In this article, UEFA A licensed coach David Garcia shares his thoughts on the benefits of chaos and failure within coaching environments. “You’ve got to live at the edge of your capabilities. You’ve got to live where you’re almost certain you’re going to fail. That’s the reason for practice. Practice is controlled failure.” – Will Smith Indeed, practice is controlled failure. It should be a realistic preparation of the game. It’s preparation where your players will fail, but will learn how to grow from that…
How We Coach
This is the PDP way, informed by years of coaching experience and the wisdom of our network of experts.
PDP Video Session Plans are adaptable sessions designed by academy coach, Dave Wright. All sessions show key focus points, set up, and progressions so you can use them in your next practice.
In this chapter of John O’Sullivan’s new book, Every Moment Matters, John shares ‘Lesson 2’: You Coach a Person, Not a Sport. This excerpt dives into the youth development overhaul at the Belgian FA, cites the work of Steve Kerr, discusses athlete-centered coaching and gives coaches some practical tools to self-reflect. Lesson 2: You Coach a Person, Not a Sport You have to ask one fundamental question: who is in front of me? —Kris van der Haegen You coach a child, not a sport. —…
Let’s focus on how we’re coaching, not what we’re coaching. In this article, motivational researcher and top rugby coach, Jonny McMurtry shares an article on the value of relationships and connection in coaching. After an excellent article written around Matt Wilkie, IRFU’s head of coach development coinciding with my own personal development in assisting swimming coaches, a sport where I know very little around the tactical and technical aspects, it pushed me down a rabbit hole looking at how we can adjust our focus to…
The question this week comes from Jean-Pierre through the PDP Slack Community. He asks: “What is the best way to run a session with a lot of players?” Your Turn: Ask PDP Anything Do you have a coaching question that we might be able to help with? We would love to hear from you! Here’s what you can do: 1. Tweet your questions to us @playerdp, or contact us on our Facebook page.2. PDP Members can chat directly with the PDP team to ask questions, share ideas, and…
In this Q&A Video Dave Wright & Dan Wright discuss considerations for coaches when preparing and organising match day for young players. The question this week comes from Simon via Twitter: “What is your advice on how to organise match day for U-12s? Your Turn: Ask PDP Anything Do you have a coaching question that we might be able to help with? We would love to hear from you! Here’s what you can do: 1. Tweet your questions to us @playerdp, or contact us on our Facebook page.2….
The question this week comes from Lisa via Facebook Lisa asks, “What do you discuss with the players after the session?” Your Turn: Ask PDP Anything Do you have a coaching question that we might be able to help with? We would love to hear from you! Here’s what you can do: 1. Tweet your questions to us @playerdp, or contact us on our Facebook page.2. PDP Members can chat directly with the PDP team to ask questions, share ideas, and support each other on our exclusive Coaching…
The question this week comes from Percy via Facebook Percy asks, “At what age do we coach defending?” Your Turn: Ask PDP Anything Do you have a coaching question that we might be able to help with? We would love to hear from you! Here’s what you can do: 1. Tweet your questions to us @playerdp, or contact us on our Facebook page.2. PDP Members can chat directly with the PDP team to ask questions, share ideas, and support each other on our exclusive Coaching Community. Start your…
In this Masterclass Discussion, Dr. Craig Harrison is hosted by PDP Editor, Dave Wright for a wide ranging conversation on youth development, skill acquisition and the importance of play in the learning process for children. Craig and Dave cover a range of topics including sports science and how it can be integrated in youth settings, specilasation, development versus performance and much more. This is an insightful and educational interview with a real innovator in New Zealand youth sport. Image Source: Unsplash
In this Masterclass, we share a replay of our live and interactive webinar with UEFA A licensed academy coaches Dave Wright and Dan Wright. Dan and Dave discuss practice design in the final third, considerations when planning your session and share a number of small sided games to help you work on attacking themes with your players. We cover the practice spectrum, talk about the ‘3R’s’ and Dan and Dave share some of their favourite small sided games for developing attackers. Image Source: depositphotos.com
The question this week comes from John via Facebook. I always focus on the process over results, but I am wondering if I should change my approach to help my girls win a final? Your Turn: Ask PDP Anything Do you have a coaching question that we might be able to help with? We would love to hear from you! Here’s what you can do: 1. Tweet your questions to us @playerdp, or contact us on our Facebook page.2. PDP Members can chat directly with the PDP team…
In this Masterclass Discussion, PDP Editor Dave Wright is joined by Head of Specialist Coaching & Lead In Possession Coach at The FA, Aaron Danks. PDP Technical Advisor, Dan Wright also joins the discussion for a fascinating conversation on youth development. Aaron is a holder of the UEFA Pro License, he spent over a decade at West Bromwich Albion Academy and was part of the England U20 coaching staff who led the team to World Cup success in 2017. We dive into Aaron’s personal coaching…
Problem-solving is crucial in player development. In this article, Founder of Changing the Game Project, John O’Sullivan shares an excellent article on the importance of guiding children towards solutions and creating autonomy in learning environments. Imagine you went to your child’s algebra class and got to be a fly on the wall. Imagine the teacher was being assessed on your child’s test results in two days. Now imagine that instead of teaching your child how to problem solve, and the concepts behind doing algebra problems,…
In this Masterclass Discussion, we’re joined by experienced Academy Coach & Co-founder of My Football Development, Gabriel Flores for a fascinating conversation on developing youth football players. PDP Editor, Dave Wright hosts Gabriel for an in depth conversation on skill acquisition, individual learning, how to adapt your session design to ensure you stretch your players and much more. This is a must watch conversation, particularly for coaches working with players in the foundation or skill acquisition phase of youth coaching. The conversation features some great…
In this article, coach, blogger and former Australian International Footballer, Joey Peters shares an article on the challenge for coaches to move from a control and command position to trust, optimising the youth development environment and allowing freedom for young athletes to explore. The Learning Dynamics Let’s move the sporting landscape from the old ‘Command and Control’ management method, which limits human potential in its stifling and restrictive manner, towards a ‘play-based’ facilitative approach. There we can respect and trust the science that clearly acknowledges learners capabilities as…
Dan Robinson is the Academy Manager at Burton Albion FC in England and a former Assistant Coach & Goalkeeper Coach with the New Zealand Women’s team. In this Masterclass Discussion, PDP Editor Dave Wright sits down with Dan to discuss his coaching journey and some of the challenges of taking on a major role at a small club. Dan discusses some of the lessons he’s learned in leadership, the player development philosophy at Burton Albion, his experience on the world stage with international women’s teams…
Ken Lynch is a High Performance Athlete Development Consultant at High Performance Sport New Zealand and works with sports people across a range of codes. Originally from Ireland, Ken is an expert in high performance athlete pathways, athlete talent identification and high performance strategy. In this Masterclass Discussion, PDP Editor, Dave Wright hosts Ken for an informative conversation about the role of HPSNZ, talent development pathways, sports science in youth sport and ensuring the athlete sits at the centre of the learning process. A fantastic…
How can coaches develop healthier team dynamics? Rugby coach and blogger David Sharkey shares an insightful article on the value of understanding your why and the benefit of being vulnerable as a coach and leader. A man who knows his ‘why’ can bear almost any ‘how’ – Viktor Frankl After a bruising fixture over the weekend in which we suffered a heavy loss, it was important for us as a coaching team to reinforce the huge steps forward the team had made. We did some…