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...

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...

Futsal and Youth Football I've hesitated in writing this for a few months now but after spending sometime mulling the subject over, I thought I'd bite the bullet and suffer the flak that will inevitably find itself my way. Twitter is my University of choice. It's where I find ideas and swap opinions with like minded fellow Football Coaches. It's amazing, I am constantly surprised at the level of resources out there and more importantly the generosity of many of the people I come across. It's also chock full of people determined to see every exchange as a battle that must be won. This is why I've hesitated. For months now I've been engaged in exchanges about Futsal and in particular why it's a great development tool. Throughout these discussions, I've asked one simple question: Why? Now some have taken this innocuous enquiry at face value and tried to explain the reasons why they feel it works so well, some have just trotted well us...