Active Working Memory and Football Tactics PT: 1

Introduction

Active working memory is simply how much information you can hold in your conscious, ready for use. This information has not been stored in the long term memory yet or even the short term memory. The average amount a person can hold in their AWM is about 7 pieces of information. This can be numbers, words, or pictures of objects. For example, in a football match to be truly effective the players need to be able to check their shoulders and then use the information to make fast decisions. The great players are able to constantly check the different reference points and update their mental pictures allowing them to perform better actions. However, some positions benefit from a higher active working memory than others.

Active Working Memory Meets Positional Play

Let’s divide the field into our five vertical corridors that we are used to. Which consists of WideArea-HalfSpace-Center-HalfSpace-WideArea. It has been widely known that these five corridors have very unique implications. One that I have yet to be explored is the cognitive demand it puts on players. We can even take this one step further and say that the third of the field players a role on how much a player has to use their active working memory.

Building from the back

When a team is in possession in their own defensive third the team they are playing against operates in a high block. This increases the amount of space between the players. With the added…