Jamie:
Hello and welcome to Coachcast by England Football learning; the coaching podcast designed to give you expert insight, session ideas and a platform to discuss your coaching questions and challenges. I'm Jamie...
Louise:
and I'm Louise. In each episode of this season, one of our experts will dissect a specific topic and then speak to a grassroots coach with the aim of helping them and you provide players with inspirational opportunities. Hi everyone, and thanks for tuning into Coachcast. In this episode, we're focusing on the STEP framework and how it can help create a better experience for your players.
Jamie:
Paul Holder is our expert today and he's with us in the studio now. Hi, Paul. Welcome to the show.
Paul:
Morning.
Louise:
Hi, Paul. Thanks for your time today. Before we start, you want to tell our listeners a little bit more about yourself and your role at the FA?
Paul:
So currently I work in the professional game team. We have certain clubs that we go and help coaches to become better at what they do dealing with young players. I've worked at the FA before and across grassroots, the women's game, the women and girls' game and professional clubs. So I've got quite a wide experience of different forms of coaching and the players in it.
Louise:
Great. First of all, can you get us started by explaining what the STEP framework is?
Paul:
The STEP process is about a management tool for coaches that enables players and groups of players to get the most out of their practices and games. It's as simple as that. It's based on PE teaching but it's easily usable in coaching. Whether you coach coach players once a week or you coach them seven days a week, it's a great process and a great framework to follow. And it's very simple. STEP: the 'S' is about the space. So where is this activity happening? Is it on a big pitch? Is it on a small pitch? Is it on a wide pitch? Is it on a narrow pitch? 'T' is about what is happening in that practice. So this is about changing the demands in the practice, the task. What are you asking players to do? The rules: the number of times you repeat something. That is about changing the task for the players. The 'E' is about what is being used: the equipment. So are using big goals or you're not using goals? Are you using cones? Are you using corner flags? What size ball have you got? What's the weight of that ball? We're using a futsal ball. What's the shape of the goal? And of course the size, as I said before. Are you using mannequins? Now, why, the questioning I get with coaches is yes, they might all be available or none available. But what are you using them for? Why would you want to, say, for example use a small goal rather than a big goal? Is there a reason or is it just because that's all you've got? And in many cases it's true, the equipment is given to you according to you may be renting out an AstroTurf pitch, you might only have one goal. So the 'E' is for equipment. The 'P' is who is involved and that's about the players. What's the number of players? Are you doing a practice or game where there are only two players on the pitch and you've got loads of these games, like 2v2s going on or is it a big 11v11 game? Is it a 3v2 or a 7v5? How do you deploy your players and manage the numbers? So the STEP really is that simple. What's the space? What's the task? What's the equipment and who is involved? What are the players? And if you manage those four things, and you have reasons why you manage those four things, then the children and the players will have a better experience in practice and will learn.
Louise:
And why would you say that STEP is important?
Paul:
I think STEP's important because all players are different, they all have different capabilities. So if, for example, you have players who struggle physically, then you might consider reducing the area size. If you've got players that struggle technically, in other words, they really do struggle in small areas, then make the area bigger. And what you do is you look and see, what are the capabilities of the players, and is there anything I can change or modify that will help these players do what I want them to do?
Jamie:
What can STEP help you achieve?
Paul:
Well, it's more about what the players can achieve, what the children can achieve rather than what the coach wants to achieve. And the thing is in all practices you want to try and make as many things possible as you can. So the more rules you put on a practice and the more you restrict the players with area size or the rules, that sometimes cuts out possibilities. So first of all is to try and keep as many possibilities open as they can for the players. That's why I like the idea of maintaining this idea that there are varied skills going on all the time. So it depends on what you want to achieve with the players. If for example, you want players to play more forward passes or move forward, then make the area size narrower so they can't go wide. If you want them to spread out across the pitch and then change direction from side to side, then make the pitch wider rather than longer. If you want them to change direction and think about that with the ball, then have four goals, a four-goal game. If you want them to do more wall passes, you might consider putting some practices down the side of of the game off the pitch so that they become target players for people to rebound the ball off. If you want them to practice scoring low into the corner of the goal and you're indoors, use a bench. If you're outside and you haven't got that ability, then you might want to tie bibs to the back of the net as a guide to say if you score below these bibs then it counts double. So the idea is: know what you want and what motivates the players and don't put anything in the way that might stop that or restrict it.
Jamie:
Other than repetition then, what are the other key things that you could use STEP for?
Paul:
Well, the other thing is about organizing players on the pitch. So what you can do is use the STEP process to manage the difference in your team. And I'll tell you how that could work. So I've done practices before where I've got the best dribblers and there's only four of them against seven of the other team. The reason is I did that is I want the four to go up against more than one person at any one time, because they're good dribblers. So if you can think a little bit about, what's going to motivate? Where's the challenge for these kids? Where's the competition? How can I make it really competitive? And changing the numbers can make a big difference. So the lad or the or the girl who's struggling doesn't want to be exposed and let the team down. So give her or him more players to play with. They can be on the seven, and if they want to they can get lost in that seven and not feel as though they're exposed. The ones who are really good might want to show their skills off. Well, we'll expose you, then. So, the idea is to look at each individual, not worry about being symmetrical. We've got to have 3v3 there and 4v4 there and 5v5 there, and you haven't, so experiment with the numbers. And it doesn't look proper as you would see it, it looks odd. 7v3? How does that work? But it works, and that leads you to managing difference generally. Sometimes what you have to do is to think, "Well, if I'm going to change this, who does it affect and who do I want it to affect?" So if I play in a big area and decide to double the area size, what's the impact of that? What's the impact on that little dot that can't, you know, really can't get around the pitch? But then you make it small, and what's the impact on the one that wants to push and run it? You can deal with the repetition of the focus, you can deal with planning and organizing player numbers, and I suggest that coaches really focus on that because that change in the numbers can have huge effects. And that leads you to generally managing difference.
Jamie:
When using the STEP framework, what things do you need to consider?
Paul:
So, what I would consider is the age and stage of the players, the motivations, why are they there? You know, if, for example the players are there because they want to be with their friends and they really want to go home thinking they're playing football, then don't put too many restrictions on what you're doing and play the game and get as close to the game as you possibly can. And there are two rules here: make the practices and the games really realistic and make them relevant. If you make them relevant to the age and the stage and abilities of the players, now, this is the hard bit, and they're realistic, in other words, they're as close to the game as possible and what the game they play on a Sunday looks like, then you've got a great starting point. So when you're using sort of like thinking about pitches, pitch sizes, the equipment you use, keep things really simple, lay out the pitch, put two goals at one end and think about the numbers of the players on the pitch and the task. If you started with that and not worry about the area size and worry about changing anything, less stage management, you'll be doing the kids a great service. What we try to do is over-complicate things by changing everything, you know, and we don't need to and I've done many practices where I've laid the cones out at the beginning, put the goals on the end and then just kept changing tasks and the numbers on the pitch, and that's worked. And I think that would be a great sort of starting point to using the STEP; don't use the whole of the STEP process all the time.
Louise:
So, you mentioned the age and stage of players, but is it more beneficial for specific age groups or should coaches just use it no matter who they're coaching and at what level they're coaching?
Paul:
It's not related to ability and it's not related to age. What you do is how you use it. But what you've got to consider is the age and stage of the players and more importantly, their motivations. Some people use inappropriate area sizes, inappropriate numbers of players, inappropriate tasks for players that are not ready. It's all about readiness. So 11v11 for under-7s might not be the best thing, although they might have great fun with it and it might be a one off but it's not necessarily a great model for them. What I do find though is when you're working with teenagers is don't start restricting the rules, be careful on the task because you want to enhance creativity and what we see is sometimes when they get into teenage years, there are more rules and more things, probably to do with wanting to be more tactical. There are more rules being imposed on these kids, they stop exploring and discovering when they need to. So I think you can with the STEP process actually stop natural process learning in the kids. As well as you can enhance it, you're more likely to stop it and enhance it because if you just play a game they'll learn anyway. So it's just about sort of being careful with what you stop, not what you start.
Louise:
That's a really good point. How do you know when it's the right time in your session to use STEPs?
Paul:
I think use it all the time. I don't think there's a right time. When you set out a practice, when you first go and and the kids arrive, you're going to lay out an area size, you're already doing that task, and changing player numbers is what you are more likely to change as the practice goes on. What you've got to be looking for is the challenge point. Is it too hard? Is it to easy? And then having clear things about when you know that a practice is too hard or too easy. So you have to keep looking at things and saying, "Well, if I do this, what's going to happen? What am I stopping and what am I starting?" So, nothing is fixed when you're using the STEP, pressing nothing, there's nothing on the pitch that's fixed. So you can change it anytime, you can take a goal away, you can change the players, you can change the task and everything. So the key is using the STEP process to keep the challenge at the right point.
Jamie:
If you have stepped back, kind of observed what's going on, and you know that there needs to be a change, how do you know what part of STEP that you need to use to make that change?
Paul:
I think coaches would benefit from thinking about things that if they're sometimes looking at a press and thinking "Oh, I need to change it." First of all, can you make it more fun? Is there an igniter? Is there a sort of something you can put in that would really liven this thing up? Sometimes change the task to put fun in the practice. I'll give you some examples. Like, if the ball goes out of play down the side, then whoever gets it, gets it. In other words, just go and get the ball, and even if you've kicked it off, go and get it, because if you're first, you can have it back. Now, that rule keeps the game competitive whether the ball is on the pitch or not. So, I do things like I give a player a bib and if that player scores it counts double. But that bib, once you've scored has got to go to someone else. And what that does is sometimes gives the player who is less confident "Come on" and all the players work towards helping this person score a goal because it counts double. So there are little things you can do, which change the dynamics in the practice and change the environment in the practice and the energy in the practice. You don't necessarily have to have these things, you know, "All right, I'm going to change this to really serious things." Be playful with the practice because STEP is about being playful, as well. Now playful, you think, "well, what's that?". You know, like, but being playful in a practice doesn't necessarily mean that for example the goals, how many times do you see the goals sometimes moved on the diagonal? that's being playful so that there are different challenges. So you can be playful and it doesn't distract from the game. If it's directional, if it's opposed, if there are various skills going on and there is a way of scoring, hopefully with goals, then you can make these changes and the kids still would be picking up and learning essential parts of the game.
Jamie:
How do you know if you've got something wrong?
Paul:
Kids will tell you some way. Normally, a child will show you his emotions or her emotions in everything they do. You should be at a sense when it's not quite right, either for an individual for a group. Suddenly there'd be more injuries, kids will go down whether they're injured or not, there are a lot of emotions coming, "I've had enough of this. I'm going to do anything I can to stop this." They might start talking to each other when they didn't before. So look for the ones who disappear, go on the edge of practices. These are individuals, ones whose passing or their performance is not quite what it was before. You know, start to be distracted, all these sorts, even teenagers do this or sometimes teenagers will start going into the physical and running around like mad things, heavier challenges and things like this. Clear indications that something isn't quite right. And then as you know, when things are going well, well, there's a lot of noise, there's a lot of competition. You can almost smell the competition, you can feel it because the kids will bring back energy. You should be as a coach, that's where you should be observing everyone, you know, like, are they motivated? Are they still motivated? Are they full of energy? Are they getting puffed out or they're not bothering? All these things. Why is it not got competitive? Why is it uncompetitive? I'll put him or her on this side, change the dynamics. I think you've got to be sensitive to what's going on on the pitch all the time and that means and this lends itself to, you may not talk so much, you might just be observing lots of observations. The best coaches I've ever seen use the STEP process, don't talk a lot, they watch and observe. "Yeah, I need to change this. Right, we need to do this." And they're forever managing the changes to keep that challenge pointing up. And one of the key elements for coaches is all time is takes yourself back to when you were a child. Just try and tap into that kid that's playing, what would you be like there? And if you can do that, then you've got a real chance of changing the practice and amending what you're doing to suit who lives in front of you.
Louise:
Yeah, I think that's really handy, especially when it might be like your first time coaching a team just to stand and watch a little bit and take that stuff on. Could you give us an example of a session and explain how and why you can adapt it using STEP?
Paul:
Think of the simplest thing possible, which is you've got eight players and you've got a pitch, two goals, one at each end, and a halfway line. We could play 2v2 in one half and 2v2 in another. You could restrict where they go. You could say one team, play with the goalkeeper and play 5v3, one team without, you could put players down the side, so you're playing 3v3 in the middle with two players, one on each sideline that you could bounce the ball off. There are endless possibilities that you could do just with eight players. You could say, if you score, and this old PE trick this, if you score, all your team has got to be over the halfway line otherwise it doesn't count. And you could say to the defending team or your defenders, if there's any defender left in that half it counts double. So it gets players to move up and down the pitch. So you can be imaginative with a small pitch and those number of players. What if you put the goals, if the pitch was oblong, and now the pitch is long and narrow and you put the goals at either end, that's fine, so there's not much space down the sides and then you move the goals, if they're little goals, and you move them the other way around. So the pitch is now wide and short, changes the game completely. And you could do that in no time at all. So rather than think of sessions in which you used to think of tasks and things on the simplest level, I've got eight players, what's possible? How can I ignite this practice to make it interesting? What I'm doing is playing around with numbers and tasks. Not so much about area sizes and things like that. If you've got a goalkeeper, great. If you haven't, it doesn't stop you setting up tasks and stuff in which it's competitive. As I said before, you can score in an empty goal, maybe you have to get over a line before you score in this empty goal. That might be something you do. So you're forever thinking about these things: is it competitive? Is it opposed? is it directional? Are there varied skills going on? And then just be playful with it and let them get on with it. I think it's important that coaches learn to manage sort of small groups. So instead of you've got 16 players and we play 8v8, well why don't you divide that up into two 4v4s? Yes, so you can, and it would be good if coaches could be confident in managing two practices. They don't have to look alike. You could have a 4v4 on one pitch and a 5v3 on another. Doesn't have to be symmetrical. They don't have to be the same size. You don't have to have four goals, providing directional, opposed, lots of varied skills and a scoring system which resembles the game. it will flow, it will function and then your job is to manage the competition.
Louise:
When you use STEP, does it apply to the whole group or can you use it to help individuals?
Paul:
You can target individuals or you can target whole groups. The likelihood is you're going to do both at the same time. So I'll give you an example which I quite like is that we use, and this is normally with teenagers and I don't necessarily think it's a great rule. It's two touches, yes? Well, I said to a coach the other week, I said, "Does that apply to everyone? Or are you going to put that player over there on two touches, yes? And then keep moving that task from player to player." So then not everyone is on to touch, but he is or she is. Do you see what I mean? So you can manipulate the task and the numbers to match the individuals, Again, all you're doing is managing difference really and and you're igniting it for some individuals. So what we're saying here is if you're dealing with individuals, what is it you want this individual to experience, you know? And think about goalkeepers, as well, you know, how you build goalkeepers into this process. What are you giving them to do? You know, are you thinking about them saying, "Right well, you know, they're part of the team." So it's not all to do with outfield players. Sometimes you can give the goalkeeper a particular task that you haven't, you're not considering for outfield players. So then we look at the difference between those two ends of the spectrum, is the strivers that are really ahead of everyone else. What tasks are we giving them to keep it alive for them? You know, and the common thing is I'll go and play up an age group, that might work, but you can be more imaginative than that. And then the struggler is, why are they struggling? Might be that they don't really want to be there that day. That's why you need to know the players in order to affect them. Sometimes they might be struggling physically, so you have to give them something which isn't going to expose that if you see what I mean, you have to give them something in the game. There are strategies for that, but you've got to identify it in the first place. And then there's the group in the middle, the ones that are just coasting along, they need some igniters, as well. They need some rockets and, you know, like sort of sparklers that were like their practice. Likelihood is that most coaches at grassroots, professional would deal okay with the group, but they're not so knowledgeable about dealing with the individual and how you can set a task to certain individuals, but not necessarily anyone else.
Jamie:
Do you feel STEP is misunderstood or over-complicated at all?
Paul:
I think if you didn't call it a framework and a process and you just buried it in coaching, I think you might not see it as something, "Oh my God, I've got to try the STEP processes." Well you do all the time. That is what setting up coaching and coaching is all about. It's not something that people should lose sleep over and it's not complicated, but it is about thinking at the simplest level. Have the kids got enough space to play? Understanding why the kids are there. What do they want to achieve? They want to go home and play in the game. All these things about understanding the kids then understanding that you've got these tools in your toolbox that you could use that will meet their needs. That's all it is.
Louise:
Great. Well, that's been a really good insight into STEP, the principal. So finally, do you have any further top tips for coaches who are new to the STEP framework and want to start using it?
Paul:
If you're talking about coaches that are new to coaching, then think about the STEP process as helping you communicate with your players. You don't need to change a lot of things. I think I've said it before, cause if you focus on the task that you're giving them and the numbers in the practice, that's a good start point. You have to build that confidence up and that experience. It's not easy at the beginning, but someone said to me once, "Just change the instruction and the rules that you're giving them, to start with that point." I think that was a really great bit of advice, then you can see the difference and then you can start building your confidence. And so that's the advice I would give coaches, but you really do need to look at the effect of the conditions and the rules and whatever you put on players, on individuals. Does it affect everyone? Who does it benefit more than anyone? What you want to do is keep as many possibilities open for as long as possible.
Jamie:
Now, this is the part of the show where we chat to a grassroots coach to hear about their experiences so far and find out what coaching challenge they are currently facing. Earlier this week we did exactly that. So let's hear how it went and what advice Paul gave.
Louise:
Today, we're joined by Kate, who's a coach from Burton Joyce in Nottingham. Do you want to tell us a little bit about your coaching journey so far?
Kate:
Hi. Yeah, my name is Kate, I am a mum of three boys and it's my middle child who is particularly excited and into football and has been for a long time. So when he was about five, we joined the local mini greens under-6 football team coaching team and I started helping out coaching and helping them support them, mostly coordination at first and then was kind of tease onto the pitches to support, and then when my child got to under-7s, under-8s I became the manager of his team. We started out in August, September, this is our first season, so I'm still very new to all of this, definitely new to the coaching side, not so much the management of children, definitely coaching side for football.
Louise:
Okay, do you want to tell us about your coaching challenge that you're currently facing?
Kate:
One of the things that I have found more of a challenge than I had anticipated is game management itself and getting the kids prepared for that and finding the right coaching sessions or things to practice or play in a session to get us ready to be active in the game on a Saturday. And then that's kind of me reflecting on how my sessions are setting the boys up for success with that. So probably twofold questions, really. One: how I can use coaching time in the week to get the guys more prepared to be active in the game rather than kind of watch the game happen? And how to set up the team so that I'm balancing playing my stronger players with giving fair play time across all of the players so everybody gets more game time? And that's been something that I've struggled with more, not from any pressure, I've got such a great set of parents, it's not from pressure with them, but more around, how do we mature the team?
Paul:
How old is this team?
Kate:
Under-8s.
Paul:
So, the game management thing, I heard you say that, you know, you want to try and prepare them better for activity during the game. Would I be right in saying that the kids like, they don't move unless the ball is near to them?
Kate:
Yeah, a lot are needing to be told that the ball is still in play and it's about using training sessions to almost re-enact that reality because you can talk about theories, getting the theory into the game, really.
Paul:
Yeah, and it's interesting, isn't it? Because the training is if you looked at training and said, "Well, actually it's a rehearsal for the game." My question would be, how close, I'm going to ask you, are your practices to the game and the demands of the game? So are they directional? Are there stop-starts, ball goes out of play and restarts again? It's like an absolute dress rehearsal for the game. And then you can see it during the week whether anything was missing. And then you can remind kids about, you know, like, ball's still in play, ball is still in play and actually if you say that and you're still saying it on a Sunday, they'll get the message, if you see what I mean. I think that's quite an important point.
Kate: 30:54
I think that is interesting. I think at the minute, the way I structure my sessions is that I have like 15 minutes of ball-at-feet time, so they're moving around and then we'll focus on something. So a lot of the players that we're playing with it's their first real season of football. So a lot of the time when I'm trying to do technical stuff, like, this is what throwing is or this is what we mean by the defender.
Paul:
You have to do that. But my point is, what we tend to do is we structure sessions where you'll do that at the beginning and then you'll build a session up and then you'll have a game at the end. Have you ever thought of starting with a game? As soon as they arrive, you go into a matched up game, a match, and it counts and you keep the score and you do that. And actually then you go to do any technical stuff, like, this is a throw-in, this is that, you can do that in the middle, and then go back to the game at the end. You know, it's a bit like whole-part-whole; you start with a game. I now coach, you know, like, different ages and I've coached different ages. Without a doubt we'll start with a game, yeah? Because the kids then, you can see the ones who are ready the ones who are switched off, they may have come from school, had a bad day, they get everything out of their system in that first thing. You know, I think that's sometimes a really strong way of starting. It's easy for you then because you can see the mood of the kids, you can see the numbers you've got, anyone who turns up late or comes off the bus can just get integrated in the game. It doesn't matter what you play; five-a-side, 6v5, 5v9, whatever it is. It can also put the best players, you can play around with it because sometimes we go, "Oh, it's got to be five-a-side." and it's like, well, actuallthe best players can have fewer players with them. You know what I mean? I've often put like best three players I've had against seven. 7v3 in a game. The best players go, "Yeah, bring it on."
Kate:
Do you feel comfortable calling that out? Because I never want to make anybody feel not sufficient.
Paul:
What, calling out that someone is the best player?
Kate:
Yeah. Or like, you know...
Paul:
No, I understand that. I get that, no, because that implies that someone is the worst player, if you see what I mean? Yeah, no, no, no, you don't need to do that. But if you ask your kids and you stand and go, "Who's the best player?" they'll know who the best player is, yes? You don't have to say the worst player is, but I think you can manage that and you've got, by the way, you've got to know the kids inside out to do that successfully. You've got some trust and dialogue with them, you can mess around with it.
Kate:
Yeah.
Paul:
So we can start with a game, you get kids on and really get their energies going there. You can start reminding them about being active, and there are some rules you can put in these games, like, if you divide the pitch into half, just say you're playing a five-a-side and you say if you score and any of your players are in your own half, it doesn't count. In other words, they have to run backwards and forwards. Do you see what I mean? So you can think of really nice rules which make them run whether they've got the ball or not. A nice rule is that if the ball goes out of play the first person to get ball wins it. In other words, run after it, even if you've just kicked it out, go and get it back. So you can have little subtle things which make it fun for the kids. I do this with the older ones, like I say, if the ball goes out of play, it's nobody's ball, it's whoever gets it first, yeah? And then you see these kids running after it rather than you do it and then you say, "Right, play on." So the competition for the ball happens when the ball's out of play. I know people go, "Oh no, no, it's just a throw-in." you know, and so on, but that stop switches people off, the competition element. Do you see what I mean? The other thing is is keep the score, in that if you start a game, you keep the score and make sure that you know that you're keeping so it's competitive. Now, I suppose like you might say that that is a bit over the top or, you know, I don't want someone to lose or I don't want to be disappointed about me, but they'll be fine with it because they need to see that this game, your perception of the game, you want them to play football and this is what football looks like the moment you come into the building, Sometimes I see practices which are so far away from the game when the kids arrive, is they actually connect with the game after about 45 minutes, and they need to connect with the game the moment they arrive. So it's almost like as soon as you come in, get yourself in teams and just join the game when you come in. It doesn't matter how many are on each side, to be honest. It doesn't even matter about being even. What matters is it looks like football and it's competitive and there's goal scoring and stopping goals, by the way. And the other thing, if you've got goalkeepers, they can be goalkeepers straight away. Automatically the goalie, you've got your gloves and you may or may not have goalkeepers, but I sometimes see the practices where people are dribbling around with the ball at their feet. He wants to be a goalie or she wants to be a goalie. When are they going to be goalkeepers?
Kate:
Interesting you talk about how many kids a side because that was one of my other questions is, we go to seven-a-side next year and I was thinking, you know, at the minute, most of my time on a Saturday is spent thinking, "Right, who's been on? Who hasn't been on? Here's a list of players who are going to..." and I'm going to have a bit more freedom next year because the team size is staying the same and I just thought, is there a plan or a good way to approach movement from five to seven-a-side and getting the boys used to having more players on the pitch?
Paul:
Well, what you're saying is two more players, one ball between 14 instead of one ball between 10. The likelihood is they're going to have fewer touches, you know, and be distant from the game. So actually, if that's the format you're playing, it's absolutely important that each kid is exposed to that format as often as possible. I've got this thing about every kid, full game, every week. Yeah, and that would be ambitious, but how could I make that happen? I don't think coaches and I know you, are you in a league?
Kate:
It's like a development league.
Paul:
I don't know how long the period is that you play on a Sunday. I often see that coaches don't talk to each other and how they can incorporate, they can use the period that they've got to play to make it more beneficial for the kids and say "Instead of us playing for an hour, let's play for an hour and a half."
Kate:
So like. start, because generally most teams will have half an hour warm-up time. But actually, like you say, do the kids need it?
Paul:
They don't need it.
Kate:
If you had like warm-up time and then added 50 minutes at the end of the game for just seven-a-side.
Paul: 38:00
Exactly. And then what you could do is say, right, I'm going to, I don't know, wherever it is in Nottingham, we're going to play seven-a-side. but this is the period that these kids they need to be active. But if we try and corral that period or we shorten that period because we want to put in these things like warm-up times and cool down times and things like that, and also the breaks. Well actually, while the kids are having a break they're not playing. So why can't you just keep rolling subs in and out later on? in other words, kids come off, go on, you know, and they go come up, have their little break, come back in. You know, and so I think you can really look hard at the regulations, within the rules obviously. But you could negotiate with the opposing coach to say, "Listen, we both want to give every kid that's turned up today, I want to try and aim to them at least an hour's football, if we can. How are we going to do that?" Even, I've seen this done before and forgive me for, you know, talking a lot, but I'm enthusiastic about this, is that I saw this group and he had Sunday night, 15 players and was playing seven-a-side. He said, "Okay, you're going to play the first game seven-a-side." That lasted 45 minutes non-stop, kids played, they went off, next team came on and played for 45 minutes. Every kid played 45 minutes of intense football. The kids went off absolutely delighted.
Kate:
Our parents have been really good. They've all dropped a game a month so the kids would attend three out of four games. So that means that they've got more game time because like I said, they've got, particularly the less experienced players and it's about managing with it and that's what I find.
Paul:
This is very difficult and I know the realities because I've done it myself and I've obviously seen coaches working in this way and then, what you're saying is, look, they play three out of four months, so they're playing three quarters of what they could do, yes? So what I'm saying is, there must be a better way, yeah? Where so now what you're doing is making it happen and that's better. In some respects that might work. But the other thing you can think about is, is there an alternative? You know, I'm not saying I've got all the answers, but I always think, here's the ambition: every kid plays a whole game every week. Come on, let's get our heads around it, yeah, let's really get our heads around it. And I'll bet you you'll come up with a way of this happening. The other thing is, if you don't mind me saying is, if you make training as close to the game and competitive and things during the week, yes? You will tick a big box for these kids who may not be playing on that if you are doing that, do you see what I mean? So the more you make it game-related during the week, you will satisfy to an extent that competitiveness. So they would have thought, "This week, I have actually played football, it just wasn't on Sunday." It helps with parents because the kids go home and go, "Oh yeah, we played football tonight." not, "We trained."
Kate:
Sometimes I find when particularly trying to cover more technical stuff and it's harder to maintain everybody's interest and you know, like you say not, you've got some players who are like, "I already know this" and other players who are kicking the ball against a fence and you're constantly getting them back in.
Paul:
My biggest tip would be focus on one thing at a time and focus on putting game-related practices on that are close to the game as possible and having one focus for everybody, yeah? In one game, one focus, one game. And then what we tend to do is look for technical things and loads of different technical things. So you could say, "All right today, I'm looking at how you can, we want to get into get forward as quickly as possible." Whatever it is. "Yes, that's all I'm looking for. That's all I want from you today." and then put them into games, getting them confident about having a go. "I'm going to look at your dribbling skills tonight. But here's the game, yeah over that line or do whatever it is. And I'm going to be watching and trying to help you with that." And then if you want to do a bit of practice on dribbling, you can do it in the middle and then go back to the game at the end. That's what whole-part-whole is; start with the game, do a practice in the middle and then go back to the game. What you're describing is an absolute common thing, is trying to put how am I going to manage the time that I've got with the numbers and I want to get this across. But I think what coaches do is trying to get a lot across and forget that, actually what I wanted to do is to understand the game, play the game and have one single focus that I'm going to think about today.
Kate:
I think almost gives you freedom as well to keep it simple and that's fine.
Paul:
And your safety net, Kate, there is a safety net always, do you know what it is? If you run out of ideas and you put a goal at each end with a halfway line and divide the kids up and put a ball in the middle, you wouldn't be going far wrong. So it's that idea of make it directional, make it competitive, put goals in where they can score, keep the score, make people celebrate, get disappointed if they let goals, in all those emotions that happen on a Sunday, you can replicate during the week. But if you're doing set practices where those things are not apparent, they're not practicing that. So you've got to make a decision of, if you want it on a Sunday, we'd better rehearse it during the week.
Jamie:
Kate, how was that advice for you?
Kate:
That's really helpful. It's nice just to verbalize some of this stuff, as well.
Jamie:
Brilliant, Kate. Well, hopefully you can take that advice on board and to your next training session and hopefully improve things. But do keep in touch and let us know how it goes. But hopefully today has been useful for you.
Kate:
It's been really useful. Like I said, it's been nice to verbalize some stuff, so thank you so much.
Paul:
Thank you.
Jamie:
We're coming up to the end of the episode now which means it's swift session time. This is where we challenge our guests to come up with a session idea that relates to the theme of the episode.
Louise:
Today, we're looking for a session idea with STEP in mind. You just need to make sure that it's fun, engaging, and can be quick for coaches to set up. It can involve any number of activities, but you'll only have 30 seconds to explain your ideas. Are you up for the test?
Paul:
Yep.
Louise:
Okay, let me put 30 seconds on the clock. Time starts... now.
Paul:
Right, play a game with a big goal at one end and a small goal and a zone to score in at the other end. Four players attack the big goal and their focus is on shooting, they've got five minutes and then the other team who work with the goalkeeper have to keep possession to get into the other end zone and scoring into an empty goal. Then change the teams around, so the other team then is focusing on shooting and the team that were shooting is now focusing on keeping the ball and working it into this end zone. Works a treat.
Louise:
Perfect. He's almost like dropped his bike and woken up now. Yeah, did you manage to get everything in that you wanted to?
Paul:
Yeah, I think so.
Louise:
So, before we finish the show, do you have any last key messages for coaches to take away?
Paul:
Yeah, I think it's really important that coaches learn and hone their observation skills more than passing information and talking. And I think finally, it's really important that you use the STEP process and keep things playful and keep things fun and exciting for the players. So if you're doing anything that stops it being fun and enjoyable then you have to think carefully about that.
Jamie:
That's great, Paul. Thank you very much for joining us on Coachcast today and telling us all about STEP framework.
Paul:
pleasure.
Jamie:
Right, that's all we have time for today. But if you want to find out more about what we've discussed in this episode, Head over to the bootroom.thefa.com and check out how to challenge all the players in your coaching session. You can also visit the FA community to jump into a coaching conversation about STEP or read how to adapt target games to benefit your players. Here, Becks Garlick goes into detail about how you can use STEP to manage difference when playing target games.
Louise:
And if you want to keep in touch with all of our content, make sure you hit that subscribe button on our YouTube channel, England Football Learning and follow us on Twitter where our handle is @England earning. We'll be back soon with another episode of Coachcast, so keep an eye on our social media channels and wherever you get your podcasts from. From all of us at England Football Learning, thanks for listening.