In this PDP Live Session, FFA Coach Developer and Academy Coach, Anthony Frost demonstrates a small sided game where players have to find solutions to various tasks. Anthony cleverly uses planned interventions to set tactical and technical challenges for the players to work on collectively in a 5 v 5 + 1 small sided game. This is a great example of how coaches can encourage decision making and team work within the game, as well as observing adaptability of the players, knowing when to guide…
problem solving
In this Player Development Project webinar replay, we continue our series of discussions around position specific work and how you can create sessions to support their development across a variety of roles. This time, we focus on how coaches can support young players develop defensive skills and problem solving ability. PDP Co-Founder, Dave Wright hosts PDP Technical Advisor, Dan Wright & Leicester City FC Academy Coach, Mark Lyons for an interactive discussion with a defensive focus. Our panel of UEFA A licensed expert coaches present…
In this PDP webinar replay, the PDP team host Russell Earnshaw for an interactive conversation on a range of topics around coaching and youth development. Russell is a coach developer who has consulted with The FA, GB Hockey, Google, the Rugby Football League and British Swimming among others. He is the Co-founder of The Magic Academy, a platform that supports coaches. Russell is also a former coach of the England U18 rugby team and a former professional player. In this discussion, PDP Co-founder, Dave Wright…
In this Masterclass Discussion, PDP Lead Researcher, James Vaughan sits down with Professor Stephen Rollnick, an expert psychologist who has worked for the NHS & in sport. James & Stephen discuss team work and what opportunities sport provides to young people in expressing themselves, solving problems and learning. Stephen Rollnick is Honorary Distinguished Professor in the School of Medicine, Cardiff University. He was a practicing psychologist in the UK National Health Service for 16 years, and then became a teacher and researcher on the subject…
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 video and article, PDP Lead Researcher, James Vaughan shares a 3 v 3 + 1 practice from a session with AIK players in Sweden. The video and session plan outlines how manipulating simple task constraints can allow players to solve problems, collaborate, make decisions and work on a variety of moments in the game. Have a look at the video above, it aims to demonstrate how session design, rules and constraints can educate attention and intention, towards skilled intentionality. ‘Skilled intentionality is…
Are you running ‘static’ sessions? Regular PDP contributor and founder of TOVO International, Todd Beane explains the dangers of static sessions and gives some practical advice for coaches to move towards ‘solution’ based sessions. There are voices from locker rooms of false wisdom suggesting that to train we must we must suffer through some rite of painful passage. It is a very macho and misguided notion of how we must make “suck it up” to stack up. It also tends to justify horribly boring training…
Mindset. Is it just another buzzword or could it be the final frontier of player development? Do different mindsets affect player development in different ways? Research certainly suggests so. James Vaughan explores the latest research around mindset and imagination, and explains how this can make all the difference in high pressure situations. Research suggests that we need to change the influences that affect a player’s mindset, to unlock the possibilities and harness their full potential. In this article we will explore how mindsets come about, why we…