Training - am I doing it wrong?

Hola,

So - I am managing in division IV:
http://www.blackoutrugby.com/game/club.league.php?id=128270#page=standings&id=128270

I somehow managed to luck into staying up last season but it's looking tougher this year. So I'm looking for every opportunity to improve my squad as much as possible and one thing I'd always just done, and not really thought about, is training.

My best player has a CSR of around 38k. My weakest starter is around 28k. So the team aren't at all strong, but they're young, and I've done all I can do for all my time playing to improve staff and facilities and start to bring through some good youth.

So - I have 4 team training sessions each week, and 29 individual sessions. I've been spreading the individual sessions around about 15-16 players trying to shore up their weaknesses as best as possible. Having read a few more training threads on here, there don't seem to be too many people doing that... it seems more common to be using multiple sessions on single players...

Is that correct, or am I doing it right? Any thoughts or advice would, as ever, be much appreciated.

Cheers

Matt

there is no correct way but i would advise training 3 players on 10 10 and 9 nets

or train 5 players on 5 5 5 5 5 4

something along those lines

Wing's sage-like advice once again proving beyond all doubt that he can't count

Alternatively, you can carry on as you are, but start directing some of the sessions you are using on weaknesses to strengths to press home your advantage.

To begin with, you just have to accept that your players are going to be weaker in some areas, and you can slowly start to cover that with some good promotions or transfers (eg. a centre who is very slow but good elsewhere can be replaced by a similar player with a bit more speed)

6 players on 5 5 5 5 5 4 then

you should aim to train youth as much as possible , if your training 14 players on 2 nets with the 15th on 1 net you probably wont be maximising potential, older players train more slowly so if 7 or 8 of those players are mid to late 20s and the rest are younger you should focus it all ont he younger.

you might also want to explore the idea of training 3 players to keep and 1 or 2 to sell

with the profit you can buy more star players or fund more training.

As I have noticed you have a few decent U20 prospects in your youth academy too, I would recommend promoting them as early as you can next season and potentially look to train them with 10 nets. If they make it to U20 representation, it should add a 0 or two onto their sale price if you choose to sell after the Season 20 world cup. If not, you end up with an amazing player who is just about to turn 21.

Was Butner not scouted with a decent number of stars? From his physicals he should be in the YA team for sure.

Wow - some good stuff for me here - a few more questions / comments:

First of all - my senior squad is all young. I have only 3 players older than 23 in my 24 man squad - so they should mostly all still be taking to the training, I believe?

Definitely feels like it won't hurt to experiment with focusing the training on some of the better young players in my senior squad - I have a couple of 19 year olds who definitely have some potential so I might try that for a bit.

Then next season promote the best of the youths and really focus on them and see how they do. Is there any benefit to promoting during the season, or should I just be trying to do it early in the season and then not worrying about it?

In terms of youths - I do have a decent looking squad there. Butner was a 20-star player, as was Sherrington. None of them are less than 10. 1 of them was 125...

Lastly - thanks so much for all the help and advice.

Get Butner straight in the YA team then. He could be worth as much as the rest of the YA put together. So max his IGT and exp gains.

I love the fact that you have a player in your YA called Dominic Illegitimate Love Child, what a great name. The only name I've found in the game better than that is this guy :

http://www.blackoutrugby.com/game/club.squad.php#player=11799335

Sorry for wandering off topic!

Looks like your team is at a similar level to mine (although your YA is in better shape at present). I have picked my 3 youngest guys and given them all an equal amount of individual training sessions, they tend to develop fairly quickly and you should be able to make money off them/put them in your first team before long.

You seem to be building a good balanced squad with similar levels of talent accross the board (I much prefer this approach rather than buying a couple of star players) so focusing training on a narrower group of the younger players in the squad will ensure they progress faster and will catch up with the better players in your squad before long. Don't forget the younger the player the faster they train so guys who are 22, 23 etc. will not gain as much from IT sessions as players who are 17,18,19 etc. hence why it is better to focus on the younger guys (even if they have a bit of catching up to do).

With the guys in the YA make sure you play the higher star players as much as possible, I'd then promote them as soon as they hit 17 and get them on about 10 sessions each.

Good luck!!

Wow! The forum just automatically changed the word B**tard to Illegitimate Love Child. Oops!

That link is a good one, but he's no Dick Milk
(wonder if the forum will change that - i love "Illegitimate love child" )

The changes are whatever I chose to put in, Illegitimate Love Child was a nice one that I enjoyed from a Terry Pratchett, I believe Fercukkit should be changed too.

Hey again, fellas - thanks for all the tips and advice.

So - I have Buttner in my YA team now, he's playing. Is it the physical attributes that you think will make him extremely valuable?

The aforementioned Mr B@st@rd is actually turning into a pretty decent player for me:

Dominic Illegitimate Love Child
18 y/o (R11, D4) | 187cm | 103kg | England | 10 stars
Right handed, right footed, in admirable form .
A collected player with controlled discipline, satisfactory leadership, and despicable experience.
Energy: Fit 51%
Stamina: 9
Handling: 11
Attack: 12
Defense: 11
Technique: Low
Strength: 4
Jumping: 3
Speed: 11
Agility: Medium
Kicking: 8

He's not even my best prospect in there to be honest, I have a good number that are better than that... I've only really left him down as I read that he's probably better off being trained in the YA than in my main team unless I'm giving him a lot of attention. Might be time to reconsider if I'm reconsidering the training all in.

Cheers once again.

Yes. At 184cm/125kg Butner can be a quality prop, and you can't coach physicals. Reckless isn't the greatest asset, but even so I'd play him as much as possible and promote once he's 17.

Even if you don't then train him put him up for sale.