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[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 Adam Dunleavy, a Women's High Performance Centre Coach Development Officer, to discover his journey so far and his advice on how to support player development during training and match day. Well, hi Adam, Welcome to the show. How are you?
[Adam]
Hi, yeah, I'm good. Thank you very much. How are you?
[Jamie]
Yeah, all good. Thank you very much.
[Louise]
Thanks for joining us, Adam. It's really good to have you on. Can we start off by asking you to tell us a bit about your role and maybe paint a picture of what it is for people who don't know?
[Adam]
Yeah, for sure. So I work at the Women's High Performance Centre. The one I work at is based in Nottingham. So that's at the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University. So there's a few of us across the country working out of different HEIs, really with the remit to support coaches in the female game, the women's and girls game. And I guess our sort of main focus areas around coaches working in talent pathway, nationally FA women's national league coaches and sort of coaches that are aspiring to have longevity in the women's and girls game. Really.
[Jamie]
Well, yeah, fantastic. Thank you very much for that, Adam. Well, just before we go into detail and discover a little bit more about you and your experiences, as this is a coaching podcast, coaches could be on the way to training while they're tuning in for this. So we always like to give them some great advice early on in the episode.
[Louise]
Yep. And we call this the Arrival Activity.
[Adam]
I like that.
[Louise]
It's where we give you 30 seconds to give us as many top coaching tips as you can and they can be based on anything at all or specifically focus on your experience of working in the women's game. Are you up for the challenge?
[Adam]
Yeah, absolutely. Let's go for it.
[Louise]
Okay, so I'll just set a timer up and we'll put 30 seconds on the clock. And when the music starts, you can begin.
[Adam]
Super stuff. So, yeah, I guess from my perspective, the main thing I would say is just to try and keep sessions engaging and fun. I think right the way across football, whether that's at elite level, grassroots level and everywhere in between is just to make sure that sessions are fun, they're engaging, they're giving lots of different challenges and opportunities for players to make mistakes and practice things and learn through making those mistakes. So yeah, fun engagement, lots of challenge, lots of opportunities to stretch.
[Jamie]
Oh, lovely stuff. Look at that right in the 30 seconds. I had nothing to worry about there.
[Adam]
Running out of ideas.
[Jamie]
Yeah, really good tip there for coaches at all levels there. So thank you very much for that, Adam. Well, yeah, so I suppose we'll dive into the main part of the show, Adam, which is to kind of find out all about you. And we always start this segment off by kind of asking what was your first experience of football like?
[Adam]
So I guess my first experience really of football was as a spectator. So yeah it was just going to football matches with my dad as a young kid. I was kind of lucky enough that my first ever football match was at Wembley so I think that set the bar really really high as a young kid. Wasn't sure what I was getting involved in at that time, but yeah, just watching the game and getting an early love for watching the game. And then, you know, just starting to play as a youngster at school and locally. And that was really the first experience I had.
[Jamie]
What was that first playing experience like then? So you say that you kind of got started at school?
[Adam]
Yeah, so it was just in school. We had football teams at school. So it was the usual sort of stuff. We used to have like an after-schools kind of football club and then that progressed itself into having games. Like back then, we still played on an 11-a-side pitch with adult-sized 11-a-side goals. So there used to be some fantastic scorelines when you were seven or eight years old with goalkeepers that are about two foot. So, but yeah, no, it was just fun with your friends and yeah, that was where the sort of love of the game started, I guess.
[Louise]
It's a really good introduction to football, just to enjoy it and be with your friends and have the social element as well. So in terms of coaching, when did your interest in coaching start and how did you get involved?
[Adam]
I think sort of in the back of my mind, I always had an interest in coaching. I've always enjoyed supporting others learning and kind of considering being a teacher at one point, but then, you know, just really wanted to channel that love of the game and love of football into something to sort of support others. So started volunteering at my old primary school in my sort of early 20s, just going in and running the year five and six football team. And that was really good fun. Again, just an opportunity for kids who wanted to play the game and enjoy themselves and an opportunity to sort of go back and support, I guess, the school that had, where I first played my football. So that was a really nice sort of entry into coaching, I guess.
[Louise]
Yeah. And what was your first experience of coaching like? Like the first time you had a go at it, what was it like?
[Adam]
I think on reflection, it was, yeah, it was wild. I think I would just, just had sort of me on a field with, you know, 20 kids and about four balls and half a bag of random bits of bobs of equipment, you know, no sort of skill sets in terms of behaviour management or any of that sort of stuff. So it was just, yeah, it did just come down to try and engage the kids and making sure everybody was having fun. Definitely would have made loads of mistakes, I'm sure. But also I think it was just a really great environment to sort of start out and be able to make loads of mistakes, but also, you know, kind of be thrown in the deep end, like I say, with stuff like that behaviour management and getting kids engaged and having loads of kids with different interests and stuff and trying to get everybody on board with what you were doing and make sure that they're all having fun.
[Jamie]
Thinking back to that experience that you was there just on a field, you know, bag of footballs, 20 kids, you know, a lot of people get into coaching kind of that It might be their child's team that they're kind of reluctantly having to take the lead on. Thinking back to your experience then, what kind of advice could you give someone who's in that situation like right now, or this weekend after listening to this podcast, they've got their first training session with a brand new team.
[Adam]
I think it's just a bit of self-compassion to be honest, and just to make sure that you're open to the fact that you knew it was something, to step over the sidelines and give it a go. And as long as you're sort of trying your best and you're keeping fun at the heart of everything you're doing, then I'm sure the kids will respond and enjoy it. Everybody's going to make mistakes and you're not going to be able to get everything right. And often when you're stepping in as that coach for the first time of a kid's team, you're not just a coach, you're the kit person, you're the physio, you're the sort of best friend, the confident and everything else that goes along with that sort of space. So yeah, it's just recognising what an important role I think you play in a lot of these kids' lives and just making sure that you're letting them have fun and making sure that you're open to the fact you're gonna make mistakes and being kind to yourself when it happens.
[Louise]
Do you think based on your playing experiences in the past, do you think any of those things influenced your coaching style and your approach to things?
[Adam]
Yeah, I think so. I think sort of on reflection and looking back to the times I most enjoyed playing football, it was definitely when I was having fun. And I know I've used that word a lot already, but I think it is that connection because ultimately football is a game and we can take it really seriously and sometimes people can take it a little bit too seriously at times. And I think at the heart of everything, we have to remember why people first get into playing any sport. And it's to, as you said earlier, it's to make those social connections, to spend time with friends and to have fun and enjoy playing a game. So yeah, the times I've most enjoyed playing football is when coaches or teachers have really sort of let us have an enjoyable time and let us learn stuff in that space as well. So I hope that that's reflected in my coaching at times.
[Jamie]
Oh yeah, it's a really key message to send across that is, what do you enjoy most about coaching?
[Adam]
I think that's a really tough question because I think there are lots of sort of facets of it that I really enjoy. I think the thing I've enjoyed most recently is probably sort of taking a diverse group of people with different interests, different backgrounds from all sorts of different parts of life and bringing those people together as a team to build relationships and connections and see people develop. And then I think I would probably say the sort of development of people both as footballers, but also just, you know, learning lots of different skills that sport can teach us. I think that's the most rewarding part of it for me, definitely.
[Louise]
And then if we're talking like generally, what key attributes and skills do you think make a really great coach or a transformational coach?
[Adam]
I think it's the ability to connect with people first and foremost. I think there's a real importance in being able to build relationships with individuals and really understand where it is that they're coming from, understand some of the things that motivate them and give them energy and make them want to play and things that give them enjoyment, but also recognising some challenges and things that they might have, whether that's at home or in day to day life and being able to take those on board and relate with people. I think once you've built those relationships, it's then a lot easier to coach people with the technical and tactical side of the game. So yeah, for me, I think that's one of the key things is being able to relate and communicate with people first and foremost.
[Jamie]
Can you tell us a little bit then about what your journey was like from you first starting out on that field, and just kind of giving it a go to the role that you've got today?
[Adam]
Yeah, so I guess it's been quite a long journey. Like I say, started out coaching voluntarily at a primary school and running that year five, six football team. And that was loads and loads of fun. It gave me loads of opportunity to try stuff and I was on my own, so didn't probably really know what I was doing to begin with, but the usual stuff of nipping on online and finding sessions and then trying to adapt it to the group of kids you've got in front of you. And from that progressed to, I think it was a tournament with the primary school and I got to speak in some of the coaches that worked at a grassroots women and girls football club not too far from me. And they asked me if I'd be interested in getting involved. So I went down to have a look and then that was my first entry into the women's game. I was sort of under 16s at Radcliffe Olympic, which was a local club in Nottingham. Had a fantastic set up in terms of girls football, ran right through the ages. And I think they had the women's team at the time in the old sort of FA Premier League before the restructure and it was just a really good environment to be really got a love for the women's game and the girls game and the way the players were so in interested in asking questions and wanting to learn and understand why they were doing things. And that was really challenging as a coach, but something I really enjoyed. So I spent a few years at Radcliffe with the under 16s and then 18s, then was asked to, again, off the back of sort of a season of Radcliffe, We played against Nottingham Forest and their junior age groups in the local grassroots league. So I was then asked by somebody at Forest if I'd like to come in there and spent a couple of seasons with their under 18s, which again was a real great learning experience to work with really talented young female footballers and work within a pathway that was quite aspirational in terms of supporting those players to go on and play at a really good level. So that was great. And then through my day job, which was at Notts County's Community Foundation, Community Trust, a couple of people asked if we'd be interested in coming in to support the relaunch of the senior section at Notts County Women after the sort of old club was folded. So yeah, I went over and was sort of again thrown in the deep end as a, as a sort of head coach, as a senior section with responsibilities of, of relaunching that whole thing. And that's been really exciting and sort of five years, five and a bit years on has been a really exciting journey. And yeah, again, lots of opportunities to make mistakes and to learn. And yeah, it's been quite a great ride looking back.
[Louise]
Yeah. Sounds like some really exciting opportunities, especially like going in and kind of helping to rebuild something from the ground up must be really exciting. As you've gone on, I guess you've perhaps taken bits of advice from different, from other coaches. What's the best piece of coaching advice you've ever received?
[Adam]
So yeah, so one of the best pieces of coaching advice I think I've ever had was actually from a colleague of mine who had the role at the High Performance Centre before I did and Jenny Sugarman, who spoke a lot about culture and she spoke a lot about players having the opportunity to input and connect to building of the culture and take real ownership and have a say in what that looks like. And I think that's really, really stuck with me and landed and been one of the most beneficial things that I've then incorporated into the roles that I've had around allowing players to have input, making sure that players feel connected and part of what's built, which then allows them to almost defend that, I think, in a sense that it belongs to them and they've helped to create it and feel connected and attached to it. And that's something that's really stood me in good stead and a really valuable piece of information that I'd definitely, definitely buy into.
[Jamie]
Adam kind of like taking in everything and we kind of touched on it a little bit in terms of from a grassroots perspective, like a brand new coach or a parent taking over. But if you was to look at your own journey and taking in everything that you've learned from that experience. You mentioned that you've kind of been chucked in at the deep end in a few occasions in your journey. What would you say to your younger self to prepare them for that experience?
[Adam]
I think it's really, I mentioned it earlier on, be it having an element of sort of self-compassion and being kind to yourself. I think it's that early recognition that we accept that players make loads and loads of mistakes when they're training. Whatever age they are, we accept that players are going to make mistakes and we're going to support them through that journey. And I think as a coach, you're going to get loads of stuff wrong too. You're going to make mistakes in terms of your session planning or your practice design. That's then going to have a knock on in terms of the session not feeling great or not feeling like you've got your intended outcomes out to the players. And it's easy then to sort of feel really down about your session and start questioning whether or not you're a good coach or why you coach at all at times. But actually it's just that giving yourself that space to recognize, be reflective, be self-reflective and learn from that and just recognize it's all part of a learning journey, whatever level you're coaching at and however long you've been coaching, I think the same applies.
[Jamie]
It's really important, is it? Everyone makes mistakes and it's to be viewed as something to learn from effectively. Like, you know, so it's important to be able to embrace that, isn't it?
[Adam]
Yeah, for sure.
[Louise]
I suppose one of the many aims for a coach is to support players in their development journey. So to start from your experience, how important is it for coaches to understand their players first and foremost, and what's the best way to do that?
[Adam]
Yeah, I think it's integral and central to everything with coaching. I think it's something that's perhaps sometimes overlooked. We can focus as coaches quite heavily on sort of technical, tactical stuff because that's the game. But actually, we've got a group of people in front of us that are playing the game. So we have to understand what makes them tick. We have to understand, like I said earlier, what motivates them and what gives them enjoyment. And I think it's just a case of asking questions and being relatable. There's lots of opportunities as players are arriving at sessions or after sessions or at drinks breaks to go around and ask questions and take a genuine interest in caring people's lives outside of football. I think the more you get to know people individually, that will help you then to support them to develop, whether that's through technical tactical stuff or whether it's difficult conversations as you move up towards performance football, those things all become easier if you spend time getting to know individuals and understand a little bit more about them rather than just the player that you see in front of you.
[Louise]
Would you say there's any particular things that'd be good to find out or is really useful to have information about?
[Adam]
I think it varies. I think, you know, like I said, if you spend time getting to understand a little bit about their lives. So what does home look like? What does getting to training look like? Just day to day stuff that might seem inconsequential, but to that person, they're really, really important. And I think once they recognize that you care about those things too, that helps build those connections. So yeah, just general, general stuff, nothing sort of special, just, just general interest in care and in individuals, I think.
[Jamie]
So once they've kind of got that connection and you can start to understand that player more and then even on the pitch, start to understand maybe what they might need, like what their individual needs are. How can coaches use that information to then adapt their practice design to ensure that it does aid the individual player development?
[Adam]
Yeah I think once we start to get, like I say, start to understand players on a bit of a deeper level as a person, you start to understand the most efficient ways to communicate with those individuals. So different players will want information delivered in different ways and will have different ways that they enjoy taking on board information. So the more you know about somebody, It helps you frame those conversations and understand potentially how to have conversations with people. You might have some players that struggle with confidence and that might mean that you direct your sort of tactical information or technical information differently. You might not be as direct with certain players than others. You might want to ask more questions to certain players than others and just adapt your style I guess to the individual to help you approach your sessions in different ways to make sure that different people are getting what they need from your session.
[Jamie]
Can you provide us kind of a bit of an example of how you've done that whether that be at Notts County or whether it be at the High Performance Centre, like, can you give us an example of it at all?
[Adam]
Yeah, I think a good example, a player, coach last season, I'm sure she won't mind me saying, she's kind of had a journey in football where she's played at a decent level of the game and I think has always had kind of relationships with coaches that are quite just very performance-based and nothing else. And I think when she came to us, she probably felt that she wanted to be coached in that way because that's all she'd known. And I think it's important sometimes to show players different ways and different styles of interactions and coaching. I think through the season, sometimes she's been frustrated with me for different conversations we've had or sometimes where she's been sort of nursing an injury and we've protected her a little bit, even though she really didn't want to, and she wants to give everything for the team. At the end of the season, she'd reflected, and I think realized that she would really looked after and supported her to be the best version of herself across the course of the season. So that was a good example of sort of adapting the style for the individual, I suppose, that has then had really, really positive outcomes and helped her to feel really connected to our environment, but also allow her to have the opportunity in the space to go and do what she does best, which is be a fantastic football player.
[Louise]
And like with that example and kind of anybody's example, we all know that there's like, there's more than one person on a team and that you've got to kind of work with and help and get to know. So do you have any advice on how to manage the balance between helping individuals improve during sessions while still working and focusing on the whole team?
[Adam]
Yeah, I think it's a challenge and it's probably one of the most challenging parts of coaching is that balance. And I think across the course of the season at Knott's, we kind of almost use a dartboard, if you imagine like a dartboard almost in the bullseye. And as you go towards the outer rings, different weeks, different units or different positions or players might spend time in the bull's eye and have got a real focus on what they need to develop and what they need to get support with. And some of the other units or players might not have as integral a role in those sessions, but across the course of the season, everybody's going to spend lots of quality time in the centre of that dartboard. And then again, it's then adapting your conversations, your interventions and things to suit the individual player to get the best out of them individually. And that obviously is an ongoing process across the course of every session, I suppose.
[Louise]
It's a really interesting way of thinking about it as a dark board, but yeah, I can kind of visualize it myself now.
[Jamie]
I suppose this is kind of a thought that, that a lot of coaches will have, but is it possible to focus on and also provide for like everybody's individual needs in a session or is it more important for coaches to think long-term and to ensure that it's done over the course of the season instead?
[Adam]
Yeah I think there are elements within every session where you can make sure that everybody's getting something from it. I don't think that you need to be explicit in terms of making sure that everybody's getting the exact same amount of information from every session. I think exactly like you said, that's a longer term approach in terms of perhaps blocking your work or considering the sessions over a longer period of time around what it is that you want to coach and what information you want to get across to your team and then across the season, how those players fit into that and what time you're going to spend with what players and what units across the season. But I certainly think there are considerations that you can have to make sure that even if they're not getting lots of technical tactical information as players, they're still having opportunities to enjoy and build lots of other skills, like their social skills or, or psychological skills and having opportunities to develop in other ways.
[Louise]
Would you be able to talk us through the FA's six core capabilities? Like what they are, what do they mean and how can coaches use them to help players to improve?
[Adam]
Yeah, for sure. So I guess the six capabilities in essence is really an observational tool, like an observational model around timing, technique, deception, movement, scanning, positioning. So across those six capabilities, if you take any individual skill, whether that's, let's say it's intercepting, or whether it's tackling, or whether it's shooting, or passing, or whatever it might be, you can almost take that individualized skill, pop it in the middle of those six capabilities and use those six things as an observational tool to look at if we're talking about passing, we can think about the timing of a pass. When is a pass played? Has the player got the timing of it right? If not, how can we then support them or give them opportunities to practice that? Same with things like movement, are they arriving at the right time to receive a ball if it's receiving skills as an example? So it's really an observational framework I suppose that you can use to break down those skills And then once you've used that as an observational tool, you can start to spot things around players' development gaps or areas that they might need some support work with that then can help you frame your coaching practice and practice design to make sure you're giving players the opportunity to practice those things in your sessions. And then actually I saw something online the other day, which is a really good tool to remember them, which is why I managed to reel them off this time. But so the acronym is to try to develop more skilful players. And that gives you time in technique, deception, movement, scanning, positioning. So it's a little tip to help you remember.
[Louise]
I love that. I'll write that down.
[Jamie]
I'll use that when I'm writing articles and whatnot to remember.
[Adam]
Yeah, for sure.
[Jamie]
Adam, do you have kind of any examples? I mean, I know you mentioned it, how it can be used, but do you have any actual real life examples of you using that with your team at all?
[Adam]
Yeah, for sure. So one springs to mind straight away with one of our central midfielders at Notch. She's an incredible technician. She's got incredible feet and is technically a gifted player. But sometimes the sort of positional sense at the start of the last season and the sort of movement to get into areas and understanding of sort of midfield rotations for us wasn't where we wanted her to be. We thought she could improve that. So I guess through using that tool and noticing that that movement and timing of a movement and her runs was not quite correct, we were then able to utilize that to give her opportunities in sessions and give that midfield three and the other players opportunities in that midfield to practice their rotations and the timings of the movement, which then supported her on a match day to execute her roles and responsibilities in a better way. So that was a really sort of easy way where we've, we've spotted something we've, we've used that to then, I guess, dissect the skill and what it was that she was missing that she needed support with, and then tailoring our practices to help support her to get better at that, which then impacted her performances on a Sunday.
[Louise]
So we've done the FA six core capabilities. How about the four corner model? Do you have any top tips of how to develop players in each section of the FA 4 corner model?
[Adam]
Yeah, so I guess one of the important things to notice with that as well is that in none of these cases do these things happen in isolation. So I think there's lots of opportunity for all the skills to be practiced across the session at the same time. So if we're talking about the technical side of the game, we want to give players lots of opportunities to practice things and try stuff. But that doesn't necessarily mean lots of repetitive drills. That's making sure that we have lots of game realistic scenarios and game based opportunities for them to try different techniques that we want to work on. Physical output again, if it's like the game and we're replicating demands of the game, we can make sure that players are reaching those physical requirements and get an opportunity to practice those. I think we can be really smart and intelligent as coaches to incorporate physical demands of the game within game realistic practices. I don't think we need to necessarily worry too much about doing sprints and all those sorts of things. We can be really creative in including that in the game. And then from a social point of view, it's encouraging players to communicate. I think helping players to get to know each other. I've spoken a lot about coaches understanding players and people, but I think it's really important for your team to get to know each other too. And the better relationships they build with each other and the more empathy and understanding they have for each other that helps them to communicate on the pitch or at training. And from a psychological point of view, I think it's just really important that we, if we say we want to help players develop, we have to give them the space and the time to do that and make sure that we're giving them the opportunities to make loads and loads of mistakes and feel that that's okay to do that. If we're quick to criticize or sort of chastise a player for making a mistake psychologically, that's going to be very difficult and then you'll kill creativity and you won't see players flourishing as much. So I think, yeah, there are some tips for me on those four corners.
[Louise]
Really great tips there.
[Jamie]
Out of interest, Adam, is the corner that, I mean, you all say that they all support each other. You can't have one without the other, but is there a corner that you prefer working in at all?
[Adam]
I don't think there's necessarily one I prefer working in. I think I'm always fascinated by the psychological corner. I'm really interested by, I mean this whole episode we've spoken about people, and I think that's a really fascinating element. And the psychology of football in general is really, really interesting in terms of the amount of things that are out of your control in a game and then how you can respond to those and mentalities and resilience and all those sorts of things. So I find that stuff really, really interesting. So it's probably something I have the most interest in, but yeah. Enjoy all of it to be fair.
[Jamie]
How do you continue player development on a match day? Then we've talked a lot about training, but what about on a match day?
[Adam]
I suppose it depends probably a little bit in terms of your environment and where you're coaching. I think if you're in junior age groups and whether that's Talent Pathway or Grassroots, There's lots of opportunities for making sure that you're connecting your practices and your sessions in the week into game days. So that might be through setting challenges for players. It might be through reviewing matches and games with players after the game to see if they've been able to meet some of those challenges that you've set up to senior level again. I think it's if you've got the opportunity to give players a chance to watch the games back or to see the performances and be self-reflective across the game, that's really, really important. There's going to be lots of development that happens at every age group in matches because that's the game and that's where everything that we're gearing towards in the week happens. So there's going to be loads of opportunities and loads of stuff that's outside of your control that you need to then adapt to or find solutions to. So there's always opportunities for development.
[Louise]
Would you set individual or team challenges? Do you think is the one that works better? And do you have any real life examples of ones that you've used, challenges that you've set?
[Adam]
Yeah. So I think, I think both have, have their place. I think collectively as a team that might be an overarching thing linked into your principles of play around how you want your team to look and how you want your team to play. I think individual targets are really, really good as well and could be really, really beneficial. Whether that's something technically and tactically specific around, as an example, this season, we had we had a game where we knew that a team sort of liked to play out from the back and play through the thirds to be dangerous. So we then had individual targets for our team around what our press was going to look like to stop the outlet and stop the ball going forward. So that came with a kind of team challenge, but also individual challenges. And then younger age groups when I've supported coaching in sort of junior pathways, then it's a real focus around that individual development. So it might be linked into their IDP or individual development plan around something that we've identified that they've got to work on. And then we give them opportunities in games to practice that and might help. It might help them focus some of those challenges by giving them individual tasks to complete within a game.
[Jamie]
With match days obviously really hectic and it's a chance just let the players play, when do you find time or when is the right time to be able to give them feedback during match day at all?
[Adam]
Again I think it depends on your environment. I think at senior level where we try as much as possible to be as prepared as we can going into the game. So that actually the role of the coaches is more noticing what the opposition are doing and maybe making technical or tactical changes that might help us impact the game. So we'd like the players to really understand their roles and responsibilities on a game day and probably don't have a huge amount of input if possible from the sidelines. But then in junior football, especially in certain leagues where you've got quarters or you might have sort of smaller segments, there's loads of opportunities to connect with players and ask questions or offer solutions to help them develop during a game for sure.
[Jamie]
Can I just get a few people have asked like on the community and stuff before, like what are kind of the key points that you, a coach should maybe get across at halftime? How can they use them wisely at all?
[Adam]
I think for me, and this is just my opinion, I'm sure there's lots of different ways that coaches approach this, but I think I always try to be solution based with, it's a very short period of time. So we would usually allow the first sort of four or five minutes players to go in and decompress, especially if things haven't necessarily gone your way in the first 45 minutes or there's frustration, it's important for players to have the space to sort of climb down that level of frustration or that emotive response that they've had to the game. And then it's really identifying two or three key points that you think can help the players and giving them that information and trying to be as clear and concise as possible. We've found that if we give solutions and offer some of our opinions on how those solutions can be found, that gives the players opportunity to go and do that in a really clear and concise way in the second half. I think there's, you know, obviously there's a time and a place to tell people that things haven't gone so great in the first half, but actually that's in the past and it's gone. So there's not a huge amount of value in my opinion and dwelling on that. So it's really offering solutions and giving some clear and concise points that the players can go and put into action for the second half of the game.
[Jamie]
And do you feel that kind of approach kind of helps to develop and support individuals basically?
[Adam]
Yeah, I think so. I think, you know, with that kind of method of sort of shouting at players or, you know, going in and talking about all the things that have potentially gone wrong in the first half that the players know, that players understand, individuals know if they've not been great or if they've made mistakes or if they've been challenges. So I think it's a really important space to offer them some solutions or give them the opportunity to, I guess, set the stall out for them to go with some information to go and find some solutions and try things themselves to find solutions in the second half. And I think that that enables a bit of player autonomy. It enables them to have space to try things. But also, yeah, if it's solutions based and clear and concise, because sometimes we can get into the habit of giving just loads of information at halftime and that then becomes noise and is confusing for players. So yeah, be concise, solutions based and in and out as quickly as possible really.
[Louise]
Do you think communication skills are part of that as well? So how to convey those messages quickly and kind of concisely? Because obviously there's not a lot of time to chat during a match.
[Adam]
No there isn't and I think as well we've had it ourselves with players where we have shouted stuff onto the pitch and actually they haven't heard you or they haven't, they're not really interested in listening to what you're saying because they're in the heat of the game. So yeah, I think there's an opportunity where you can, you know, sometimes if you've got a multidisciplinary team or you've got a couple more coaches or a parent helper or however it might be, you know, an opportunity for a couple of you to take different roles, whether that be somebody can pull aside a unit or a couple of players that might need a bit of support or a bit of information while she speak to the group. So there's different ways to deliver that information, but yeah, communication's key. I think if the, if the points are understandable and relatable to the players and they can understand what it is that you want from them, it's going to help them to find solutions, I guess.
[Jamie]
Do you have any top tips to help listeners today improve their communication skills at all?
[Adam]
I think it's probably, it's quite a big piece, isn't it, really, around communication skills, I suppose. But I think it's really important to probably be reflective in terms of potentially how you communicate and how that's perceived by players. And then there's probably potentially a slight difference between how you think you're perceived and then potentially how you are. So first and foremost, I ask the question, ask players how they'd like to be communicated with. How would you like me to give information to you? How would you like me to respond to you? How would you like me to coach you? And that's going to give you a lot of tools in your box to support you with communicating with players. And I think it's just a case of just always being respectful. And I think as long as you're coming from a place of care where you want to support and want to help individuals, then they will take your communication to them at face value and understand that it comes from a good place.
[Jamie]
I suppose it goes kind of back to the top of the show that you was mentioning in terms of like actually getting to know players and knowing how they want that communication, when they want it and how they want it delivering I suppose.
[Adam]
Yeah definitely and I think again then it's the balance isn't it between being quite skilful with recognising then sometimes what players think they need versus what they do need in a moment sometimes. I think I gave the example of a player earlier that had come to us and had been coached in a specific way, but actually really responded well to something different, but she just didn't know she needed it yet. So there's a balance. And I think as you hone your coaching craft and as you develop your, your communication skills, you can start to recognize that and use that at different moments for different players.
[Louise]
I guess that goes for like younger players or children as well. If you're coaching them, they won't necessarily know how they want to be communicated with. So it's a bit of a trial and kind of working out what kind of person they are.
[Adam]
Yeah, for sure. I think that's a really important point, isn't it? That, you know, people often only know what they know. So if they've been coached a certain way or managed a certain way, that's how they've been coached. But yeah, I think, again, it just comes back to that, you know, showing genuine care and empathy for people and a real interest to support people to develop. And if you have that at the heart of what you do, I think your communication should naturally follow.
[Louise]
And on match day, how do you manage the balance of wanting to develop individuals with the need to get good results?
[Adam]
I guess an important point on that question is that context is really, really important. So if we're thinking, if we're working in a performance environment or certainly with our team where we're at Notts County, where we're at senior football and performances and results are really, really important, you know, first and foremost, we have got to try to get results. So we understand that the game is results based, and that's what we're working towards. But we can still make sure that we're supporting the development of players along that process, because that can help players to get better, which ultimately is going to make your team better. So I think it's really, really important. But then if we move into grassroots or sort of development football, whether that's, you know, talent pathway or grassroots or wherever that sits, it's really, really important to recognise that there's a bigger picture than the result of the weekend. And that's not the most important thing. And I know that can be a bit cliche at the moment, but, and you know, kids want to win games and coaches want to win games and that's fine. We want people to be competitive, but also recognizing and probably showing players that there's loads of other stuff they're getting from the game and almost reframing the game into what does success look like for you and for your team? Because success might be actually that I've been able to make a five-yard clean pass at the age of 10 and that's fantastic success. We might have lost 6-0 by the way, but it doesn't matter because I've made a great pass and I've connected with a couple of teammates and we've had an attempt on goal and we've been working on that in training. So that's really successful. So I think, yeah, really important to think about the context and then what it is long-term that we're trying to support, which ultimately is the development of more skilful players.
[Jamie]
Looking back at everything we've discussed, Adam, can you summarise the key top tips that you want coaches to take away from this episode?
[Adam]
Yeah, I think it's probably, again, banging the drum about understanding individuals and getting to know people. I think that's really, really important. And then I think as well, just making sure that your environment is really engaging and fun at whatever level that is, whether it's grassroots or at the top. We heard Serena speak after the Euros about the importance of fun in training sessions. And we're thinking of elite female players at the absolute top of the game. And guess what? They want to come into training and they want to enjoy themselves and they want to have fun. And that's how we get the best out of people. So it's always getting that balance to make sure that whilst players are learning, they're doing so in an environment that's really supportive, really encouraging, allows them lots of opportunities to make mistakes and learn and find solutions and problem solve to make them more resilient, sort of technically gifted players in the future.
[Louise]
Brilliant. So off the back of that, we're trying to encourage more conversation on the community relating to things we're talking about in the podcast. So we wondered if you could set a challenge for our listeners to get some conversation going based on what we've discussed today in this episode.
[Adam]
Yeah, I think potentially a challenge would be to get some feedback after sessions from players. So potentially that challenge could be framed around asking a question to the group around, did they enjoy the session? What was it about the session they really enjoyed? What was it about your session that they might have changed, which might've made it more fun or that they might've liked to have done differently. And then I think that with that comes an openness to be vulnerable as a coach, because sometimes we ask the questions and don't always love the answers that we get back or we find them surprising. So yeah, it's just that vulnerability to ask the question And yeah, really connect with how your players are perceiving your sessions. Are they having fun? Are they enjoying it? What did they like about it? And what might you be able to change to make them enjoy it even more?
[Louise]
That's a really great one. And I think it'd be really nice to hear from coaches of like, how did that feel? If you put yourself feeling vulnerable, Like what did you get back and how did that feel and how did you process it? What did you do next? So yeah, really good.
[Adam]
Yeah, for sure.
[Louise]
Thanks for that, right?
[Jamie]
Well, we are coming up to the end of the show now and everyone knows what that means at this point at Coachcast It means it is time for our swift session feature
[Louise]
So again another 30 second challenge You did really well on the last one. So this one should be easy.
[Adam]
I'm panicking about this one.
[Louise]
So for this one, we give you 30 seconds to explain to us a session idea. Are you up for the challenge?
[Adam]
Yeah, we'll give it a ***.
[Louise]
Okay, so once again, I'll set the timer up and if you're ready, time starts now.
[Adam]
Okay, so the session would be an opportunity for loads of 2v1s and 2v2s so it would be a diamond with four mini goals or cones if you haven't got many goals behind those diamonds the players can pass clockwise or anti-clockwise to each other and then at any point one of the players can decide to team up with the player opposite them to go and attack a goal 2v1 at which point the other player can recover to help the other one defend so we're getting lots of opportunities for 1v1s 2v1s opportunities to combine and it's loads of fun
[Jamie]
there we go sorted it again!
[Louise]
I knew you'd be good at this one.
[Adam]
The time, yeah, the time I hope. I've definitely not been practicing that in the mirror for three hours.
[Jamie]
That's a really good session idea. I like that. Is it one that you use regularly at all?
[Adam]
I wouldn't say I've used it regularly, but it's something I've done a little recently and used it on a kind of workshop support coaches recently as well. It's just loads of fun. It has loads of good outcomes, loads of ball movement, loads of opportunities for players to have a bit of autonomy in terms of decision making and when's the right time to do something and when isn't and then to be responsive and reactive and problem solve and try things and get matched up and be skilful. And yeah, it's just fun. It's exciting. It moves quickly and players tend to really, really enjoy it.
[Jamie]
Brilliant. Thank you very much for that. Yeah, I like that. Well, thank you very much for your time, Adam. It's been great having you on Coachcast and for sharing your insight. And I'm sure plenty of people will be taking away some really good coaching advice there to be able to use. So hope you've enjoyed it.
[Adam]
Yeah, it's been fantastic. It's been a pleasure. Thanks so much for having me on and yeah thanks for your time it's been great
[Jamie]
Great thank you well that was a really good chat with adam louise what would you say your highlights or key points were from that chat?
[Louise]
As usual loads of key points there but one that I really liked was reframing what success is. So for your players on a match day, so they don't feel completely disappointed if they lose and stuff, just making them think about the things that they have improved on and kind of how they've made little jumps forward each time.
[Jamie]
Yeah, that's a really good one. For me, what stood out was kind of one of the lines that Adam has said is that we need to accept players make mistakes. It's a way of learning, but also we need to accept that us as coaches, we will make mistakes as well and not to be afraid of that. That's just a way of learning and a way to help us develop is by learning from those mistakes. Right, well that's all we have time for today, but don't forget to check out the episode description for the transcription of this episode and for all the links to our platforms. There you will be able to click through to the England Football Community. This is where you can post your coaching questions for us to discuss on the podcast or just simply to connect with loads of wonderful coaches.
[Louise]
Yeah, we love to help you out with your coaching questions, so please do go and check it out. We'll be back soon with another episode of Coachcast, so if you haven't already, hit subscribe to make sure you don’t miss an episode.
From us all at England Football Learning, thanks for listening!