PDP Co-Founder and psychology researcher, James Vaughan, explores creativity in footballers with a focus on the coach’s perspective. What does it mean to foster creativity in players? How can we better understand the process of encouraging creative problem solving on the field? Vaughan offers practical insights and solutions to an often abstract topic. Creativity is often described as the use of imagination to invent something. Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson refines this idea by explaining creativity as ‘the process of having original ideas that have value’. The…
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Forged by a history of social injustice, the beautiful game is inseparable from the rebellious spirit and deceptive artistry of its people. In this article, James Vaughan explores the development of the beautiful game by highlighting the fundamental role of culture. Football is not the beautiful game; the beautiful game is only one form of football – a form devised within a particular movement culture and shaped by a unique combination of socio-cultural constraints and movement opportunities. In Brazil, poverty, unstructured street play, samba and…
The difference between a good player and a great player can often come down their ability to consistently show creativity under pressure – to be able to move beyond tricks and flicks, to a new level of control which makes them truly illusive. James Vaughan, expert in the area of creativity in football, breaks down the subtle, instinctive characteristics that separate the legends from the rest. Imagine a player has just received the ball from their goalkeeper and is attempting to play forward (task) against a high press…