Coaching For The Brave

In a previous blog, Developing at all Costs , I described a scenario that made me wonder if Win at all costs had been hidden by some coaches and simply morphed into " I must be developing these players at all costs" It was a strange occurrence but as time has gone on, I've seen it time and time again. A more recent discussion with various coaches on Twitter has left me wondering how far we've come down this road and whether "development" has turned into something just as extreme. Disclaimer* Developing footballers is a noble pursuit that I actively encourage and partake in. I am a strong believer that Football is for everyone. It encompasses a wide spectrum of opinions and outlooks. This is healthy. The game is too valuable to belong to one school of thought. I've written previously about how a coach should work out their philosophy based on their values and principles. There is nothing inherently wrong with setting up your tea...

This blog could easily look like a criticism of a fellow coach but it isn't. It's closer to a personal criticism and a reminder for similar future situations. At the start of this season I was approached by a parent from another club asking if I had space for their son. I did, so I signed him on to my Under 10 team. The lad is very keen, well behaved and of a decent footballing standard. He's also an exceptional athlete. However, after watching him play for a few games I noticed he just pretty much stood still or dropped deeper and deeper from his centre midfield position. This puzzled me so I set him a goal of being more forward thinking and expecting him to contribute more in an attacking sense. I'd observed the player, identified what  I thought was an issue and put plans in place to help. All sound ok? No, not really. Whatever I did with him had little impact. Why couldn't I coax this powerful, athleti...

Johan Cryuff insisted that despite joining Ajax at a relatively young age, he learned to play football on the streets. This made me ask this simple question: As a Grassroots coach why are you doing anything except putting on a game to aid development? The very best players the world has seen all seem to agree, playing the game from a young age is what taught them the most. Even as Grassroots coaches we tend to agree and lament the fact that kids just don't play the game enough anymore. This begs another very simple, logical question. If we believe that playing (normally in small sided games) is so important to a players development why aren't  we allowing them to do just that? I can ask that question differently: What evidence do you have as a coach that shows that your shooting drill, your Rondo, your whole part whole session accelerates the learning experience faster than playing a game does? Think...

Everyone can name a Dribbler. They are such a memorable part of the game we love. The reason we remember them is the excitement they bring. They literally drag us off our seats and onto our feet. Few kids want to be the next Xavi or Scholes but thousands want to emulate Messi and Ronaldo, Ronaldinio and DeBruyne. Recently it's been commented that dribbling is a dying art and England in particular have stopped producing this type of player. I wasn't so sure. With help from the stats guys at Whoscored.com I've taken a closer look to see if we can find out what's going on. In this blog I've simply asked a number of questions and tried to find the answers. In part two of the blog I'm going to try to look at the development of Dribblers. So, what can we find out? Is Dribbling a Dying Art? Here's the first stumbling block. No one in the Sixties or Seventies ever thought about keeping statistics on successful dribbles. It seems the...