Doug Lemov's field notes

Little things mean a lot. Even at the elite level it’s often the mundane things that drive results.  Check out this picture of the USMNT practicing:

Note the ball placement–clusters of them at the ready for each group.  Zero downtime lost due to ball not ready to be put into play.

Note the standardization of the visual field: orderly consistent grid. You know just where to look to see the event you are monitoring.

Pretty sure the USMNT guys could play soccer-tennis without lines.  But the consistent grids make the level of activity more visible and tacitly hold people more accoutnable ot practice hard–if you’re not fully engaged you stand out.  People sense that and react accordingly without being reminded to.  The lines also help the players self-monitor (good ball vs. bad ball).

Relaxed and fun (probably) highly preductive anyway… by design.

Coaching, practice