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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. As always I'm Jamie and I'm here with Louise and today we're chatting to Amanda Greenslade, an FA PE officer, to hear about her journey so far and to get some advice to help coaches with delivering and managing sessions. Well hi Amanda, welcome to the show for the first time. How are you?
[Amanda]
Amanda Good, thank you. Thanks for having me.
[Louise]
Amanda Really good to have you with us today. Can we make a start by finding out a bit more about your role and what it is that you do?
[Amanda]
Amanda Yep. So I work within the FAPE team. So we work with qualified and trainee teachers to help develop the ability to deliver high quality physical education in schools, as well as working with coaches that work in educational settings.
[Jamie]
Fantastic. Thanks for that, Amanda. Just before we kind of discover 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, we set this up as your arrival activity as well, help you warm up. So what we're going to do is we're going to give you 30 seconds and we're going to ask you to give us as many top coaching tips as you can.
[Amanda]
Okay, no pressure with that.
[Louise]
Are you up for the challenge?
[Amanda]
Yes.
[Louise]
Okay, we'll set some time up and then when the music starts you can begin.
[Amanda]
Okay. So most importantly enjoy yourself, players have more fun when you do. Try and connect with your players before, during and after the session, whether it's a little fist bump or a check-in. Plan in a style that works best for you, so is it visual diagrams, is it words, whatever works best, don't try to emulate what other people do. Be flexible in your approach, try and keep it as simple as possible. Sometimes it doesn't always work and if it's a car crash that's absolutely okay. Just reflect on it and then when you find something that works for your group, keep doing it.
[Jamie]
Brilliant. Perfect timing. Yeah, perfect timing that was. Absolutely perfect.
[Louise]
Thank you for that.
[Jamie]
Yeah, thank you very much for that. Well, we'll dive into the main part of the show now, Amanda, and we always start this section by asking all of our guests, what was your first experience of football like?
[Amanda]
Interesting, I suppose. I grew up in a really small village in Devon, so my first experience of football was there was not enough boys to play in the team at school. There was only 20 of us in the whole of the primary school so all of us did all the activities together so as our school football team it was girls, boys, everybody joined in and I didn't have a clue when I first did my first game and ran around absolutely loved it and then that sort of the love from football came from there.
[Louise]
Sounds like a lovely example of a first experience in football. Exactly what we would hope for. So everybody all in together and just enjoying it.
[Amanda]
Yeah, literally that's what it was. I really had to be told, you know, this is the goal, this is the ball, this is you stop the ball going in this goal, try and score in this goal. And yeah, there was, I mean, all of the girls did it. Half of them absolutely hated it. I was one of the ones that really, really enjoyed it. And then just from there, just tried to keep playing as much as possible.
[Louise]
I think that's a good example of just giving everybody the opportunity and letting them decide whether they like it or not.
[Amanda]
Yeah and I think it was one of those situations where there wasn't a choice which was almost quite good because I think if the choice had been there I think you might have been nervous and not wanted to take part of it but it was you know thrown in at the deep end and everyone played together and then you know some of us went on and really enjoyed it and kept doing it.
[Louise]
Yeah, perfect. And when did your interest in coaching start and how did you get involved?
[Amanda]
I continued playing, then when I was 16 got asked if I wanted to help with some of the younger age groups and I did my Junior Team Manager award when that was back in the day. I started working with the under 10s and then from there continued to do little bits of coaching here and there and then went out to America and did Camp America during uni and then loved it, delivered all sports and that sort of drove my love for football and then for teaching and then went into being a secondary PE teacher and those different experiences.
[Jamie]
And what was the first experience of coaching like for you?
[Amanda]
Nerve-wracking. Absolutely terrified. Didn't really know what I was doing and I think it was just embracing that and going it will be okay. And I just had this real love of working with children and seeing them enjoy themselves and have fun and their different experiences for it. And then after doing that, I was like, oh no, I really enjoy this. This is good.
[Louise]
You mentioned there about like seeing children have fun and stuff like that. But what do you enjoy most about coaching?
[Amanda]
I think seeing young people develop, allowing them to explore different ideas and areas and finding out what works best for them. And then I just get a real buzz and thrill when I see that they've progressed and have mastered something that they possibly couldn't have done at the start of the session.
[Jamie]
Mason Jones You mentioned some of your experiences there, for instance going out over to America. Can you maybe give us a little bit more insight into what your journey's been like from your first starting out coaching to the role you've got today?
[Amanda]
Yes, I think just doing multi-sports was the first start of it. There wasn't really any formalised, you know, this is, you know, football coaching to start with. It was just setting up lots of different activities for children, lots of different sports. And I explored lots of different sports when I was out there. I did some swim teaching, I did some horse riding instruction, I did some volleyball instruction and lots of different activities. And I think from there, that was the first step into actually, I really like working with children and I really like teaching. And that sort of drove me to want to do my PGCE in education and really specialise as a secondary PE teacher. And it's only after that that I decided that football coaching was sort of the one that I enjoyed the most from playing obviously previously and I played all the way through into my 20s got a knee injury when I was 21, 22 and that sort of really prevented me playing as much as I was doing and that's when I switched into that coaching role of wanting to go and do a little bit more of that and then coached the school's football teams to start with, did all the girls football teams at the secondary school I worked at and then did grassroots and did a good 10 years of grassroots coaching at the local club all voluntary, working up through the age groups, did all my badges and then started to work at Regional Talent Centre at Doncaster Bells and have been there now six years, now Technical Director so I overlook all of the youth development teams that we have there and assist with the first team as well.
[Louise]
Really fantastic journey that you've kind of been on through at all the different levels and seeing all the different parts of it. If you took everything that you've learned from your career on board, what advice would you give to your younger self to prepare them for stepping into the world of coaching for the first time?
[Amanda]
Probably that there is no right or wrong way of doing things. I think it's developing a skill to be flexible to figure out what works best for the group that you've got. So don't try to repeat practices that other people have put on for different players because it might not work with yours. It's not about stealing other people's ideas, it's about finding what works best for your players and what works best for your style because I don't think we talk enough about finding your own individual style of how to coach. So I think that's probably the biggest advice is find your style and stick with it because that's right for you and that's probably right for your players as well.
[Jamie]
You mentioned that you're kind of used to like multi sports. What maybe have you taken from any of those that's really helped you with football coaching?
[Amanda]
I think understanding like the fundamental movement skills that are really really important across all sports. I think we get lost sometimes of just the football technical bits, but actually how our players run, move, recognise different game situations is also really, really important. So we can learn quite a lot from hockey, netball, all the other invasion games that our young people experience at schools and pick the best of those that can really then help them develop their football skills as well.
[Jamie]
Brilliant. And I just feel like it's just important to sort of like clarify, because a lot of people might think, well, what can you actually get from multi sports? But actually it's so handy, not just for the players as well, but obviously for coaches alike to give things a try. Kind of flipping Louisa's earlier question on its head a little bit, what's the best piece of advice that you've ever received then?
[Amanda]
I think just to be confident in your own abilities. I think sometimes we second guess quite a lot of ourselves when we're doing things and it's just having that confidence to go, even if you try something and it goes wrong, that's absolutely fine. It's just having the confidence to give it a go is the start point and then if it does, just reflect on it afterwards and that's absolutely okay.
[Louise]
And what piece of advice would you give to coaches to make a positive impact on a player's journey?
[Amanda]
I think a positive impact is such a big question. Are we talking about positive impact in football or is it life skills as well? A positive impact might just be that a child comes to your session and actually leaves with a smile on their face. That's a positive impact for me. It doesn't mean that you are creating, you know, the next Marcus Rashford or the next Alessia Russo. It's actually, they've come to the session, they've enjoyed themselves and they've learned something. And I think some in the challenging environments is just have we helped them with the life skill? Have we allowed them to resolve a conflict? Have we allowed them to be a little bit more resilient? And that's probably more of an impact than are they going to get the next England call up? I think there's so much more to it and such a small percentage make it that if we can really focus on some of the other stuff that can be really, really beneficial as well.
[Louise]
Yeah, I guess it's really important to kind of think about context and like what your team or what your players are doing and what their goals are and what you can do for them.
[Amanda]
Yeah, absolutely. And I think some of them it's there to enjoy themselves with their friends. And if we can teach them, you know, how to win fairly, how to lose in the right manner as well. That, you know, there's such important skills that our young people need to develop, especially post-COVID. I think we've got this real shift that they were in their own little bubbles for so long that some of those skills are lacking in some of the younger players. So that's a big impact that we can really make with what they're doing as well.
[Jamie]
Now, Amanda, we've recently had episodes on like planning for sessions and we've also talked about practice design. So listeners do go and check those out if you haven't already. And today you've joined us to talk about delivering and managing sessions. So it kind of makes a little nice story to start the new season with. So, sort of to start, do you have any advice to help new coaches or teachers to deliver their first session?
[Amanda]
I think start with a bit of a plan. Once you've got that plan, is, you know, link back to what I said before, just have that confidence to go with it. And then as it's going along, if you're having fun with the children, the children are having fun as well. And almost let that barrier down of getting involved and let them see that you're enjoying what you're doing. And they feed off you the energy that you give them. It might be something as simple as they're following a player dribbling with the ball. But if you're making it fun and exciting, then they think it's the best thing that they've done all day. So start with those elements and then build from there.
[Louise]
Would you say that there are things that coaches should look out for at the beginning of a session?
[Amanda]
Yeah, I think, you know, the general body language of the players that they come in. Are they high as kites running around the place? Because that's a different type of management that you need to do with that group. Is it that they're not keen and engaged, that they had a long day at school? Are they tired? I think you can see that straight away as the players will walk in with their body language. Do they want to jump in and play straight away or is there a little bit of coaxing that you might need to do? And I think that depends on the individuals that you've got. And once you see that, you can then work with them to help them overcome whether it's that fear of joining in or if it's the they need to run and burn off some energy. Perfect. We'll go run and burn off some energy and then I'll bring you back in and we'll start looking at what we're going to do in the session.
[Louise]
I guess that kind of applies for children as well as adults. If you're coaching the adult game, if someone's had a bad day at work, you can kind of pick up on that.
[Amanda]
Absolutely. And I think within the first 30 seconds of when you say hi at the start of the session, you notice that straight away. You can tell those that want to just sort of not make eye contact, put their bags down, not really ready to engage. And you can see the ones that are just like, oh, how's your day been, et cetera, et cetera. So you can really feed off that and then make some decisions on what you're doing from there.
[Jamie]
Just try and help coaches sort of like if they're thinking about their first session and then you say like some of the things that they might actually see. How in the moment do you kind of deal with those situations?
[Amanda]
I think with your plan just starting with a couple of ideas. So am I just going to start with the game? Is that game just going to be where we're going to start the session off with? Or is it that they need to have a little bit of a social time and we're just going to play a little bit of footy tennis as the first activity or a little 1v1 game, you know, just have a couple of ideas up your sleeves that you can then have a look at your players and go, okay, this is what they need today. They might just need to go straight into a game and I'm okay and comfortable with that. I might need to build it up into that game so I might have to start with something like a 1v1 activity where they're just working as individuals to help build up to that last bit. So I suppose it's just having those couple of ideas ready to go to start your session off.
[Jamie]
Brilliant, And whether it be through coaching or teaching, how do you know when the right time is to progress a practice?
[Amanda]
Rory-Morgan Really watching your players, I think, and watching the children. Are they starting to get tired? Are you starting to lose one or two of them? Or are they absolutely loving it and wanting to continue playing? And I think that's probably one of the... That noticing skill is so, so important and can be quite a hard skill to start with. I think sometimes we're quite eager to move it on. Well, if the children are playing the game and having a great time, let them do it for a little bit longer. And also if you're starting to lose a group of the players, then that's the time to either have a break, allow them to have a drinks break or bring them in for a quick discussion or some ideas that you want to go back over with them, let them have a rest and then go back into it. So I think all of those different techniques are really, really crucial to allow the flow of the session to continue and then really recognise what our players need at that point as well.
[Jamie]
And for a coach, there's so much potentially going on that you're obviously thinking about your plan and what the next activity might be. And then obviously you're looking at individuals as well as the group. Is there anything that maybe off the top of your head that you could think that coaches might need to look out for if maybe somebody's disengaged with the activity? So you say it might be that you might need to progress the activity but what is it that they're actually looking for there?
[Amanda]
Yeah, so I think it goes back to step with everything that we do. So are they finding it too easy? Are they finding it too difficult? Is that the reason for the disengagement? So do I need to make the space slightly bigger or slightly smaller? Do I need to change the task a little bit, make it easier for them or make it more difficult? Do I need to adjust the equipment that they're using, especially with the younger lot having a range of different balls in the bag that they can play with, whether it be a big inflatable tennis ball or whether it be a small skills ball or something slightly bigger just to change the equipment that they're using in that activity? Or do I need to change the people? Do I need to make it a 2v1, 3v2? Just making those assessments as we're going on. And I think we talk about step a lot, but it is definitely the most important thing a coach can use to help their sessions and make it easier, more engaging, more difficult. Or if it's not working, is it not working for one of those reasons as well. So always referring back to that is definitely the best bit of advice.
[Louise]
A big challenge a lot of coaches face is managing players with different abilities. Do you have any advice to help coaches manage their sessions so that they cater for everyone.
[Amanda]
So using Step Again would be the key thing, but also understanding why the players might not be struggling with that area or that activity and that it's OK that they might have a super strength in one area. And so not every player is going to be a fantastic dribbler and that's okay you don't need a team that can do that and not every player is might be the the best defenders and I think it's managing that range of abilities by going I'm okay and comfortable with that We're not trying to make 11 robots that are all really good at everything on the pitch at the same time. We're trying to create players that know what their super strengths are and know the areas that they might need to work a little bit more on. And then we can just talk to them about that and those individuals of going, would you like to get better at this? And the answer normally is, yes, I would. But then it's really praising them of the stuff that they are also good at. So allowing players to recognise if they are getting frustrated because they might not be the best dribbler. It's going, OK, keep trying. Have that resilience. Try, try again. But also going, but it's OK, because you are really good at passing. You're really good at defending whatever it is just so they don't get frustrated with that activity and just managing the players in the session rather than thinking that you have to change it all the time.
[Louise]
Yeah, I guess it's really important to think about a team really, isn't it? That's what a team is made up of, lots of people with different strengths.
[Amanda]
Yeah, loads of individuals in the team that they all work best and then allowing the players to recognise what their other teammates' strengths are. So it might be that little Sarah's best strength is dribbling, so how can the other players work with her to allow her to be really good at that. Or you might have someone that's super fast, or you might have someone that's really strong, or we have somebody that we know is going to be able to shield the ball well. And there's the teammates recognising that and then being able to play with their teammates to their super strengths.
[Jamie]
Do you ever pick players on certain teams or anything like that to try and bring those super strengths out and then almost giving the players the ownership to help their teammates out at all?
[Amanda]
Yeah, absolutely. Like definitely when I'm coaching, there's a lot of player ownership of them going, okay, who's on my team? How do I plan for that? I think winning was a bit of a dirty word a couple of years ago but I think it's important that they recognise how they can win, what can they do to work to win together, not win at all costs by any stretch of the imagination but what can we do as a team to recognise how that player plays, what we can do to help them. And then if they need a bit of help and support with something, how can we as a team work together to allow them to problem solve? And that problem solving element I think is really, really crucial and important. And we probably don't do enough of it, but I think we need to do more to help our players learn and develop.
[Jamie]
And another task that coaches can face is poor behaviour at training. Maybe it's just that some players might not be listening or just a couple are just catching up, you know, it might have been a long day at school and they're excited to see each other. What advice do you have to help coaches and teachers manage that situation?
[Amanda]
Behaviour management is sort of one of those, I think everyone's got their own individual style of it and it's definitely something when I was teaching that developed over the years and you'd always get that member of staff that say, oh, how do you deal with so and so? I find them really, really difficult and it's, well, I don't have a problem with them, but somebody else might do. And I think managing behaviour starts with building relationships. Start with the best relationships that you can build with those individuals. If they are a little bit more difficult, finding out what they enjoy, what's their favourite thing in the world that you want to talk to them about. And then I'd make sure that I'd have a conversation with them about it, whether it's something that I have any interest in or not, just be asking them, if they like the cricket, say, oh, who won the weekend? Who's your favourite player? Just to build that relationship to start with. And then from there, figuring out how best to support the group. So I was definitely really keen on positive behaviour management. So everything would be through praise. So catch them being good. As soon as they're good, lots and lots of praise. If that is your most difficult player and they're really challenging for you, that one moment when they do something that is good, make sure you praise them. From there it's really interesting that the group then catches on with what you're doing and if you're saying thank you to everyone for collecting in bits of equipment and that one child hasn't done anything, you see them trying to seek out a bit of equipment to go bring it in just so they get that bit of praise. So I think setting up that environment which is really positive, that positive behaviour management when they come through, that worked for me. I know every individual is different but build the relationships, be positive as much as possible that you can with them and just catch them being good. And then hopefully from there you get that buy-in and as soon as you've got the buy-in, then you're away. I think it's probably more difficult if you've lost the group, if you've had a difficult couple of weeks and then trying to get it back. And if you're in a situation where you have lost the group, just start again. Positive, be confident with them, give them lots and lots of praise, and then it will be a process and it will get there. I think you always had in teaching go, oh, you must be really strict for the first couple of weeks because that's the only way that you keep the group and then you ease off from there. For me that never worked. I always just wanted to go in and be myself, build the relationships, be positive with them and then hopefully have a really good relationship with the groups moving forward. I think in my teaching career I think I gave out the least number of detentions amongst me and the other staff because it worked for me but everyone's different so it is just navigating it and finding out what is best for you.
[Jamie]
Yeah and it's that the key thing just understanding your team as soon as you can understand their experiences their background what makes them tick so to speak it helps build relationships and you can manage that situation a lot more effectively.
[Amanda]
Yeah, absolutely. And I don't think any child has ever been born naughty. It's normally a product of the environment or how they're feeling or other stuff that's going on. And if you really find out and understand that, then you can really help and support them in what they need. And normally it is just acting out because they are not confident or feeling insecure or worried. And as soon as you set up that environment that they're happy, that's normally when they thrive. Brilliant advice.
[Louise]
And I guess while we're talking about positivity and stuff and positivity and environments, I guess one of the things that often happens in training is people might make mistakes or on match day they might make mistakes. Why is it so important that we need to be positive and calm when it comes to managing mistake.
[Amanda]
Players feed off us as coaches more than we know. They feed off our body language, what we say, what we do and creating an environment that they can express themselves is really, really key. So allowing them if they make a mistake while they're doing something, Praise the intention, not the mistake, but praise, that's a great idea, I can see what you were trying to do. Next time, try doing it like this. Obviously not try to be critical every single time, just praise the intent that I can understand why you've done that, I see what you were trying to do. And that can really set up that environment that you've got players that are free to express themselves and not going back to that, don't want robots on the pitch that are meticulous in their actions and what they're doing. We want them to have that little bit of creativity and then if they've done something that you're really not too sure of, just asking the questions, go on, tell me why, why did you try that? What did you see? What was the reason? And they might come back to you with something you go, yeah, fair enough. I didn't see that. Or it might be that you go, okay, well, next time try to think about doing it this way. And I think that is, it's so, so key for all players, whether they're young or old, just to have that, that freedom of going, it's okay. I'm not going to get shouted out for doing something that's a mistake. It's okay, this is what I've done, this is the reason behind it. And then the reaction after a mistake I think is more and more important. So for me, if they've made a mistake and lost the ball and they throw their hands up in the air and sulk, that's more of an issue for me than the mistake itself. If you've made a mistake, I want to see the reaction after it of, okay, I'm going to go win the ball back or I'm going to try to be better next time. I think that's more important for me and then that's praising that reaction after the mistake instead of talking about the mistake itself.
[Jamie]
How do you approach that, Jo, if it happens in training? Like if a player does react a bit negatively to any, whether it's a mistake or losing the ball, how does a coach, do you approach that situation?
[Amanda]
It depends on the individual. It might be the player that you can shout across the pitch and go, hang on a second, you know, that's not the best body language. Why are you doing that? Or it might be the sort of player that you need to do that in their ear as you walk past them of going, right, next time, tell me why was that the reaction afterwards and have that conversation. So it's knowing the individuals first and foremost with that and then understanding how they can take that feedback. And once you understand how they can take that feedback, then you can respond to that in the best way that's effective for them and for the group as well. Because it might be one of those situations where you want everyone to hear it and you go, right, I'm to the player, I'm not picking on you, but I want to highlight this to the whole group. If this happens again, this is what as a team we'd like to do and allowing the players to buy into that of going, this is the culture that we set in our team that if mistakes happen, this is everyone's reaction as in, is it an arm around the shoulder, is it they need some encouragement, etc. So that the players know what that culture looks like for them and they can set that environment themselves. And it's in collaboration with the coach, you know, we can lead that, but they might come up with something better than we do. So giving them, so if mistakes happen, what do we want to do? And they might come up with some far better examples than we might do as coaches.
[Jamie]
Do you have any tips to help people identify when they may need to intervene to either offer support or to offer whether it's solutions or to talk through solutions to players if they're struggling with something?
[Amanda]
I think body language is the start point. Have a look at that body language and see how they're acting and reacting to those different situations. I also think how many times they've made the same mistake, you know, not jumping on it the first time. Is it a second or a third time that something's happened before we sort of step in and intervene? And then also how worried we are about it as well in a game situation. So is it something that if it happens in a game, it's important that we don't want that to happen again? Or is it something that we go, okay, it's not the best, but we can move on and we can react to that. I think that sort of allows coaches to then think about, prioritise when they're stepping in and saying, right, no, this is what we need to look at. Or when it's something that we can go, actually, no, I'm okay with that. We can talk about that later, but I don't need to stop the practice or I don't need to jump in and have a chat with that player right now. It's sort of prioritising the things that you want to go after that session. So for example, if we were doing an out of possession session and we were concentrating on that defending and something happened when in possession that wasn't a focus, I wouldn't be worried about that for that session. Because if you try and coach everything all the time, it's too much for the players. So making sure that you're really focused on what we're going after in that session and thinking about it and highlighting the points and the moments in that priority order of what we're going after.
[Jamie]
And ultimately if somebody makes a mistake, it's like any walk in life isn't it? It's like it's something to learn from. So it's just important to give a bit of space, let them have a have a bit of a go, see if they can *** it next time, but after a few attempts maybe it might be that sort of supportive, or what can we do here to make it successful next time.
[Amanda]
Yeah, and those individuals knowing that about themselves, about how they want feedback as well, so as you get to know the group I think it's a really nice conversation to talk to them about how would you like feedback? And they can then tell you that as well, because I think most people know themselves better than anybody about how they best respond to stuff. I know as a player, I really liked it when someone told me it was really direct and said, right, this is what I want. I want you to do. Not everybody likes that, but I think asking those players and allowing them to think about what they want their feedback to look like can also really, really help because it might be, well, actually, I don't want that from the coach. I want it from a teammate or actually I need it at the end of the session or I need it during or and then allowing them to have that time to process it, repeat the activity and try and solve the problem for themselves.
[Louise]
Yeah it's really important to think that not everybody receives feedback in the same way. Not at all. Something coaches and teachers alike will experience is being bound by time. Most likely they've got an hour or so a week to use but time could get eaten up by players arriving at different times or other teams going over their time slot, setting up your activities and the list could go on. So do you have any top tips to help them manage whatever time they do have effectively?
[Amanda]
Yeah, I think it comes back to those lots of different ideas, like a plan A, a plan B, plan C maybe, of what you're doing. So those little arrival activities that they can jump straight into, whether there's two players there or 10 players there, Anything that can just start them going and playing. I think there's nothing worse than you've got a group of children or a group of players waiting around for everyone to be ready to get started because you're just wasting time, precious time that you've got with your players there. So can you get them started on an activity straight away that they can jump into, manage themselves. You can be dealing with any of the other issues of tying shoelaces or talking to a parent quickly or organizing players that aren't too sure what they're doing and just making sure you've got something set up that's really quick and easy to do that. I think almost having like a structure on a whiteboard at the start of the session can be a fantastic way of going, right guys, this is what we're doing today. This is the sort of the processes that we're going through. This is what we're looking at for today. And they can see where the session's going and that can really help your transition time between activities. So if they know they're going from a little 1v1 arrival game and then they're going into a 5v5 game straight after that, you can say, OK guys, can you go set the pitches up for how this is? And they can help move the cones and move the goals into those spaces that you need if you haven't had a chance to do that at the start of the session. Because I know sometimes if you're not getting there as early as you want to, or there's been bad traffic, or you've been caught up talking to a parent or a player, and you haven't had a chance to set your cones up, just having those ideas of the players knowing where it's going and what it looks like. They can really help you set up, pick up those cones, put down those cones and set up the pitches for you.
[Louise]
It's really good advice.
[Jamie]
How important is it to really hone your observation skills for session management? Because I'm just thinking we've talked a little bit and obviously previous episodes we've talked about obviously planning for sessions, obviously it's so important, obviously some people have more time than others to be able to do it, but how important is it to really, to really use your time wisely to observe your team to see how they're enjoying it, how they're reacting, whether they're developing compared to just maybe rushing along to fit your plan.
[Amanda]
I think you've got to have that time built into your session and it's okay. I think sometimes coaches think that they're cheating by just standing and watching, but actually that's the most important time to stand and reflect and have a look at what's going on. If you've got a co-coach to have that quick conversation of going, okay, what are we seeing? What do we need to go after next? But also trying to watch individuals through the weeks as well. So, you know, if you've got a big group of 16, 17 players, making sure that you take some time over a couple of weeks to really have a look at four or five each session, just to make sure that you can see where they're up to and analyse a little bit of information of what they're doing, what they look like, what you can help and support with, because doing that away from is more time that you probably don't have. So just making sure you take that time during the sessions to have a watch of individuals, little groups of players, and then having a look at the whole session as well, just to, like I said before, react to when you need to change it, when you might need to give them a drinks break, when you might need to move on to the next activity, just, just recognising what that looks like for your group. And it might be for your group, it's when the behaviour slips a little bit, is it when they start to get a little bit silly and that's okay, right, this is when I need to change it now because I've lost them a little bit and they want something new. And that's really dependent on the group that you've got. Some groups are quite happy doing the same activity for the whole hour and they will love it for the whole hour. Brilliant, fantastic, don't worry about changing it. If they're getting and developing and doing things that they're enjoying, perfect, but sometimes you might have a group that every 10 minutes they need to have a slightly different challenge, something that looks a little bit different because that's the sort of players that you've got.
[Louise]
And if we're thinking about communication, what strategies and communication methods can coaches and teachers use during a session to support player development?
[Amanda]
In terms of player development, it's that link to the feedback. How do they take that? What does that look like for them to really help them to develop? I know some of my players I work with, they're a little bit anxious. And if you go and speak to them in the session, that's them gone for the next five, 10 minutes because they're so focused on what they're doing. So understanding that that player's individual needs and how they need that feedback to help them to develop is really, really important. And I think players can develop in so many different ways. It doesn't necessarily need to be some help from the coach on the pitch at that point. It might be that watching a video clip of something that they've done or watching another player doing something can help them to develop. So it doesn't always have to be from the coach. If you set up a good environment that is player led, they can then seek out those ideas themselves and then come back and ask you questions about, I saw this, what do you think about this, how could I then link to develop it? If you set up an environment that the players are really keen to develop themselves, that might come from lots of different areas, not just you as the coach, but when they do need that help and support, having that relationship that you can step in and give them that feedback to sort of push them onto the next level.
[Jamie]
And just thinking a little bit more in detail in with like maybe some of the communication methods that coaches might be able to use. So I think we've, in some of our resources, we've said before you've kind of got the command approach, Q&A, observation and feedback. Have you got any examples that you could think of in your own coaching where you might have used those approaches and maybe when they're best being used.
[Amanda]
Yeah, I think it depends on the age of the players, your group as well and knowing what they need. I think as you get a bit further up in the open age, sometimes it needs to be command of actually I need you to be here and this is what it looks like. Whereas at that younger age, that sort of discovery learning of, okay, here is the problem, how could you solve it? And having that Q&A type of approach of going, this is what we see, what might you do? They can then come through and that really helps them to develop. Some of them really like doing it on a tactics board, moving counters around and going in this situation, this is what it looks like. Others might want to draw it or stand in those situations or scenarios and visually see it that way. When you then work through it with the group, allowing that sort of player ownership of this is how we would like to explore those techniques or actually we need the coach to step in now and tell us. Sometimes the players have gone to say, no, I just want you to tell me what do I need to do in this situation? And whether that's as an individual or to a unit or to the whole team, there's not one size fits all in terms of that communication piece. It's being adaptable to what they might need in that situation. Is it an arm around the shoulder? Is it, oh, that could have been a little bit more direct and that could have been a little bit better. This is what we need from you. Or is it that we need to solve some problems and the different ways and methods of solving that, whether it, like I said, on the whiteboard or as a group discussion or as a Q&A, there's so many different methods that work with different individuals. And then understanding that, you know, your squad will have lots of different individuals that will need different things in that and recognising who needs what, where and when, but also being kind to ourselves as coaches because we, you know, it might just be you and there might be 16 players and sometimes we just need to be a little bit kind to ourselves of going, right, I'm going to do my best here, but it might not be perfect and that's, that's okay as well.
[Louise]
And I guess what we've been talking about is additional needs that potentially different people have. Some players may have additional needs, so do you have any useful tips to help people keep their training sessions accessible for all?
[Amanda]
I think accessibility for all is so, so important. I think our environments need to make sure that we cater for whoever wants to come and join that and whatever needs that they might have. And I think there was, especially in the teaching environment, you might have children that have SEND needs that would have additional support, another adult in the room helping them out and too often they were taken away and in the corner working by themselves. And that was the bit that I really didn't like when I was in those environments. So I was really keen to make sure that any session or lesson that was put on, that everyone could be all together. And we adapt and change the session to make sure that we help and support any of those additional needs that players might have, whether it be physical needs that they might need, that they just need to change the space in the session to allow them to access it a little bit better. So, STEP again is the key thing to use to help and support any of those players with additional needs, to make sure that they can access what they're doing and in that asking the players what, if they have any additional needs, what they need the most to help to support them and they can come up and tell you, well actually I need, I might not be able to, if you've got cerebral palsy, I might not be able to run as far in this activity, so I need to make the space a little bit smaller. Or is it if they've got a hearing impairment that they need to make sure whenever you're talking that they are stood next to you, or where they can lip read. Or is it a visual impairment, so we need to make sure that we are using brightly coloured cones and bibs so that they can access those areas. And it can be tricky to navigate, but asking the players and parents if they are younger, they normally come up with so many ideas that can help and support themselves to do it because they're living with that additional need and that impairment, so they know exactly what needs to happen to support them. And then almost we've got the easy job of just making sure that we can put that on the grass. And once we know all of those ideas, it can be really easy to then just change the session slightly, which allows everyone to be fully involved in what we're doing.
[Jamie]
Brilliant. Now, looking back at everything we've discussed and we've kind of covered quite a lot in a small amount of time, we could go on for hours really diving into even more detail. But looking back at everything we've discussed, can you summarise maybe the key top tips on delivering and managing sessions that you would want coaches to take away from this episode?
[Amanda]
Firstly, be kind to yourself. Make sure that what you're doing is just be confident in it and if it is going wrong then that's okay. It goes wrong for even the top coaches. So just be kind in that situation and then just reflect and go, okay, how can I change this? What do I need to do? Just going back to step, thinking about the space, the task, the equipment, or the people that are involved with it, how we can help and support them with that. Also making sure that we are looking and observing our players' body language, how they're speaking, how they're reacting, and just taking those cues and triggers about when it might be the right time to stop a session, change it, move on, or if it's really not working, start again, do something that's different. And thinking about making sure that we finish in as many ways as possible of playing games, especially with the younger lots, of everything we do is a game. Whether it's a little 1v1 activity, whether it is a small-sided game, whether it is a 9v9 game, it's making sure that everything's a game that's competitive, fun and enjoyable.
[Louise]
Really good tips there. Also what we'd like to do is see if you can set the listeners a bit of a challenge. So based on what we've been speaking about today, something that people might want to go away and make a start on kind of developing some of these things.
[Amanda]
I think for me the challenge would be, can you try to interact with and speak to four or five individual players in each session and making sure you're rotating that on a three or four week basis. So as well as delivering your session and planning that really focusing on this session I'm going to work and speak to these three or four players whether it's individual feedback or whether it's talking to them and monitoring the session about how it's going just having that real focus of going after those individuals so that you don't miss anybody over a four or five week period.
[Louise]
And I guess it's a good way to kind of give yourself a limit of people so you don't feel overwhelmed.
[Amanda]
Yeah, absolutely. And it's not this, I don't have to coach all 16 of them all the time. It might get to the point where you're more confident of just going around and going, actually I'm going to work with this player and this player and this player, but especially at the start of the season, making sure that they all have some individual touch points over the first couple of weeks, I think is really, really crucial in what you're doing.
[Louise]
Yeah. Brilliant.
[Jamie]
Right. Well, we are coming up to the end of the show now but that does mean it's time for our Swift Session feature.
[Louise]
Yep, so the same as at the top of the show it's another 30 second challenge but this time we're going to ask you to explain to us a session idea in those 30 seconds. Are you up for this challenge?
[Amanda]
I’ll give it a go
[Louise]
You did very well before.
[Jamie]
Yes, sure you smashed this one out.
[Louise]
Once again, when the music starts you can begin.
[Amanda]
So two goals, either side of the pitch, line of players at either post opposite each other on a bit of a diagonal. Player one has a football and they've got to dribble over the halfway line of the pitch before they can shoot and score. That player will then run and touch the post at the opposite side and it turns into a 1v1 with the player at the opposite side and then it's just a 1v1 dribble shoot score. The other player hopefully gets their shot away, scores, goes around, touches the post. Little cycle.
[Jamie]
Very good. We'll give you that one. Thanks.
[Louise]
Is there anything else you wanted to add to that?
[Amanda]
Yeah, so I think it's a great quick activity that players get lots of repetition of 1v1 and lots of shots on goal as well which is really good and just making sure that they can't shoot until they pass the halfway line and it turns into some really good battles so it's a definite firm favorite in sessions I deliver.
[Louise]
Yeah sounds fun.
[Jamie]
Yeah brilliant well that was good yeah really like the idea And thank you very much for your time today, Amanda. I really appreciate you coming in. And we've been peppered with questions, but we've got so much insight and top tips that the listeners can take away. So we've really enjoyed it. I hope you have as well.
[Amanda]
Yeah, brilliant. Thank you so much for having me.
[Louise]
Thanks for coming. Brilliant.
[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 and for 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.