Who are the players you would pay good money to see? 9 times out of ten it is the most skilful players that come to mind. It is these players that can have you on the edge of your seat gasping for more and one of the main reasons why so many love the beautiful game. So why is it that despite the joy and excitement that this type of player can bring to football, we try to stifle their creativity at the youth level? I cannot speak for other countries but here in the UK, our skilful players are still frowned upon at grassroots level. On many occasions I have even seen coaches make an extra effort ..read more

I love watching my son practice, seeing him play and develop his game brings me great satisfaction every time I watch him (maybe not so much in the winter but you have to take the rough with the smooth). Having to look at things as a parent rather then the coach has allowed me to see things from a parent’s perspective. Even I have sometimes found it difficult to hold myself back from having a word with my boy from time to time when I can see he is not giving his best, but I know this isn’t the best approach. “Really, so you would just allow your child to continue to make mistakes and train bad ..read more

The car journey before a youth football match is normally treated as a ‘pre-match team talk’ for football parents to have with their child. Do you believe this will improve your child’s performance? If not what other methods could be more effective during this time with your child? Let’s take a look at what a typical car journey tends to look like before a youth football match! Teach Your Child To Master The Ball! Take The Free 5 Day Challenge & Become The Ultimate Football Parent! Start Your Free 5 Day Challenge Today! The Car Journey Part1! It was 7.30 am on a Sunday morning and ..read more

When coaching football for kids, one thing we all struggle with as adults is letting our kids fail. Throughout our upbringing, we are told what to do which impacts the way we parent. This is understandable as we all want the best for our children and sometimes this means we want to limit the risks that they take to prevent them from making mistakes. Many parents & coaches in youth football tend to take this approach, often using the ‘command’ form of coaching to get their point across, forgetting that this football for kids. What we have to ask ourselves is, what are the benefi ..read more

I think it is safe to say that we have all been there at some point as a child or adult, where we are stood around waiting to take our turn. How did it make you feel? did you enjoy waiting around? did you feel that you were actually learning from the whole experience of watching others dribble, pass then join the back of the line again? me neither. In fact, this process used to frustrate the hell out of me as a young player as all I wanted to have was the ball at my feet and having to stand and wait in line for it didn’t make sense to me. Despite the clear frustration on the player’s ..read more

For me, one of the most important times for a new coach is the beginning of a new season. whether you are new or have previous experience in coaching a youth football team, a decision must be made on how you want to approach the new season and what needs to be put in place from the beginning. I see many coaches who decide to take on a new youth football team, throw themselves into it with great intentions and enthusiasm for the game only to wish they never started 6 months down the line. This is because children are very unpredictable and need to have some form of boundaries and directio ..read more

Today we have a guest post from our friends over at Kitlocker.com. It is an interview post issued by Sam Cockayne where he talks to two of the countries top soccer scouts Tim Coe, Chief Scout at Crystal Palace and Joel Purkiss, scout at Revo Sports Management.  See the original post here. In this article, Sam and the two soccer scouts discuss what scouts want to see from a footballer. Each and every weekend, on rainy pitches across the country, you can guarantee that at least one player in every team is wondering if today is the day that they will get their ‘Jamie Vardy’ moment. It ..read more

In my 13 years as a grassroots soccer coach, I have watched and worked with many coaches who work at this level. Some have been beginners and others had been coaching youth soccer players for at least 2 years. A common question I tend to ask grassroots coaches I support is how can use differentiation in your session? the response I tend to get is what is differentiation and how I use it? Knowing how to differentiate in your sessions is an important skill for a youth soccer coach to learn and when mastered will take their coaching to a new level. What is differentiation? Different ..read more

One thing that is a common topic amongst coaches is the type of football teams play or their ‘style of play’. Having a clear ‘style of play’ from the beginning is an important foundation to have as a coach because you can build practices to help achieve your ‘vision’ of how you want the game to be played. whether you prefer to play direct or a possession-based game you should have an idea of how you want to play. Especially in the UK, not enough consideration is given by grassroots coaches of how they want the kids to play, preferring a more ‘ad hoc’ approach that very rarely leads to anyt ..read more

When it comes to delivering football sessions you could be one of most talented of coaches but if you struggle to handle bad behavior when it arises then your coaching methods will have little impact on those players. Behavior management goes hand in hand with football coaching, and all coaches need to have the right strategies in place to deal with difficult players before they become a more serious issue. for me, the best coaches have systems in place to win the respect of certain difficult individuals and more often or not find a way of getting through to them. Unfortunately not every playe ..read more