Football in East Africa: Malawi

How does the environment dictate our approach in youth development? Some of the adaptations we have made at Ascent Soccer over the past 3 years.

Malawi regularly ranks in the top 10 of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. What does this mean for the players that are selected to join Ascent Soccer between the age of 10–12 on the pitch? How can we create an environment that accelerates the players development, to catch up and ultimately be able to compete internationally?

Ascent player background *1-

• 40 % of Ascent players did not have running water in their homes.
• 19 % of players’ homes are not connected to electricity *2.
• 10 % did not attended school or only irregularly before joining Ascent.
• 28 % of player did not know how to read prior to joining the academy (Players are selected between 10–12 years of age).
• 90 % of Ascent player attended a primary school with a ratio of more than 70 kids per 1 teacher.
• 34.9% of children in Malawi suffer from stunting *3.

Football -

• Avg. 33 kids per session, some players reporting as many as 70 kids in training.
• 3.6 balls in a training session (roughly 1 ball for every 10 players).
• 98% of players, grew up playing football only on dirt pitches.
• No structured experiences, coaching, leagues, training sessions *4.
• Common problem of age cheating.

The player that joins Ascent:

The Talent Identification process is separated into 4 rounds, from the first time we see a player in their local environment, to the national trial weeks at the academy, where players are ultimately selected to join and offered a scholarship to join the academy. During this process we see between 6000–8000 players between the ages of 10–12, of which 10–15 will be offered a scholarship to join the academy each year.

Upon being admitted into the academy, we find players that have:

• Low problem-solving skills because of the poor educational background.
• Very individual based play.
• Not developed at same rate as their peers; physically, socially, mentally.
• A limited attention span and lose focus extremely fast.
• + High athletic ability, agile and very competitive.
• + Unique technical ability that fits their specific context on the dirt pitch.

Our approach:

One major change that was made with the restart post Covid, in 2020, was to intensively immerse the education and football departments. For a majority of our players the only success they have experienced in their early development has come on the football pitch. Helping them understand the connection between school and the game, while creating an environment where they are comfortable to try, fail and grow, is our answer to make learning and development sustainable in the long term.

Both departments of the Academy are split into 3 development phases. The classroom is split into Class I, II and III. Groups are separated by educational level and background, targeted to meet each students’ demands, rather than the age of the player.

The football side of the academy is divided into three development phases:

• Foundation phase I — FPI (Year 1–2 in the academy)
• Foundation phase II — FPII (year 3–4)
• Performance phase — PP (years 4+).

Players may move between the phases based on their game understanding, personal needs and physical ability to cope.

Foundation phase I: (7v7–9v9)

During year one and two, we put a big focus on the individual.

• Individual tactical concepts — Huge focus on 1v1 attacking and defending

CE (context example)*5 — The tryout turn is an expression we have come up with to describe a situation in which a player decides to turn into trouble or complicate a situation for himself. Especially in 1v1 situations we see players who have already gone past a player turn around to beat that player again. Often this is encouraged by coaches, teammates, local spectators (see below: FPII, create the session with game in mind) and we see it particularly with players who look to impress us in the scouting environment. Players that join the academy are usually superior technically and athletically in their local football environment. Often, they do not need to make the right decision to find positive outcome.

• Technical Perfection — overcome the transition from dirt pitch to grass pitch. Big focus on two- footedness.

Examples of local pitches, on which some of our player grew up

A lot of times the best way to control a ball on those pitches is by using the sole of the foot. Players will often pass to their teammate’s feet and only players without the ball are moving. In older age groups, the ball is played in the air a lot, rather than on the ground, to overcome random bounces of the surface.

• Basic game principles — how to play as a part of a team.

CE — Defenders are asked to defend and to not cross halfway; they should not dribble the ball. Strikers don’t defend and wait up front for the ball to get to them. Most of our players do it all and are asked to do so on their own and often prefer that because of how competitive they are. For the majority of players, the academy is the first time where they find an environment with other good players.

The concepts we introduce are pressing, secure the possession, disorganize the opponent (main focus, switch play), finish the attack, as part of a team of other good players.

• SAQ *6— daily part of training.

During FPI players train 4 times a week in the morning before school and have one non- football session per week (such as tennis, volleyball, frisbee or rugby). Additionally, there is one football class build into the school schedule, during which the topics are further discussed through video and discussion. All training happens in small groups, similar to their classroom experience. (Classroom ratio, 1:6. Football 1:12–14 + 1 assistant Coach)

In FPI Coaches must consider the following 3 concepts when designing and delivering sessions:

1. ALL Coaching points are delivered through questions and explored within the group during the training session.

Low problem-solving skills are due to the fact that asking questions and thinking creatively is not encouraged in schools and families. We want to create an environment where players are asked to think independently and find solutions. New Coaching points are limited to 3 per week. Coaches may ask a variety of questions that can lead to different ways of understanding the main 3 points we want to teach within the weekly topic.

2. Incorporate 1 topic from the classroom in each session.

In the past, we have created SAQ drills based on math questions, asked groups to split themselves into fractions. We use question words according to their English class topic of that week. Asked players to describe what they see, using prepositions from the classroom. We believe that this level of consistency in our messaging to the boys and girls is of huge importance to make up for lost time.

For this to be successful, teachers and coaches need to be exchanging ideas consistently. It gives us a unique opportunity to learn about and understand the players and their abilities.

3. All non-opposing drills include visual cues.

All parts of the session should require our players to be challenged cognitively. This includes passing patterns, finishing or ball mastery. Cause and effect or decision making based on observation is not part of any primary schools’ teachings. By combining drills to challenge players in multiple areas, we see another way to make up time. While also having to consistently apply football specific concepts such as orientation in space, scanning and decision making based on information, in an environment where they are more comfortable to learn.

In addition to the three concepts, we use our own simple and consistent language that applies to all teams and coaches throughout the academy. We want to create an understanding in all the players, no matter their English level. By using short “buzz words” to describe concepts, weaker students are able to understand. It helps us build our own football identity and allows older players to help new players because they have gone through the same process.

The yearly structure of sessions for FPI is designed with a ratio of 3:1. Meaning that we work three weeks on an in-possession topic, followed by one week, out of possession.

The extended period on each in possession topic helps players manifest what they have learned and allows for appropriate time to learn in training and execute in games. We have trialed a variety of different ratios and have found this to be the most effective in our context. We don’t switch up topics within the week, because we want to simplify and limit the amount of different information players are asked to take on.

Foundation phase II:

In year 3 & 4 of the players’ journey at Ascent, the team becomes of much larger importance. Ideally, our players have now become comfortable in our environment and their educational and football development has taken a big step forward.

• Understand game principles — build knowledge of all the Ascent game principles, master what was introduced during FPI and take on more complex sub principles of each game principle.

CE — During FPI when speaking about disorganizing the opponent, we focus on switching play. While in FPII we will continue to work on switching play, but also introduce more complex topics such as, positioning between players and lines as part of a group of players to disorganize the opponent.

• Group tactical concepts — introduce, comprehend and execute the cooperation of 2,3,4 players in the same line.
• Individual tactical and technical perfection — consistent reinforcement of the skills acquired during FPI.
• SAQ sessions — introduction of body weight and specific strength/endurance training under consideration of puberty and biological age differences.
• IDP *7 — players have allocated times during the week, where they can work on their Individual Development Plan. This can be position specific, a recommendation from the coach or a part of their game they would like to improve.

During FPII, players train 4 times a week in the morning before school, with additional yoga/stretching and body weight strength sessions on other days. Some players will join additional sessions with the PP group. Players also continue to have a weekly classroom football session as part of the school schedule.

As players physically, mentally and personally develop during FPII we gain a better understanding of each players pathway within the Academy. Global scholars will leave the Academy to move abroad at the end of FPII and might get additional support to be best prepared for their next step.

When designing sessions for FPII groups, coaches are asked to:

• provide more detailed feedback. Improved English skills and the ability to focus longer allow us to broaden the language we use and give more detail in everything we do.
• continue to use questions throughout the session to engage everyone. Players are expected to think about what they are working on during the session and encouraged to ask questions.
• create ALL sessions with the game in mind.

CE — Prior to joining the Academy, due to training conditions, pitch availability, coaching and other factors, our players experience a Malawian football culture in which training sessions and games are not very directional and encourage entertainment over efficiency, finishing is extremely poor. This is often reflected in our opponents in the older age groups. Teams try to either string together a large number of passes without any clear intention or are overly directional and predictable in their play.

We ask Coaches to create a clear connection between the game and the training sessions, where players are asked to make decisions that they will find once they leave Ascent. Drills should be realistic and situational (conditions similar to the game).

Sessions are structured with a ratio of 1:1. One week in possession followed by one week out of possession. While we combine both transition moments within the same week.

Performance Phase:

In the performance phase we continue to emphasize the team, while creating specific IDP and pathway plans for each player until they leave the academy.

• Team tactical principles — trained routines of movements that involve all 11 players.
• Group tactical perfection — perfect the principles learned during FPII
• Game specific understanding — making decisions that are specific to each game, how do we play vs different playing styles. How do play out from the back with 3 or 4 defenders, etc.
• Position specific understanding — learning what is expected of my position(s) in different scenarios within the game
• SAQ — Players have specific gym sessions

In the performance phase players train 2 times in the morning before school and have 4 afternoon sessions. During the morning the players have IDP / small group technical and position specific sessions, while afternoons are team sessions that focus on the game principles. Gym, Yoga sessions are also built into the weekly schedule. Teams will have a weekly team meeting and video session, prior to that weekends match.

Several players will spend parts of the year with their respective youth national team and we look for extended training placements abroad for our most talented prospects. Players gain their first football experience abroad with Ascent and are exposed to a variety of new experiences on a bigger, more competitive stage.

PP sessions are designed under the following considerations:

• Game Preparation — weeks and training sessions are prepared based on what we want to see on the weekend. Tuesday — in possession principle, Wednesday, Out of Possession, Thursday — Transitions, Friday — Set plays, Review of the week
• Individual Development –consistent individual feedback to help each players’ specific development needs.

Thank you for reading!

Notes/further explanations:

*1 — All data was accumulated by Daud Major (Ascent U15), who asked all players to anonymously fill out a survey regarding their family, school and football background.

*2 — Electricity connections are significantly higher than water connections as many of them are done illegal and can be easily accessible in densely populated parts of cities.

*3 — Stunting is the impaired growth and development that children experience from poor nutrition, repeated infection, and inadequate psychosocial stimulation.

*4 — The youngest semi — organized competition is at U14/15 level, younger ages get pushed to the side and have to use the space they can find and do with the resources they can find.

*5 — CE — Context Example, insight into the local context

*6 — SAQ — speed, agility, quickness. Sessions that target age-appropriate motor skills and functional capabilities

*7 — IDP — Individual Development Plan — Individually designed development plans targeted to support the players needs.