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DNA Insights Podcast Episode 5

Peter Sturgess

Hi coaches

 I hope you have enjoyed these five episodes, myself and Lauren certainly had a great time putting them together. One question from me relating to that free play - deliberate practice continuum.

"If you have limited time with your players then in that hour long session, how much of it would be free play with fewer interruptions and stoppages?"

There is no right or wrong answer as it depends upon so many things but in order to get massive returns regarding independent decision making, realistic practice, creativity and skill we must consider what our training and playing priorities are.

It would be great to hear your thoughts.

Thanks so much for listening to our podcasts and we at the FA and the digital team wish you all the best as you strive to develop some great footballers and some great young people as well.

Cheers.

Pete

Parents

  • As in the previous Podcasts, really good listen and useful to consider that free play question... but smiling to myself as I realise my reticence to put a figure on it. The comment that therefore springs to mind from this Podcast is we should, ‘Try to create an environment where coaches, parents and players can get it wrong’.

    Ok... so if top level adults get to play a match for about 90mins with around 15 minutes half time break i.e just over 85% playing time, then we should be aiming up towards that! After all, if that’s the 1 hour that group gets together to play... do they really want to be listening to the likes of me for any longer! Sweat smile

Reply

  • As in the previous Podcasts, really good listen and useful to consider that free play question... but smiling to myself as I realise my reticence to put a figure on it. The comment that therefore springs to mind from this Podcast is we should, ‘Try to create an environment where coaches, parents and players can get it wrong’.

    Ok... so if top level adults get to play a match for about 90mins with around 15 minutes half time break i.e just over 85% playing time, then we should be aiming up towards that! After all, if that’s the 1 hour that group gets together to play... do they really want to be listening to the likes of me for any longer! Sweat smile

Children
  • in reply to James Fallon

    James, thanks for posting again, your comments are always of interest. Lots of creativity comes from failed attempts so as you allude to, if the environment is harsh and unforgiving of mistakes you will not get a lot of exploration and trying new things. Even at the top level mistakes are made (Fabianski is a top GK but even he has off days - sorry West Ham fans!!) so why would we feel that berating a 9 year old player was OK? A safe and secure environment that encouraged lots of exploration under the watchful eye of a knowledgeable coach gives us the best of both worlds and is key to learning and developing new ideas and skills. Regarding time involved in your 1 hour session for some freer play, if the players in your team get little or no opportunity to play informally then I would use the whole time to give them these experiences. This does not mean its a free for all as the activities can still have some order and structure but they would focus on solving game problems and looking for possible solutions to these problems. My role would be one of designing an appropriate activity or game and then looking to identify lots of learning opportunities where I can carefully extend the learning whilst the players are busily enjoying playing the game. This is still good coaching and it involves appropriate game design and good questions to ask the players as they play (either as a whole group or individually)

    Thanks again, James. Pete