Enfield Town’s disability side have started a crowdfunding campaign in an effort to raise fund for new kits and training gear. Player Development Project spoke with their Coach, Shane Tant, to find out more about the club and what they hope to achieve with their fundraising efforts. Enfield Town Disability Football Club has been running for five years. It was set up with help from Enfield Town FC and funding from the Tottenham Hotspur FC Foundation, and now boasts a successful first team which plays…
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Mark Upton, Co-founder of myfastestmile continues his discussion on learning dynamics. Mark outlines the challenges and benefits that come with the concept of self-organising and understanding what you can & can’t control in coaching. “When I explain complexity theory to my old Mum, she looks at me quizzically and says, ‘Isn’t that common sense, dear?’” In a recent post on Learning Dynamics I covered how patterns of behaviour emerge due to interactions between people in a system (or at a different scale of analysis, interactions…
Masculinity: what is the dominant narrative around it and how does it effect the way we coach, educate and behave? PDP Lead Researcher, James Vaughan confronts this challenging topic all in the name of a good cause. PDP will be raising money & awareness for this campaign in October. Are you a polished man? Over the last 18 months I’ve written (and talked – probably too much) about the influence of: Social norms Cultural assumptions Expectations Values The language we use Dominant narratives Especially in…
Kristjaan Speakman has been involved in player development for almost two decades. He is leading a program at Birmingham City FC Academy where he emphasises the value of having an incredibly strong team and focusing the curriculum around a safe and open environment. As a result of that, he and his team are producing players. In his interview with Kristjaan, PDP’s Dave Wright goes in depth into how Birmingham City FC Academy operates and discusses the success of a program which has produced Demarai Gray,…
Steve Lawrence is a consultant to Cruyff Football and Ajax. With a Masters in International Sports Management, Steve is at the forefront of research into the topic of Relative Age Effect. Here Steve gives Player Development Project readers an exclusive look behind the scenes at Ajax’s brand new academic education centre, a building he worked on as a consultant architect. The project for the new academic education centre at Ajax football club came about following discussions about the nature of pedagogy in the elite youth…
Jose Barcala Garcia is the Head of Coaching at Spanish giant Real Club Deportivo de la Coruña S.A.D. His career as a development coach has taken him from Spain to Australia and back again, via a short stint as Physical Coach of the National Fustal Team of Libya. As well as his role as Head Coach, Jose is a Lecturer on Football Skills and Methodology at the Deportivo School of football coaches. In this interview, we discuss Spanish methodology, Jose’s lessons from his experience and…
Player Development Project Lead Researcher, James Vaughan recently attended the third annual International Congress for Psychology Applied to Football. He shares his notes from this prestigious event where some of the best thinkers in player development shared their ideas on the state of the game. An Introduction The AIPAF is partnership between academics and professionals who are dedicated to improving player development. By combining the stories and experiences of forward-thinking compassionate coaches, clubs and psychologists, AIPAF aims to forge a new path for player development…
To set the scene for the following discussion on socio-cultural constraints, we start with Ruben Jongkind’s comments made during May 2016’s NextGen Talks. Ruben is the former Head of Talent Development at Ajax Amsterdam, and after working with Johan Cruyff on ‘Plan Cruyff’ he is regarded as a leading authority on Johan’s philosophy. Ruben Jongkind’s comments give a clear example of how socio-cultural (macro) factors influence player development within academies. While most of us are well aware of the problems with a ‘win-at-all-costs’ mentality, Ruben’s…
Co-founder of Myfastestmile & regular PDP contributor, Mark Upton discusses learning dynamics and the challenges of making change within any existing system citing examples from performance sport. I was recently asked for a reflection on my experiences in performance sport. After some pondering what came to mind was how learning (for all involved, not just players) needs to be a constant given that there will never be a blueprint/recipe/formula that can be settled upon with any permanency. Over time this becomes easier said than done,…
Learning and hunger for knowledge is an essential ingredient to good coaching and personal development. Founder of Football For Good Academy in Uganda, Adrian Bradbury discusses the value in always learning, talent development and the challenges of football in East Africa. Full disclosure, I’m a Canadian (a country sitting uncomfortably in 100th position in the FIFA rankings), who didn’t play high-level football, but instead ‘clutched and grabbed’ my way through a very modest university basketball career. Imagine Rick Carlisle, without the height or ability. So, the irony is not lost…
Head Coach of Auckland City FC in New Zealand’s National League, Jose Manuel Figueira discusses the core principles around his methodology. Jose outlines ideas as to how you can create high quality practices that are demanding for your players and ensure a positive learning environment. Recently I have gone through a major development in terms of my coaching philosophy and also in the way I plan, develop and deliver my coaching sessions. With all the fantastic resources accessible to us and the community of forward…
What is the Future of Academy Coaching? PDP Lead Researcher, James Vaughan discusses his experience from a trip to the Applied Psychology in Football Conference in Bilbao earlier this year. James shares some of the key questions and notes from the event. Earlier this summer I was lucky enough to attend the AIPAF III International congress of Applied Psychology in Football, held in Bilbao, Spain. This blog is based on the notes that I took at the congress, which were transcribed from discussions translated live from Spanish. The reason I…
Deliberate practice: What is it? How is it defined and how can you ensure your coaching incorporates this key element in player development? Ray Power discusses this and the topic of talent…Is it born, or is it made? Over the last decade, the world of talent development literature has blossomed. The ‘industry’ is booming with theories about how talented people came to be. There is a tremendous appetite to find out what makes successful people, successful. Everybody wants know how to become a top…
How do we manage our own bias in coaching and player development? Founder of Fit Across Cultures, Susan Salzbrenner discusses this difficult topic that is inherently part of human nature but manageable if you invest time with learning to understand your players. Every coach has a favorite player. Although most of them would never admit that. Giving all players a fair chance to prove their worth is a quality many coaches pride themselves with. But is there really such a thing as being a fair…
How do emotions dominate performance when it comes to football? President of New Edge Performance and regular PDP contributor, John Haime discusses building awareness of your own triggers and how managing them can aid performance. The lessons in this blog apply to both playing and coaching. Emotions Run the Show in Football Performance All performance areas are similar, if you can manage your emotions when the pressure rises, you have a chance to do well, if you can’t you probably won’t. If you don’t…
Euro 2016 provided a fascinating insight into the relationship between football, player development and culture. PDP Lead Researcher, James Vaughan looks at the importance of culture and how its influences can be traced in different development environments across the world. The way we play football is a reflection of culture. Playing styles (team and individual) mirror the social values and cultural practises within socio-cultural contexts. Contexts like the schools, clubs, or groups we’ve belonged to. Growing up in England I tackled hard, avoided making mistakes and played it safe, especially under…
When we picture a proactive approach to player development, many people see structure and methodical organisation as a sign of effectiveness. Stuart English, Birmingham City’s Assistant Academy Manager, outlines the importance of allowing players to take initiative and solve problems on their own if they are going to become truly unique and creative on the field. Chaos is the monster we seek to contain within our structured lives. Chaos is adversity in ordered environments and can be defined in the dictionary as: ‘complete disorder and confusion’. How…
Are there secret ingredients to effective coaching? John O’Sullivan, Founder of Changing the Game Project discusses some of the key elements that can make you a great coach. “I just can’t figure it out,” an exasperated coach said to me recently. “One day we are flying around the field, and the next it looks like we’ve never played together before. Why does this happen?” “Do you think your players lost all their skill?” I asked? “Do you think they forgot how to play?” “Of course not,”…