“As the midfielder receives the ball, shuffles it around and from the corner of his eye, sees the striker making a move. Quick as a flash, a through ball is duly played into the path of the striker. No defender in sight, the striker can almost feel the elation at the sight of the hapless goalkeeper at his mercy. But from nowhere, a flying boot at the last moment diverts the goal-bound shot. The crowd gasps, the striker disbelievingly shakes his head, the keeper screams, the commentator has gone wild. Then a slow applause starts and gathers pace till it rains upon the defender till the defender sheepishly grins and gets ready to get on with his job”
The best tackles in football are like two seconds of fame, unlike a goal which ensures the scorer goes down in folklore. A good tackle is hardly remembered at times, it just registers in the subconscious part of the viewer’s brain and even more rarely does it make the highlights show. The only reason a tackle might feature as the highlight of the highlights show is if the game was a goalless draw with nothing else to grab the viewer’s interest. Similarly, when a footballer goes into a tackle, a genuine intention to win the ball should be there.
Teaching Youngsters
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” as the old adage goes, has often been used by parents, teachers to encourage their wards to step out outside and get some fresh air. Similarly, the opposite can be said for students who are often inclined to stay indoors by saying, “Brains are important than brawn”. While sports are a necessity for a child’s development it is often the fear of injuries which keeps a parent from sending their children to the playground for fear of injury.
In India, where medical services’ response time is still questionable, it is no wonder that parents prefer their kids indoors and thus prefer a more academic oriented career than a sporting career. Players like Ab De Villiers, Jonty Rhodes are not just supreme cricketers but supreme athletes as well. The South African schooling system obviously encouraged these youngsters to participate whole-heartedly in sports and the effects of that for all to see.
A youngster when exposed to a whole range of sports often ends up being developed more physically and thus become supreme athletes. The use of different faculties for different sports often leads to a well-rounded development of the sporting brain. Over time, when the athlete chooses to concentrate on a single sport, the subconscious incorporates the early education gleaned from the variety of sports. Outstanding athletes over time inculcate aspects of such other sports into their game and innovate according to situation.
A Silent Art
In a good game, where the spectators are enthralled by the game itself, the name of the referee hardly registers in the brain of the viewers. In the same way, a good tackle is hardly remembered. In similar ways, how artisans prepare the easels, polish their instruments before undertaking the fine stroke or making the delicate cut, footballers also prepare for their tackle with sincere concentration.
Timing as always is the key, in a game where momentum is the in-word, a tackle has to be timed absolutely to perfection in order to win the ball and not concede a foul. In sports, such as cricket hand-eye coordination has been lauded, but not so for the leg-brain coordination in football.
So where does that leave us with the tackling issue. How do we introduce to the millions of kids who are willing to learn the sport and are keen to abide by all the principles that will give them an upper hand (in this case leg) at any point of the match. Tackling is a weapon that every footballer wants in his armour, while most of the time players prefer an interception to a tackle; some players prefer to use it to establish “their presence” in the game.
Tackling at the end of the day in football is about positioning; players are often coached into using their technical attributes be it ball reading, position tracking or anticipation. The combination of one of these factors with precision generally yields a more favourable result. A miscalculation on any of these factors can lead to an undesirable situation, to put it delicately.
The recent Euros are the best example where good organized defending helped Portugal overcome all odds to win the European Championship. The Italians had the trio of Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini to help them reach the quarters. In the modern era, where football has become much faster, it has become essential for defenders to be able to play the ball out from defence, a good sense of tackling is always an attribute that only helps one make a complete footballer.
