Sarah Lowden, FA coach development officer (diversity and inclusion), provides five top tips to help grassroots coaches work with their team.

Children are all unique

Particularly when coaching children, your job as a coach is to be a supportive role model. No matter what you look like or who you are, a lot of what children will respond to is how you connect with them and how you behave.

Take time to get to know each child in the group. Children are unique and at a crucial stage of learning in their development, particularly from ages 5-11. Celebrating their differences is a great tool to help motivate and inspire them through your environment. How much do you know about those individuals already?

Training age is an important factor

Have you ever wondered why some children seem physically and technically more developed than others even though they’re within the same age group? Or indeed, if you were to compare a group of girls to boys – how come this often looks different?

It’s important to understand where everyone is at – such as the length of time they’ve been playing football or other sports. Some data suggests that girls tend to start football later than boys (which is changing) and therefore you might find that a group of U12 boys seem more developed than a group of U12 girls. There are always exceptions to this, however. A simple way to learn more about this is to ask, observe and encourage. This may even be the case between two different boys, and it’s likely that training age will be a factor.

For example, within a U12 boys group – one boy is new to football this season, and another has been playing at the club since he was 7 years old. That’s a huge difference, even though they’re the same biological age and may have the same physical appearance, e.g., height; it may well be that the boy who has been playing for longer at the club has more technical and physical ability. This is because his training age is much greater than someone who is new this season.

Coaches need to understand these differences and be able to adapt sessions that develop both children simultaneously. This is a challenge, as often you’re the only coach leading a group of children with different needs. This is where the STEP principle can be handy. Everyone may be doing the same task, but adapting the rules slightly for different children makes all the difference.

Read more about STEP principle here.

Encouragement

No matter what age group you coach, or their gender, being supportive and encouraging is important. Depending on the age and stage of your players, there may be lots of change in their lives, e.g., school changes, social and friendship groups, growth, family changes.

Being a young person can be challenging when trying to juggle everything. Therefore, their football environment should provide lots of encouragement, particularly when trying something new or trying something difficult. This is all part of the learning process and a significant step for young people to adapt to.

As coaches, we must be aware of this and never underestimate the power of positive words of encouragement.

Expect mistakes and encourage thinking

Linked to the previous point, we must respect that children may arrive at our sessions in all different moods and energy levels. Sometimes this may be the case for us as coaches depending on the type of day it has been or because of things that may have caused fatigue.

This is the same for the players. Therefore, in practices that require concentration and skill development, go in with the mindset that players will make mistakes within the practice. As a coach, having this mindset helps you re-engage the players when they do make mistakes. Encouraging them to think about how to self-correct or problem solve is a great tool for learning.

Fun

When we set out sessions that aim to stretch and challenge the players for learning purposes, don’t be afraid to include things that are mood boosters or generally good fun. After all, this is why players turn up. Always have one or two fun practices up your sleeve to deliver when it’s needed.

What do you think about Sarah’s points? What would your top tips be? Let us know in the comments below!