With the help of Pro Soccer Development, Dave Wright examines whether Jamie Vardy is a football anomaly or personification of a problem in elite player development. Unless you’ve been living in total football isolation, away from the world of social media and headline news, it’s fair to say that by now, we know that Jamie Vardy has experienced a meteoric rise over the last eight years. This has culminated in seeing him go from striker for the Stocksbridge Park Steels (in the eighth tier of English Football) to the…
coaching
US based Coach, Gary Curneen takes us through 9 key factors in successfully coaching the modern player in order to maximise their potential. Ask any coach today what their toughest coaching challenge is and they will most likely not respond with questions about false nines or gegenpressing. Instead they will probably tell you that working with, engaging, and attempting to get the best out of today’s generation is the biggest challenge in the coaching game. Armed with more tactical, training, and sports science information than…
Is the FIFA saga corrupting our coaching? This blog is adapted from PDP Lead Researcher, James Vaughan’s article in Issue #8 of PDP Magazine. With the FIFA saga rumbling on, the team at PDP hope this post can shed some light on the game’s current corruption and the influence it’s having on our coaching. The FIFA saga is not a long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away. It is here and now. Our game is being used and abused for financial gain, but what…
In this guest blog, TOVO Institute’s Todd Beane examines US Soccer player retention rates and how coaches can help keep young players in the game. Here’s what the Positive Coach Alliance out of California mentions as to major reasons why up to 75% of our children drop out of sports by the age of 12. 1. It’s not fun anymore 2. Pressure to perform 3. Lack of competence in the sport 4. Time demands As I see this disturbing information gleaned from research professionals, I…
Talent ID is a topic that polarises opinion. In recent years, professional clubs have begun their search for ‘talent’ at a younger and younger age. Mark O’Sullivan examines the talent identification landscape and questions whether the process is merely a survival of the fittest. According to Darwin’s theory of evolution, organisms which are better adapted to their environment tend to survive longer. Does the environment we create influence the selection process and favour those that possess attributes that give them a temporary advantage while at…
The Pschology of Coaching Are you a scientist or more of an artist? Is coaching an art or science? These were questions asked of UQ’s coaching and sports psychology research group last week and this post explores the possibility that science and accounting are hijacking football and slowly killing the art of coaching. The simple answer to the art vs. science question is that coaching is an ever-changing mixture of both, but after a little digging some additional and pretty fundamental questions emerge. Precisely, what…
Believe it or not, but every interaction and communication you have had today happened to more than 70% non-verbally. In a multicultural team, with players from different backgrounds coming together, how can you ensure that everyone receives the same message you are trying to communicate? Can non-verbal communication in international sports teams work seamlessly? As humans, we rely on our eyes and visual sense when decoding any message we receive (83% seeing, compared to 11% hearing, 3% smelling, 2% touch, 1% tasting). As an athlete…
What characteristics do the world’s best coaches have in common? PDP Lead Researcher, James Vaughan shares insight from a study at the University of Queensland on the key attributes required to be the most effective coach. Last Friday, I was lucky enough to attend a presentation by Associate professor Cliff Mallett at the University of Queensland. Cliff is actually my academic supervisor, and a bit of a gun. On UQ’s website they describe Cliffs work saying: “This staff member is a UQ Expert in the…
Dan Senda is an example of someone who has always worked exceptionally hard for everything he has achieved. Desire and determination are traits that you easily identify in the man when you spend time with him. He hasn’t played in a World Cup, and he hasn’t played in the Champions League, but he personifies classic British hard-graft. What Dan Senda has done in his time in football is persist, and with that he’s managed to achieve what few do – sustain a long career as…
This blog is an excerpt from the ebook, Performance Soccer Coach: A Guide to Positive Player Development by PDP Editor, Dave Wright. Click here to download your copy. Find Dave on Twitter @davewright07. Chapter 2: The Best in the Business “I’ve never played for a draw in my life.” – Sir Alex Ferguson If you examine some of the great coaches in sporting history, the likes of Vince Lombardi, Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Sir Alex Ferguson, and Sir Graham Henry, all of these men are…
The road to success in football is not always straightforward. Now regarded a Premier League stalwart, West Bromwich Albion were a club once derided as the ‘Boing Boing Baggies’ for their succession of relegations and promotions in the early 2000s. Now a stable club under the guidance of Tony Pulis, the club’s academy are producing some exciting young footballers. PDP Editor, Dave Wright spoke to Jimmy Shan, the Under-21 coach at The Hawthorns, about his career and got an insider’s look at the WBA Academy….
Why, in arguably the most informed, analysed and qualification-driven era in football coaching history, are players still being made to learn in a culture of fear? PDP Editor, Dave Wright discusses how coaches can facilitate and environment built on trust. The role of a football coach should be to facilitate the development and growth of the players under his or her tutelage, in an individual and collective manner. Most importantly, a coach should be a leader, a figurehead who is coaching purely for his or…
As coaches, it’s crucial we do our best to develop players in our respective environments. But are we harming their development by being too vocal? How much noise is too much? When is saying nothing more powerful? PDP Editor & UEFA A licensed coach, Dave Wright discusses coach communication and interventions. There is research to suggest that the more information a player receives under pressure, the more their game has the potential to ‘fall to bits’. By being a vocal coach, you could in fact…
Many players battle with the idea of acceptance by those closest to them, and approval from those who can define their next footballing move. But at what cost does this approval come? Many of these young players sacrifice creativity, problem solving skills, and even their own identity, in search of praise which is often misinformed. The cultural ‘noise’ surrounding player development environments is killing players’ creativity. In football (and other sports) this ‘noise’ – be it comments from the sideline, praise/ criticism from coaches or parents, or constant instruction…
Learning is a highly individual process. It is a natural process that when respected can lead to amazing results. TOVO Institute Founder, Todd Beane, discusses the importance of eliminating ‘one-size-fits-all’ coaching. When Coaches Get it Right What happens if we actually revolutionised coaching at youth academies? What happens if we rid ourselves of the “this is the way it has always been done” attitude? What happens if we actually coached players to their full potential – one skill at a time? Too often, we…
As well as being an ex- professional player, and player development expert, Todd Beane is the proud father of two young footballers in the making: Jordan and Shae. Beyond the analysis and coaching of football, Beane reminds us of a fundamental truth; order finds its way in an environment of chaos. Chaos on the pitch. Training is about to begin and a few kids have already bombarded the grounds, managed to muster up a ball and have begun doing what they do best – play. My…
Coming from a position of influence in young players’ lives, we continually aim to create ‘perfect’ environments for development. Mark Upton co-founder of myfastestmile, explains the organic learning curve that occurs without our involvement, and often beats all of our over-engineered solutions. I believe things get more interesting in player learning and development when we take a much broader view and consider it over longer periods of time and factor in the experiences young people have in their daily lives, inclusive of (but certainly not restricted to) coach-led practice…
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…