“In all mental hospitals there are many madmen possessed by many certainties!” F. Pessoa
Where do we start from when talking about the energy principle relating to safety? From what I’m feeling exactly right now as I ask myself this question; that is, the insecurity of feeling capable or not of being able to deal with such a “big” topic, bigger than me, bigger than any of us, but which everyone, like it or not, has to deal with over and over again in moments of day, in the stages of life, in life in general, in short from conception to the last breath! Talking about safety in energy terms and drawing a parallel with the game of football may seem like “madness” and this justifies the initial quote, but by continuing to read this writing it will perhaps become possible to see a little more clearly. The verb “see” is not used by chance, because the main reference metamer regarding this phase of the energy flow is a horizontal band that includes the eyes and the occipital band. We will return to this aspect later.
How I justify this parallel with the game of football was the problem I had to solve. I think you can agree with me that in every moment of our lives and therefore also in gaming, our feeling of being safe or insecure and all the emotional gradations in between justify the parallel I was mentioning. Who knows if it was Musacchio’s mistake that took away Lazio’s confidence? Who knows if Musacchio’s replacement reinforced the team’s insecurities rather than creating the conditions to restore confidence in the players? Who knows if the feat (which seems impossible) of overturning everything and going to qualify at the home of the Bavarians will be accomplished? Liverpool did it after the 3-0 at the Bernabeu, Tottenham also against Ajax. The 2018-19 season was an unforgettable Champions League. Come on Lazio, we need something crazy!
Having justified the parallel and identified contexts and situations that recall the principle of security/insecurity, perceived and played in football as in life, we now go into more detail. First of all, it appears clear and irrefutable that we can only talk about security in relation to its exact opposite, insecurity. The polarities will accompany us on this journey to discover the phases of the natural flow of energy in man. And if it is true, as it is true, that a value always emerges from the relationship between two elements, in our case the emotional value linked to this phase of the flow emerges from the relationship between the safe/insecure polarities. The ideal graph therefore only makes sense in relation to the fact that ideal security does not exist in reality. The graph with the energy blocks expresses much better what actually happens and allows us to focus on the area in which we are venturing. Who knows how Inzaghi will try to rebuild the individual safety ofhisand his players, with what analysis, what words, with what operational proposals, with what strategies? Interesting! Believe in the feat, believe in madness, bring it onto the pitch, but how? More and more interesting, don’t you think?
Translating the analysis of an apparently only emotional difficulty into functional operational teaching is a daily job for every coach-instructor-trainer-educator-teacher. Knowing and recognizing that a technical error can be the result of an emotional problem and vice versa opens the field and the gaze (remember the metamer of reference eyes and occipital fascia) to further considerations. In such and such a situation, such a player loses his technical effectiveness, the team tends to fall apart under pressure, that child is so scared that he runs away from the ball, Elena fears contact and prefers not to play the match. Examples of everyday insecurities.
As I write I am on the edge of a fantastic extracurricular and extracurricular football container; a small park with games for small children (2-3-4 years), benches with grandparents and parents, the monument to the fallen and 80 m2 of greenery irregular in shape and carpet where a nice 4v4 of heterogeneous ages, colors and postures of the participants. And so, thanks (if one can say so) to Covid, I find and breathe free and spontaneous play, that “street” game that is so much called to the attention of professionals. I can’t help but stop writing and let myself be inspired by the energies at play. It’s everything I saw in Lazio – Bayern; relationships, individuality, collaborations, choices, accelerations, slowdowns, big plays, big mistakes, certainties, uncertainties and luckily also a more or less attentive audience. But let’s not go off topic and cLet’s focus on the perception that in the here and now contributes to making us more or less confident in relation to the situation and context in which we find ourselves acting. The individual here and now (Musacchio) that becomes collective (Lazio). As adults responsible for the learning process of our students, are we aware (systemic knowledge) of what factors might influence the safety potential of our players? Are we able to perceive (know, recognise) these factors in the game?
At this point, feedback is needed to continue. Since this is not possible, trust me and let’s move forward. First of all, let’s start by listing the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that affect individual and collective safety.
Intrinsic factors (relating to individual subjects)
- character armor
- motivations
- expectations
- moods and feelings
- etc.
Extrinsic factors (relating to the context-environment)
- container
Context characteristics
- value of competition
- expectations
- climatic conditions
- turf conditions
- etc.
Without wanting to individually analyze all the possible factors that can interfere with safety, even just by reading the list we understand how impossible it is to think of an ideal safety condition. The fact is that the coach-instructor-trainer-educator-teacher responsible for the process and the teaching/learning relationship cannot avoid considering the need to know (systemic knowledge) better and more how to bring pedagogy and didactics into operation capable of dealing with this complexity.
Before taking to the field, some questions are likely to arise spontaneously:
Question 1: What do we need to be able to perceive if and when “our players”manifest the energetic emotionality that is the subject of this article?
Answer 1: we need the ability to perceive (trainable) this energetic state on our skin and the ability to empathize with others.
Question 2: How can I train this ability?
Answer 2: by experiencing this perception first-hand through a guided path capable of leading participants to feel and experience this energetic emotionality.
It happens, in reality, that we go into the field anyway and everyone, with their own “self-taught sensitivity” (without judgment or prejudice), finds themselves continually urged in individual, collective and social relationships to do deal with these aspects. This being the case and being aware of the role we play, knowing that we can “study” (understood as working) to train our sensitivity can only be a choice… in my opinion increasingly Interesting!
Training sensitivity and the ability to perceive one’s own security/insecurities and that of others allows us to bring into play a teaching, a pedagogy and a methodology conceived and studied starting from a background capable of giving value to the emotional element first and foremost. floor. When we recognize that technical insecurities in the game are due to an emotionality that manifests itself in certain situations and contexts, we will be able to:
- orient the proposals with greater awareness towards more or less contextualized games and exercises
- pay more attention to our relationship with the players, the relationships between the players and the relationship with the context and the environment,
- design more appropriate play spaces and times
- better recognize the right moment to reinforce a behavior
- avoid judgments
- have more awareness of what to say, when to say it, how, where and above all in relation to a known and recognized why.
At this point the best thing would be to go out into the field and have direct experience in being guided and led to perceive the phases of the energy flow (figures 1 and 2) placing the focus on the first phase of the wave, on safe breathing, on the peculiarities of the rooted character, but above all on the blocks of breathing, on the conflicts and fragmentations that characterize it. All this may seem strange to you, difficult to understand, far from football. In reality it is all very consistent with what happens to us in every moment of our lifeexistence and is study material (always understood as working towards) within everyone’s reach, without who knows what requirements or prerequisites are required, but just a bit of curiosity, healthy madness and desire to get involved.
But it is not yet time to conclude this brief introduction to the principle of security. Let’s return to Musacchio, to his incorrect reading of the situation or acting incorrectly in the situation read. Now we have some more elements to think about. The extrinsic factors that may have influenced the choice and execution: the pitch, the pressure of the opponent, the importance of the match, the value of the opponent, the relationships with teammates and opponents, the expectations of the environment, the strategy , tactics, etc. Intrinsic factors: emotionality in the here and now, posture and character, motivations, personal expectations, etc. In order to act on the factors considered, we need to know what happens to our breathing in the contingent situation; what “clouds” the vision and why we lose executive effectiveness when the going, as in this case, “gets tough”. Seeing better, more and sooner is a talent that is more necessary than ever in open skills sports. Tensions in the metamere corresponding to the occipital fascia and the eyes can cause greater difficulty in remaining lucid in situations of strong pressure or performance demand and vice versa important external pressures can bring to light tensions that would not manifest themselves at lower intensities. Feeling secure and rooted is put into crisis and the resulting fragmentation stiffens the myofascial system and executive choice is affected.
Will the experience of the mistake allow the player not to repeat the same mistake? The saying “you learn by making mistakes” cannot be generalized; there are character motivations in this regard that we can explore starting from the awareness of our own limits and difficulties, which represents the first step to create the presuppositions for a real change and a real possibility to avoid repeating the same mistakes over and over again (often by making mistakes you don’t learn ).
What if Musacchio’s mistake was related to overconfidence? More and more intriguing!
For further information: “The game in depth” by Fabio Lepri – Edizioni Nuova Phromos. 2020 can be purchased online on the website www.ilgiocoinprofondita.it