Born in Evergreen Park, Chicago, Illinois, Brad Guzan has gone from running around the various sporting fields of the suburbs of his home town to being a star performer for one of England’s most famous clubs, Aston Villa FC. Not only is Brad a top performer in the cauldron of the English Premier League, but he has also been a part of the USA squad for the last eight years and attended two World Cups. We talk to Brad about his player development journey. …
Clubs and Academies
Insights from tops clubs and academies, focussing on how they develop players and the environments they create.
After working in futsal development in New Zealand for three years, Matt Fejos attended the English FA’s ‘Catalyst for Change Futsal Conference’ in November, 2014. Following on from this event, Matt was able to draw parallels between the goals of both New Zealand Football and the English FA, both in terms of their development strategies, and how they would incorperate futsal. Matt shares his predictions and thoughts around the growth of Futsal as a sport, and some possible similarities with the World Game. One question…
The Beyond Sport Foundation is a charity which supports inspirational people and projects that are using sport to make positive social change around the world. Since 2009, Beyond Sport has awarded over 150 projects for their social impact through sport. Beyond Sport hold an annual marquee event: The Beyond Sports Awards, a global awards ceremony supported by Sport Relief. The 2014 winners of the Beyond Sport Team of the Year was Charlton Athletic Community Trust, who were shortlisted on the back of their work in…
Using Barcelona’s dynamic attacking trio of Messi, Suarez and Neymar as the example, PDP Lead Researcher, James Vaughan examines the impact of a positive organisational culture. How do we create value driven organisations that allow creativity and a shared understanding to thrive, both on and off the field? Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr and Luis Suarez are the attacking trident spearheading FC Barcelona’s charge towards a 2015 treble. They looked unstoppable in their Champions League demolitions of Manchester City, PSG and Bayern Munich. Tormenting defenders, each…
Anthony Hudson has travelled the world on a mission to develop himself as a coach. He is a thoughtful character who is tasked with taking one of the world’s smaller footballing nations, New Zealand, to Russia in 2018. We caught up with Anthony in Auckland to discuss his story, his philosophy, his mentors and how he went from West Ham Academy player to New Zealand Men’s coach via the Middle East and picked up the UEFA Pro License along the way. It’s a warm, sunny…
Youth soccer needs to base the development process on “play” and then find the right moments to encourage technical and tactical information, says Tom Turner. Coach Developer, Mark O’Sullivan interviewed Turner to get a more detailed understanding of his views on US player development. Tom Turner is director of coaching and player development at Ohio Youth Soccer Association North, USA National Instructor and member of the US Soccer National Coaching Committee. “I consider myself a teacher who coaches soccer,” says Tom. “The primary objective with young…
DC United’s Chris Rolfe speaks exclusively to PDP Editor, Dave Wright about his career and early development years from college soccer to US international and the Danish Superliga along the way. Find out what makes Chris tick and what influenced his development in this wide-ranging look back at his career so far. Chris Rolfe is an 11-year veteran of MLS. After beginning his college career with the Dayton Flyers in Ohio, Rolfe was a third-round pick by the Chicago Fire in the 2005 MLS Superdraft….
In June 2015 I visited Gulu United, the only full time football academy in Northern Uganda. The driving force behind the academy is Adrian Bradbury, a Canadian who lives in Gulu with his wife and two sons. In this post, Owen (12) and Issac (15) give you an insight to an ‘away day’ in Uganda, as the boys travelled to Kitgum a 102 KM journey across dusty, uneven roads. Hi my name is Owen Bradbury and I am 12 years old. In January, my family…
Check out this Live Webinar replay with some of the best coaches in England as we host our second ever Masterclass Webinar. Filmed in 2016, we welcome, Mick Beale (Liverpool U21 Manager), Stuart English, (Brentford FC Head of Coaching) and Jon De Souza, Brentford FC U21 Manager to a live webinar discussion with the PDP team. All of these coaches have since moved onto leadership roles and senior coaching positions at Glasgow Rangers, Birmingham City FC and Colchester United. PDP Editor, Dave Wright will lead a…