[00:00:09,214]  [Jamie:] Hello and welcome to CoachCast by England Football Learning, the coaching podcast that brings you insight from people across the game. Today we're chatting to Ian Parks, an FA youth coach developer who is also our lead for futsal in the education department to discover his journey into the game and how others might do the same. Hi Ian, welcome back to CoachCast, how are you?

 

[00:00:29,906] [Ian Parkes:] Yeah very well thank you, thanks for having me back.

 

[00:00:32,519] [Louise:] It's really good to have you back on again.

 

[00:00:33,959] [Jamie:] Yeah it's great to have you back on, obviously you appeared in season two talking all about futsal and you're back again. So let's just have a bit of a short reminder for people who have listened to that episode, if you want to tell us a little bit about what you're specialising and the area you cover and kind of paint a picture of what you do if that's alright please Ian.

 

[00:00:52,357] [Ian Parkes:] Yeah so I'm a youth coach developer as you mentioned, that means I support coaches in the professional game, in the boys academy system, coaches will go on courses and then when they go back to their clubs in their settings they get a YCD to help them make sense of their content. As well as doing that I also support coaches and clubs who are interested in futsal, particularly again the boys academy programme. If they want courses or CPD or they want to use it in their academies I often get the call or the email and I go along and do my best to help them. And then the final bit really is this futsal education piece, you know responsible for the courses and everything futsal in the grassroots world really.

 

[00:01:31,494] [Jamie:] Fantastic, well as this is a coaching podcast Ian, just as a little bit of an arrival activity for you so to speak, as listeners could be on the way to training right now we feel it's a good idea to give them some great advice straight away.

 

[00:01:43,198] [Louise:] Yep we give you 30 seconds to give us as many top coaching tips as you can. Okay. I'm going to set up a timer and we've got a little bit of music in the background so if you're ready your time starts now.

 

[00:01:58,328] [Ian Parkes:] Let the kids play, keep your messages short and simple, be positive, make the kids smile, make sure they enjoy it, make sure there are goals involved as much as possible, goalkeepers get lots of shots, things that they enjoy doing, ask them what they enjoy to make sure it's fitting their needs, connect with them, see what they've been doing at school.

 

[00:02:26,013] [Jamie:] Plenty in there, thanks Ian for that.

 

[00:02:27,572] [Louise:] Yeah they're just great little reminders for people who might be on their way to training. [Jamie:] Right well let's jump straight in to find a little bit more about you Ian and we always start off this segment with all our guests, just asking what was your first experience of football like?

 

[00:02:41,783] [Ian Parkes:] I started playing football when I was about nine so possibly a little bit later than some. I wasn't necessarily brought up in a football madhouse or anything like that, it was actually a next door neighbour who was a couple of years older than me, I can't remember how it came about but he was probably looking for a mate to play with, invited me into the garden, played football and I enjoyed it and so from there asked mum and dad if I could join a team and that was the start, they took me to a local grassroots team and I was probably there for about a year or two before I then joined, I think it was called a centre of excellence then, it's probably called an academy now, like a professional club but yeah very much a bit random, next door neighbour. But I'm thinking actually memories of football and they're probably all linked to primary school, festivals, tournaments, schools football so you know you've got me thinking about primary school now. I don't know if it's a dad or it might even have been like a local community police officer I think who came in and took training once a week and we played other primary schools every week, I remember that. We used to play in two year bands so it was like year five and six so I loved playing with older kids, who I looked up to, who looked after me, lunch times, break times playing with a tennis ball so there was a fixed bench at one end of the playground and we used jumpers the other end so I remember doing that and probably with that same group of friends we lived quite near a park so we used to go to the park after school every day so I must have only been yeah nine, ten, eleven, yeah loved it.

 

[00:04:13,438] [Louise:] Brilliant so it sounds like it was a real kind of mix of experiences and lots of informal stuff and kind of fun basically.

 

[00:04:21,452] [Ian Parkes:] Yeah and I think like I said it was all primary school really so the importance of you know someone volunteering in the primary school setting to get kids into football that's what it came down to really.

 

[00:04:34,044] [Louise:] So when were you first introduced to futsal and what kind of experiences have you had?

 

[00:04:39,362] [Ian Parkes:] I didn't get into futsal until university so yeah it sounds mad now because there's so many kids playing it but I think it was the same for a lot of people you know over 15 years ago now that they weren't really as far as I was aware any youth teams back then the sport was still very much at the stage where people were asking what it was. I think we're getting past that now but I remember joking that I should carry a like a recorder around with me because when people asked what is it I could just play record and tell people what it was that was the norm but yeah I got into it just by a friend who asked me to come along I was coming back from a football injury so I'd grown up playing football obviously and I was willing to again I was the first to ask the same question what is it but I was willing to give it a go it was a smaller format I was going to get more minutes I was going to get back fit and so I got involved that way and really enjoyed it and quite quickly found myself playing it alongside football. So we were playing futsal fixtures for the uni we joined what was then the national league which was regionalised and played on Sundays so like a lot of the players in that league really that national futsal league I was playing football on a Saturday and then futsal on a Sunday yeah so that was how I got into it and then in terms of experiences again second year of uni probably when I got some amazing experiences that are the first that come to mind particularly foreign experiences so we did well in the domestic like university competition it was and we qualified to represent Great Britain in the European uni's futsal championships I think it was in Montenegro so we went out and played as a uni with all my uni mates against other unis from around Europe so that was kind of an experience that I really remember early on and then I was then a year later or a couple years I can't remember part of the Great Britain uni's team again who played at the World University Games so this time we were playing as a rep side so it was the players from different unis in Great Britain that went and played in this tournament and yeah these were the first two trips really that opened my eyes to the level of futsal in other countries we were playing teams where countries where it was way more established you know the players were quicker stronger sharper tactically more aware technically superior the list goes on and to think that most of us really had only been playing a couple of years and we were playing guys who'd grown up playing it it was it was really tough but amazing you know learned so much and -

 

[00:07:02,288] [Louise:] Quite a big learning curve I guess

 

[00:07:04,317] [Ian Parkes:] Yeah absolutely but it was it was what made us better and it's what inspired us to keep going and realize you know what this sport looked like in other countries and where we might be able to take it in this country the other thing I learned when I went out there was the different cultures towards unisport in other countries so we were again playing against countries where university is part of their talent pathway for national teams so a lot of the players were actually youth internationals in that Great Britain that world event and the coaches of those rep teams were also like the national team futsal coaches so I think looking back now we probably played against particularly Portuguese who are probably World Cup winners now now we were playing players then that are now World Cup winners so yeah the level was just a different level even some of the smaller Eastern European countries I know they do have court cultures what court cultures where you know basketball handball they're popular they've got facilities that are made for those so maybe playing futsal is easier for them there's places to play it and possibly in schools as well I'm not sure but that was always yeah quite amazing and then after that I was fortunate enough to break into the England team again amazing camps trips milestones that we achieved over time friendships that were made one of the biggest ones that I remember was qualifying for the Euros main round qualifiers for the first time which probably doesn't sound very much but in futsal they they have pre qualifiers before you get into the main qualifying round and getting through those for the first time meant that we played against a pot one side which in our case was Ukraine maybe not a Spain or Portugal or one that you know maybe we'd have wanted but Ukraine were fourth in the world I think at the time when we played them so yeah a little bit different to my nine-year-old playing in the playground but some amazing experiences that I would have only have got through playing futsal.

 

[00:08:51,316] [Jamie:] That's fantastic must be such a great experience that's a great experience do that was it quite an eye-opener then that sort of difference in skill level would you say?

 

[00:09:01,308] [Ian Parkes:] Yeah that was the biggest thing like I said we were trying to how are they doing it but they've grown up doing it so it was all those things I mentioned it was technically they could do things that we couldn't do with the ball tactically they knew where they were moving they knew where the next plate player would come from you'd have people you know you'd be looking around trying to find the players that were just disappearing you know the whole thing was just on another level but it's how you learn isn't it I say that's a even my kid now when he says I don't want to do the hard level I said do the hard level because you won't win you might find it hard but you'll learn things by playing people that are better than you that's how you learn and that was certainly an inspiration for me to keep going in futsal to know that the level how high it could go and how do I get there you know it's that mindset to say how do I get there. [Jamie:] So you definitely see like with that skill gap just the huge potential that it could have and I'm sure we'll come on to it in a little bit but in terms of where the game has developed to now compared to when you was younger is obviously going to be quite different. So if we change the focus from playing to coaching when did your interest in coaching start and how did you get involved?

 

[00:10:05,033] [Ian Parkes:] I've always been interested in coaching I think again I'm doing a lot of thinking back here secondary school now so out of primary into secondary I was always helping with younger age groups extracurricular clubs lunchtime clubs that sort of stuff in sixth form I was helping a grassroots team and I did my level one so you know even from those real early ages I was I must have been interested in it it was then after school years that I kind of had that choice between staying locally because I was still playing football at this time trying to pursue that pro contract in football playing non-league you know there was a few clubs looking but in all honesty it was a was unlikely that I was going to go that way so I chose uni maybe it was a safe option and so I probably went to uni at this point thinking I'm probably going to be a coach or maybe a teacher you know mum and dad were both teachers so I was aware of that world but yeah I got to uni which is where a lot of my yeah how I kind of got involved got there most enjoyed the practical coaching elements of the course I was on you know there's quite a lot of theory but actually it was the practical that I enjoyed most so the uni I was at they had a some community projects that they ran working in local schools holiday clubs camps that sort of thing so I got involved in all of that and it was you know money at the same time at uni as learning but at uni I was also involved in you know playing the student football club so I was coaching teams there and helping with some of the seconds third fourth teams as well as playing with some of the other teams so looking back on it now I was probably getting a really good range of experiences different types of coaching and did my formal stuff there as well I did my level two at uni I did my UA for B football in the final year so getting those mix of experiences was good and then towards the end of the course trying to get a permanent job really and out of uni get a job I was trying to get some experience in local academies like getting football academies and it was hard I was willing to volunteer and all that sort of stuff but it was hard trying to find those opportunities there wasn't any triple p back then there weren't as many jobs probably as there are now so again I probably took the safe option really and took the teaching route so I thought you know I'll do a PGCE PE teacher I've mentioned mum and dad so yeah I did that whilst playing and coaching football I thought I'll do my PGCE and yeah I learned so much from that that was an amazing year I made so many mistakes but yeah thinking back what I learned from that year session organisation how I organise a session behaviour management different kids would come in and be at all levels in a school motivating them some of them didn't want to be there planning over short term mid term long term working in small spaces working with a team you know I used to love the staff room and the PE colleagues so yeah that's probably a long-winded answer to say that was my foundation to coaching and then I've built on that over time with coaching playing teaching really.

 

[00:12:56,139] [Louise:] So that was the early days of your coaching and you've touched on some of the key things that you learned with what you've learned since what key attributes and skills do you think really make a transformational coach?

 

[00:13:08,914] [Ian Parkes:] Yeah so being authentic and being who you are you know you've got to be yourself and then building those authentic relationships with players because I really want them to know that anyone I'd work with I genuinely care about them and we're genuinely trying to help them get better as a player whether that be football or futsal so I think that's really important and then once you know the players and they know that you care I think they're willing to listen and I think then as a coach you need to understand the game or whatever it is you're coaching because you need to know then if you know them what they need to be coached and then how to coach it so yeah you need to know the player you need to know what to coach how to coach and just thinking I've been really fortunate now to work with and see so many brilliant coaches and brilliant players things that always make me you know look at coach and go yeah they're good it's the clarity with which they work real clear thinking in their messages probably links to that they know the game that well and they know what they think about the game and that then helps them to explain really clearly really concisely often repetitively because that's important because we know it takes time for people to learn so I think there's something about that having real clarity and what you want the top coaches do that and then positivity I probably mentioned it earlier but again really blessed to see so many different people and it's amazing how the same group of players can behave so differently and perform so differently under different coaches and it's usually so often the ones who encourage the players trust the players getting to play with freedom celebrate what they can all do rather than hammer them for what they can't it's usually those coaches that get the best out of players and out of teams.

 

[00:14:50,095] [Jamie:] Ian if we fast forward to today can you tell us a little bit about when you then joined the FA and what you've done during your time here since

 

[00:14:59,409] [Ian Parkes:] I first joined the FA in 2015 and that was to join the P unit which was supporting community trust coaches working in schools yeah again learned so much from that amazing work with some brilliant people colleagues internally colleagues externally in clubs so that was amazing and then moved to the youth coach developer role which I mentioned at the start so now working in the boys academy setting and doing those bits with with futsal with them and leading on the courses and yeah probably one of the things I should have said earlier is when doing those courses it's ensuring that these link with the key messages of the wider organisation that's one of the big parts of this role now. [Louise:] So it sounds like all the different parts that you've learned along the way really fed into the career that you've got now so obviously playing football playing futsal teaching it's all kind of come together in this role?

 

[00:15:52,339] [Ian Parkes:]  Yeah, and yeah really blessed I think really lucky that in this role there's probably not many people that have had all those experiences and I know jack of all trades master of none it's really hard isn't it when you're trying to forge a career often to know whether to go down one route and whether that will you know take you where you want to go or whether to keep your hand in lots of different things and yeah it seems that maybe by doing that for a period I just got lucky essentially but what's that saying about never working a day in your life if you love it or something like that that's certainly me like this isn't really a job now it is some long hours and it is often away evenings and weekends and away from the kids and stuff at home which is hard but when I'm there it certainly doesn't feel like I'm working. [Louise:]  I guess it's just good to know like anybody's experiences are all valid and like all the different things that you take from different places can really like help to build someone's career or just them them as a person I guess

 

[00:16:45,168] [Jamie:] so yeah you mentioned key messages just a bit back here and what would you say they are for the FA and how do they fit in with futsal?

 

[00:16:52,660] [Ian Parkes:] Yeah primarily I'd say the FA we're trying to develop more skillful players you know that's probably a bit of a strapline as players of all ages all abilities all positions so that's very much the headline I think and then with that or to do that we feel that players need inspirational opportunities and you mentioned earlier transformational coaches so these are probably the three areas the three big messages if we start with skillful players as a headline you know that could probably be broken down further so we want players who are good decision makers with better individual skills and tactics so individual tactics not just big 11v11 tactics but individually how do you outwit your opponent and more skillful connections so how does one or two three four players combine so you know you mentioned futsal there when you stop and think oh that fits straight away for me you know a game which is is quicker than football players get more touches make more decisions and there are only four outfield players so that is probably going to develop more skillful players in the way that I've just described and I mentioned earlier like headline all all players all positions that's not just attacking so I think sometimes we think of more skillful players is just attacking but it's the same defenders as well how do we become more skillful defenders and goalkeepers but yeah I think the fact that there's simply less players on the court it means it's going to be more individual skills and tactics there's going to they're going to be exaggerated because there's such a focus on beating your opponent and it's a smaller area so the consequences of either doing that or not often means you get a shot or you concede a shot so I think futsal's brilliant for that and the connections bit as well you know like there are a few coaches I think out there that have done a bit of research and found that you know the Portuguese head coach said this that 50% of their goals were scored following a two-player connection or combination which in our language at the FA is core moves two-player core moves so clearly again you know the game is going to provide lots of opportunities for players to practice these so I think that's one of the big key messages and and hopefully how futsal fits with that inspiration opportunities for me the game is the opportunity you know a variant of football the chance to have an opportunity to play inside when it's wet and it's cold outside you can go inside it's warm it's bright probably players are more naturally going to try things and be expressive the floors quicker so you know it's easier to change direction it's possibly noisier inside parents are watching or crowds or whatever it's louder so you know maybe that's gonna have some psychological impact on players what other opportunities does futsal provide it can be played outside on concrete where the returns might be a bit different you know you might be trying to stay on your feet and not go to ground because you don't want to get grazes or it might be that it gives you a bit of a street football feel where again ultimately players are probably going to feel more comfortable to try new things so yeah I think futsal fits with the inspiration opportunities bit you know as well as cage football and different formats on grass and playing in the park like I mentioned earlier I definitely think futsal fits their competitions you've got in futsal you've got the pokemon youth cup you've got the premier league events that they run for some of the academies just futsal events where even for adults I'm thinking you got the NFS and the different tiers systems where adults are different environments for winning for losing for playing against different types of opponents so yeah there's another message and then finally transformational coaching people often ask me how a futsal coach is different to a football coach and I'd probably say I often say a good coach is a good coach whatever their sport they're coaching you know I mentioned the FA messages if it you know FA kind of language for transformational coaching there's probably four parts understanding yourself understanding the players understanding the game and then understanding coaching because a bit like I said earlier actually you know first of all you have to understand yourself what your strengths your weaknesses your biases your blind spots and then once you've done that you need to know the players so you need to know who they are what they need to do this you need to know the game and then you need to know how to coach them so yeah they're the four areas there that we as an organization are encouraging coaches to think about and bringing it back to futsal again I think people often talk about it as well as being a sport in its own right people will always say futsal is great development tool for football players but sometimes I think we miss the point it's a brilliant tool for development of football coaches actually you know you only have to look at scoops Michael Scubala the former England futsal head coach who's now at Leeds football under-21s there's coaches who've done similar in Brazil with Sao Paulo and gone across and Japan as well I'm pretty sure of that now that's not to say all futsal coaches will or should become football coaches we know it's a sport in its own right we know there's loads of futsal coaches out there that just want to be the best they can in in that sport and that's brilliant but I think I'm probably making this point more to say that if you are a football coach and you haven't tried futsal then I've really encouraged you to give it a go because I think it will add to your outlook on football it may well hone your observational skills you'll have to look at individuals you'll have to look at it under speed so in terms of coaching can you coach at the speed and under the pressure when it's all going on really fast again can you coach small numbers - connections and movements because that's predominantly what the game is and it'll probably help you see players in a different light you know the ones who get lost on a big football pitch might come alive on a tight futsal court and show you things you've never seen before so or attributes that you've not seen in them so when we think how futsal fits in the wider messages I think futsal's got it all.

 

[00:22:32,039] [Louise:] In your opinion how important is it that kids get a chance to play it?

 

[00:22:37,142] [Ian Parkes:] I think it's massive people will often say why can't we just play five a side but I think all the constraints particularly the reduced area the surface the ball they're what make it a unique game that kids love you know the additional laws can't use the keeper as a get out of jail free pass you've got to find a way to play forward I mentioned the warm bright environment just often leads to kids trying things that are different they wouldn't when it's wet and windy outside and yeah like I just said you might be surprised to find that kids are better at futsal than football and and some even prefer it and I do think if this is the case that it's our duty either to keep playing futsal as a football team or find them a futsal club because there will be a pathway to the national futsal series you know the national league or or maybe even representing their country so yeah I think give every kid a chance to play it and see where it takes them like it's taken me or anybody else where it's taken them.

 

[00:23:33,091] [Jamie:] How easy is it for coaches to introduce futsal to the team you know what sort of equipment or services or knowledge do they actually need?

 

[00:23:41,047] [Ian Parkes:] I think facilities is often the biggest challenge or barrier that people talk about but I think beyond that I'd say it's fairly straightforward you do want to play inside playing inside is definitely the preferred choice to get all those benefits I've just mentioned particularly in the winter months but in the warmer months you know I've mentioned concrete a couple times that can be done and that should be a bit easier or if you can't get a sports hall then a village hall is fine particularly for younger players under sevens maybe two under tens I don't know but if you've only got 10 or so in a squad small group then you can play 2v2s 3v3s in there and that would be ideal but yeah for the pure game of 5v5 then I'd probably be looking for secondary school halls you know ringing around and hoping for the best there. Then after a facility I think it's fairly straightforward it's like I suppose it's a bit of a cost buy a bag of balls size 3 for under 12s and younger size 4 for under 13s upwards but yeah a bit of a cost to that and then the goals in an ideal world you get some futsal goals again fairly easy to buy some pop-up goals online but there would be a cost but if you get in your sports hall and you've got your traditional low and long goals then I'd probably suggest if you want to play more like futsal then put some cones in just to narrow the goal off so you reduce the chances of kids just shooting from distance and encourage them to get the ball closer to the goal to score. In terms of knowledge you mentioned knowledge didn't you as well I'd keep it simple probably said that earlier on my little thing keep it simple small number games matched up directional goals goalkeepers and same as I said earlier get as many kids playing as possible 2v2 and 3v3 across the court you can't really go wrong 5v5 games full length rotate the kids on regularly and just let them play you know getting them to use the sole of their foot might help them control the ball on a hard surface where the ball you know moves quicker so you might want to get them thinking about that to try and help them any invasion game you'd want some width depth length or height you know so when your team's got the ball there's just a bit of space for the kids to be able to perform their skills trying to think what's different like one of the big differences is possibly that I hear in football a lot like play and run forward but you probably wouldn't ask a center back in football to play and run forward but in futsal we absolutely are we're asking our defenders to play the ball and run forward because someone else will fill their space and that's the start of a rotation so that might be something that you you think about asking your players to do to be brave and when they haven't got the ball I just say man man mark or player to player marking so everyone's got a clear role clear responsibility and and be hard to beat really so yeah hopefully that makes people think it's easy to give it a go.

 

[00:26:25,296] [Louise:] Okay so say you've got a team set up and you want to get them involved in playing some futsal games with other people is it a case of just looking for a league or is there other things that you perhaps need to do there is an online community an FA community online which has got a futsal page I'd like to think if you just typed into google you know online community fa futsal that something will come up and you'll be able to find your way there to ask questions of other coaches on there who by luck might be in your area but if you can't find anything again i just really encourage you to to do it yourselves you know play set up training with your kids and if they enjoy it invite another local team to come and play on a training night that would be a starting point you know we've all got we're all in whatsapp groups with managers from the local area invite one of them and if that goes well hopefully word spreads you might get a mini league or a mini festival event - you know there are some really forward-thinking youth leagues out there that already have futsal leagues or there might be other leagues that will be willing to advertise your little offer if you went to them or even better they might even help you set something up i don't know but yeah i'd just say if you can't find anything then give it a go yourself because that's the only way the game's going to grow is by people all over the place starting things and and that is certainly starting to happen.

 

[00:27:45,245] [Jamie:] What support is there for futsal coaches or coaches who want to start providing their players with opportunities to play futsal?

 

[00:27:52,020] [Ian Parkes:] The community if you go there there is a range of blogs webinars forums but one of the other things on there is the game guide this is called we've called it game guide but it's just to act as a starting point for the laws of the game core skills core moves that you might want to share with your players so you know that's free and online and you can just go and find that and play around with it there's the online introduction to futsal course which is a 30 minute or 30 to 60 minute module which again just gives a real taste and an insight into just getting started so there might be a few things on there if you want to know after this about what are the laws and what does it look like where can I play it that's that and then there's the national futsal course which is a two-day practical course builds on the information from that online content and tries to help coaches make sense of that content in a practical setting so again these should be advertised on the England football learning website hopefully I've got the right one but and again google it national futsal course FA it should come up - yeah you do need a football level one or intro to coaching football as it is now to do that but hopefully you've already done that and then after that it's a ua4b futsal which again you need football level two or ua4c to do that so depending on where you're at there's hopefully something for you there's also some futsal mentors out there which are free to access so you might be lucky if there's one of those in your area go to the community shock horror ask on there hopefully someone will get back to you and there is hopefully some practical cpds coming as well more regionally so look out for them.

 

[00:29:24,423] [Louise:] Does sound like there's quite a lot going on and quite a few good opportunities for players and coaches which is great how would you say that futsal's grown since you got involved and do you think the interest is still growing?

 

[00:29:38,796] [Ian Parkes:]  Yeah absolutely yeah it's definitely growing I said earlier 15 years ago people were asking what it was they hadn't heard of it and I really don't think that's the case now I think you get it occasionally but I think more it's now why should we do it rather than what is it which I think is progress there's certainly more kids playing like I said that like I wasn't sure there were kids teams that long ago but now you've got these national futsal series teams the men's teams and female teams have got youth youth teams training regularly playing more often and there are just lots of like I said earlier people giving it a go lots of other futsal sessions and teams popping up where people are giving it a go and that's brilliant you've got the Pokemon youth futsal cup that's continued to run you've had the a bit of exposure on BTsport for the that national futsal series which I think has just helped people know about the game there's more qualified coaches than there were that's obvious you know in 15 years I think probably qualified I was in a meeting the other day I think it's 20,000 possibly don't quote me on that entry level which is really that's what this is just give it a go entry level here are the laws here's the game get a ball get the goals go play so that's definitely progress working in the football academy system I've said a large majority of the 90 odd clubs are playing futsal with the younger age groups whether that be one-off tournaments weekly training games anything in between so they're all having a go at so there's a load more kids that are gonna whether they choose to play football or not they've they've had a go at futsal and it's either help them with their football or they may pick it up at a later date so yeah I'd still probably like to see more being played in in schools primary and secondary but I think it's in the school games and you know I hear of more people adding it to their curriculum so yeah when you go back to where we started me picking up at 18 19 and playing against teams who'd grown up playing it I think now we're a long way ahead of that and hopefully we're now in a place where we've got kids growing up playing the game and and they've got a chance to represent their country because that's where we want to be.

 

[00:31:34,109] [Louise:] Brilliant okay so what we've started to do is introduce a community chat feature where we bring you questions that keep popping up on the community so we wanted to put one to you while we have you on so one of them is about the amount of kids that they've got in their sessions so they've put that they've got over 20 kids and obviously with futsal being five aside how do they manage allowing the kids to all play as much as you would like them to and they would like?

 

[00:32:02,451] [Ian Parkes:] I'm going to do something different here I'm going to stitch you guys up see if you've been listening for the last 25 minutes of me droning on if you had a large group of kids let's say just over 20 kids turn up you've got a sports all you've got your netball court in your sports all what would you do based on what I've just dribbled on about.

 

[00:32:18,932] [Jamie:] well as you said futsal is five a side so you can obviously have multiple teams there but obviously going back to what Ian's been saying quite a lot about in this episode is splitting that up into a lot of small sided games so I suppose across the court 2v2s 3v3s are we on the right lines Ian?

 

[00:32:40,500] [Ian Parkes:] Brilliant Jamie you've passed the test you passed the test yeah I feel bad as I say as a broken record me keep saying it just play 2v2 and 3v3 across the court people probably think you know well that's all you ever say but I do think sometimes simplicity is key keeping it simple and once you've got some key messages to go with that it gets them all playing you know go back to the simple messages it gets them all playing first half an hour 3v3s across you know if you do that netball court three-thirds 3v3 that's 6 - 12 - 18 that gets you 18 kids if you've got a few extras they could maybe be target players to bounce into you could have some that play into a line some that are playing into a bench or a mini goal or something - see I'd do that far for now make sure they play different teams and then take it into for the second half like I said if you've got 20 odd kids four teams of five or similar, rotate them round every two or three minutes hopefully we're encouraging them to play at an intensity where they're working hard they're running around they'll do that anyway if they're enjoying themselves and therefore they're tired so they they probably want to rest and come off I suppose the other option you've got is you know which I've just plucked a number 20 ish which is quite nice because seeing as it's five aside but you could have sort of 5v5 playing one way into a goal into the halfway line and then 5v5 going the other way that gets them all on the court all at the same time or if that's a bit tight then maybe just you know even do that 4v4 half court going either way and maybe just have one on the side just rolling on and off as much as possible because as I said right from the start we want as many kids playing as much as possible and letting them enjoy it.

 

[00:34:17,270] [Jamie:] Brilliant well thanks for that Ian really appreciate being put on the spot there but it is coming to the end of the show now and our regular listeners will know that that means it's time for a swift session.

 

[00:34:29,970] [Louise:] So the spotlight's back on you again this time we're giving you 30 seconds to explain a session idea for us so it can be futsal, it can be something else if you want but yeah we'll give you 30 seconds to do that does that sound okay? Your time starts now -

 

[00:34:47,487] [Ian Parkes:] Okay just thinking how to create some overloads and under loads just to give kids different experiences just play a normal game maybe but let's say it's five a side you might just ask certain players to stay in a half so you might have a 3v2 in one half which would then leave a 1v2 in the other half if you're playing for outfield players with the goalie and then that will straight away just give you different ways to try and can they play 3v2.

 

[00:35:19,072] [Louise:] Great thank you

 

[00:35:20,099] [Ian Parkes:] You know with me it was always going to be a game-based activity with small numbers so well -

 

[00:35:26,495] [Jamie:] Thank you very much for your time today and it's been great having you on again and getting some fantastic insight into your journey but also into the benefits of futsal. So thank you very much.

 

[00:35:35,266] [Ian Parkes:] Pleasure, thanks for having me - thank you

 

[00:35:39,109] [Jamie:] Well that was nice to have Ian on CoachCast again Louise what would you say is your particular highlight or key point that stood out to you today?

 

[00:35:46,888] [Louise:] There was lots of things that he said that were really great but I think one thing that stood out to me is a really good point to make was that futsal is actually a really good tool for coaches as well tool or a game for coaches to getting involved with and it can really develop a coach as well as a player so I thought that was a really good point.