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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 Abbie Sadler, FA Women's Pathway Coach Developer Lead, to hear about her journey into football and coaching and to get some advice and tips that will help coaches with match day. Well, hi Abbie, welcome to the show. How are you?
[Abbie]
Very well, thank you. How are you?
[Jamie]
Yeah, all good, thanks.
[Louise]
Really good to have you with us. Can we make a start by finding out a little bit about your role and what it is that you do?
[Abbie]
Yeah, so I'm the FA Coach Developer Lead. So my role is to support coaches across our Talent Pathway and Women's National League. So we have 10 women's high performance centres and coach developers who work across those centres and their roles is to go into the clubs and work with those coaches.
[Jamie]
Brilliant, well fantastic thanks for that but just before we kind of discover even more about you and your experiences. As this is a coaching podcast, coaches could be on the way to training while tuning into this, so we always like to give them some great advice at the top of the show.
[Louise]
Yep, so we call this your arrival activity, get you warmed up. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna give you 30 seconds and we're going to ask you to give us as many top coaching tips as you can in those 30 seconds. Are you up for the challenge? Let's go for it. Okay, when the music begins you can start.
[Abbie]
So arrival activity, Get the players into something straight away. Get to know your players, ask them questions. Can you create a really positive environment where the players are there having fun, happy to make mistakes. Making sure that the ball's rolling all of the time, no lines, get the players playing as much as possible in practices which look like the game. Make it fun, make sure you're trying to differentiate the players, so give them different challenges.
[Jamie]
Love it, loads there to take away, you did really well there. Right, well we'll dive into the main part of the show now Abi, and we always ask, I guess, this first question, which is, what was your first experience of football like?
[Abbie]
Yeah, so I've got an older brother, So my first experience was nagging him to go down the go down the football fields with him and and have a little kick about I guess and then play in at primary school and then Local my local football team lost a city set up a girls team So I've got hundreds of girls playing there now, but when we started I think there was about seven or eight of us what turned up to that first Saturday morning football session at about the age of ten probably.
[Louise]
So in terms of coaching, what was your first experience of coaching? Like what made you want to kind of get into coaching?
[Abbie]
Yeah, so when I was younger, I guess football to play wasn't a career, wasn't something which was possible at that time. When I was in school and secondary school and comes at GCSE year, and I think we did Junior Sports Leaders Award where you got primary schools come in and you delivered some practices and I guess that's where I had found myself thinking this is what I'd love to do. Again, not necessarily being a football coach because you didn't see many people doing that, females in particular in the game, but just wanting to work in coaching and sport.
[Jamie]
And what was that first experience, very, very first experience of coaching like?
[Abbie]
Exciting. Probably trying to rack my brains back now to when that was, but I guess a little bit daunting at times and nervous, like when you've got lots of primary school children in front of you, but I guess it's a feeling you get after just seeing players, children have fun. So yeah, I guess it was just a fulfilment and excitement really.
[Louise]
And what would you say you most enjoyed about coaching?
[Abbie]
For me, it's probably why I do the role I do now. It's seeing people develop and get better at what they're trying to achieve. So for players, it's seeing them accomplish a skill, score a goal, or make that final tackle and coming off feeling really proud of themselves and have accomplished something. And now in the role I'm in working with coaches, it's the same, seeing those coaches progress on to or reach the goals which they're trying to achieve. So yeah, it's that I think I'd say.
[Louise]
Yeah, really rewarding.
[Abbie]
Yeah, absolutely.
[Jamie]
Can you give us a little bit of insight into what your journey has been like, kind of from your first starting out to the role you've got today?
[Abbie]
Yeah, so I left school and went to college at Hartbury College, where I did some coaching alongside the course I was doing. When I finished there, I went out to America, which lots of people have done, did the whole soccer camps over there. And for me, that was a great learning. I was 18 at the time, I lived with different families, so learning different social skills and how different people kind of led their lives as well as learning lots around, I guess, the foundations of coaching. And then I came back and I decided university wasn't necessarily something I wanted to do at that stage so I started working in the community at Cheltenham Town Community Trust. So I did lots of inter-schools, covering PE lessons, lots of voluntary work, so going into different areas of the city I lived in and working in youth clubs and working across disability sessions and community sessions. So I guess I got to experience a wide range of coaching, coaching boys, coaching girls, coaching different ages, different sports. And it was after that that I got the opportunity to become an FA Skills Coach. So again, that was a great programme. And I almost call that as my apprenticeship of my coaching. So I was there for four years and the coach development we received and the opportunities we got through that role was brilliant. And then after that, I went back in and led football within Bristol City's community there, going into the schools. And then I went into the boys' game at Swansea, so was part of the Premier League programme to get more females into the boys game. And then realised that that wasn't for me after a couple of years and came back to home and started to get back involved in women's football and coach development. And I guess here I am today, really.
[Louise]
It really sounds like you've had a really varied and on the ground kind of training and really trying lots of different things, which is really invaluable stuff. So taking into account everything that you've learned from your coaching experiences, what advice would you give to your younger self to prepare them for stepping into the world of coaching for the first time?
[Abbie]
I think it's believe in yourself and keep taking yourself out of your comfort zone. I think I did that quite a lot at the time in some cases, but that's because I was really fortunate to be around really good people and have support from my mum and dad to allow me to go out and volunteer at these different places. But yeah, I guess it's not to be afraid and to believe in yourself and to take those opportunities when they come.
[Jamie]
Yeah, I think that's a really good piece of advice and obviously from your experiences you've certainly certainly done that and it's definitely something for people to do you know take the opportunities that are there and give things a try. Kind of flipping that a little bit then what's the best piece of advice that you've ever received?
[Abbie]
You know it was probably from my mum and dad to be honest around always being respectful and the little jobs I had, I guess, at the beginning, which was one hour a week here or volunteering over here and not getting paid, just give the best version of yourself because you probably will, like football's a small world, sports a small world, like you'll probably bump back into these people later on in life and you want to leave kind of a good impression. And that was absolutely true. Like the amount of people I've come back into contact with from previous roles and then have helped me get the next opportunity in my coaching journey and career has been like invaluable and it's from building those foundations and relationships at like an early start that ultimately it's not a coaching piece of advice necessarily but it's helped me to get the next opportunities in where I am now really.
[Louise]
I guess it's true for like not just people who are giving you opportunities but for people that you're giving opportunities as well like keeping that kind of really nice relationship because it carries on then they'll do the same for other people as well.
[Abbie]
Yeah and absolutely and the people you're helping will I'm sure one day be helping me with something, you know, so it's a two-way thing, right?
[Louise]
Yeah. And what piece of advice can you give to help coaches make a positive impact on their players' journey?
[Abbie]
I think get to know your players as people. So don't treat them as mini football players, treat them as children. Get to know them. If you can build a relationship with the players, then they will buy into what you tell them from a coaching perspective. So one of my favourite quotes is, players don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. I think it doesn't matter whether you're working with a six-year-old or whether you're working for 26 year old in the professional game I still believe that that quote rings true.
[Jamie]
Yeah I've heard that quote and it is so powerful and it's absolutely true. Now Abby we've asked you to join us today to talk about how coaches can deal with match day and throughout your career you must have been involved in many match days, so we're really grateful to get your insight on this. So kind of to start, how do you yourself prepare for match day?
[Abbie]
How do I prepare? So I think the really important thing is linking your practices in the week to your match day, so players can really take that learning on board and try to transition it into a game. Potentially setting smaller objectives for individuals or for units or for partnerships within the team as well. So again, at the end of the game, they've got something to review back on individually and team based. As you get a little bit older, so as I've worked with more senior teams and more I guess players who are playing to win on a weekend and get the three points, it may become a little bit more tactical. Some game plans, some classroom-based sessions as well as the stuff out on the pitch. Brilliant.
[Louise]
And You mentioned it slightly there, but how do you prepare your players for the game?
[Abbie]
Yes, as I mentioned it starts in training So do the practices we put on look like what they're gonna face in a match day? Some of the environments we've been in players have had like individual development plans. So how can we individualise targets? So again, when they step on the pitch, so for one, it may be, it might be a social skill, it might be around their communication. For others, it might be a technical piece around can they try to play forwards when they receive the ball as an example. And then I think there's just some social bits as well. And of course, for those working in grassroots around, how do you get your message across to parents to make sure that there's common communication and information being shared come match day?
[Jamie]
So you mentioned like individual development plans there. Are there any sort of, if thinking about different ages and stuff, like can we kind of go into a little bit of detail about what maybe some of the coaching points you might put in there for players?
[Abbie]
Yeah, I think it depends again on like what you're trying to work on. So I think as coaches sometimes we try and cover everything. So being really specific on what you're trying to get out of the session and then you can tailor your coaching points to that. So for example, is it in possession or is it out of possession? So if it's in possession, what are we trying to do in possession? Is it around, like I said before, trying to play forwards at every opportunity? And if we can't, can we give it to a teammate who potentially can play forwards? Is it about being able to keep possession and combine with teammates? Is it around us finishing? Is it around when we get in the final photo and we're finishing? So how can we make our sessions more specific and therefore we can hone in on our coaching points within a little bit more detail?
[Louise]
And then how do you put your plan for match day into action?
[Abbie]
Yeah, so depending if I'm coaching on my own or if I'm coaching, got assistant coaches or I'm an assistant, making sure that the coaching staff are all on the same page. So sharing our plan with one another, whether that's at the end of a training session, because we're strapped for time, whether that's over the phone, on the drive home, or meeting ahead of the game. And then different ways to get that plan out to the players is like I keep referring to, make sure the messages are really consistent in training. At the end of the session, being really clear, right at the game on Saturday or the game on Sunday, this is what we're gonna go after. There's a couple of ways I've done it in the past in changing rooms, I may have some kind of visuals and bits up around the changing rooms for them to look back on and so it's it's not about the information coming from me it's about them looking at it and sharing it with one another. Or maybe I would ask questions to get them to find the answers and remember back from training, rather than me stand and just talk at them. So I'd be trying to unpick to see if they can remember the stuff we worked on and what we're going after. As I've referred to before around the individual challenges that could be placed, that could be sent to them through their parents, as an example, use tactics boards as well to try and get the session plan out. So try and move bits around, especially for the kind of visual learners in the group. And then when it comes to actually being on the side of the pitch, trying to keep my communication on the side as minimal as possible, especially through that development phase where they try and figure it out and problem solve on the pitch themselves. But when I am communicating on the side, it's making sure that again, my language is consistent. I think that's really important when you're trying to bring a game plan to life that you're working on again, like I said, in possession. And now from the side, all you're doing is talking about out of possession or in your team talks you're talking about it. If we're wanting to develop players it's that long term development that actually can we keep our messages consistent and deliver them in various ways to engage the players.
[Louise]
That's really good. And you did mention parents a bit before. How can parents be a part of managing match day rather than a hindrance, would you say?
[Abbie]
Yeah. Parents are the best thing about grassroots and can sometimes be a hindrance at times for players, right? But without parents, the players, 90% of the players probably wouldn't be able to play. So my nephew plays football and not so long ago, my sister received a text message to say, right, this is what we're working on today. These are our key points. If you're gonna give encouragement from the side, it needs to be linked to X. So it made me think, how often do we share as coaches, especially for those younger age groups, youth football, do we share the messages with parents? Are they aware of what the players are trying to work on? Because if they're aware and you communicate with them, hopefully from the side their communication will be what you want, because let's be honest, you say just clapping and cheering on, but they will like to shout their points from the side and coach a little bit. So if they can at least give the same information as you're giving, then we're kind of making some progress there. I think the other thing as well is, and some coaches may be confident to do this and some may not. And I know the first time I did it, it was quite nerve-wracking, but once you got used to it, it became more comfortable, is doing your team talks in front of the parents, so taking your group across, depending on what facility you're at, and actually Doing the team talks with the parents here and it may be that you do it at the end of the game It may be that you do it half time It depends on what you what age and stage and stuff the players are at you may not want to do it at half time But that way the parents hear the messages you're saying they hear the tone of voice you're saying the messages, you're asking them questions. And I think that's really important, especially for those drive homes where you've got an excited parent and they're quizzing the player or they're telling the player they've done this and they've not done that. They can keep the conversation on track with what you're saying, then I think that really helps that player.
[Jamie]
Yeah, it can be really powerful, can't it? Like for both the players and obviously the parents' experience of match day, just being brought into kind of that inner circle and know what's going on. Yeah,it's a really powerful tool for coaches to use. That's really good. Now we kind of talked almost like about preparing the adults there. If we talk about like preparing players maybe emotionally for match day, like it can bring out a range of emotions. Obviously most of it's probably like excitement, but there could be some that's a little bit nervous about the game that's ahead. Could you kind of go into from your experiences kind of what player behaviour coaches maybe could witness kind of before, during and after match day and how you maybe would manage that?
[Abbie]
Yes you said then of very various emotions and you're right there'd be excitement, over excited which can sometimes maybe end up being seen as silliness and messing around, as some people may say. There may be tears, nervousness, not wanting to play, worried they're gonna make a mistake. There may be people who go under the radar because they're really quiet, but actually they're the ones who are quite anxious and not sure what to do or afraid to maybe ask the question when they're unsure on something. So I think the loud emotions or the crying and the excitement are the easy ones to see. I think we need to really look across all the players and notice the hidden emotions I guess a little bit, the ones which were a little bit harder to see. And then how would we manage that? I think it goes back to something I said earlier, really understand your players. If you know your players well, you'll understand what makes somebody tick and what's going to worry somebody. So I think that's the first thing. And that takes time, and if done in the right way, it's really powerful. There's obviously an element of reassuring. So kind of repeating myself a little bit here, but if we're really clear on what we're trying to go for, go like more of a process than an outcome. So it's around in this game, we want to, these are our three or four targets. And yes, we want to win. Everyone wants to win. And this isn't around like creating targets and winning's not important. Winning's, of course, everybody wants to win, but there's some clear processes as well. So actually for one individual, yes, they might make a mistake, but if they've done something which they've been tasked to do, that will just lift their confidence. Starts with the warm up as well. So how do you relax people within the warm-up or how do you bring people's excitement down a little bit? So tone of your voice, tone of your voice, the messages you give, saying people's name when you say praise, whether that comes from the within the warm-up or afterwards. But yeah I think the message and the tone certainly helps bring in some of those excitable or nervousness and for some it might be talking to them in a big group and for some you may just pull them to a side and talk to them individually.
[Jamie]
Yeah, so obviously you've talked there about the importance of knowing your players and it takes time to do that. For maybe a new coach who's only just taken over a team and they don't know the players that well, is there anything that maybe they could do as players arrive or as part of an activity to kind of get to know how they're feeling?
[Abbie]
Yeah, it's a great question and it is tough because it like I said it takes time to really understand your players, right? So if they come and they come already in their kit and they're not in the changing rooms, can you just get them into a game straight away? It might be some little 2v2s and 3v3s or tag games. So something where maybe the pressure's not put on them, that is an isolated practice. Get them all doing like a tag game. Everyone can play tag, regardless whether they're really good at football or it's their first time playing football. So get them to do something where everything's a guess on a little bit of a playing field. And whilst they're playing, get in, talk to them, like get, make sure we're calling people by their names. I think saying someone's name is really powerful when we're when we're working with young children as well. So I think little things like that's really important. If you can't get on the pitch and you're in the changing rooms, can you come up with some little games around the around the room, which again isn't isolating individuals, but it's getting everyone kind of contributing into some common goal or maybe they can come up with their own challenges for the game so they're having their own ownership, that they're not put under pressure by something the coaches ask them to do. They actually come up with something they want to achieve in the game themselves.
[Jamie]
Brilliant, thanks.
[Louise]
And I guess by that you probably start seeing different personalities shine through and kind of how they react to different situations. Absolutely. Yeah. And we've talked about kind of preparing players emotionally, But what kind of things would they expect to happen on match day? What kind of things are we preparing them for,
[Abbie]
I guess? Mistakes. Everybody, players, coaches, will make mistakes in games. Whether that's through something we've said as a coach, or as we go up through age groups and stages of play and maybe a substitution we made or a formation we've played. So coaches, we will make mistakes. And I think for players, it's the same for them. They will make a mistake, they will lose a ball, they will miss a shot. So I think it's preparing them for that, which is why it goes back to creating a really positive environment and allowing players, or creating environments for players to make a mistake and correct it themselves. Maybe not starting a game and not getting as many minutes and worried because parents are there and now I'm not starting and I'll know what's that piece of feeling included and playing. So again, if we can be really clear with parents and players at the beginning around what the expectations are around game minutes and playing time, and if that is rotation, we're sticking to that. It goes back to consistency of message and language. If we say it at the beginning, we're going to do something that we do because players will inevitably be upset on the side. And then I guess there's the excitement. There's the happiness. There's all the stuff why we play in coach football, the feeling rewarding, happiness when we score a goal, we do that last ditch tackle. So I think we look at the negative emotions, but there's lots of positive ones which come out of it. And it's the balance because you could have somebody who's really positive because they've scored that goal and somebody who's only played five minutes. So it's there some of the reasons why I've seen emotions get heightened, I guess.
[Jamie]
Yeah. And how about you as a coach? What do you kind of think about to kind of prepare yourself for maybe some of those same scenarios, but you're the coach rather than obviously the player. How do you prepare yourself for that?
[Abbie]
As a coach you'll see all sorts of emotions and scenarios happening on the pitch. So I think we've got to be really conscious of our body language. We could be throwing arms in the air or we could be huffing and puffing. There could be players who are on the sidelines, stood right next to you. So you've got to be really careful with what we say under our breath, how we're perceived on the side of the pitch, because that can have a real negative impact on players and they could be worried then to try something new within the game, which is all part of their development. Communication, being really clear on what you want to communicate. So again, back to, are we really clear on the process we're trying to get out of the game? Yes, we want to win and that's really important, but are we really clear on the other steps that's going to help us to do that. So is it how many times you've got into the opposition half? And then that way that will help us at the end of the game when, if there are players with some sad emotions, I guess, we've got something to revert back to to say, look how many times we did X, Y and Z. So that would help. Giving players time and showing empathy I think are really important. What might not be a big deal for us as coaches could be a really big deal for the players. So it's really important that we recognise that. So yeah, body language, communication, showing empathy and giving time I think are really important for the coach to be aware of and to try to do.
[Louise]
And I guess while you're thinking about those things, what kind of things should a coach be looking out for while the game is going on? So to help them kind of review and kind of give information back.
[Abbie]
So whilst the game's going on, I think it's important that we reward effort as well as like the outcome of whatever that success is. And we recognise all of the players. I think it's very easy to recognise one or two players who are stood out or doing X, Y and Z. Be mindful of the players on the sides of the pitch. So are we, if we could set them a task or are they doing something that they're not stood on the side just twiddling their thumbs or freezing cold in the pouring down rain. So I think it's being really aware of everything around you as well as aware of your own, like I said earlier, your own body language and how you're maybe portraying yourself to the players.
[Louise]
You mentioned people who were kind of not necessarily playing at the time. How can you keep substitutes engaged?
[Abbie]
I think the golden ticket is if you can have a good relationship with the opposition and they've got three subs and you've got three subs, set up a mini pitch behind and just get them playing so everyone's continuously playing all of the time and they can even have a whiteboard, a little tactics board whiteboard and they can keep a tally of how many goals each team scores. It's almost like their mini game, especially for some players who may not get the opportunity to score many goals, they might score lots of goals in there. So when they've gone away, they've scored a goal. It can be set with cones. It doesn't need to be the players. They manage it in the playground. They can manage it there. They don't need a coach or a parent there. Let them go and do their thing. I think that would be my idea. I'd love to go around and see that happen everywhere. I appreciate that's not always possible due to facilities or maybe that relationship not being or not enough subs. So how can you task the players to maybe keep a tally of really simple tally of stuff which is happening. So I mentioned earlier, maybe it's the amount of shots we have. So they're just keeping a tally of that. Amount of times we've got, like I said, got the ball across the halfway line. The amount of times we've blocked a shot in our box. So I think they're really easy stuff to tally. And again, it gives the player some ownership. They watch the game and then they can feed back that to the players at the end so there's again some other measures of success there.
[Jamie]
Yeah I really like that answer especially yeah it'd be great if people can kind of have like small sided games on the side to keep everybody engaged. But yeah, if there's some sort of like learning objectives that players can keep an eye on, just keeping them active and engaged rather than just sitting and waiting, and especially with the weather that we get here, like cold and rain. I've been there a lot when I was a kid, put it that way. It'd be nice to have been kept a bit more engaged for sure. What advice could you give to coaches to help them stay calm and make good decisions under pressure on match day?
[Abbie]
Good question. Cause we get caught up, right? We've all been there. I've been there, like I'm saying now, but we've all been there. We can all probably resonate when it's your cup final. It might be under nines, but it's a cup final. It's against your rival and it's one nil and there's five minutes left to go. Again, put the players first. Your emotions as coaches is gonna affect the players. Even if you're winning and you get overexcited, you see it on the TV, you get overexcited, the players then miss pass a pass they wouldn't usually do. So recognise your behaviours will affect your teammates. If you can stay calm and relaxed and think about that tone of voice, can only have a positive impact on the players. I think it's remembering it's the children's game and not your game. You're part of that team, but let the players, it's a learning process. If they lose, they're going to learn from it and they're going to move on. Of course, we all want to win. I want to win. Everyone wants to win, but it's just recognizing that the emotions can play a big part in others.
[Jamie]
And something that I'm thinking that, that probably will help with that is something that you mentioned earlier in terms of getting the parents on side if they're knowing what it is that you're going after and what they're looking for what it is that they need to applaud then it probably makes it a little bit of a calmer atmosphere as well So then it therefore helps you to be calm and then it doesn't rub off on the team in the wrong way, doesn't it?
[Abbie]
I completely agree, yeah. And also like in training, are we making our practices, this goes back to linking our practices to a match day, are we making our practices where there's a bit of pressure that actually like there's five minutes left to go. And so the players are used to that playing in that pressure. So they're not looking over to you to go, what can we do? So yeah, can you make again, your practice realistic? Can you make them competitive? Cause I've been guilty of it before we say, right, we're going to keep track of the scores. No one knows what the score is at the end of the game. The players usually do, but us as coaches, if we're keeping it on and we get some time limits on stuff, then it helps the players to manage it. And then hopefully that reassures you as a coach on the side, because you can go, ah, this is just like it was in our training session. And that's what you can be saying to the players. This happened on Thursday evening. Come on, you can do this, etc.
[Jamie]
Brilliant.
[Louise]
Yeah. And you did bring it up a little bit before, kind of about like, so mistakes can happen. Do you have any ideas on how to manage mistakes or failures to remove the fear of making mistakes in the future?
[Abbie]
Yeah, so your practices is vital. You've got to make sure that you've got opposition, that you've got direction, that it looks like the game in order for players to make mistakes which are going to happen. Can you stretch individuals in your teams? If it's anything like the teams I've worked with in the past, you'll have some real strivers in the group, you'll have some players who are maybe new to the game. So how can you differentiate your session to really stretch some individuals whilst not making it too difficult for others? So it could be individual challenges or separate tasks within your practice, because that will then help people to be where they're at, but almost stretch them a little bit. Stretch them a little bit that it's not too much that they're failing all the time, they lose interest, they get bored, they kind of give up, but stretching them enough that it's going to take them a few goes to understand that, like, this is how it does it when the penny drops. And depending on where they're at in their development, like being really clear with them, like you communicate, like we're gonna be trying something new today, it's not gonna go right. And also putting yourself in a vulnerable position, we're gonna do a new practice today. It may not be right, I might make a mistake in this practice, I might need to change it. So making them aware that it's okay because you make mistakes as a coach as well. So role modeling behavior I think is quite important. But yes, stretching players within sessions. And one thing somebody spoke about a few years ago to me, we were speaking around how coaches sometimes we like to correct mistakes quite quickly and we're always stood really close to the practice. So as a coach take yourself four or five, six yards away, stand away from the practice and observe from afar. Not only does it help you to recognize whether your practice is right, the right size, shape, etc. But it helps you to look at the players and not jump in as soon as you see them making a mistake because you actually have to walk over, find the player and tell them. By the time you've probably done that and got across, they may have done it again and had success. So take yourself away from the players, from the session a little bit, that you can look in and let the players play. Give them an opportunity to try it. Sometimes we stop the session too quickly, so give them an opportunity to play and do little flybys and speak to individuals.
[Jamie]
Yeah and I like that. I think someone once said, I can't remember whether it was on a previous episode or something that we'd put in an article before, but it's almost like giving them three minutes to have a go at an activity and then if you notice in someone's maybe made a mistake, watch three more times sort of thing and then maybe you go in afterwards. Something along those lines anyway. Might be paraphrasing there but yeah it's just giving them the time to have a go and then if it's a bit of a repetition maybe you can go and go, oh how do you think that we might be able to do that differently and help but yeah definitely leaving players to try and figure it out.
[Abbie]
100% and what you said there, you're asking a question so instead of again correcting it, maybe asking them or guiding them a bit of guided learning and seeing if they can figure it out for themselves so you just pose a question. Oh what if you did it, did it like this? What might happen then? So instead of going and correcting them I think yeah that kind of guided discovery as we call it is, yeah it's really important as well.
[Louise]
I think there's also something about if you're thinking of it in match day where someone might feel like they've made a mistake, how the team reacts to that as well to make them like it's everybody's in it together kind of thing. It's not a mistake, we'll learn from it. It's not, you know, that kind of thing, I suppose, helps to, helps everybody make mistakes and feel like, oh, I've not ruined everything myself.
[Abbie]
Yeah, absolutely.
[Louise]
Yeah. Do you have any top tips to help coaches approach team talks on match day? And I'm probably thinking the half time one in particular is probably really stressful in some instances, not having very much time to do it. So do you have any top tips to help coaches with it?
[Abbie]
Yeah, it's tough doing team talks. I think no matter what age group and stage, like my top tips would be ask the players first how they feel, like, how does it feel? How do you think we've done? Like, I think ask now they feel, what have we done well, what would we do different going into this second half or this quarter? So ask them first, because they might have exactly the same thoughts as you have, but if it comes from them first, they're probably gonna buy into it more than when it comes from you as a coach. So definitely start with that and revert back to what you're trying to get out of the game. So if you said this is what we're going after, this is what we're working on in today's game, don't then start talking about something else in your halftime team talk. So I think it's really important that you stick to those two or three things. Keep it simple and keep it short. So don't try and talk for long periods of time because the players will forget what you said previously. So yeah, ask the players, keep it short, keep it consistent with what you said at the beginning of the game.
[Louise]
And are there any different coaching strategies or methods that you can use during a game?
[Abbie]
I think during the game it goes back to that consistency. The messages we're given from the side of the pitch are the same as what we're going to talk about at half time and at the end of the game. Apart from maybe some individual bits, but again, it goes back to what Jamie said earlier around ask questions. So instead of being on the side of the pitch, say, move up, do this, do that. How can we pose questions to get them to think about what they should be doing? So don't give them the answer on the side of the pitch. Can we guide them? So should you be stood there? Where else could you help your teammates? So give the players questions to pose in order to help them find out the answer because it's around learning and development. So they need to start to figure stuff out for themselves. Because one day, hopefully, when they're playing in a big stadium with lots of people, they're not going to hear probably what the manager is saying on the side of the pitch. So they need to be able to understand what they need to do themselves. And we need to help that by asking questions from the side of the pitch.
[Jamie]
One thing that we've not touched on too much at the moment is that obviously everybody's got their own needs but some players maybe have additional needs during a match. You talked about I think having a little bit of experience in disability football for instance. Are there any useful methods for maybe approaching that, finding out what a player's needs are and then also addressing it, so thinking about maybe communication is a big example for instance?
[Abbie]
Yeah it's a great question and hopefully through communication with parents and other people at the club, a lot of the time you'll find out which players in your team may have additional needs. But sometimes they may be at a stage where things haven't been maybe diagnosed or they're unsure of. So I think yeah, it's really important that we communicate in various ways. So we can use, I use tactics boards, and that may be when people haven't got even additional needs, but actually they learn more by seeing stuff and rather than me just talking. So I think it's making sure that, yeah, can we have visuals? So that could be stuff up on a room, that could be a tactics board. Can I make sure that I'm facing everyone? I've not got people behind me. The sun's in front of me, so the sun's not shining in their eyes. I may be away from any distractions. So again, if parents are stood, or there's a football match going on over here, I turn them the opposite way. So I'm facing a football match, they're facing me. So their eyes are on me. I'm really clear in what I'm saying. I'm trying to make sure that they can read my lips and bits as well Maybe going down to their level so if they're younger players I'm not stood up and they're having to look up at me, I crouch down, I come onto their level. I think that just those subtle differences can make a real difference. And again, if you know that there's individuals of additional need, they may just need a few minutes of your time after you've spoke to everyone to just sit down with them and go through it and making sure that you create an environment where they feel safe that they can come and ask you questions and you make that really clear that it's okay if you're unsure. We've got five minutes or ten minutes where we go back into a changing room or before the game starts you can come and speak to me or this coach or that coach. So yeah, being really clear that that's an option as well.
[Louise]
Yeah, really useful points to think about there. What are the key things to make sure that you do after the match, whether you won or lost?
[Abbie]
I'm a big fan of make sure we shake hands and whether we've won or lost or making sure there's that sportsmanship piece there I guess. And then I've said it before like what are we trying to do in the game? Can we refer back to it? Praising. Maybe there might be some individual chats you need to have for various reasons, but give them the time, bring them in, whether you do that in front of parents or not in front of parents, you find something to praise the children about, but it's also an opportunity to give them something to work on and then how do you link what's happening in that game or what you're working on longer term into your training. So in training on Monday or Tuesday, these are the things we're going to be trying to work on. Might not be as a result of the game, it might be a longer term piece. And off topic slightly, but I went to a, through one of the programmes I did, I went to watch team Bath netball play and at the end of their training session, they had this ball and they threw it around the room and they're obviously senior elite players and they were throwing the ball around and they would share one thing, they'd pick someone in the group and they would share one thing which they thought that player did really well in training, one thing they needed to get better at. And I pinched that idea and I took it into football and I was working in a boys' academy at the time with an under-10s team. We called it our circle of trust. And we had a little ball and we'd throw it around the changing rooms. And we started off by every player just sharing one thing, which they thought a player did really well. So we started with that to create some trust. And yes, I can turn around and say, oh, you did this really well this week. But when it comes from somebody within their team, it's like they grew two foot. And it was it was really, really powerful. And we got to a stage through the season where they were beginning to then give some feedback, which they did well. And I think that maybe if you did this, this would have been a little bit better. So they gave some kind of like areas of development, if you like, as well. And it was brilliant and they loved it at the end of every game. And yeah, it was just to see the smiles and stuff on their faces and then to get players to give some real critical feedback to other players like really helps me personally I think really helps just them as people and children develop. So that was something we used to do at the end of every game in one of the teams I coached and it was yeah and nine times out of ten they say all the stuff you're thinking, even about the individual. So yeah, that would, I'd definitely encourage coaches to try that.
[Jamie]
That's a really good one to take away that. Looking back at everything we've discussed, can you maybe summarise your key top tips on managing match day that you want coaches to take away from this episode?
[Abbie]
Yeah, so I'd say make sure you're practicing the week links, so linking your practices to match day, really important. Consistency of message, so try not to go on a really easy to go off topic, try and stay on topic and think about the process and the learning opportunities. How can you utilize your substitutions? How can you get the subs doing some bits on the sidelines? How can you engage parents a little bit better, whether that's team talks, whether that's sharing and communicating beforehand. And I guess the stuff we spoke about, like managing your emotions and players' emotions, recognising what energy you give off, body language, your communication style, and making sure that we support players in their learning by asking questions and not always trying to give them all the answers all of the time.
[Louise]
Yeah. And just to kind of wrap this up, do you have a challenge that you could set for the listeners to go ahead and kind of try some of this stuff that they might not have tried before?
[Abbie]
I'd say try the circle of trust thing I just said about. I think whether you call, you can call it whatever you want, but I think that's really good. Another challenge, don't know how many challenges I'm allowed here. The other challenge is get your substitutions active. The players on the side, your finishers, whatever you call them these days, there's some way more creative names and substitutions, but get them set up a task. If you can get them playing with the other teams substitutions even better, but set them a task, the circle of trust piece at the end. And if you're not already doing it, being really clear on what you're trying to achieve in the game rather than just win or lose, and make sure that that links to your training session.
[Louise]
Yeah, that's really good. And what we'll do is we'll put a thread to that on the community and we'd love to hear how any coaches get on with that and kind of you start sharing what went wrong, what went well, what did you enjoy, what did you see from that?
[Jamie]
Yeah, look forward to that. Some really good challenges there to give it a go, so yeah please do go in the community and let us know how you get on. Right well we are coming up to the end of the show now but that does mean it is time for our swift session feature.
[Louise]
Yep so it's another 30 second challenge but this time we're going to ask you to explain a session idea to us in 30 seconds. Are you up for this one?
[Abbie]
Okay, I'll give it a go.
[Louise]
Okay, 30 seconds and when the music starts you can begin.
[Abbie]
Okay, so this session can be in possession, out of possession, set up two pitches. You can have target goals if you've got them, you can use cones, depending on how many players are, say 3v3 on each pitch. You've got to win the game on both pitches, so you'll have two red teams, two blue teams, you must win the game on both pitches in order to win. Players can swap over at any time, so it gets the players communicating what's the score on your pitch, what's the score on your pitch, you need to come over and come and play on my pitch. If you've not got goals, you can have end zones, you can change it up as much as you like.
[Louise]
Brilliant. Very good. Have you got anything else you want to add to that, now that time is over?
[Abbie]
I think the players love games like that. It's getting them playing. We're coming to a point in the season where your season's starting to end. So maybe your games are finishing and they're coming in for some like once a week training. And maybe you're going into pre-season soon or you're bringing the players back in and don't get them running and doing press ups, get them playing games. And I think in that game, you can make the pitches big. You can make one pitch big, one pitch small. You can have a four v four on one pitch, a three v three on the other pitch. You can have the pitches quite far apart so they actually have to run across at some points they're playing out numbered. You could have them really close together so it's just maybe like matched up. There's not as much, not much running in between the two pitches, but the players love it. Get loads of opportunities to score. Sometimes they're 1v1, sometimes they're 3v1. It's competitive. People are making mistakes, back to what we said about before. It looks and feels like a game. It is a game. And yeah, there's that communication piece to it. They have to talk to each other because they need to know what the score is in order to win. You can stop it and say, right, two minutes, get in and have a team talk so they can come up with their own strategies and plans. Comes back to problem solving like we spoke about in the previous conversations, solving problems themselves, knowing who's going to play where, all stuff which they need to do when they come up on their match on a weekend. And they love it, they love it. All ages love it as well. So yeah.
[Jamie]
Very good. Yeah, really good idea. Yeah, I like that and definitely give that
[Louise]
a go as well and let us
[Jamie]
know how that goes on. I think we might have that on the website. I'll have to have a check. That is a really, really good session idea, that. Well, thank you very much for your time, Abi. It's been great having you on Coachcast and hearing your tips for Match Day and plenty of challenges and ideas for coaches to take away. Hopefully you've enjoyed it, but yeah, we've certainly enjoyed listening to you, so thank you very much.
[Abbie]
No, thank you, it's been great.
[Louise]
Thank you.
[Jamie]
Right, well, that is all we have time for today, but don't forget to check out the episode description for the transcription of this episode all the links to our platforms. There you'll be able to click through to the England Football Community and 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]
Yep, we'd love to help you out with your coaching questions so please do 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 all of us at England Football Learning, thanks for listening.