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S1 E9 - Felix Lehmann
41 Plays2 months ago
On todays episode we talk to Felix Lehman who is an expert in Cognitive training. Listen how we can train players minds and how we can use that to develop what Felix calls Two footedness.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Overview
00:00:17
Craig Birtwistle
Hello and welcome to our lightest episode of Session Share, The Coaches Podcast. My name's Craig Burtisall and I'm delighted to have Felix Lehman as our guest this week. Felix is one of the world leading experts in Cogner goals, deep learning. Felix has his UA for B and his International Director of Coaching for Cogner Goals. How are you doing today Felix?
00:00:39
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Good Craig. Doing good. Thanks for the invitation. It's great to be here.
00:00:44
Craig Birtwistle
It's a pleasure. I'm really excited about this episode because I really want to learn more about the cognitive goals. um It's an area that I feel I could have developed in. So before we get into that phase, can you tell us a little bit about your
Felix's Sports Journey
00:00:57
Craig Birtwistle
background? What got you interested in football?
00:01:00
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Yeah, oh it goes a long way back, Craig. Actually, one of my first memories is playing 1v1 in our family garden with my dad. So football has been a part of my life.
00:01:13
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
For as long as I can remember, um I then went on to play football in the club here in Germany. um When I was six year old six years old, I joined joined my first team.
00:01:26
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
I love dribbling. It was my biggest passion. My dad tells me that in our first game I dribbled past all 11 opponents. We actually played 11v11 back then in Germany. And um I did that twice in the game once. I missed the goal and then I scored the 1-1 tie.
00:01:45
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
um Yeah, and I played the the next years. Actually, then my focus shifted for a number of interesting reasons to basketball. and That was a very good basketball player up to the age of 16, 17. Then I actually had very, very um um tough back problems, which made it impossible for me to continue. Fast forward a few years.
00:02:10
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
I'm studying in Germany and university. I want to do sports, so I remember my passion for football. And um so I said, okay, I want to play, but I don't want to just be an ordinary player. So what I did is I got myself a DVD by the German Federation um called the DFB, which was called Baitzauber, which means like ball magician, and um an old VHS by Will Curver.
00:02:39
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
And I went to the park actually for about two years every morning at 5, 6 a.m. and I practiced and trained for one hour. so And then I played on three different teams from work, from university, even from church, and um just always trying to improve.
00:02:57
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
And um that was a bit the beginning of my coaching, actually training myself, a very strange story.
Coaching Beginnings and UEFA Involvement
00:03:03
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
and ah good yeah you know Rediscovering my passion for football at an adult age. and And then also fast forward another years, and my son starts playing soccer. And yeah then after after a couple of years, his his coach says, ah you know um we need an assistant coach. And can one of the parents please help?
00:03:26
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
So um my son said, you know, dad, you're always there. You you know, you play soccer. Why don't wouldn't you want to do that? So, um yeah, that's that's ah the beginning of of my coaching. I became assistant coach of, ah I think it was a U10 or U11 back then. And after a year, um the coach decided to focus on another team because the team, my son wasn't that great.
00:03:51
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
and um And that was when i all the parents said, oh, can't you become head coach now? And, you know, why not? And and actually at the around the same time, one of my best friends, um same thing happened to him with his son. So both of us, we decided to get enrolled in the UEFA courses. And so for the next years, we, you know, um we went to Milento.
00:04:12
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
which is the the famous place where the German team prepared for the 1974 World Cup um um which we ended up winning here in Germany and I got my training up to the UEFA B license that was I think about eight years ago and um Yeah, that's, I started, continued with my son's team, started specializing in cognitive training almost right from the beginning, did a certification as a visual and cognitive coach in 2017 at the sports school in Henev, sports school in Henev.
Founding Cogney Goals
00:04:46
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Yeah, and during COVID actually, that was when I decided to focus 100% on cognitive training.
00:04:53
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
um We founded Cogney Goals about five years ago, together with former FC Bayern Munich coach Mathias Norvak, who's one of the best technical and cognitive coaches in the world.
00:05:04
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
um Yeah, that's a bit of a bit of background, could always tell more. But yeah, before this talk, i I told you I have this tendency to be very passionate about what I do. So um let me stop there.
00:05:16
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
And yeah, what else would you like to know?
00:05:17
Craig Birtwistle
Yeah, you're not gonna You're not going to get any pushback from me for that because I love speaking to passionate people like yourself. I was really fascinated by the fact that it sounded like you were a coach before you were a coach, which I thought was fascinating. the they are Getting up at five o'clock to go do those DVDs and work on that individual training.
00:05:41
Craig Birtwistle
That seems like it was probably before even knowing it, your pathway to what you're doing now, which I find absolutely fascinating. So how has that impacted like your motivation in your career from starting from that as a player and blending into a coach?
00:05:55
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
yeah.
Working with Youth
00:06:00
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Yeah, it's a good question. You know, um another thing is I've always loved to work with young people. So there was a short episode when I was about 17 years old and they asked me to become coach to the basketball team at my school, the German school in Washington, DC at that time.
00:06:17
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
and i really love that um I even remember getting a technical foul against myself in one of the games because I was a bit too passionate back then.
00:06:22
Craig Birtwistle
more
00:06:27
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
um And um yeah, I love working with young people.
00:06:28
Craig Birtwistle
in there. ah
00:06:32
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
um There's a funny episode at that time. I got an earring and all of my players got their ears pierced, so the parents weren't too happy about that. Now, fast forward to my playing experience and to myself training in that part.
00:06:47
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
What it really taught me, Craig, was the importance ah Focusing on details of technical details of different move football soccer moves right because you know i printed out every one of the exercises of that by the DVD and i carried out a map i carry all the exercises with me and i made sure to go through it. and Slow motion step by step to learn all these moves.
00:07:13
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Okay, um so um yeah, I think the observing myself how I learned was the best way for me to learn. um it it It taught me a lot of how to um feel and observe what my players go through when they learn our exercises. right And ah for several years I also did some some work with um young people and children at church with my wife. um i um I'm teaching university courses to young people.
00:07:48
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
um So a lot of involvement with young young people. um It's always been a focus. So um I think, um yeah, for many years I have what you might call a coach's heart. um I just like being there for young people. I like them.
00:08:05
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
to discover their dreams and sports, to to find out how they can be the best that they can be, but always you know from ah from a yeah like ah um um ah support and help perspective.
00:08:21
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
okay um i um Try to find out their motivations, try to you know um understand the way they feel, um why they are doing playing soccer, why they are doing sports, why this is important to them, listening a lot to them.
00:08:38
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
so um yeah it's it's they've definitely um helped me a lot um yeah to to learn about soccer myself and that way um to be able to understand how the players learn. um The reason actually I switched from from soccer to basketball at 10 years of age, I was um i just been in and New Jersey and Princeton for a year with my parents and I came back to Germany. I loved playing soccer up to that point. I scored, I was a striker, I scored most goals in my teams.
00:09:14
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
um If you look a bit in the background, let me shift the camera a little bit. um There on the wooden desk, you can see a plaque, um which my coach um um had given to me as a gift.
00:09:23
Craig Birtwistle
Mm hmm.
00:09:27
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
It says, please remember um the U11 of the VKAS when you're in the United States. um I came back, I had another coach, and that was one of those, yeah, sort of, um um Yeah, what what would you say? Old generation German coaches, so he he he yelled at us, he humiliated us in every training session. And um ah and that was actually something that when then when I had two friends at school who said, hey, why don't you want to play basketball? So at that time, I was already six feet two.
00:10:03
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
So I was tall for my age. I said, yeah, I can try basketball. And I was always somebody who who knew how to move really well. So I adapted really quickly into basketball, became a really good player quickly. And honestly, I know um i didn't want to go back to to playing soccer with this coach yelling at us, humiliating us.
00:10:23
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Now, you know how things sometimes come back to you? Like 20 years afterwards when I was a coach with my team, um one day we were playing another team. I welcomed the team in their dressing room and there's this small man and I come into the ah the dressing room and he yells at me. He says,
00:10:43
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
remember And I look at him, and that's the coach from 20 years back who who made me for a bit of time lose my love for ah for soccer.
00:10:47
Craig Birtwistle
Wow.
00:10:54
Craig Birtwistle
But we hadn't changed at all.
00:10:54
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
So that was ah and interesting.
00:10:55
Craig Birtwistle
Yeah.
00:10:56
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Yeah, and and actually during that game, which we ended up winning 7-0, he ran into the pitch and he wanted to hit one of my players. And um so, and one of my dad, my parents is a martial arts master.
00:11:08
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
So he he like walked in the field, he picked them up and he carried him off. So it was, had a bit of kind a comical side to it.
00:11:15
Craig Birtwistle
Oh my god.
00:11:15
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
um But what did that teach me, Craig? It just taught it taught me, you have to, if you want to be a coach, you have to understand the young people that you're working with you. You have to know a lot more than that, what you observe on the the soccer pitch.
00:11:30
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
You have to find out, you know, What are they going through in their families? How is their family? How are their friends? How is school going? What motivates them? What do they love? Who are their idols um in the soccer world? So you have to ask a lot of questions. You have to take a lot of time before training, after training.
00:11:50
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
um And you have to learn how to listen really listen to get to know each of your players because and you know there should be any favorites, but um If you deal with a team you have to deal differently with every player um each one is an individual and so um if you if you if they feel seen and If they feel hurt, Craig, then they'll end up becoming the best player that they can be, and then they'll end up on the soccer pitch, giving it all also for you as a coach.
00:12:05
Craig Birtwistle
Yep.
00:12:25
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
That was something that really, and as I mentioned, the team of my son, when I took over, it was a very mediocre team. Nobody wanted to train it. Also, the the club that I worked for, the the largest grassroots club in my state, it was known for mediocre teams.
00:12:40
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
And we ended up winning several championships, even a double, winning a cup against a team ah two divisions higher than we were. And that was because the players that I trained, they became such a strong unit. They were fighting and running so much that nobody wanted to play us. so And and that I think that goes back to to to you know listening to them, really caring about them, having having a coach's heart.
00:13:08
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
So um that's that's apart from the the work I do with motor cognitive training, communication with players, um really valuing them. um You know, a little episode I might want to share. I had had a player who's who's an exchange student who's now um um um living in in Washington DC actually, a great young player who was here on an exchange. And he got into some trouble for something he did. I'm not going to mention it here on the podcast.
00:13:37
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
But I ended up um going with him and and really you know helping him to apologize, and getting things sorted out with the police. And um I just talked to two weeks ago. It's actually his birthday tomorrow. um so And he said, I'll never forget in that situation. Nobody was on my side. um You were the only one.
00:14:01
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
who so you know stood by me, who talked to my parents. I'll never forget that. And those are things, you know I mean, it's always great to have success and to win games. and you know But um this um this experience, this human experience, as I might call it, I think this is one of the things that makes coaching really special.
00:14:19
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
And and if you get that kind of feedback, you're not doing everything wrong.
00:14:22
Craig Birtwistle
Not I couldn't agree more. um I think the the biggest takeaway I took from like your sentence there was the coach that like you dreaded being with and almost ended you leading the game and he hadn't changed. the The thing that I try and explain to coaches is make sure that a player follows you because they respect you not because they fear you because the fear will only get you so wide the respect will take you a lot further and the fact that you took the the time when you were younger to understand what those players are learning by doing it yourself and then stepping into their their mindset and saying this is why they do this this is what and also showing that human side of you and being caring when your player got into trouble
00:14:47
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Yeah.
00:15:10
Craig Birtwistle
giving him the opportunity to have someone that's there. When you get that sort of like bond with a player and with a team, they'll run through brick walls for you. It's it's amazing stuff.
00:15:20
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
yeah yeah Yeah, the quote I love most, ah Craig, is um people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. So it's all about, if you take over a new team, it's about winning the player's hearts, um not being some kind of authoritative person who shows how much you know, um but really making them feel that you care, that you want their very best.
00:15:34
Craig Birtwistle
Yeah.
00:15:45
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
And if they really, really feel that, um as you said, then they're ready to go through a brick wall to leave it all out in the pitch. And actually that correct that's what makes the experience special, and that you form a unity with your team, that you're in it together.
00:16:00
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
and um and And it's especially something that that that's shown most um when you lose. ah My son, who was part of my team for several years, he was always making fun of me, saying, oh, dad, when we lose, ah we've never played as well as when we lose. The things you find that we did. So he was sort of accusing whenever we lost, which ah wasn't really, really, didn't happen all that often. But that I would always find good things here and good things there. So it sort of sounded like an accident.
00:16:34
Craig Birtwistle
and You win or you grow is the way I was always told.
00:16:37
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, true, true.
00:16:38
Craig Birtwistle
yeah So I love that. So Felix will be back after a short message from Zencasta.
00:17:26
Craig Birtwistle
Welcome back. um We're going to talk now about Felix's big passion and that is cognitive
Integrating Cognitive Training
00:17:31
Craig Birtwistle
goals. So, Felix, can you tell us about about how this was created and what the brainchild was behind this?
00:17:39
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Yeah, um one thing that I observed very quickly um when getting started as a soccer coach was that um many players struggle using their weak foot. So at that level that I was you know um training grassroots, who ah the the weak foot was quite an obstacle for many of of my players.
00:18:05
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
um So, what um e I thought was, you know, and that's the traditional way to teach, how can we get ah players to improve their weak foot? It's through touches, touches, touches. You know, I talked the other day to my friend Tom Beyer and we said, you know, what's the traditional way? It's to start as early as possible.
00:18:25
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
to get as many touches as possible and to use the right technique. So um I included lots of exercises and game forms where I would um sort of force my players to only use the weak foot.
00:18:37
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Even in the match preparation, and there was a game for which I would use and the players would only use their weak foot. Only weak foot. They hated it.
00:18:47
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
They hated it. Yeah, yeah, during the warm-up game.
00:18:47
Craig Birtwistle
say that in the warm-up was it for a game?
00:18:50
Craig Birtwistle
Yeah, oh my, excellent.
00:18:51
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
So they hated it, they hated it.
00:18:51
Craig Birtwistle
yeah
00:18:53
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
But I was convinced, um also from my basketball background, where you have to be able to do everything using both hands, that others can't stay that way.
00:19:00
Craig Birtwistle
right
00:19:02
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
um Another thing was um that whenever I've been doing something in my life, I always try to investigate um what are like new things, innovative ways to do stuff to really improve.
00:19:16
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
So, you know, I've looked at technical training, a wheel curver, that was something I applied myself, um You know, Guardiola had come to Bayern Munich, um so tactical training was the latest. We'd been through the experience of Jurgen Kleensmann preparing us for the Zomamiechen in 2006 in Germany and bringing over athletic trainers from the U.S. actually.
00:19:37
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
so um um my research During my research I found out that almost all coaches agreed that the next big thing was cognitive training. um That the biggest improvements were possible by helping players, you know their brains, to to process information um more quickly, ah more precisely, and you know to train the brain. um So I said, okay, interesting, interesting. And I looked and you know i found some I found a guy called Kevin McGreskin, um
00:20:09
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
who had something called soccer IQ. I found a guy who had called in Germany, Horst Lutz, applying something called life kinetic, which Jürgen Klopp brought into Broussier-Dortmann later on. So, looking at different concepts of of cognitive chaining. Now, what I liked most was what I i saw Matthias Novak of Bayern Munich do.
00:20:29
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
because the way he trained the brain of his players back then at Bayern was through different movement tasks with and without the ball. And what I saw was very easily applicable to my training sessions. So I introduced, you know, short sports ah spirits of cognitive training um into my training sessions with my team. And like a half year afterwards, um I was observing one of our games and a couple of other coaches in my club had come to to watch the same game.
00:20:59
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
And so one of the coaches asked me, can you tell me why your players are always one step ahead of the others? And I hadn't really thought of it that way. um But um that feedback from the other coach showed me that the training that I'd been doing for six months then, it was actually um you know showing some effect. So, um I got more and more interested in that. I bought all the DVDs by Matthias Novak. I even did my own mind maps to you know create a structure and a system out of all his DVDs.
00:21:30
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
um And I kept, ah you know, um experimenting and in every training session that was a central part of what I was doing with my players all the years that I was a grassroots coach. um And, you know, I contacted Matthias Novak as I had some questions. um I'm not a shy person. i If I want to know something, I reach out. It doesn't matter who you are.
00:21:54
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
I'll start asking you stuff. um And um yeah, he invited me to the certification course, which I mentioned at the Sports School in Henneth. That was in 2017. I went there, I met with him, and I started to, ah you know, um yeah, I'd say, i you know, I kept asking the same question. I said, you know, this is great, but ah where's the structure? Where's the system? Because as I, as i you know, I studied law at university, so I'm a bit of a systems and structure kind of guy. And um so I kept asking him, and we, okay, we said, okay, there is movement tasks with the ball, without the ball movement tasks using um
00:22:32
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
different aids like the, you know, the coordination ladder. And yeah, I don't know if you know the, the songsball of Michael Michel Brunnix, which is the small ball on a court, which they use in the Belgian Federation, a really nice tool actually. um And, um and then there are the chaos in creativity of game forms.
00:22:53
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
And I said, yeah, but Matias, if I start with a player, what will be step one? What will be step two? So during one of our walks, he he sort of looked at me, shook his head and said, okay, you create the system.
00:23:05
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Please go ahead, leave me alone and create the system.
00:23:08
Craig Birtwistle
Yeah.
00:23:08
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Come on, man.
00:23:10
Craig Birtwistle
yeah
00:23:11
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Get off my back. So, um and that's when um and we found a cognitive old. And um I sat down with him and for hours and hours. I mean, Mathias is like a a bit like a second wife to me. Ever since then, we've become best friends. um Not a day goes by where I don't get voice messages by him. We keep experimenting. We're always working on this, always sending each other videos and, and and you know, keeping um um this always moving and getting better. ah He's a very demanding, kind of genius guy, so you can't just send him any exercise and he'll be happy. He always wants to guess and to get the best out of it. That's a Bayern Munich spirit, which you know which he he just carries, ruined himself after eight years at the Siebenachstrasse. So we sat down and that's actually, um Craig, when we got back to the subject of two-footedness,
00:24:08
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Because we said, you know what? um The modern game, um if we want to create a new generation of players, they need to be two-footed. Because the greatest deficit, even at the professional level, apart from cognitive skills, is the lack of two-footedness.
Two-footed Player Development
00:24:26
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
You know, I always use the example of a well-beloved player who's just finishing his career, I think at almost 40 years of age, Lucas Podolsky, who everybody knows. And I mean, he's one of the most one-footed players that exists. He only has has a left foot.
00:24:41
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
So, um okay, so we said, how can we how can we go about it? And we sat down with our scientists. You know, we're working together with Torbjorn Fesberg, one of the um most foremost scientists in the research about executive functions in sports and football. Thomas Schak and Ludwig Fusel, scientists we've worked for with very closely for for almost 10 years now.
00:25:05
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
and um We said, okay, we know you should start early. We know lots of touches might be good ah or are definitely good. um We know it's about the technique, but why aren't we able to develop players that are really two-footed? Because that was my experience with my team also. The players had improved their weaker foot.
00:25:23
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
but But Craig, then in real game situations, and you can see it in every game at the professional level every weekend, when there's pressure, okay? Little space, little time, lots of opponents. Even the best players in the world, they use the wrong foot all the time. And that's, why is that? So I asked our scientists, why is that? Well, it's really easy. When there's danger,
00:25:46
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
then we resort to that what we feel most comfortable with, which we feel most secure with. Okay, so our scientists said we have to change the brain of our players. If we really want to make them to foot it, we have to make them feel as comfortable on their weak foot as on their strong foot. And this, the only way to do that is to change the way they feel in their brain about their weak foot. And that was correct when our the comfort zone principle was born. So let me explain what we do. um During the first module, um we take the strong foot out of its comfort zone. How do we do that? We use a very simple exercise, the outside-inside hop to get started. It's nothing more than the outside-inside move which you know and which are part of any technical training all over the world. But our scientists said you have to add a hop.
00:26:47
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Now why is that? That's because that way it becomes a whole new movement. So the brain feels this, perceives this as something new, okay? So there's actually something new happening in the brain.
00:27:02
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Then we add on different cognitive add-ons. So there is the famous rabbit and hunter, which you might have seen. There's pinky and there's piano. um you know So there's many different, there's clapping of all sorts, crossing the arms like Mbappe. And so we put on these cognitive add-ons. Let me tell you, doing that simple exercise with these add-ons and hopping,
00:27:27
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
I've seen players, professional players, which were not able to do it. Very interesting because they've never done this sort of training. And so they moved out of their comfort zone. They actually improved their strong foot because it's being challenged and challenged a lot.
00:27:42
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
And then when the coach says, switch, the player moves the ball over to the weak foot. And there on the weak foot side, there's no cognitive add-ons. There's only outside, inside, hop. What happens? The player perceives this as relaxing, as comfortable. There's a new comfort zone that develops on the former weaker foot.
00:28:08
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
And now imagine Craig you know once you switch over then you have to do the rabbit and the hunter next you switch over then you have to do the pinky so if you start pouring out and those cognitive add-ons on the strong side this starts getting really stressful and you know what happens Craig?
00:28:19
Craig Birtwistle
Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.
00:28:25
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
the players start staying on their weak foot. Not because I told them to, but because the brain wants this good new feeling. It wants to relax. It's sick and tired of the stress that I'm putting on the strong side.
00:28:39
Craig Birtwistle
So to go back to your previous comment, it's now perceiving the weak foot as the comfort side is what your brain is actually doing.
00:28:39
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
and
00:28:44
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
00:28:45
Craig Birtwistle
Yeah, love that.
00:28:46
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
That's why we call it the the comfort zone principle.
00:28:50
Craig Birtwistle
Yeah.
00:28:50
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
um Our scientists call it that way. And it's fascinating. I mean, um I'm very slow of of calling things to calling things unique or or special. But this is actually something, it's a complete game changer. and i i you know and i i have If I turn my my camera, you'll see about 500, 2000 DVDs and at football and soccer books, which I have here. i'm i'm I'm a bit of a freak because when I get into a subject, I love to read and study and see everything.
00:29:21
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
and this This isn't anywhere. This is really new and it's it's a real game changer. And and without exception, correct players, professional players, um youth national team players, after one or two training sessions with me, they tell me my weak foot has never felt so good.
00:29:41
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
And I was actually among our team, I was the skeptic, Craig. I said, yeah, sounds good in theory, but as I'm not a scientist, I'm a coach. So I remember um preparing Anna-Lynn Bühler and Hannah Gunter, two German youth national team players, and and I started testing these exercises with these two girls.
00:30:05
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
And they both said it, Analina, right foot, Hannah, left foot. And they both said, oh my God, my weak foot feels incredibly well. And it's not, it wasn't just in training, Craig. It was after a couple of weeks that they would tell me, I'm using it a lot more in practice. I'm losing it a lot more in games. I've scored my first goal with my weak foot, even striking from as much as 30 yards out.
00:30:29
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
So the feedback was incredible. And this is something over the last five years that I've applied this comfort zone principle. I've experienced it with every single player that I've worked with. So it's it's it's actually, I'd say it's it's one of soccer's best hidden secrets.
00:30:47
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
um So, um yeah, a very revolutionary finding, but it has a huge impact because, I mean, let's be honest, um every single coach that and I've talked to, you have... more Here in Germany, in the Youth Bundesliga, over 90% of the players are not two-footed. Okay, and we're talking about the highest level of German youth soccer. So, I talked to... um a coach from the Feeneort Rotterdam Youth Academy of a few weeks ago for the second time, Terrence Arnold. And he said, wow, if this is true, this just changes um the world of soccer completely. Whereas as as rape my friend Ray Power, who also had me on his coach's development program, said to me about a year ago, he said, two-footedness is the next frontier. If we really get a significant number of players to be two-footed,
00:31:39
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
This will change the game completely. It'll change the speed of the game. It'll change, you know, then there's no more wrong foot. Every player becomes so much more and unpredictable, um more creative. There's so many more options. I mean, another buzzword that we talk about a lot these days, Craig, is polyvalence. So we're talking about developing hybrid players, which can can play at several different positions at the at the highest possible level. Well, the basic conditions to be able to do that is two-footedness.
00:32:09
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Okay, if you want to move a player and have him play on both sides, oh, if he's two-footed, this becomes a lot easier. And now getting back a bit to what we spoke about in the beginning, Craig.
00:32:20
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
The greatest part about this, for me as a coach, who wants the best for my players, is to see the joy in the eyes of my players when the they experiment spirit this credit. I mean, this is incredible. When players, and and you know, one of one of my players, Mafabi, who's 12 years old, he had the most incredible thing happen to him just a few weeks ago. He went on to play with the state selection, he went to a practice session, and he's a right for the player. so He felt so good about his left footed um foot and he's a really smart kid. So he said, I want to experiment. So all of the session, he only used his left foot. The whole session, everything was left foot. Then his coach came and said, Toby, man, can you please start using your weak right foot?
00:33:11
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
i mean if you if you hear I mean, I was so amazed when I heard that. um And Fabi, he is scoring so many goals with his left foot, Craig.
00:33:20
Craig Birtwistle
Bye,
00:33:22
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
It's it's incredible. His parents are amazed.
00:33:24
Craig Birtwistle
Mom.
00:33:25
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
I'm just about to finish Mario 2 with him. I just trained him again yesterday. He just scored another great goal yesterday, actually, in the 5-2 victory of his team, which played at the highest level in our state.
00:33:37
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
His coach is a certified cognitive goals coach also. So um yeah, this is this is this is catching on. and And now one thing we haven't talked about, um you know, ah Craig, market value.
Cognitive Training in the U.S.
00:33:51
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Players that are two-footed, the market value is so much more higher.
00:33:53
Craig Birtwistle
yeah
00:33:55
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
So um there's lots of scouts and agents even reaching out to us and to my guest Novak saying, can you play train this player or that player? Because they're looking at it from ah a business perspective. So that's a really, really cool thing.
00:33:56
Craig Birtwistle
yeah
00:34:09
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
And and for anybody, um you know, just when I showed the rabbit and the hunter to you, you were also trying to do it. um It's hard.
00:34:18
Craig Birtwistle
Yeah. Very badly, but yeah.
00:34:20
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
It's hard cranking.
00:34:21
Craig Birtwistle
It is.
00:34:21
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
But now imagine you have to do that when you're dribbling.
00:34:24
Craig Birtwistle
yeah
00:34:24
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
that's that's That's so tough.
00:34:27
Craig Birtwistle
yeah
00:34:27
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
So it's very logical that that's going to create a very challenging feeling on your dominant foot. And that way, That's the secret to creating that provisional comfort zone on on the weak foot.
00:34:41
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
so it's it's you know And the the good thing is about this, Craig, we've created a structure. So this is not you know something ah where you randomly try out different exercises.
00:34:53
Craig Birtwistle
Yeah. Yeah.
00:34:53
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
No, it's a clear step-by-step program. We've integrated a lot of motor learning. So our players, they end up moving a lot better. um as As a player said, told me, you know, when I came to train with you, I felt like I was moving a bit like a robot with these square movement, and now everything is fluent.
00:35:12
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
I feel like I've been born again as a player.
00:35:14
Craig Birtwistle
Fantastic.
00:35:15
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
so um And that's also something Mathias Milvax says. He always says, Craig, um movement talent, first, soccer talent, second. and And that's something, you know, I love the States.
00:35:27
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
As I mentioned but to you before I was born in the States, half of my my and life as a young person, i and I looked all over the States in different parts. So I have a great love for the US. I always say one of my dreams is for the World Cup in 2026 to become cognitive coach of the national team.
00:35:44
Craig Birtwistle
parts.
00:35:45
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
um But one thing that I always see in players in the US, they're very good athletically. but they don't move well.
00:35:54
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
They really don't move well. um it's It's like very athletic, lots of um strength, but it's it's not really fluid and there's not a lot of motor variability.
00:35:54
Craig Birtwistle
and
00:36:07
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
There's not a lot of unexpected stuff they do, very, very little. And so I think this kind of training has a great importance to the U.S. I'm probably flying over to the U.S. in January and I'll be sharing with several professional clubs about our concept. It'll be very interesting to see when and where and how we've got, yeah, I'd say 10, 15 different cognitive goals, coaches already in the States, recertified and doing some great stuff. But I think this is going to spread like a wildfire over the U.S.
00:36:37
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
um Because that's a great thing about the US. I guess this is probably something you've experienced also in the US. People are very open to innovation.
00:36:47
Craig Birtwistle
Mhm.
00:36:47
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
You know, parents want their kids to get better, to be the best that they can be. um So they invest a lot. And um while here in Germany and in Europe, um and since we have such a great um soccer tradition,
00:37:00
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
We sometimes think we know how things are done and we don't need to do anything new. That's a bit of the problem um and the hole that we fell into after the World Cup in 2014. And we've had a hard time lately, although now with Julian Nagelsmann and Sandro Wagner as assistant coach, we all know our way up. And and they they really focus on cognitive and brain training. It's something they're very conscious of. Yeah.
00:37:25
Craig Birtwistle
And it's one of those things as well, like you you kind of alluded to it earlier as well. It's not just the thing that's happening with youth players. This is something that is now integrated all the way up to the first team of like Academy programs. I was watching Michal Arteta the other day when he was just doing what most people would just perceive as a simple rondo before his session. But what he was doing was he had bean bags in his pocket.
00:37:51
Craig Birtwistle
and he would constantly throw them towards a player. So then that player had to worry about the ball that was being played in the rondo, but then also pe pick the beanbag up and throw it back to Mikel.
00:38:02
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Yep.
00:38:03
Craig Birtwistle
So it's a case of, as you say, training their brain to be able to, we're constantly as coaches telling our players to scan the field, be aware of their surroundings.
00:38:05
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Nice, nice.
00:38:08
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Yep.
00:38:14
Craig Birtwistle
And these sort of things, these cognitive training is ah really helping players grow. so have
00:38:20
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Yeah. yeah
00:38:21
Craig Birtwistle
We're going to just take a short break but when we come back I'd love you to tell our listeners how they can get more involved with adding cognitive training into their sessions.
00:38:31
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
All right, let's do it.
00:38:48
Craig Birtwistle
Welcome back. We just spoke about the passion Felix has for cognitive goals, hi the deep learning. You've just spoken, Felix, about how you created the cognitive goals and how important it is to players.
00:39:02
Craig Birtwistle
I honestly mean this. This is not just for this podcast. i'm I'm deeply fixated with learning how this can impact my players back at home and helping us grow.
00:39:06
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
and
00:39:13
Craig Birtwistle
And I'm sure the listeners are fascinated by how like this I wouldn't say it's new because it's been going a while, but it's probably the new in terms of the relation of the age of soccer coaching or football coaching. So how can ah coaches get involved with learning more about cognitive training?
Online Courses for Coaches and Players
00:39:33
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Yeah. and I mean, that's why we created our courses, Craig. So what we've released um in in English are the first three modules, um which makes you become a certified footballs football coach, level one. um That's available online. Actually, there's a special offer like Friday offer going on right now.
00:39:54
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
um So the courses are, I think, at the cheapest price they've ever been. And um yeah, um if coaches reach out to me personally, then I might even give them my personal coupon on top. um So um yeah, and it's it's very easily done, Craig, because you can do this anytime, and anywhere, in any place, just at your own speed at home. Because once you purchase the courses, you get lifelong access.
00:40:23
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
And um we've just released the fourth module in German, and so we're working on that to release it in English. We've already filmed eight modules, so there's a lot more stuff coming up.
00:40:33
Craig Birtwistle
Thank you.
00:40:33
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
We've even released a player course, um which has the first three modules at a cheaper price for players. So we've we've released it for coaches, we've released it for their players so they can train the stuff at home, and you know they can buy it together with their parents.
00:40:48
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
and um Yeah, it's and especially talking about the the two-footedness, this is actually really, really new. I mean, there's no um comparable program available. um And the great thing about it is, Craig, um it just takes you and it leads you through the whole process step by step. We've got quizzes. Every um every exercise we provide a scientific background.
00:41:15
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
um We've got a glossary. it's It's huge explaining all the scientific terms. So it's it's it's a fantastic certification course. um On the feedback from our coaches who've done the course, we've gotten 9.7 stars out of 10 up to now. So the feedback has been amazing. um Yeah, and the and and the interest um from all, I think we've had over 30, coaches over 30 nations which have purchased the course material.
00:41:43
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
and um And there's lots more stuff coming up. We're actually at the moment planning to open up our first Cognicles Academy in the United States in 2025 to provide like a lighthouse project.
00:41:52
Craig Birtwistle
Excellent.
00:41:55
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
We've chosen a very special place in the US where the national youth teams are located. So you might know what I'm talking about. So we're we we're in weekly talks about that.
00:42:07
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
We're even thinking about bringing over Matias Novak to become Academy Director. So I'm talking to him about that. Yeah, it's it' going to be a huge, huge thing for the US. And um yeah, I mean, I'm dreaming. been We've been ah world champions in Germany for four times. So Craig, it's time for the USA, right? I mean, the women's team has shown shown how to do it. So it's time for the the men. and And I think um it's always, it's always um being open to innovation, to doing something new, which will help to achieve performance leaps.
00:42:42
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
You know, the the old saying, if you keep doing the same things you're doing and ah expect different results, you're crazy.
00:42:48
Craig Birtwistle
Yeah.
00:42:49
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
So you have to innovate. And that's where Cogney Gold comes in. I think it's it's one of the most innovative, unique programs that are out. And and we really target the hardware of the brain, as our scientists say.
00:43:02
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
um The whole player starts to perceive more. um Something that they they they tell us all the time, Craig, after just a couple weeks of training, they say, oh, the the match is so much slower.
00:43:14
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Everything is so much slower. And of course, nothing has changed, but the processing speed has increased so much that they perceive everything to be slower. um You know, they take better decisions. They move better.
00:43:26
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
um it's it's um yeah it's It's amazing results. But don't take my word for it. Try it out yourself, coaches. And um we're here to support you because um let me let me also issue a a brief warning. um It is very innovative stuff. So this is not for just any coach who wants to do some kind of standard stuff. You really have to dig deep and really understand the concepts and apply them the right way, because that ensures the right results. Yeah, so, um yeah, very, very, um and and um we're open to any questions, Craig.
Feedback and Impact on Education
00:44:08
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Matias Novak and myself, if there's any questions, we, you know, we're, you can find us on LinkedIn, on on X. and We love getting coaches involved, getting their questions. um um I'm releasing a lot of new exercises on Instagram.
00:44:24
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
um ah just you know challenges to to just show what our training is all about. and Have your players try it and you'll see that it just trains a different part um that's not usually trained. It it just focuses on the brain. A lot of stuff at craig looks like technical training, but it's you always have to remember it's all about training the brain.
00:44:49
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
really making players that have the cognitive skills to play at the highest possible level. And you know there's specialized athletic training, there's specialized technical training, there's specialized tactical training and I believe the time has come for specialized cognitive training to really, you know, fine tune and develop the cognitive skills of the players to be able to perform at the highest level. And the speed of the game, um as of modern life, Craig, it's become so complex, it's become so fast. And so these are skills, as many of our parents have told us, that they don't only help with football, soccer, they help with life itself.
00:45:33
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
So, you know, we've had feedback from parents of, I just talked to a parent yesterday who told me that ever since the training with us, the kid has improved so much at school, it's got straight A's, um and it's logical. and If this stuff helps the brain, the executive function of the brain, of course it's gonna improve. um um yeah I mean, there's lots of studies which show that the the executive functions of a child, they determined more success in school and in life than the IQ.
00:46:01
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Okay, so if you can train if you can train that, you know, ah go for it.
00:46:01
Craig Birtwistle
wow
00:46:08
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
The offer is out there and let's see who takes up the challenge. and And let me repeat, it's not easy. You have to dig in and really renew your mind and and be able to do stuff you've never done before.
00:46:20
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
But that's that's what all revolutions and sports are made of. So here you go.
00:46:24
Craig Birtwistle
And didn't die it's always been the case of if it's worth learning or worth doing, it's never been easy, has it? Like we fact that with all of our jobs and just for our listeners as well, I will make sure that in the podcast description, I'll put all Felix's details in for like, as he say, his Twitter account, LinkedIn, and all the above that we mentioned.
00:46:30
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Yeah, yeah.
00:46:46
Craig Birtwistle
So Felix, on a lighter note, um I always like to ask our coaches to see where like their kind of like passion began.
Cherished Sports Memories
00:46:54
Craig Birtwistle
um Can you tell us what your favourite moment was in sports? It can be as a player, a fan, a coach.
00:47:02
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
ah there are many There are many, Craig. Playing 1v1 with my dad in the garden, um I'll never forget that. It's one of my earliest it it's it's actually my my earliest positive childhood memory. I love the ball. I love balls of any kind. um I've got a basketball.
00:47:26
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Set up in my garden. I can't you know walk by without shooting some hoops I just I have this this deep love for the ball now and I've loved sports all my life different sports um One of the absolute highlights that just comes to my mind Craig is 2014 semi-finals Germany, Brazil i was watching this i was I was watching this next door, and next ah just a room next door here in our basement. um man This was one of the the most beautiful soccer experiences of all my life. and and I've always had a great love for Brazilian soccer, no question.
00:48:08
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
But the way that German team, um also from a brain ah perspective, the way they there was like a collective rhythm in that team, and um we celebrated the 3-0, 3-0 so much that like the remote control made the screen go off and a few months and we put it back on.
00:48:27
Craig Birtwistle
Yeah.
00:48:28
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
And they scored, again, we thought it was like a replay, but it was the fourth, I mean, Craig, that was that was beautiful. That was beautiful. That was so touching. um On a personal level, another and I'll leave it at that, another moment that comes to to my mind. um When we moved to Washington DC in ninth grade, I attended Walt Whitman High School. And there were basketball tryouts.
00:48:55
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
and um I said, yeah, I want to try out. And all my American friends, they said, man, you're German. Come on. What are you going to do? Go play some soccer. And I said, no, no. i'm going to And there were like, like almost 200 kids trying out for that. And I ended up making the team. And we ended up that year, we were undefeated. We won every game. We won the county championship. I played every game.
00:49:20
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
and that was for me from a sports perspective one of the proudest moments just to have made it as a German to have made it onto that team to represent my high school um and to be part of such a great team because the first time in the history of Walt Whitman High School that one of their freshman teams went undefeated and that it won the county championship so that was that was also amazing yeah
00:49:38
Craig Birtwistle
Wow, great.
00:49:43
Craig Birtwistle
And also to prove your friends wrong as well, right? good
00:49:48
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Absolutely, absolutely.
00:49:49
Craig Birtwistle
ah
00:49:49
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
no and and there's there's many for me For me, Craig, I love sports. I love the the um ah joy and the passion it can bring to your
Maintaining Passion in Sports
00:49:59
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
life.
00:49:59
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
so um yeah For me, it's it's something very precious and that's why I try to pass on to my players. And um I always tell them, you know, and for them, and when you become a professional or when you play for a German um youth national team, Craig, it's it's serious stuff. The competition is very tough. But i I always tell the players, don't do too much. Take breaks.
00:50:24
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
especially when you're injured, don't play injured, and make sure that the love and the passion in your heart for the game keeps burning bright. Because I see so many professional players and so many talented youth players, they lose the passion, they use but lose the love, and that's the most precious thing of all. And if you end up losing that, you what do you you know what are you doing there? You in it for the money? Come on, no, it's it's it's you know it's it's it's called the beautiful game for a reason.
00:50:52
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
So um that's what I always keep trying to tell them, um you know, take risks, and be courageous because that's also something, Craig, that we're missing in modern soccer. You know, it's become so much of a chess game that actually, for me, when I go to the stadium or when I watch games on TV, it's sometimes very boring because I can predict almost everything.
00:51:15
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
Where are the dribblers? Where's the courageous um ah players that take risks that go 1v1 or 2 or 3 that you know mesmerize the fans but with their skills and their tricks? And that's actually another thing, Craig, that CogniGoals is all about. We want to develop that kind of new two-footed game intelligent and creative player generation that gets football fans to really, you know, they they go the same just to see that kind of players playing. So um keeping the the beautiful game beautiful.
00:51:51
Craig Birtwistle
I love that. um This has been fantastic, but that's about all we have for
Conclusion and Audience Engagement
00:51:57
Craig Birtwistle
the episode. I feel like we could go on for hours, me and you, Felix. That is fantastic. Thank you very much for joining us. um For our listeners, be sure to get in touch across all our socials to offer your opinions on all that has been discussed. You can find the social media platforms we use in our podcast description, as well as I said, Felix's details.
00:52:17
Craig Birtwistle
This has been session share the coaches podcast. Thank you once again Felix for a fantastic episode Welcome and thank you all for listening and as Felix would say thank you for coaching the beautiful game
00:52:23
Felix Lehmann COGNIGOALS
My pleasure, Craig. Thank you. Thanks for the invitation. I i really enjoyed every moment of it.