The creation a “football culture” is key to the long-term growth of football in any setting. The key question for those wanting to develop this culture is – How? Former Aldershot Town academy manager and Cook Islands national team manager Drew Sherman attempts to answer this question by looking at his own professional experiences and discusses the importance of “football culture”. We hear on an increasingly regular basis about the importance of “football culture”, the need to create a “culture of excellence” when we aim…
coaching
Is your environment a place of learning? Todd Beane, Founder of TOVO Institute & Co-Founder of Cruyff Football shares his views around how to go about making your club or program a genuine learning environment for developing players. I have had the opportunity to visit many football clubs over the years. Upon arrival, it does not take long to determine what type of club I am visiting. Type 1: Image Centre Type 2: Learning Centre Image Centres Some clubs pay great attention to appearances. These types…
Mark Pearn has represented Great Britain in hockey at the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games, playing 246 games for England and Great Britain, scoring 74 goals, and is a European Championship winner at club level with Reading HC. Player Development Project spoke to Mark about his player development journey, transition to coaching and his philosophy when it comes to helping young players maximise their potential. After a long and decorated career as a player that included ten years as the player-coach of East Grinstead…
Freedom, what does it mean in a performance or player development environment and can it overwhelm or confuse your players? Co-founder of myfastestmile and top PDP contributor, Mark Upton shares his excellent blog post on managing this cultural and environmental shift. “You can’t get sustained exceptional performance from a controlling environment – push autonomy down the hierarchy” I’ve recently spent some time on performance cultures and environments, fortunate to be able to share experiences with a handful of exceptional people working in a range of…
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,…
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,…
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…
Dr. John Alder is the Head of Performance Pathways at English Institute of Sport & was previously the Coaching Manager for Sports Coach UK and the High Performance Development Lead for the New Zealand Rugby League for 3 years where he consulted for the Kiwis team on a number of high profile campaigns including the 2013 Rugby League World Cup. John holds a Masters in Sports Coaching & a PhD in High Performance Sport Management which focuses on leadership and Change Culture. In this video…
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,”…
Play is a fundamental human right for children. It is even recognised in article 31 of the UN Convention of Rights of the Child. So, why is it that adults feel the need to interfere with this? John Haime from New Edge Performance discusses the impact of parents and coaches living vicariously through young players and outlines a few steps to make positive change. In my work, I see a lot of games, a lot of athletes and a lot of interesting coach and parent behaviour….
Nick Levett, former Talent ID Manager at The FA discusses the void in football that leaves foundation phase (age 5-11) coaches as the under-appreciated heroes in the world of player development, challenging why the top coaches are always seen to be involved in senior football. Whilst at St. George’s Park, (our national football centre) for a couple of days recently, an FA Advanced Youth Award was taking place. This course currently is the pinnacle coaching award for youth coaches in England, a Level 4 course,…
Part of the coaches role is to inspire. Children at all levels have a right to play and enjoy their sporting experience. Founder of Changing the Game Project & PDP contributor, John O’Sullivan discusses three ways to help inspire your athletes at all levels. Recently, I went to a graduation. Not a high school or a college graduation, but one far smaller, and far more personal. In fact, there were only seven kids, one of which was my 9-year-old son TJ. He and six others were…