Observations on the cost of developing 'Game Sense'

Hi All,

One of the interesting things I noted during the season was the cost of developing game sense on the players. In this I mean the mental cost on the team performance. It was obvious that in the AFL team, we played really well for three quarters of the game and matched it with the best of the teams. However,
it was often in the last quarter that the team fell away, interestingly enough some of the more 'naturally gifted'  athletes who fell away at the end of the game, falling into bad habits of just belting the ball forward or just trying to play to each other, often in bad positions.
This brings out two often unrecognised area associated with GCA approaches: the cost on the players in terms of the mental drain on their resources that has to be trained just as the physical side is, and secondly, the cost this has on coaches and teachers. It is very demanding on a coach's and teacher's resources and can erode away at their sense of belief in what they are doing. Because the development of this element of play takes such a long time and the development in players comes in fits and spurts, it is essential in GCA that you have a group of players for a number of years to develop the skills of playing 'whats in front of you' and developing the trust of the process in your players.

Greg