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Dec 09, 2024

There is an old saying that is really relevant to those who coach in the Foundation Phase. It says; "You are planting a tree that you will not sit in the shade of".

For me this means I may not see the benefits of what I am doing but rather someone else will. I don't need the credit or the plaudits I just need to know I have tried to maximise development for where each individual player is at. This, for me, is a greater reward than anything as it is the beginning of each player trying to reach their maximum potential. What more could we possibly ask for?

Best wishes. Pete

Kevin Olali

Dec 09, 2024

Replying to

Frankly, this is a very difficult one to accept (not that you are wrong but it's just difficult as a coach). Especially because not knowing if our player has developed certain skills when players are passed on to another coach, our appreciation will go undervalued by players we pass on. This means that coaches who get our players will be unaware of our value provided to the players they receive. This could cause those in management of the club we work for to over value the wrong people and under value the truly good coaches as a consequence of correct development. For this reason, I believe it is very hard for coaches to do what is the correct thing because we know that almost all parents and only very few specific coaches will be able to watch our coaching and know that it is the correct way to develop players. But this I would assume is very rarely the case which is why coaches do what it takes to obtain winning records and trophies because it is the easiest measurement for most people to take note of who don't know what true development is. Especially in U.S.A, this means that often we lose our best players because we lose games. I am faithful to development no matter what. But I lost 3-4 of my best players on one team because we were not winning and two of those parents stated "I don't see development". The others left because we were not one of the top teams and felt they deserved better. Keep in mind these kids were 8-9 years old when the parents left. And I know for them it means that when we are losing games, there is no other metric they can go off of. And I think this is perhaps the number one reason why most coaches coach the wrong way. It's because we can train something for months and throughout this time, it is not obvious what is happening within the players or what a coach is trying to do. I almost lost one of my team since we didn't reach player requirement and I lost half of my players because I was committed to the cause no matter what. Luckily I had half of my team stay who believed me and my approach. And luckily by summer's time, we barely made the mark for requirement. It was a tough time because I spent so much effort working on the correct things and many coaches compromise because of things like this. When the work is unseen, we lose players and don't get credit unless we are lucky enough to have enough players and coaches that can vouch for us in due time

Kevin Olali

Dec 09, 2024

Thanks a lot for your advice Pete. I will definitely make this adjustment. Sometimes I can get ahead of myself and forget about the time that kids need to development certain attributes

Pete

Dec 09, 2024

Kevin, thanks for posting your thoughts. I am sure they will resonate with many of our coaches. For me at 7 years of age you are right when you talk about prioritising learning through play. Adopting this approach will raise engagement levels and demonstrates very clearly that you are a coach that understands the development journeys that our youngest players have started. Dribbling with your head up is crucial in helping you process information for your next decision but it is not easy to do if you haven’t developed a really strong connection with the ball at your feet so make this a priority, plan for the future by doing what is developmentally appropriate NOW and by doing this the children will also love having the ball at their feet during your sessions. We must also remember that a child’s chronological age might be 7 but their “Playing Age” might be a lot less if they don’t have a lot of experience. This is always worth remembering. Good luck, Kevin and thanks again for another thought provoking post. Pete

Kevin Olali

Dec 09, 2024

At the moment, one of the teams I coach are 7 year olds. And the biggest challenge I am trying to integrate within my players is dribbling with their heads up instinctively. Previously, I use to enforce this through raising cones while they were dribbling and they would call them out. But my players never enjoyed this and I don't think it sinks in very well. I do know that play is the best way to incorporate this. I really want to promote different types of cognitive skills within my players but in a play format. I have come to believe that this is the way in which our players are more willing to develop good habits because they are incentivized to do so by having a chance at winning a game when these good habits are trained through games as opposed to monotanous drills. In particular for very young kids so they stay engaged throughout the whole exercise. This is just a recent change I have developed through the help of the FA Play Course and another coaching course I am taking. Concepts are more deeply grasped when there is an emotional component involved

Pete

Sep 30, 2024

Coaches, football is our national game and as such each coach, supporter, parent will have their own opinion regarding the development of our footballers. This is the place to share your thoughts and ideas on how we best develop our young players so that we can all consider what might be seen as best practice. Welcome.