Coaching For The Brave

After taking the Free Play Pledge earlier this year, my sessions have moved from a mix of Free Play and well thought out coaching to the majority of the time being given over to Free Play. The problem I've had, is explaining to coaches why I've moved in this direction.  Don't I want the children to learn? Don't I want to the children to get better? God yeah. Of course I do. I also believe they will do. But when the discussion about Free Play is always fixated on Learning, it becomes difficult to emphasise its benefits.  Even when the discussion is about Learning, different camps will try to make out that their form of Learning is the right one. Try adding Free Play into that mix! I can quite easily write about how Play helps Learning but that would be missing the point entirely.  The best way to experience this is to throw yourself into Free Play for a period of time. Let the kids take over. Be brave, sit back and watch. Then, when you feel ready to m

I've seen a quote that says "The whole of the game is present in Rondos" I'm not sure about this but since discovering them I have come to see them as an important tool for youth development. However, when I talk to other coaches I sometimes get the idea that they are misunderstood.  Opinions tend to vary from " Ah, the secret weapon of Barcelona " to " Piggy in the middle? " I certainly found that lot's of coaches I know use what they call a Rondo as some kind of warm up before sessions or games start and my own 9 year olds saw it as just a bit of fun when I introduced them to it. The problem is, the Rondo is so much more and can be used in many different ways. After asking my players what they thought about Rondos I decided I needed to reintroduce them and highlight their effectiveness in a new way. Below is a description of how I did this in a recent session. We've probably all seen this set up and this 4v2 exercise is how

If you've read previous posts, It would be easy to come to the conclusion that I disagree with coaching of any kind. This is simply not true. After all, I'm a football coach. I simply don't see learning as the only, or possibly even the main reason why kids get involved with football. But guess what, I do coach. I try to think about my sessions, my children and what could be needed at any point. I also ask them how they are feeling and whether they just want to play. It really is no big deal.  In this post, I'm going to discuss my interest in Rondo's, how I feel they can be unrealistic and how I've tried to morph some of them into Games.  To help with this I'll simply lay out a session that focuses on Transitions and walk you through how and why I designed the session as I did. Transitions.  Over the last 3 years my coaching has focused on the Principles of the Game and what this means for a Footballer. Most people know these Principles and I fin

Over the years football has become more and more commercial. At its highest levels the game is now so professional and scientific it bears little resemblance to that played just a generation ago. This has brought great benefits for players, supporters and TV audiences around the world. A whole industry has erupted to support the game, spawning Directors of Football, Sports Psychologists, Performance Analysts and even Sleep Advisers. Clubs have poured millions into Elite Academies for those identified as having a chance of reaching the top and reaping the rewards. Young Starlets that graduate from these Centres of Excellence are paid thousands of pounds per week despite never having done anything of merit in the game. Coaches are trained and can't wait to get into the talent factories as a "first step on the rung" to a dream full time job with a club. Kids as young as nine and ten have a Golden ticket dangled in front of them and doting, eager parents hapi