Tips

“A lot of the time I see kids that don’t enjoy being out there and that’s a shame” – Tiger Woods Imagine being out on a football pitch. You’re up against people you’ve never seen before. There’s lot of shouting coming from the 50+ crowd who are there watching you.  You don’t know what they’re […]

For may of us, pre-season has already began.  I remember my first pre-season as a young player – plenty of running and bodyweight exercises without a ball in sight. Ugh.  Well, being built for long distance, I didn’t mind the running.  Still, nothing compared to having a ball at my feet. Thankfully, coach education has

“I always put the emphasis on learning. When a player with talent couldn’t defend, I put him in defence so he could learn, but that could cost a point. I didn’t care, I was busy developing the player.” – Johan Cryuff A young coach recently told me that he was going to work on passing

“Before kids can play like a pro, they must enjoy playing the game like a kid.” – Steve Locker Grassroots Football is scheduled to return in the UK and the first order of business for the teams that I coach will be 3 weeks of Small Sided Games. Children have had enough going on for

“Watch the best players in the world, the ones you love to see play, and you will see how well they turn. The best players all have this quality of turning better than the players who are just a level below them.” – Andre Merelle, Former Head of Clairfontaine The best players in the world

Foundation age players are complex.  As with adults, any number of triggers can have an impact on them.  Just this past week, at our last practice before the 2nd national lockdown in England, a player that I coach couldn’t stop acting up.  Anytime practice is off, her behaviour is impacted and I’ve no doubt that

“What you can learn from someone successful is how much he is ready to give in order to be good.” – Arsene Wenger Lockdown gave us a great opportunity to review our own coaching.  Whether it be delivery, session structure, game day performance or any other aspect, there are always things that we improve to

“Speak the language that everybody understands.  Instead of me saying he was avaricious, I would say he was bloody greedy.” – Bill Shankly I’ve seen many an inexperienced coach work wonders with a group simply by how they are around them.  Similarly, I’ve seen experienced, highly qualified coach lose the focus of their players as

COVID lockdown has given us a great chance to think outside of the box as far as coaching is concerned.  I have used it as a time to get to know more about my players.  This has been done by setting weekly creative challenges to go along with skills challenges, via the Heja app. Among

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused havoc all over and the footballing world has in no way been immune.  While things are starting to get back to a “normal” way of life, restrictions are forcing coaches to come up with creative ideas to help their players develop.  Some have resorted to conditioning activities.  For me, this

Many grassroots coaches only have an hour a week to practice with their players.  Taking lateness, water breaks, explanations and group coaching points into account, it’s not long.  Making our sessions as efficient as possible is going to benefit our players going forward. The following 4 ideas will help you get the most out of