Adaptive Games: The secret of successful coaches

Adaptive games are all the rage in coaching circles but if you’ve not been on a coaching course lately you might not be aware of them and how powerful they are as a coaching tool.

If you’re already on the Adaptive Games bandwagon you can whizz straight down to the 6 games I’ve selected below.

But if it’s new to you, let’s start with a definition:

Adaptive Games: training games where you (or your players) can easily change the rules to bring in different challenges.

The premise is simple: players (even the pro ones!) love games. And if the challenges are right, they will improve their skills and decision making faster than they would in a simple drill. But an "out of the box" game might not wind up being as challenging as you thought.

With an adaptive game you can quickly change it up so that the challenge is increased or reduced or changed altogether. You don’t have to stop everything, tear apart your playing area and set it all up again.

If you’re not sure how to start building adaptive games we have 6 ideas to get you started. These games aim to mix up how the players perceive the game, giving them a different type of test to what they might normally come up against in training.

• A game which uses multiple balls and a random start
• A challenge to develop support play with 360 goal lines, and attack and defence always on the move
• A game for a rainy day which improves handling
• Games so you can develop players in smaller areas. These will be physical!
• And if you want more physical games, there are even tougher challenges in another set.
• Finally, try out two very testing games which will blow your players’ minds