Coaching For The Brave

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...

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...

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Coaches About twenty years ago I was promoted from a Financial Adviser to a Sales Manager immediately becoming responsible for helping a team get the best out of their working day. Overnight my whole outlook on work altered. I'd gone from being responsible solely for myself to having to put the needs of the team first. I had to try to work out how to best help them. However, I'd never really understood how to best help myself let alone a disparate group of Sales people. I decided to look for help and was introduced by a mentor to The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. Despite clearly sitting on the Self Help shelf, one I tend to avoid, this book helped shape my thinking as a Manager and a person. Recently, I've revisited the work as I often do and tried to apply it to my Football Coaching. I really cant recommend this book highly enough. The Seven Habits. For h...

In my last piece, I talked about the importance of having a very simple Philosophy that can be used to help inform all your decisions as a Grassroots Coach. I also introduced Three Fundamental Coaching Dilemnas that have troubled me from day one. These Dilemnas struck a chord with readers and I received many questions about them. So today I'm going to expand on the issue and try to answer. First a bit of background. After taking up a role as a Grassroots coach for a local team I quickly realised that I was constantly battling against differing opinions and options available to me as a coach. There is no lack of resources for an aspiring football coach. Sessions, drills, and ideas are easy to get hold of and integrate into your team. These cover a myriad of subjects from ball mastery, fitness and diet to tactics, Psychology and motivation. Having the tools for my coaching was never going to be a problem. However...

Seven Deadly Sins of Coaching Coaching is a noble pursuit. Everyone who takes up the role is offering help. That offer should be welcomed, recognised and celebrated. Yet everyone who ends up with the role of Coach is doing it for different reasons. They may want to help their sons and daughters progress in a sport they love, they may want to give back to a sport that offered them so much or they simply be generous and want to volunteer for a great cause. Some, we have seen, do it for themselves. It's about rewarding themselves or being seen in a certain light or emulating people they believe are role models. So as we all come to the role of coach for different reasons, we can all fall for the obvious traps when circumstances allow. We can't avoid them altogether, we're only human. However, we can be more aware of them and try to swerve them when possible. Mainly as a prompt for myself but also for anyone else reading, here are the Seven Dead...