagogical goal is the ability to adjust one's reaction to changes in external situations16.

I now give examples of analytical movements that make up the circular kick and that can be trained individually:

MOVEMENT TO TRAIN	PRACTICAL EXERCISE
Detachment of the rear leg	From the starting position (already given for acquired) stretch the back leg with energy. To entertain the pupil, it could be performed to the rhythm of music (an element that, moreover, favors coordination). It is necessary to take care that the student does not get upset during the execution of the gesture (the trunk must remain erect, the high guard, the gaze facing forward etc.).
Flexion of the kicking leg after stretching it	Assume the position that was suffered after the detachment (with the posterior limb slightly detached from the ground) and, continuously (this favors the learning), flex the kicking leg. To make the exercise more understandable to the student, you could give it a reference by making it hit with the knee against a hitter.
Body rotation keeping the hitting leg flexed to reach the target with a circular trajectory	Assume the starting position and, stretching the rear leg to give yourself the thrust, rotate around your longitudinal axis taking care not to break up and above all to raise and lower the heel of the support foot at the right time. When the trunk is located laterally with respect to the hypothetical target, the rotation must be restrained by completely supporting the plan and the heel of the supporting foot on the ground.

» Continue ... training of circular football (second part)