The FA’s PE officer, Vinny Halsall, shares some initiatives he has used to encourage his players and their parents to stay connected, engaged, inspired and active during COVID-19.  

As a coach, parent, or in your professional role, do you believe in the holistic development of players? Do you follow a ‘people first’ approach? Does your club’s philosophy focus on the ‘person before player’? If your answer to any of these is an emphatic ‘yes’, then like me you will value The FA four corner model. 

As we all navigate through the challenges presented by a global pandemic, it is important that we seek out and offer positive and enjoyable experiences in whatever shape or form we can. I believe that our challenge as coaches is to be a source of positivity for our players and their parents and our fellow coaches. 

You can use the FA four corner model and 21 days of positivity initiative to help you

I have used the FA four corner model and the 21 days of positivity initiative to help me encourage our community to stay connected, engaged, inspired, and active.  I wanted to share some examples of how we have achieved this.  

• Online video calls lasting 45 minutes with ‘bite-size’ activities of around 10 minutes each.
   
• Empowering players to create and deliver short quizzes. This requires the use of creative thinking and adds an element of competition. 
  
  
• Playing clips of recent football footage lasting around 30 seconds which the players watch, analyse and comment on. Note: inviting comments on what they see rather than asking specific questions, can help gain fascinating insight of their knowledge and understanding of the game. 

All activities are framed within the mantra of fun, friendship and footie which aligns strongly with our club philosophy. 

You will notice that the last example has social (communication skills) and psychological benefits (thinking, being creative and increased confidence). It also starts to merge into the technical/tactical ‘corner’.  This has also led us to help motivate our youngsters and their families to stay active, in line with government guidelines (linking to the physical corner).  

Ways in which we have achieved this include: 

• Recording simple activities and sharing with parents via our usual communication channels, such as WhatsApp.  
  
  
• Asking parents to record and share an activity that they have done during the previous week. 
  
  
• Offering online practical sessions such as ‘Footie Footwork’ featuring a variety of ball control techniques that can be practiced using minimal space. This can also be fun for your players and family members to take part in.  

 As with all good coaching, we know that a variety of strategies are needed to support all team members. Therefore, it is crucial to respect the fact that not all families and youngsters will be in a position to access and engage with the ideas outlined above. At times, a more individualised approach might be needed with a simple phone call or text message in order to ‘check-in’ and stay connected.  

In summary, I believe it is important that as coaches we try to continue to act as carriages for our players, parents and families. After all, let’s remember the words of the inspirational Maya Angelou (American poet and civil rights activist): ‘people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’  

A final consideration: in showing care and kindness for all members of our teams, it is likely that we can boost our own emotional well-being along the way. This is a ‘win-win’ and will also help us to look after ourselves.  

When using online video calls it is imperative that you follow FA safeguarding guidance. Also, please click here for some further guidance. 

What do you think about Vinny’s ideas? Can you think of any others to add to the list? Are you using the four corner model? If so, how? Let us know in the comments below.