​“Decoding” Coach Park Hang Seo's educational method

From the style of coach Park Hang Seo that contributed to the success of the Vietnam U23 team, educators can also refer to it in their methods of educating students.

Emphasize discipline

Discipline and teamwork are the things that Coach Park Hang Seo put first in his first days in charge of the Vietnam national team. Whether it is the coaching staff or the players, everyone must comply with the set rules.

Coach Park Hang Seo's football philosophy is collective and disciplined. He requires players to be responsible for themselves, responsible for every pass on the field.

He once said: “In the Vietnam team, there will be no star. Everyone must look in the same direction and achieve the set goals.”

Although he is a fun, even humorous teacher, Coach Park Hang Seo is also very disciplined. That discipline is shown right from the first training sessions of the Vietnam team, even in the meals and sleep of the players.

In order to bring the Vietnamese team into a framework soon, Coach Park Hang Seo has issued many regulations that the players must follow under his guidance. Among them are regulations such as the Vietnamese team players must be absolutely punctual, comply with the schedule, practice, eat, rest of the whole team, there is no specific curfew.

Vietnamese players are also not allowed to use mobile phones when eating or attending team meetings to avoid distractions that affect the team's concentration.

“From the way he eats, lives, to when he goes to the training field, Coach Park always gives me a sense of professionalism. When he goes to the training field, he often instructs everything, guiding all members to do the best things. Mr. Park Hang Seo is a good coach,” goalkeeper Tuan Manh of the Vietnamese team once commented about his teacher.

After U23 Vietnam got a ticket to the final of U23 Asia, Coach Park Hang Seo's language assistant Le Huy Khoa shared a very long and heartfelt letter on his personal page. In the letter, there is a paragraph that reads:

“Don’t ask us if we don’t have fun after the match. After the match, all of our team never let loose, still go to bed at 10 o’clock, don’t hang around, don’t drink, don’t hang around, don’t talk too much about the victory, don’t rest on our laurels, don’t do anything without permission if it affects everyone. We are still very determined for the match. And of course, military orders are like mountains.”

Understand each student's qualities

In education, a good teacher is someone who understands the qualities of each student to help them develop their individual abilities. And Coach Park Hang Seo has done that.

During the 42 days with U23 Vietnam, many nights in a row, Mr. Park Hang Seo studied the video tapes of U19 Vietnam's matches, then the tournaments of U19 and U20 Vietnam in the 2016 Asian finals, the 2017 U20 World Cup. From those video tapes, Mr. Park decided to choose the main squad for the U23 Asian Finals, including the previous U19 players mixed with the U20 players.

Understanding the abilities and personalities of his students, Mr. Park understands who he should use and when is most appropriate. With the philosophy that football is a team sport, requiring solidarity and consensus, Coach Park Hang Seo built the Vietnamese team into a team without stars. Mr. Park does not prioritize the "star" players who were favored and pampered under Coach Huu Thang or Mai Duc Chung.

Coach Park Hang Seo once shared: “In the Vietnam team, no one will be a star. Everyone must look in the same direction and achieve the set goals.”

Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each player, Coach Park Hang Seo makes the right decision about which players to field in each specific match, not necessarily choosing “famous” players. With this selection method, there are players who were almost unknown before the AFC U23 Championship this year but have suddenly shined and contributed greatly to the overall success of Vietnamese football.

Recently, in an interview with CCTV5, the host of China, striker Cong Phuong praised his teacher, Coach Park: "Mr. Park Hang Seo is an extremely good coach, with a deep understanding of football in general and each U23 Vietnam player in particular. That is the key to helping him come up with the best tactics."

A typical example is that Coach Park Hang Seo has effectively used defender Pham Xuan Manh (SL Nghe An) - who was added to the Vietnam U23 team at the last minute. This is a very versatile player, able to play in many different positions, from attack to defense, from the center to the wing.

And coach Park Hang Seo has made good use of Xuan Manh's versatility in this year's tournament. In any role (whether playing right-back or center-back), Xuan Manh has completed his task well, not leaving too much space compared to the players he replaced.

Harnessing the Power of Belief

“Positive beliefs are the passports that activate our abilities. Beliefs create results.” (according to the author of the bookBasic NLP). And the strong belief in victory is what we always see in coach Park Hang Seo.

Speaking at the farewell ceremony to see off the Vietnam U23 team to the 2018 AFC U23 Championship in China, organized by the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) on the morning of December 29, 2017, Coach Park Hang Seo said: “The AFC U23 Championship is a tournament for the Vietnam U23 players to demonstrate their achievements after a long period of hard training. We have tried our best and I hope the Vietnam U23 team can create a miracle in this tournament for Vietnamese fans.”

At the farewell ceremony to see the U23 Vietnam team off to the 2018 AFC U23 Championship, coach Park Hang Seo (left) clearly expressed his determination to help the U23 Vietnam team achieve good results.

One day before the quarter-finals of the U23 Asian Cup, the Organizing Committee held a pre-match press conference, with the participation of representatives of the teams. Appearing at the press conference, Coach Park Hang Seo appeared very confident. Although U23 Vietnam was considered much weaker than U23 Iraq, Coach Park Hang Seo was still confident that he would make something special in the quarter-final match of the Asian Cup at 6:30 p.m. on January 20 and U23 Vietnam would play offensively, resolving the match within 90 minutes.

At the press conference after the Vietnam - Qatar match, coach Park Hang Seo continued to affirm that U23 Vietnam will be determined to do something special in the final match of the tournament.

It is the confidence and trust that coach Park Hang Seo has for his students that has instilled confidence in the entire Vietnamese team. It is easy to see that the statements of coach Park's students before and after the matches are always full of confidence.

Speaking on the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) homepage, midfielder Nguyen Quang Hai affirmed that coach Park Hang Seo has helped the U23 Vietnam players have confidence in themselves. He said: “Coach Park Hang Seo has helped us have confidence in ourselves. That has helped us to be able to contribute our best in every match.”

Midfielder Nguyen Quang Hai affirmed that U23 Vietnam will not disappoint fans..

Focus on building connections

To encourage students to develop their best abilities and contribute to the collective success, it is important that all parties (students and teachers) understand each other and have a close, friendly relationship.

When he started leading the Vietnamese team, Coach Park Hang Seo wanted the players to share rooms according to his request. Players in the same position would stay together instead of freely choosing roommates like before to increase solidarity and mutual understanding among the players in the team.

This rule is also to avoid the situation where only the players at the club play together and live together. All those who have joined the national team are like a family.

Coach Park Hang Seo is concerned about Cong Phuong's injury.

Goalkeeper Tuan Manh of the Vietnamese team once shared: "The Vietnamese team's meals usually last 30 minutes, no member is allowed to use the phone and everyone must talk to each other during the meal."

In addition to the strict moments during training, Mr. Park always has moments of fun with the players, bringing a more intimate feeling of family than a national team about to go on international duty.

The above factors in Coach Park Hang Seo's training method have contributed to the overall success of the Vietnam U23 team. We believe that with Coach Park Hang Seo's scientific and comprehensive educational method, Vietnamese football will go even further.

Getting enough sleep is crucial

Getting enough sleep is an extremely important factor for all of us. Understanding this, Coach Park Hang Seo always focuses on ensuring sleep for the players. On the evening of January 1, after about 6 hours of traveling by plane and car, the U23 Vietnam team arrived in Shanghai (China) to prepare for the 2018 U23 Asian Cup finals. As soon as he checked in at the hotel, Coach Park Hang Seo also asked the whole team to have dinner and go to bed early, preparing for the training session tomorrow morning.

On the afternoon of January 24, as planned, U23 Vietnam was to have a training session, but Coach Park Hang Seo decided to cancel this session. In the morning, the whole team slept in at the hotel. After the semi-final match with U23 Qatar, many players were exhausted, some even had insomnia. Therefore, Coach Park Hang Seo let his players rest, not only in the morning but all day.

Xuan Vu