Preseason is fast approaching...

It's the time of the season that adults typically fear; the endless laps, the 'bleep test', the military-style circuit training with one-minute planks and a 12 minute run. The thoughts of not seeing a ball for six weeks and having to take your 'runners' every week as doing those miles in your Copa's on rock hard ground wasn't fun for your feet. And why? Because someone can recall, back in their youth (circa 1960's), that this was the way to get people fit and ready for the test of a gruelling 8-month long slog of a season through the hardened English winters. 


So, it makes sense knowing what we do about physical development principles now to question some of these approaches to training. For example, doing a 12 minute run makes you a good 12 minute runner, it doesn't make you a good footballer. Nor fit for the game because the game actually bears no resemblance to a constant 12 minute run. Therefore, why do you do it?


It makes even more sense to question why we see this with children! I kid you not, 9-year olds doing the 'plank' have been witnessed on playing fields of the south east of England this very preseason! This post is not going to give you the answers about what to do or how to plan for a whole preseason but more to ask you to think about this question - Why are you doing what you are doing? What is the benefit? Is it appropriate?


Considerations
This time of the year is important and it could be for a number of factors. You might have new children that have joined the team and you need to integrate them with existing members. You might have new parents that then come with expectations of their perception of what a 'coach' is and what 'preseason looks like' so these need managing too. You might need to get the kids running about and into some kind of physical shape if they have not done much exercise throughout the summer. You might be going to a different format of the game and you need to introduce the young players to an alternative formation. There could be all sorts of different elements to consider and these need careful pontification.


Therefore, rather than do what you did as a youngster yourself, or regurgitate those adult-centric drills that we think worked for us, or repeat what you did last season and the three before that, take a good look at the process for the next few weeks ahead.


What does age-appropriate training look like?
Young children don't have the same bodies as adults; they don't regulate temperature and deal with hot and cold in the same way ours do, they don't deal with high intensity bouts of exercise as their anaerobic systems aren't fully developed yet...so park those shuttles and find a different way to help them. 


The challenge is to decide what is appropriate for the age of the young people you are working with. This could vary from no fitness related sessions at all and a focus still on developing fundamental movement skills and functional movement skills with little ones to doing some elements of capacity building, game speed and game strength with U18 players. 


How can you make the experience one that doesn't scare players for life?
We all have our own reservations about preseason training and you can sense my feelings on what I have endured in the past by the tone of this blog! So as a coach, how can you make this fun and enjoyable for the young players? These sessions have to be fun and where possible involve a ball too. Just because there is a ball doesn't mean the players aren't working.


For example, playing four games of 4v4 for 4 minutes (on a small pitch and small goals) with the simple conditions of a) the coach having lots of balls ready to use, b) the ball has to come back into play within 4 seconds and c) the player in possession has to be closed down within 4 seconds, can be an incredibly tough and high tempo workout. And this closely replicates the game they are getting fit for. 


Whatever your aims and outcomes are for the preseason period, please give them some thought. Plan appropriately for the group of modern day learners you have in front of you, use modern day coaching methods and make this an enjoyable start to the season. Now, wouldn't that be a modern approach for this time of year?! 

Tournament time is fast approaching for the kids...

It's Tournament Time!
Now the season has finished, all presentation evenings are coming to a close and rounding off everyone's achievements with a well-earned thank you, the next football door opens - it's that of the "7-a-side tournament" or whatever derivation you might find your team attending. 


This is a strange time for young players. It creates an environment that heaps a huge amount of pressure and stress yet fun and enjoyment in one day. It sees children and young people experience a whole season's worth of football crammed into one day and personally, I love them! These can be fantastic learning opportunities for coaches and players of all ages. So, here are a few things to think about on how to get the best of the day. 


What is 'Success'?
Before the day starts it's important to define what success looks like for the young players. Is it winning the tournament? Is it putting into practice all the things you've been doing in training? Is it the social side of a day for the families to come together in the sun (hopefully) and enjoy themselves? 


Whatever "success" looks like, it really helps if you can define this or, more importantly, ask the players to define what this means to them. We did this with our group of U10 boys on a recent tour to Germany, playing against 40 professional teams from the host country to far-ranging teams from Russia, Czech Republic, Italy and Brazil. The feedback from the boys before we went - "to have fun", "to get on well with team mates and not fall out" and "to get better". One player of the 11 that we took said "to win the tournament". We shaped all the discussions into three key objectives for us on the trip: 


1. To try and win the tournament - that's why we entered and it is a game after all!
2. To learn some new things - whether about how to travel well, words in another language, but importantly, things both on and off the pitch. 
3. To have fun - vital and incorporated the aspects of team bonding and enjoyment too.


The important part was the boys had a voice as part of the discussions into what they wanted to achieve, not just us as the coaches. Try and find some ways to let them decide what they want from it too. 


Now, depending on how brave you are feeling depends on how far you want to go. If the focus is on enjoyment and having a great day with all the families and other kids around, you can almost experiment more.


Why not try:
1. Let the kids decide who plays what game and when.
Can you challenge their leadership skills to decide this? Can you ask them to think about different reasons as to why certain players would play at certain times? Can you ask them then to think about who plays and why?


For example, if you know some of the teams you are playing against, the children might decide that the best player has to play against the best opposition but could be rested against a lesser team. There is every chance they will come to the same conclusion you would have done - but think about the added value of learning they get from making this decision themselves. This helps support empowering young people - vital. 


2. Let the players decide what positions they play.
Can you be bold and ask their input into this? That player that you have pigeon holed all season "because he kicks it a long way therefore must play in defence" might want to try playing somewhere else. Your goalkeeper might want to have a try playing out on pitch. In my experiences, I have one or two outfield players in my team that think they are a goalkeeper and love messing about with the gloves on, so let them play a game there maybe!


3. Let the learners decide on the formation and strategy to play.  
Have the discussion with the players - what is best to play and why? If we play a 2-3-1 and they play a 3-1-2 where does this mean we have advantages? Where does this mean they might have advantages? Rather than you decide every game what and how it shall all be done, relax and listen to the views of the children. They might have some really good ideas!


4. Manage the parents expectations.
If you have the kids taking ownership of the day on some of the matters above, share this with the parents. Explain that the kids have decided on certain aspects and they should be commended for having a go at trying something new. Share the definition of success for the day. 


One of the best pieces of advice is to ask your parents to bring a chair so they can sit down, relax, and enjoy watching their kids have a good time playing football. The ones you can get at a motorway service station, 2 for £12 that fold up and have a drinks holder in the armrest, brilliant, get yourself some of them!


It's amazing how chilled parents become if they are sitting down watching a game rather than standing up, edging along the touchline desperate to shout what they think is advice to their son or daughter!


5. Understand the day from their perspective. 
Tournaments and festivals are often long days, sometimes with long breaks between games and lots of boredom. However, it is a real necessity that you manage the health and energy levels of the children appropriately. Make sure they drink enough and have sun cream on, especially in hot weather. Make sure they eat enough, sensible reasonably healthy food too. The last thing you want is the players filling themselves with sweets throughout the day, massively high blood sugar levels (and managing them!) and then when they crash down, having to pick them up to play in a game. 


They will be very excitable at the start, probably expend more energy when they aren't playing doing other things (still playing, chasing each other, messing about) and then wonder why they have nothing left in the tank when it comes to game time. Try and ensure the players get rest between matches too and by engaging them in the tasks 1-3 above, this keeps them focused on football without racing about or throwing water over each other!


It can also be a time that pressure builds, depending on how far they might get in the competition. Manage this, make sure they don't feel under pressure to "have to win" but to constantly "try their best". That's all you can ask of them. 


And if they lose on penalties in the semi-final, expect them to be upset, expect a few tears. What is important is the learning and lessons that come from times like this, so focus on these factors rather than your own disappointment. This needs to be hidden away from their view - no flailing arms, moaning at the referee or shouting at anyone - be a good role model to the children, that's what they want from you. 


Children just want to know everything will be ok, you still love them regardless of whether they won or lost and that tomorrow is another day. 


Enjoy!

Watching expert coaches - what do you "see"?

The Grassroots Football Show is fast upon us and the question I have for you today is, when going to such an event as this, how can you maximise your learning and personal development as a coach? There will be loads going on, lots of ‘ big names’ delivering coaching sessions and plenty to watch and see, but what are you actually observing?

I’ve been to this show each year since it first started way back through the days in London and Coventry to where it has reached its’ home for the last few years at the NEC. I have seen many sessions from some excellent ones to some horrors. I remember one former England player / Premier League Manager delivering a session that was quite frankly one of the worst coaching sessions I have ever seen with children. What worries me is that if inexperienced coaches watch those kind of things and think they are the way forward the whole coaching world goes back 15 years!

Then you have the other extreme I have watched, another former Premier League manager deliver a top drawer session on working with a back four with a huge amount of technical detail and content. It then worried me that this session, pitched at U16+ in my opinion, would have been copied by U9 coaches across the land and we would have Mini-Soccer teams being coached in this manner! It’s about the balance.

So, you turn up, loads going on, you have a wander round the stands and exhibition area and get as many free things as possible; the standard stuff each year! You have a look at the programme and realise there are some sessions going on you would like to see. But what do you see when you take your seat?

Here are some top tips for ‘seeing’ the right things:

Copy the X’s and O’s - this for me is the first thing you need to get an understanding of; how many players is the coach working with, what age, what size is the area, do they have an overload in a particular area and if so, why. Get this scribbled down pronto as this isn’t the important part!

How does the practice start - try and get a grip of the mechanics of how the practice starts and progresses. Where does the ball begin, is it with the GK or somewhere else? What happens when the defending team get the ball? What are the rules of the game? Get this scribbled down sharpish as this isn’t the important part either!

This is the important part... Watch the coach. Listen to the coach. 

When I was a younger and less experienced/greyer(!) coach, I would go and watch good coaches work, copy down their sessions, take them back to my kids like a hunter-gatherer to feed them with this new food. I would then proudly organise as per my diagram I had neatly copied and then wonder why it didn’t work!!

That’s because the devil is in the detail. Not the detail of the game so much but of what the coach does and what the coach says. 

Therefore, when you are sitting in the stand watching an expert coach deliver, watch closely - where do they move? What are they focusing their attention on? How do they interact with the players? How do they feedback points for the players to learn and develop from - as a group? With individuals?

And then listen closely - what do they say? What questions do they ask? How do they phrase the question? What technical detail do they provide?

THIS is coaching. 

Coaching Practice - Possession to Attack Game

It's been a while since I have posted an actual session plan so I thought after the success of a new game last night that I would share this with you. When I say a 'session plan' it isn't a full session plan. We have a specific syllabus that we work to with different component parts put together over a full week's training diary - three sessions plus a game. 


This 'game' formed about 40 minutes of the session where the theme was about developing passing, receiving and support play outcomes. So, here is the picture of what it looked like and then I'll explain it for you...

Last night I had 13 players turn up, always the dreaded number when you have planned a session but that is part of the skill of the coach - to adapt and include all the players. 


There are two pitches within one - a yellow pitch attacking the top goal, which had a goalkeeper in. This was an outfield player as the GK's weren't in so they were rotated round. There is then an orange pitch attacking the bottom goal, which inside the normal goal I put a mini-goal, which they had to miss for the goal to count. 


Yellow Pitch:
Yellow v Blue, 3v3 + GK. Yellow's had one midfielder and two forwards, matched up by the defending team. 
The coach started the practice by playing into the midfielder to then develop an attack.
If the Blue defending team regained possession they played into the coach, who was constantly moving about the top of the playing area so the picture always changed. 


Orange Pitch:
Red v White, 3v3. Red's played with two midfielders and one forward, matched up by the defending team. 
Same rules as the other pitch; play into Coach on regain and he would restart the practice.


The middle third of the practice was quite busy at times, with both games often starting in the same area. This provided a bit of contextual interference for the players, meaning they had to play round other bodies, not just their one defender. 


They swapped roles on the same pitch and the defenders became the attackers and vice versa. Then they swapped pitches and played in the other game with a slightly different set up. 


What is key are the questions you ask of the players - how can you create an overload? Where is best to attack and how? What techniques are you going to need to be good at? What did you find out from playing in that game? Can you find ways to rotate positions to create space? How can the forwards combine to make it hard for the defenders? The boys answered these in little groups of three when developing strategies as well as during the session.


The feedback last night from the boys, bearing in mind they are U10, was:
"We found that switching the ball from the middle to the wide areas was helpful to create a 1v1." (when they had two midfielders)


"Its important for one forward to drop short and the other to play a bit longer" (when they had two forwards). I followed this up with "how can the midfielder help at this stage?" and the answer was "for them to drive forwards and support the higher forward". Great answers. 


Outcomes:
Passing and receiving, combination play, decision making, forward movements, shooting and finishing, shot stopping, devising and sharing tactics and strategies, listening to others, respect for other people's ideas, teamwork (physical outcomes as well but they weren't the learning focus in this game).


What it gave the boys was a similar picture, but slightly different, lots of times. Nothing ever happens the same in a game twice so this varied was important. It's called 'constraint-led coaching' - have a look for some information on it. 


Overall the game worked very well. The boys went through a short process of 'learning the practice' before 'getting better' at the practice - normal when given something 


Feel free to give it a go and see what happens. We ask the players to take risks in the games and practices so we should feel comfortable doing this as a coach too! 

Something for your parents - youth sport.

Stumbled across this little gem, you might want to share this with your parents, specifically those new teams or at the start of next season. This for me is what grassroots sport is about and the last two verses sum it up well. 


A Parent Talks to a Child Before the First Game


This is your first game, my child. I hope you win.
I hope you win for your sake, not mine.
Because winning's nice.
It's a good feeling.
Like the whole world is yours.
But, it passes, this feeling.
And what lasts is what you've learned.


And what you learn about is life.
That's what sports is all about. Life.
The whole thing is played out in an afternoon.
The happiness of life.
The miseries.
The joys.
The heartbreaks. 


There's no telling what'll turn up.
There's no telling whether they'll toss you out in the first five minutes or whether you'll stay for the long haul. 


There's no telling how you'll do.
You might be a hero or you might be absolutely nothing. 
There's just no telling.
Too much depends on chance.
On how the ball bounces. 


I'm not talking about the game, my child.
I'm talking about life.
But, it's life that the game is all about.
Just as I said. 


Because every game is life.
And life is a game.
A serious game.
Dead serious. 


But, that's what you do with the serious things.
You do your best.
You take what comes. 
You take what comes and you run with it. 
Winning is fun.
Sure.
But winning is not the point. 


Wanting to win is the point.
Not giving up is the point.
Never being satisfied with what you've done is the point. 
Never letting up is the point. 
Never letting anyone down is the point. 


Play to win.
Sure.
But lose like a champion.
Because it's not winning that counts.
What counts is trying.


(Unknown)

Children and some reasons behind 'Play' - Part 2

Part of the discussions with the young people has been to hear their views on winning and losing and I’m sure what you are going to see will resonate with some of your own experiences. Firstly, this article extends from the previous blog post on ‘Children and Play‘ so please have a read of that one first if you haven’t already to get up to speed. 

Here’s a big thing from kids - winning and losing isn’t actually that big a deal for children. Now of course, there are always anomalies to everything but broadly speaking, the kids aren’t overly concerned. We heard some great quotes from children from the research we did:

“If we’ve lost I’ve normally forgotten about it by the time I’ve had a shower”

“I’m not that bothered about the score, trying your hardest is the most important thing”

“As long as I can have cheesy chips on the way home I don’t really care”

The big thing from children is that the disappointment is short-term. Ten minutes after the game their lives have moved on. But for the adults, it’s ruined their weekend!

So, it could be suggested from all the research and evidence out there that the outcomes of winning and losing is an adult paradox. People (grown ups) tell me that sport teaches you about winning and losing and makes you understand these important life lessons, but does it? 

I once gave 20 coaches on a course a really difficult spelling test and then put on the flip chart the scores from their efforts - 95%, 82%, 64%, 43% etc. and all the way down to the lowest score 4%. I then started writing the names at the top alongside the scores, starting with the highest. The feedback, unanimously in the room after writing the first name, was that the adults didn’t want me to complete the list as the lowest people didn’t ridiculing. Hang on, hasn’t that 20 years of sport taught you to win and lose? Evidently not... 

One of the questions we asked the kids was “would you like a close game where you win or lose 3-2 every week or would you rather win 9-0 every week?”. The feedback was overwhelming, the kids always want the close game, and recognise there is no value in winning 9-0 every week (“every one just starts hogging it”) or losing 9-0 (“it’s just no fun”) every week. But the development comes from close games are staggering, things like:

“You learn about coming from behind to win and how good that makes you feel”

“I like the game to be interesting from the start to the end”

“It’s a much better challenge to be in an even contest”

Now relate this to when we as kids organised our own football or what still goes on in playgrounds or before training now. Four kids turn up, so they play 2v2. One team will start to win and one will start to lose so when the next player turns up, what team do they put him on? The team thats losing, because they wan’t to even the experience up. And if another turns up, they either play 4v2 or move people around to keep the game even. Adults don’t see this - we still want massive goal differences because that might be worth an extra point at the end of the season!

I got into a discussion in the West Midlands with a League there and we were talking about an U13 match. One team had turned up with 14 players and the other turned up with 8 (standard stuff - school ski trip, someone’s birthday etc.) so the two manager’s agreed the score for the League and let the team with 8 play with the 3 subs to play 11v11. Great game, common sense and exactly what the kids wanted. However, the League found out so docked them points for playing ineligible players and fined them! Now, I understand why, because the League just followed the Rules that are in place, but sometimes we need the desires of children to drive the Rules, not the other way round. 

If we are going to make football truly child-centred we have to listen to the children. The outcomes of this might lead to a game that adults don’t agree with, but why should we agree? This is the children’s game and it’s probably about right we gave it back to them in some form. 

Questions to consider:

How important is the value of winning and losing?

What are children’s responses to this - straight after the game, 15mins after the game, at the next training session? Do they align with yours and the parents?

How can you create an environment that moves the child values and adult values closer together?

How do these values change as children get older? Should your behaviours change?

Children and some reasons behind 'Play' - Part 1

One of the interesting discussions I have around the country, often with coaches and other adults involved in grassroots football, is why do children play football? When I share my views this often traverses into tangents from adults, denying the belief in research we have done or thinking that, for some reason, their children are ‘different’. 

Well, I’d like to use this first part of a two-part blog post to share some of the views from the research we have done with children, and share a couple of stories from a recent coach education course and hopefully leave you a few things to ponder. 

When we first started this research into the whole youth football debate it made perfect sense to start in one place - what do the children think. After all, it is their game, they are the ones that play and know more about being a child today than an adult does. Our childhood was very different you see; You Tube hadn’t been invented, there wasn’t access to football on loads of TV channels from loads of different countries and playing football on a computer consisted of waiting ages for the tape on the Commodore 64 to load up. Now there is instant access to FIFA12 to play virtual opposition from the other side of the world. So who should decide what a 10-year old’s game looks like?

The focus group interviews with the children were built on the following methodology - get a dozen or so children together to talk about their views on football, on the game they play. Build the presentation into being about them, a few questions to prompt them talking and then listen. Let’s just pause on those few words, read them again, “and then listen”. They are important. Because, when you give children the opportunity to talk about what they want and to listen to what they think, it’s fascinating. 

Another key aspect was the environment - let’s keep away anyone that could influence their views. So the coach of the team? Sorry, you’ll have to wait outside. Parents? You can sit and chat in another room too. This was because they can influence the views. For example, the coach picks the team (is often a mum or dad anyway) and the child wants to play so they aren’t then going to speak honestly for fear of damaging this opportunity. 

The first question for them to discuss was very simple - why do you play football? 

You won’t be surprised at some of the responses:

“Because I love the game”

“Because it’s really fun”

“Because I get to hang out with my mates”

These reasons are common and consistent with children across the country. No matter where we speak to children, whether from professional teams or grassroots teams, boys or girls, rural or urban, top of the league or bottom of the league, typically the responses all correlate. Why? Because they are children. They think like a child. What motivates a 10-year old child, motivates a 10-year old child, whether you are in Devon or Durham and I’ve done focus groups in both those places and many in between!

We then talk about the things they don’t like. Can you guess what they say? Here’s a few things that children don’t like; getting injured, not playing, bias referees, adults shouting at them. 

It gets interesting when you start talking about parents and their views on winning and losing but I’ll save these for future blogs.

After a few more questions we then get on to an interesting task. We provide the children, in small groups, 16 pieces of paper that have a host of different statements on, from intrinsic motivators to the extrinsic. They are as follows:

1. I love scoring or stopping goals
2. I like meeting new friends through football
3. I like to show off my skills
4. It’s a really good game and I love it
5. I like skilling people
6. It helps keep me fit and healthy
7. It’s important to me I win the league
8. I like learning new skills
9. I play because it makes my parents happy
10. Trying my hardest is more important than winning
11. It’s important to me I try to win matches
12. It’s important to me I win trophies and medals
13. I like playing football with my friends
14. I love playing football because it’s fun
15. Winning is more important than trying my hardest
16. I like playing matches against other teams

The task for the children is to select the ‘Top 9’ most important things for them about why they play football, discard the ones that aren’t important, and then organise those 9 into order of importance, with 1 being the most important. 

Reckon you can predict the Top 6 the children pick? Have a go now. Get a pen and write down the numbers of the top statements that are the most important for children. What did you have as the top one? I’ve completed this with over 50 groups of children and the results are very consistent and when I have done this with groups of adults, to predict the kids responses, they never get them all right!

So, the top answer by far is number 10. By a long way. Did you get it right? Trying their hardest is more important to the children than winning. Now, marry that up against the values that an adult brings to game day. Do they match or are they different? Read that again, do the adult values match what the children want from their game? They should do.

The next five you could probably have a good guess at - numbers 2, 4, 6, 13 and 14. The children, aligned with academic research too, are driven by internal motivators. That’s what gets the children there in the first place. It could be said that children come to training motivated and our job as coaches is to maintain that motivation when in fact some of us are probably good are minimising their motivation through unexciting drills and boring standing in lines. 

And the ones right at the bottom of the list? Number 12 and 15 have NEVER been picked by any group of kids amongst over fifty that have done this task. Number 7, winning the league, has been picked once and finished low down their list. They just simply aren’t important to the children. Who are they more important to?

On a recent coaching course delivered by one of my colleagues he shared this list, to which a couple of candidates strongly disagreed. He set them the challenge - send a group text to your teams’ parents and get them to ask their kids ‘why do you play football’ and see what they come back with. One coach that disagreed also did this with his own three children, ranging from 8 to 13 years old. Unsurprisingly, the results matched up, virtually identical! One of his own son’s even talked about trying his hardest being more important than the outcome. The next day the coach came back to the course, his head in his hands and apologised, not only for disbelieving the research but more importantly, for putting his own needs before those of the children. 

A question to finish... Where do some adults place their emphasis? How much money do we spend on trophies and medals? Why do we do a top goalscorer trophy every year that tends to go to one of two kids? Why do we spend thousands on them when we still put U11 kids in adult full-size goals and don’t have enough balls for one each at training? Where are the adults priorities? I’m not saying don’t buy them but maybe think differently.

One U12 lad in Hull said to me “I’d rather have a decent match ball for every game than a trophy at the end of the year”. Poignant. 

So let’s see if we can think outside the box, do something different, do something that meets their needs. Take them to a Premier League or Football League game. Buy them all a new boot bag. Or a football pencil case for school. Ask them if they want anything different. 

If you are sitting there reading this now questioning what you have read, do me a favour, send a group text out to your parents and get them to ask their kids one question - why do you play football? 

Nature v Nurture: Either or both...

This week saw the performance of an athlete in an elite football setting that marvelled many of us - Messi. And it was far from messy. It was composed, creative and captivating prompting many debates from radio to the pub - how do we create a player like that? Are they just born that way?


Apparently, if myths are to be believed, if I complete 10,000 hours of 'something' then I will become an expert. It's that easy. Well, that is the law according to some and the truth for all involved in talent development. However, is that the answer, just do loads of hours? 


The background to this field of discussion has come from work in the early 90's by Anders Ericsson, who looked at a variety of different 'experts' and concluded that this was the magic number. And the scary thing is, for those that have then gone on to read Bounce, Outliers, Talent is Overrated etc. it has become the Holy Grail, deeply ingraining this in modern talent development society. People are getting hung up on the fact that greatness needs to hit this number. 


Now, I don't profess to be an academic and a lot smarter people than me are debating this issue but one thing I do like to do is read around a subject. So, Ericsson says 10,000 hours is the number, what do others think? Why should I believe Ericsson and take it as read? When you actually read into this subject, it gets quite interesting, and for us involved in developing athletes in sport, or more importantly, developing people, things start to get unearthed about the matter. 


For example, Ericsson's research has no variables within it - so it doesn't say if some people took 2000 hours and some took 25000 hours, its just a neat average of those that became experts. Furthermore, the research was undertaken largely with finger manipulative tasks like playing the violin, or chess, so how does this relate to a cognitive, physical, physiological, technical team game like football? Or doesn't it?


Evidence exists in other research of elite athletes that have played international sport having completed 4000/5000/6000 hours of training and the work of the Australian Institute of Sport highlights athletes that have crossed into sports with no experience and competed with far fewer hours. 


The one thing that is evident is you need to work hard, using deliberate and deep practice, and this is why I'm not convinced totally that it is all about 'nature'. No-one gets born with a talent and they just become world-class without hard work. Messi has completed years of practice, honing skills, recognising pictures within games, understanding tactical elements in order to play the game successfully in amongst other exceptional players. You don't get born with that skill, it comes from experience. 


However, is it totally down to 'nurture' then, the environment you are in, the opportunities you get given and presented with and as it happens, the time of year you were born? I don't think you can totally rule out 'nature' either. Some of us born with a genetic predisposition to do certain things to certain levels. Height is an obvious one. I would have struggled however many hours of practice to play in the NBA. There is the odd one under 5' 10, but that is very much the exception. Sprinters from Jamaica, long distance runners from Africa - this is something that we probably don't fully understand but something makes this happen genetically. 


So what does this mean for us when developing our players? From my stance, it comes down to a focus on the environment and the things we can control. 


- Make it an incredibly enjoyable place for young people to come to. No-one stops doing something because it is too much fun!
- Try and use practices that are as close to the game as possible. That's what they come for, to play the 'game', not to stand in lines and take their turn. 
- Ensure your coaching knowledge is up-to-date and current. Do you understand questioning techniques? Do you know about when, where and why to use different coaching styles?
- Focus on aspects wider than just technical work, help them become better people through sport first and foremost.
- Provide opportunity for children to play. If they want to play, and are intrinsically motivated to do so, they will play forever. As someone told me recently, children are the experts of play, not the adults.
- Help kids fall in love with the game. 


Simple.  

Coach Development: Modelling Learning...

Over the last few weeks there have been a number of conversations on Twitter about the value of coach education courses and, additionally, the value of coach development. For me they sit as two slightly different variables within one world - it's about the coach getting better - but there is a difference and on these ramblings I'm going to propose a few things to consider for coaches. 

So, most people's first experience of becoming a coach is going on an FA Coaching Course? Right or wrong?

Wrong, and here's why. Depending on where you sit within the realms of learning theory it could be argued that every experience you have had within your formative years, through the process we know as socialisation, has had an impact on how you coach today, whether consciously or not. What you experienced as a child and the teachers/coaches that taught you, the experiences you might have had as a player, whether at school or within a club, have all shaped your beliefs in coaching. Some might have made you think 'Yeah, I really liked how they coached therefore I'm going to coach like that' or 'I wasn't a fan of that and therefore there must be a different way'. 

Then you might go on a course and depending on what learning you had already constructed and brought to the course, it will either open your mind (to those wanting to have their horizons broadened) to something new and a different way of coaching or reinforce existing thoughts. 

Here's the thing. FA coaching courses are not the be-all and end-all in your journey as a coach, they are an important part of the plot. Yes, particularly with the new FA Youth Awards, they give you things to think about from a technical and child development perspective but the learning doesn't stop there. I have a small frustration with 'badge collectors', those that think that the signal of a better coach is one that has completed the sticker book, but this might not be the case. Those that jump and accelerate their way up the coaching badge framework are underselling themselves and the learning that needs to be done. 

People often ask me "what qualification have you got?" but actually, why does it matter? I'm not concerned about my status as a coach and where it puts me in a ranking system of other coaches and if I said "I'm a Level 1" does that mean my opinions are suddenly not valid or my experiences aren't valuable? Absolutely not. Now, I get the fact they are often minimum standards for jobs, I understand that, but let's look at additional learning that coaches should undertake.

Reading

Personally, and I can only speak for myself and a few close friends that coach, this has been one of the biggest factors in expanding our knowledge. Over the last possibly five years I have read more books, academic articles and blogs than ever before and all have added supplementary information to my mental bank. This is time consuming, sometimes dull, but ultimately an investment in my own personal development. It might only be on holiday when you are laying by the pool but consider taking something helpful rather than the latest Harry Potter! 

I often get asked for book suggestions so depending on what you might want to learn about, here's a few:

Coaching:

Developing Decision Makers (Lynn Kidman)

Athlete-Centred Coaching (Lynn Kidman)

These two have had massive impact on me as a coach and my personal philosophy of coaching, why I do it and what I believe in. 

Understanding Sports Coaching (Tania Cassidy et al.)

Sports Coach as Educator (Robyn Jones)

Play Practice (Alan Launder)

Teaching Games for Understanding (Rod Thorpe and David Bunker)

Learning:

Building Learning Power (Guy Claxton)

Accelerated Learning in Practice (Alistair Smith)

Teaching Children to Learn (Robert Fisher)

Drive (Daniel Pink)

Mindset (Carol Dweck) - Essential reading for every coach and parent.

The Same Book Four Times (ish):

Bounce (Matthew Syed)

The Talent Code (Daniel Coyle)

Talent is Overrated (Geoff Colvin)

Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell)

I would put these in the popular reading list, easy to get through, quite straight forward but with all reading, view through a critical lens. Don't believe everything you read is true...you don't pick up a daily newspaper and think that do you?! For example, Matthew Syed rules out the impact of genes in the development of elite athletes, science would suggest otherwise. 

Currently working my way through:

The Learning Powered School (Guy Claxton et al.)

Thinking, Fast and Slow (Daniel Kahneman)

Visible Learning for Teachers (John Hattie)

A couple of these are quite academic, but challenge yourself, read something difficult. It's a great stretch of the brain. I am starting to wonder though when people say 'oh you have read xxx then you'll like xxx', is that expanding my knowledge or am I just reinforcing views from one into another, deep rooted rather than broadened? Not sure. 

Watching Good Coaches:

I understand this isn't always possible due to time, accessibility and other commitments but there can be a huge amount learnt from watching expert coaches work. However, a word of warning - don't watch the obvious. We've all been there...you go and watch a coaching session from an expert, copy down the x's and o's and then take back and try with our kids...and wonder why it doesn't work!! (and then blame the session!!)

This isn't what makes them an expert, it isn't just the practice itself, it is the detail. Look at where they stand, how do they observe the game going on? When do they speak? How do they speak? What language do they use and how do they interact with the players? What questions do they ask and how do they ask them? This is coaching, this is the difference in my opinion between novice and more expert coaches. 

If opportunity is an issue, have a look and see if there is a local Coaches Association, run through the County FA. Some of these across the country have fantastic coaches come and deliver sessions for them. Track down where the nearest Charter Standard In-Service Training session is going on, get out and watch the coaches delivering them too. 

So if you go and watch a session at the Grassroots Football Show for example, don't get embroiled in scribbling down the distances of how big the pitch is, invariably you'll have a different number of kids anyway. Immerse yourself in the detail. 

Other Sports:

Football is the game that I'm sure most people reading this blog coach, but here's a question to consider: Are you teaching football to children or are you teaching children' football? For me it's the latter. We do this to work with kids, to help them fall in love with the game, grow and develop them as people and my chosen sport just happens to be football. 

But look and learn from expert coaches in other sports. Read some things from John Wooden, Phil Jackson or Ian McGeechan. Find out what has made Wayne Smith one of the best coaches around, what stood Frank Dick out as being a truly expert coach and why Sir Clive Woodward achieved. Lessons to be learnt. 

Conversations and Debate:

Over the last five years one of the best thing that has developed my knowledge as a coach has been the 'communities of practice' I have been involved in. This is an academic term for the groups of people that regularly debate and discuss coaching things and may include the partner coach in your team you work with, other coaches in your club or colleagues with similar interests. It could be formal or over a pint, it's all valuable in shaping your beliefs. 

Last season I had the pleasure in my part-time coaching role at a Premier League Academy to work with a coach that really challenged my views. He came from an alternative standpoint, viewing player development very different to me and we clashed, but we clashed in a great way. That season of coaching, four times a week, discussing and throwing ideas about on how to get the best out of the players and support their learning as best as we possibly could was superb. Did it change me as a coach? Absolutely. 

Equally, a couple of colleagues at The FA within the coaching world have really challenged and shaped my views too, regularly speaking to them after sessions to openly reflect on what happened, what I tried and what they would suggest I tried next time or did differently. Makes you think and time in the car well spent!

Experience:

Nothing can buy this. You can't suddenly go on a course and become this. It is time doing all of the above, time spent on the grass, time spent getting coaching sessions wrong but importantly, time spent after reflecting on why and what you would do differently. 

The challenge is to get a broad experience where possible. If your life allows, go and spent a bit of time in a Primary School, see how the teacher engages with Year 1 or Year 6 children, and experience the National Curriculum in action. Volunteer for a few sessions with a local disabled group and see the joy you can bring to young people by providing them an opportunity. Run a team for a few years; experience what it's like dealing with putting up the goals, organising training and managing parents. 

Everything I have rambled about above goes towards creating a well-rounded coach that is more than just a coaching badge. Coaching badges are important however and I wouldn't take away any knowledge I have learned from one of them in favour of something else, it's all part of the learning. 

Young players come to football and want to learn more and they want to get better. But do you understand how this feels? Do you understand what to do yourself when things are hard going, when you just can't get something? Do you know what it feels like when things are tricky and what other approaches to solving the problem you might use? Remember what you found difficult about learning a new language at school because some of your players might be experiencing similar feelings learning new football things too. 

Be a learner yourself; model learning. It shows them that you understand, too.