Once I had an interesting conversation with another coach. He asked me a question: What have you learned from the children today? Seems like a simple question, right? Unfortunately, I couldn’t find an answer to it. So, I replied that I just didn’t know. The reflection came quickly. I started to devote a lot of …
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My name is Maciek and I’m 9 years old. I love football and like every child I love to play. I wrote this short and positive text especially for you, coach. Why? Because I believe that my valuable tips will help you understand the children you work with every day. I trust that you will …
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Mistakes are necessary and indispensable in the process of learning. We all make them, draw the right conclusions and learn. Working with young players, but above all with people, I have made a lot of mistakes and as a result I have become better and more effective coach when coaching children and young people. Over …
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Why is curriculum counter -productive to young players learning? I remember my schooling days. I was pigeon-holed and labelled very often without any clear adult empathy or desire to change that. I felt like I was on testing trial through all these years. Anxiety and stress developed over test and studying led to poor learning …
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Children in the foundation phase do not need a coaching philosophy. Instead, they are crying out for coaches to put more effort into understanding little Joe or Jenny rather than simply knowing how to kick a ball! It may sound silly, maybe controversial. But is it really? Too often I’ve come across coaching …
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When you watching football match, there are many games going within a game! Equal numbers, underloaded, overloaded, you name it, they all there happening. The playing circumstances, environment and constraints are constantly changing. Players must make decisions, solve problems and consistently adjust their movement and positioning. This is required high level of competencies from players …
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I am not big fun of word “TALENT”. I do prefer “POTENTIAL” or LEARNING POTENTIAL”. The reason is quite simple and obvious really. Every human being got an ability to learn and grow. The only difference is, we all develop at different peace. I think most coaches understand that basic fact. We don’t need research …
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I know, I know this sounds silly, perhaps controversial or different, but is it really? Football coaching is very conservative. Most coaches have already established thinking habits that very difficult to break it. Nonetheless I will make an effort to challenge these conservative thoughts that has been hanging on coaches’ neck for long time. Over …
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Modern game required to make constant, quick decisions under pressure with limited time to do so. Quick decisions demand efficiency of touches from players. They need possess the cognitive skills to be able to make correct decision in different game situations. The amount of touches they are going to take are related to time available; …
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Coaching decision making is a huge challenge. Speaking from experience, I think is difficult to do that without understanding learning process in first place. Without knowing how players learn is almost impossible. This is because any decisions we are making are part of past, present or future learning. I’ve outline simple steps to coach decisions …
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Some time ago I had an argument with my fellow coaches: use floater player or not? Some coaches use the phrase “magic man”. Whichever way you name it, there is no player in the game of football playing for both teams! Simply doesn’t exist and that is the fact! Why then vast majority coaches use …
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We all love coaching. When we are out on the grass working with young players, most of us wants best for them. Under coaching umbrella, we communicate, demonstrate, plan, manage and use interventions as a tool to help children improve their game. This could mean increasing players learning or limited opportunities to do so. How? …
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Most of us had experienced the interview process. Are you familiar with the question: Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years time? What your answer would be? Well, my answer is always the same: I simply don’t know! My focus is at present as I can’t predict my future. I don’t know what will …
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I hardly ever realized how hard is to find a really good coach? I probably would never think about it until I had opened my own coaching business. Before I go any further, I was less interesting as to what level qualification coaches have. Primary focus was, how well applicants understand kids they are going …
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Most children at that age begins school. Each day becomes an adventure and time for experimenting with learning. Same apply to start playing football. Significant number of kids at that age will kick the ball for the first time. What is that mean to us coaches? What do we do with 15 plus kids running …
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Coaching is the process in which main goal is to develop an individual. This process takes weeks, months and years because we all learn differently. That is why is vital to understand that before we start working as coaching pair effectively. Traditional formula for coaching pairs is clear: one lead coach and one or sometimes …
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Long time ago, I had been watching a youth game. I had witness some very skilful and intelligent decision-making kids. Their coach described them with magic words: they have potential! I don’t know if the kids I had been watching realized their potential to play football on a descent level. What I do know is, …
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Some time ago I had attended a coaching workshop. The opening quote from the tutor sounds more or less like this: ‘You may be a good coach, but you do have one common weakness. This is lack of simplicity’. I then almost immediately reflect on my own coaching sessions. I was reflecting upon the way …
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Power of question why!? Not what and how but Why? Few years back when I had been preparing my coaching sessions, I was focus on what I want players to learn and how I am going to do that. My obsession with content of my session plans was sky high. It came to a point, …
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Hey Coach! I know how to dribble or pass, but don’t know how to play the game and it’s your fault?! Play to learn and learn to play is most recent fresh approach to coaching young players. Coaches trying to recreate street football in their own environment and let the kids experimenting, taking risk and …
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My daughter is nearly seven years old now, but I remember well, when I had been trying to teach her how to ride a bicycle. I had shown her many different ways to learn biking, yet nothing seems to be working. The only outcome of my teaching was my growing frustration and losing my patience. …
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Quite a while ago my fellow coaching buddy suffered two back to back defeats with his team. He was less concern about results of the games and more about players reaction during and after both games were over. Some players couldn’t handle the defeats without tears. Others didn’t know how to behave on the pitch …
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A & B Teams- Selection which has a Negative Impact on Children’s Personal Development What do you do if you have 20 kids in the same age group? Majority coaches label kids into bracket A and B because it is easy. Do they equally think how easy children pigeonhole in team B find it very difficult …
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How Children Make Their Decisions – What Are the Implications for Coaches? Have you ever asked foundation phase kids as to why they made that decision? If so, my prediction is they most likely unable to tell you. Why? Well, because decision making is a very complex process to understand for adults, let alone children. …
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We remember our school days, don’t we? Do we equally remember how we started to learn maths when we were in our early days of childhood? We had to learn numbers in the first place before anything else. Then, when we were ready, we started to learn more complex maths. Similarly, with reading. I don’t …
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Most children are quickly engaged in sport and physical activity. Nonetheless, winter conditions to deliver coaching sessions raise significant challenges to foundation phase players engagement. Here are a few useful tips to help keep players active during Snowman and Santa Claus time. Experience – some children may have none, or very little experience participating in winter …
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Pav Releases New Chart-Topping Book on Amazon Having coached grassroots football in the UK since 2009, and working with youth footballers since he graduated from Warsaw’s Physical Education Academy, our head coach Pav is an expert in youth football and child psychology. That’s why he’s just released his third book. Reading Kids: Secret tips behind …
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How coaches strangle kids love of the game in the silly name of coaching… Give the game back to the kids! Have you heard this recently? Coaches like to repeat this phrase in nearly every conversation about youth football, but what is the reality? Well, I think is fair to say that, overcoaching is …
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Dear Coach, please stop killing my creativity and let my fly solo first! We are born creative geniuses, so were you, dear coach, when you arrived in this world. The bad news is, before we even became 9-10 years old and start reading and writing more fluently our creative nature is going down! We …
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Why Won’t they Spread Out? A Coaches Battle Against Children’s Natural Development and Benefits of Being “Bunched Up” “Spread out” or “Find space” I’ve heard this so many times shouting by coaches working with children. What happen? Well, yes kids will be spreading out, but for how long? Since the ball will be rolling …
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Planning your Football Session – Why Using Progressions is a Dangerous Trap for Coaches and their Young Players? Have you ever planned the session without progressions at all? This may sound silly, perhaps controversial, but is it really? I‘ve been guilty of planning too many in my coaching sessions until I realize the players …
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I’ll pay you £5 quid for every goal you score today! Cash for goals and it’s negative effect on child development. Winning, winning, winning-we will try to do almost everything to make this happen, even if it’s just a child’s game, won’t we? Parents always wants best for their children. Well, there is nothing …
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The Benefits are Far Greater Than Negatives! Traditional youth sports generally tend to group children of just one age together. Traditional education is no different either. Having one age per classroom isn’t an exception from the norm. There are football clubs and schools which mix ages from time to time but the majority are afraid to …
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Plan for Delivery or Plan for Learning? Why Planning for Delivery Has Little or No Benefits for Learning? Training sessions on paper looks good in most cases. We are ready for practical application (delivery), yet how often do we think: Is learning actually taking place for players we are working with? There is a …
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Why Do You Need to Understand the Children You Coach? Tuesday evening, everything set up for next training session. Cones, bibs, footballs, goals are in place. The training session plan is prepared, ready to be executed. Children have arrived, everything seems to be going according to the plan. Yet, during activities frustrations starts to …
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When and When Not to Use the Phrase “Well Done” and the Word, “Unlucky” When Working with Young Players? I had been working with coaches, teachers, parents on daily basis. I came across too many adults who are praising children for sake of doing so. They seem to getting used to a habit of …
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.Learn Ups or Warm Ups? Many fellow coaches treat warm up as standard routine, set up few exercises and knock few balls around. They do know that the basic purpose of a warm ups is to prepare your body for physical activity, but it can present another opportunity to extend players learning from their …
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Why the tag games need a purpose to play? Tag games are a great chasing activity that gets players moving. In most tag games I’ve witnessed anyone who was tag was out. You can, of course, still play that way but what is the learning outcome for the players? Tag games give participants an opportunity …
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How Do I Know if my Child is Talented? Tips for Coaches and Parents. “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist when you grow up” – Picasso The child’s brain has enormous, unlimited capacity. Imagination and creativity are two traits that continually require proper stimulation. Therefore, combining cognitive …
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Consequences of Negative Stress on Children Playing Football Negative stress occurs when the training process is carried out improperly: when inflated goals and expectations are placed on a child. A similar effect can be due to too early specialization and starting in competitions, where the level of the opponents far exceeds the child’s capabilities, and …
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The Dangers of Pigeonholing Children Pigeonholing in itself will not make a child happy. The truth is that it generally leads to loss of self-confidence and, worst of all, destroys creativity. It reduces their curiosity to experiment and try new solutions. It is unlikely to be adapted to the individual capabilities of a child and …
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Children avoiding failure at all costs-How do we help them? Our lives do not consist of one long string of successes, nor is there room in them for only failures. We need one and the other for proper psychological development. As adults, we understand that balance is needed in life. Do we behave the same …
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How to Communicate with Children after the Football Game? Tips for Parents Watching kids play a game of football can be very emotional for sport parents. Even more so for their children. When the game is over, most parents try to talk with their loved ones with good intentions. Trouble is when the match …
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What Motivates Children to Act? Motivation is strongly linked to teaching and the learning process. It is a force moving us to act. It is focused on specific goals. To maintain an appropriate level of motivation we should first and foremost know the children’s needs. Their satisfaction will affect the development of interests and …
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Development of Self-Confidence – How to Help Your Child? Working with children aged five to seven is not easy and requires a lot of understanding and patience. Most of them when taking their first steps on the pitch are timid and don’t know what to expect. They cling to their mothers’ skirts, and their …
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How to talk so children will listen? Tips for coaches. If you don’t know how to be a better donor of information for children, it is best you listen how they communicate with each other. Then just start using the same means that they use in communicating among themselves. Here they are… Avoid Complicated …
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Redefining Player Creativity During my time in the United States, I had the pleasure working with a six-year-old Mexican boy. Whenever he had the ball at his feet, he would dribble around his teammates easily. Several parents watching him from the sidelines during practices and games used to say, “We wish that our kids …
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