Please Note: The transcript is automatically generated by Supertranslate.beta in case you come across any typos or misquotes during your reading.             
    
 
 
[Louise] 
Hello and welcome to Coachcast by England Football Learning, the coaching podcast that brings you insight from people across the game. I'm Louise and today I've got Matt hosting with me. And today we're joined by our guest, Suey Smith, who's returning to Coachcast to chat about how coaches can put the person first and why it's important. Hi, Sui. Welcome back to the show. How are you? 
 
[Suey] 
Thank you for having me again. I'm really good, thank you. 
 
[Louise] 
And welcome to Coachcast, Matt. 
 
[Matt] 
Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. Looking forward to it.
 
[Louise] 
Do you want to start us off, Suey, by reminding people again what it is that you do? Because I think your job role's changed since we last had you on. 
 
[Suey] 
It has, yes. In fact, I got the job on my last one but had to keep it really quiet so I am now I've moved teams into the FAYCD so youth coach developer within the boys academy so the pro game. 
 
[Louise] 
Going well? 
 
[Suey] 
Going really well so I've got five clubs that I look after regionally and then on course delivery with the AYA and the UFA. So in and around St. George's Park more as well
 
[Matt] 
Sounds like a busy time. 
 
[Suey] 
Very busy in April, May, especially trying to get coaches obviously through qualifications with it being the end of the season. And obviously the summer months just means that they're out more later night so it's good. 
 
[Matt] 
Fantastic, thanks for that. Just before we jump into sort of the main part of the show, as this is a coaching podcast, coaches could be on the way to training or to deliver sessions whilst listening so we always like to give them some great advice very early on in the episode. 
 
[Louise] 
Yep, so you're used to this because you've been on before, but it's your arrival activity so I'm going to ask you for as many top coaching tips as you can in 30 seconds. So, it might be ones you've said before as a reminder to people or it might be some new ones you've thought of. Are you up for that challenge? I'm ready. Okay. When the music starts, you can begin. 
 
[Suey] 
So my top tips would be, first off, have a smile. So right to training, make sure you smile. Ask the kids' players questions. How's the day been? Be organized, be on time where you can. Be positive, encouraging around the players. Again, put on a session what's challenging so hopefully take time to plan your session. Make sure at some point they put that game on so whether it's 3v3, 5v5. Again, when you put it on, ask them questions, check their understanding. I get... Oh, there we go. 
 
[Louise] 
You did some good ones. I was 
 
[Suey] 
nervous still. Nervous still. 
 
[Louise] 
So, as we have had you on not that long ago, we thought it might be really nice to just hear how things have been going since You've mentioned you've got a new job. Have you been doing anything particularly exciting in what you've been working on? 
 
[Suey] 
It's all exciting, starting a new role, working for the FA for 17 years this year. You kind of think that you know quite a lot, but then going into a new team, meeting new people, different dynamics. In the first year that I had was just around getting to know my colleagues, how they work, how the clubs work, getting grassroots to pro land. Very different in the sense of time on the grass, time with the players, how much I can interact with the coaches is far greater because most of them are full-time. So that's been a challenge in itself, just getting to know them. And I guess the coach cast itself is person first, player, well, I'm the same. So it's getting to the people I'm working with first and then the coach second to help them be better coaches, hopefully. So nothing exciting as such in terms of projects, but to get to know the job, the role, that's been the biggest excitement that I've had in the last year. 
 
[Louise] 
It's always a challenge isn't it, starting something new and kind of getting to grips with those things and challenge but exciting and really like nice to kind of work on some different skills and what have you. 
 
[Suey] 
Yeah, I thought I knew a lot in terms of coach development, especially in the grassroots land. And I do think I'm very familiar with that. But going into a different side of the game, I was a little bit fish out of water to start with. But the support around me has been brilliant. The clubs are fantastic that I work with. So I couldn't ask for a better transition really into the new role. 
 
[Matt] 
I think that honesty is really, really good as well. I think it's a really important piece to be able to be that brutally honest about stuff, particularly when you're like you say, switching into different sort of sides of the game. And you've already mentioned sort of moving into sort of talking about putting the person first and then the coach second from the context we've just had. But yeah, so you've joined us today to talk about putting the person first and the player second. So what does that actually mean in context? 
 
[Suey] 
I guess it's around everyone's different, everyone's got their individual skills or traits and to get the best out of players, they're a person, they have feelings, they have different interests, they're individuals that create the team that are potentially your coach and I think that's the biggest trick that we need to really understand is yes they wear the football kit, yes they're players when they turn up on a weekday or a weekend to play, but really they're a child, they're a person and something inside them makes them tick a little bit stronger than just putting them in a position to play on a Sunday or Saturday. 
 
[Louise] 
And why would you say that it's important for coaches to kind of do that? 
 
[Suey] 
I guess the experience I've had coaching in grassroots but also at WSL level as well is around looking back on my own personal experience of coaching those teams that actually in the moment is quite easy to be caught up in the short-term gains of three points, winning every week, feeling really good. But actually, the long-term of it is that, so I can go back to when I was coaching at 16, they're my friends now, and they're not players. They're friends, they're not professionals either. So I'm glad that I reflected on that to go. The long term is that they're going to be parents. They're going to have a job. They're going to fall out of love of football at some point. And that's potentially what the coaches you listen to today have is they've got players, children, adults that have different motivations to why they want to be a football. And we need to tap into that to make sure that they become good people when they grow up or again, different motivations to why. So yeah, long story short, it's more around my personal reflections of how I've coached players before and put player before person and on reflection it's person before player and it really helps them support and be good people themselves as they grow up. 
 
[Matt] 
I noticed sort of during your introduction to your new role as well like when you were speaking a moment ago you talk a lot about the time that you get on the grass with coaches. Is this something that you spend quite a lot of time talking to them about and trying to sort of influence their perspective on? 
 
[Suey] 
In academy it's very different because they have the players up to three times a week, maybe longer training time and then games on a weekend. So the contact time that they have with their players is far greater than the grassroots that might have 55 minutes on a Tuesday night and then a game. So the tools that the academy coaches and clubs have put in place to help the coaches understand who they are as a person first is fantastic. Every club's different and whether it's kind of like a show at the start of the season where they introduce their favourite pet, but they've got more time to be able to do that. In grassroots land, you think you've got one coach, potentially 15 players, they've got two parents or guardians each, you're looking at 45 relationships that one coach has to build over 50 minutes. So I think that's the biggest thing is getting them to understand that it has to be a long-term plan rather than short-term wins, tick a box or go, what's your favourite animal? What's your favourite thing that you have for tea or dinner if you're from down south. Yeah, we've got to see it as person first, but as a long term development plan for the coach to help them get to know the players. 
 
[Louise] 
Can you think of any examples of how you or a coach you support in a successfully used this person first approach? 
 
[Suey] 
The easiest way to start is potentially at the start of the season when you've got your players in, because then you can get them in and potentially have little games, you could send them some work in terms of like what's your favourite colour, favourite football team, favourite football player. So the start of the season is always those quick wins as such to get to know the players quicker. During the season, I think it's just more time of how you can connect and ask the right questions. And it doesn't have to always be football. So what they're doing at school, different interests. Sometimes it's a walk from the pitch to the car park with the parents to find out a little bit more. It's not about playing detective, but it's got to be meaningful, which will help you build trust with the players and the players trust you as well. 
 
[Matt] 
Have you got just, just a quick question that I've just kind of come into my head. I know obviously, typically coaches stick with that team through the stages, but every now and then they'll get a new player coming in at the beginning of the season. Is there any sort of like specific advice you'd have for coaches who know the majority of the team, but want to sort of get to know new members coming in? 
 
[Suey] 
Yeah, so when you're planning your session, you could purposely plan it with one of your most talkative players. So as you pair them up, it could be little Jimmy, you know he's really talkative, so you purposely pair them together to make him feel welcome. It could be that in your water breaks, you've got to find out a fact about your partner and then write it on the whiteboard or come back to you. So it doesn't have to necessarily be directly back to you as a coach. It could be that you ask your players to go find something interesting and then just during those breaks almost pulls the answers out of those players as well. But certainly, yeah, if you know your players, you can pair them up to help them then get to know each other quite quickly if there's someone new in. 
 
[Matt] 
That sounds really good. 
 
[Louise] 
Yeah. And do you think there's any like particularly important stuff that I know we've said like there doesn't have to be anything specific but is there something really important that you'd suggest that coaches try and find out about their players? 
 
[Suey] 
There's quite a lot in terms of, we look at the four corner model. So I've done it in the past I'm guilty of it but one of the first things is if they're late to training the easiest thing to do is look at your pretend watch on your wrist because they're late and that's putting the player first before the person but actually it might just be a conversation to the guardian or to themselves to go notice that you're a little bit late today, are you okay? Can I help with anything? So that could be from a really psych and caring point of view of knowing the person or the guardian first before the player. When it comes to in coaching, to help them understand a little bit more, it could be the questions that you ask them, brothers and sisters as well. So I think it's really important to get coaches to understand that they're there as children, as people, and then the rest will follow suit if the environment's right for them to learn. 
 
[Louise] 
Yeah, I think it's just, like you say, it's useful to kind of, it's not just the surface level stuff. I suppose there's some really important stuff that you could find out about your player and how that could affect how they're performing or how they're feeling. 
 
[Suey] 
Yeah, I guess there's more going on. And I was watching the Lionesses play Belgium on Tuesday night. And just before kickoff, they did an interview with Beth Mead and they spoke about obviously she'd lost her mum and the commentator had mentioned that we truly don't understand what people are going through just because they put the kit on. I mean, that's the biggest trauma that potentially someone could have. But for a child, it could just be that they lost the pet and they don't know how to regulate their emotions so they're upset. So it's just how you can spend time over a season getting to know players and maybe a tool could be around do you always have your go-to players? Are you self-aware of actually you've got a blind spot where you haven't even spoken to the goalkeeper for two sessions. So having that understanding of purposely planning I'm going to make a real effort to speak to these people today because I'm aware that I haven't even spoken to them because they're a goalkeeper and they were the goalkeeping coach. So I do think it's important, especially in this generation, that we have good conversations with our players to help them understand that we care as an individual for them as well. 
 
[Matt] 
What else do you think coaches should try and find out about their players in terms of what makes them tick and stuff like that? 
 
[Suey] 
Again, we could go like how they want to learn, how they want to be spoken to. So I'm working with a coach at the minute where he gets a group in and he poses a question and it's the same child that answers every single time, whereas there's someone that isn't confident speaking in front of large groups. So it's like how do we actually get use of using effective questioning so that the players can answer but it's not all hands-up approach and it's the loudest one that can shout out answers all the time. So look at different ways to pose a question but then to get the answer back. So it could be into pairs again and I'll come round and ask the answer or it could be write it down on the whiteboard and I'll read it later. It doesn't have to be an instant response. So I think planning how you talk to the players to help them as an individual will potentially help them open up a little bit more and have those conversations. Because you always get the confident players, the children, who will answer first, who will demonstrate first. But it's the quiet ones and they're the ones that you really need to spend time with to help them understand that they might be a little bit of an introvert, so how else can we get them to feel part of the group and again treat them as an individual. 
 
[Louise] 
Do you think there's any little games or arrival activities you could do that might help some of that to kind of get some of those? 
 
[Suey] 
Yeah, I think from experience, getting them to lead warmups. So a lot of them come with games, especially even at six years old, because they play it in the playground. So actually ask them who feels confident next week and maybe planning a rival activity or a little gear while I set up the session. Or again, so that's a really nice example of giving them trust and ownership. It could be that you just put them in 2v2 games and help them explore different partners, limited rules, limited kind of conditions or constraints to help them just get quickly into an activity. But certainly think about putting the ownership on them, because it might surprise you that the quiet one has a really good game, He just needs a little bit of confidence. So that's where you could, as a coach, almost go, do you want someone to help you set the session up next week? Or would you do it by yourself? So again, putting it back on that player to go, I'm quite brave to do it by myself. Or no, Could I ask Paul to help me, for example? So yeah, certainly get them to do maybe warm-ups, arrive at activities, being a captain. So again, choosing the right captain, you can really plan as a coach to choose someone that's quiet, as long as you know, they're not going to be too stressed out. 
 
[Louise] 
I guess you're learning about them by even asking those questions, aren't you? Because you're seeing how they react and what they think. So yeah, good option. 
 
[Matt] 
I think as well, it's the smaller the group, typically, I imagine it would be easier to get to know everyone. Have you got any tips for coaches who maybe look after a slightly larger group of players to do it effectively as well? 
 
[Suey] 
Get some help, but not a serious note, get the parents involved to help them as well. I think I said earlier, if you have 15 players, then you've got 15 relationships within the players to build, but then you've got different relationships with the guardians, the parents as well. So I think where we can get volunteers to help you, don't be afraid to maybe on parents' evening, go and ask a teacher, what skills do you use because you have a class of 30, I'm running a football team, can I steal any of your ideas to interact with them? But then it comes back to the long-term planning. So if you know you're going to take them all the way through the season and volunteer that way, take your time to get to know them. You can't get to know all 15 players in one session, especially 50 minutes a week. So just understand that it's a long-term goal, but really kind of put it into your planning to go, I'm going to spend enough time with this group today and get to know them as well. 
 
[Louise] 
That's good to know because it's kind of, I suppose it could feel really overwhelming to think you've got to get to know all these players all at once, but actually just bit by bit or kind of just taking bits of information you get as you're going along might be a really good way to approach it. Do you have any top tips for anyone if they don't have much time to kind of spend on this? 
 
[Suey] 
Some of it is a natural occurrence from your personality and I guess the jobs that people do you connect with people anyway. So whether it's your work colleagues, whether it's your family, your friends, so you've got different tools already that you have just through life experience. So sometimes it's not around planning it, it's more around who you are as a person. So just those little hellos, that smile on the face as you write a training, making use of the time that you've got them with. So as long as it doesn't eat into their football playing time, because they need to play more to help them develop, but making use of when they're running to get a bib, say, what's your favourite colour? Red, okay, well pick up the red bib. So those are the little things where I think our natural personalities will help us build relationships as well with the players. 
 
[Matt] 
Yeah, all of that sounds really, really good to be fair. I think it's, it sounds like those little moments in training, whether you've got a lot of time with them or not, are really good ways to sort of pick up information contextually as well. And it sounds like that's a really good way to do it, to be fair. Does what you need to know or sort of the approach you use to find out the information change depending on like the group that you're coaching do you think? 
 
[Suey] 
Age. Age can be a factor. Under 14s, especially the boys at the minute, because I've seen you'll say like hello to them and you'll get a grunt back. So it's also that their age and stage of development to make it relative to them, especially as they get older and they become self-aware of who they are. You might find that they don't have many conversations with you, or they're not willing to open up as much. So a simple fist bump or high five on the way, you're okay, little nod, you kind of know. So more read body language as well where you can as they get older, certainly with the younger ones they just come with lots of energy so you'll know if if they're off. So if they're not having a bit of a rough game for example, it's not the norm, it might be when you bring them off, you just double check that they're okay and it shouldn't be a performance issue, it should be just making sure you're okay because you look a bit kind of tired today and all of a sudden they might open up or the parents might say so. Don't be so quick to judge that just because they're having poor performance. It's down to the football. There could be different factors related to their age and stage 
 
[Louise] 
of development as well. If you do find out something from one of your players, like whether it's what their motivation is for being there or something like that. What do you then do with that information? Like how do you use it? 
 
[Suey] 
I guess it can be golden because it could just be a reminder of getting them to have a smile. So they come to training and they've got a bit of a face on and you could say is it McDonald's tonight and they have a little smile on and it's just an instant win and that trust building again. On the flip of it as well I think we always have to remember that there's got to be some safeguarding element as well so if they do come in and share something that's quite upsetting you've got to be aware of that safeguarding issue as well, like you've got to share it with the guardian, the parent or again the safeguarding officer. So there's a fine line between finding out too much information of your player and not sharing it with the correct people within your club. But certainly if they give you something like, if you know that their favourite player's Haaland, some point in that season, he might score a hat-trick. And then obviously that's that conversation, did you watch him at the weekend or et cetera? Yeah, yeah, yeah, how good was he? Brilliant, are you gonna play like him today? And the power of you remembering those golden moments absolutely enlightens the children, especially that, oh, they remembered. And it could be a birthday. It could be, it could be anything, but it's using it at the right time. And they'll feel so valued and belong into the team that that's enough for them to build those memories for a lifetime really at a club level. Do you remember when you said this to me 25 years ago? Yeah but it was brilliant wasn't it? And I'm saying that because I had that at the weekend with one of my players, she's 32, about to be a mum for the first time, but we reminisce when she was 12 and we played body parts and they had a right laugh and they're the golden moments that you don't get instant recognition for until 20 years down the line when you bump into them and the parents themselves and yeah that's what coaching is about in the grassroots land as well is is seeing those moments as you become adults and then parents again. 
 
[Matt] 
You've mentioned talking about you know if Harlan's their best player and like discovering motivations and stuff, how would you sort of suggest coaches use the information they get, particularly on like motivations or things that make them happy or positivity and stuff like that? How would you suggest coaches use that information to then develop their players further? 
 
[Suey] 
So again, it's sometimes they might have a preferred position or they may see themselves as a striker or goalkeeper. So I think after Mary Epps and the Euros a few years back, everybody wanted to be Mary Epps and a goalkeeper. So again, it's tying the two in to recognise, what a save, that was like Mary Epps. So using that or if you're going to watch them or match the day or different platforms for example, you could say when you're watching that player, what they're really good at, so you're helping them watch the game and fall in love with the game, but also reflect it in their own strengths as a player. So you could use that as to go, wow, you look like, you look like Grealish today. You've been watching him. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that little dribble and that little step over. And, and so again, it builds trust. It builds that meaningful relationship, but it helps them develop their game as well. And then they can see themselves a little bit in what a Premier League footballer or WSL footballer can do as well. 
 
[Louise] 
Would you say it's the type of thing that you'd use in like a development plan for people, like a little, I don't know, if they've got little goals or something like that that they might want to go for, would you use it in that or would you kind of keep those things separate to kind of development conversations and kind of... 
 
[Suey] 
No, so working in the academy football now, all the clubs have IDPs, so individual development plans and what some of the clubs, it's quite nice to see is they'll have a picture of them, let's say under 7s in the kit for the first time, and then they'll have a player that's potentially at the under 18s, who they might think actually you've got similar traits, and then they'll have someone in the first team as well. So what the club does really nicely is go actually this is you now, this is where you could be and this is when you're in Premier League, for example. And these are the traits that these two players have. So It's nice to see that the development plan actually where they could be if they work on those performance indicators. So they do it a lot in academies and especially then again, what is it that they need to work on? What's their strengths? What's their development plans? In grassroots land, again, I think a lot of it is a time constraint, but there's nothing then stopping you asking the players to come and do something. So if the game's called off at the weekend because of the weather, right, a trend on Tuesday, put your favourite football player on a piece of paper, write down what's really good about him or her, write down what you think you're really good at and see if you can kind of compare how similarities you have. So again, you could put it back on the player to go, look, we've got a free weekend, I want to know who your favourite player is, and then what's really good about them, right? What's really good about you? And let's kind of bring you together if we can. 
 
[Louise] 
Yeah, I like that idea. And would you say that there's stuff that you can use, that you're finding out about your players on match day as well as training? 
 
[Suey] 
So again, experience would be, I used to have a really good player that was fantastic training, but on a match day, wouldn't even want the ball, wouldn't speak. Really went in herself and it was, I couldn't work out what it was. There wasn't anything specific, it was just a different environment, different people, so I wasn't playing against the players that actually wore the same kit. So I think on match day it's more around kind of having more individual conversations, maybe at half-time. You've got the moments to do that because you have that 15 minute break. Then really understanding again what do you like about match day? What makes it different to training? But then you could reflect on yourself too. How much does your training reflect the match day? Or do you have completely different training match days that's potentially throwing that player off? So it could be that the player shows different kind of personality traits on a match day because your coaching behaviour's changed. So it's really important that for you as a coach your behaviour stay consistent because then the players can kind of work off that and then continue that trust. 
 
[Matt] 
It's one of those things where once you start to pick up bits and pieces of information about the players that you've got, whether you're grassroots or academy based, that will really help you to almost bring out the best in them in the best possible way for them. But obviously with the amount that we could talk about this topic, we're not saying coaches need to dive in and do this instantaneously are we? Like it will take a bit of time to sort of get to grips with that and then obviously like you mentioned earlier like learning more about the players to then it's almost like an upward spiral isn't it then over time? 
 
[Suey] 
Yeah and it's quite a deep kind of conversation about how we get to know them first before the player, but it's more around just that if we can have a coach at under sevens and we give them a crystal ball to say, look, when your players are 17, 18, they're more than likely going to go to university. So have you give them the tools to make friends? That's what it's around. And how well do you know your players and your parents? Because it's a life experience. It's not a job. It should be the first memories of your football team should be the best. And that's really around who you are as a coach. Do you want to be remembered as being a really fun coach that gave people opportunity to be themselves? So it's really important and say it's quite a deep conversation, but it's so important to give the players a time over the season to almost express themselves as well. Would you have any advice to help coaches plan 
 
[Louise] 
how they're going to do this a bit more? Like I know we've said you don't have to do it with everybody all the time. Is there a way that you'd approach it, like tie it in with some sessions in particular or something? 
 
[Suey] 
Yes, so you could almost go to that arrival activity to go each week, it's somebody different and if they need a support they can have, they can ask for a friend to help them. It just could be where you stand on the pitch. So again, I'll reflect on myself. I used to play midfield. So I tend to kind of, when I'm coaching, just naturally become drawn to the midfielders on the pitch because I think it's quite a lot of the similarities that I used to show, which would mean that my back's behind the back three, the back four, the back players. So actually, if I could think about my coaching position and go, John, I'm going to stand in the goalkeeper today, that would give me an opportunity to speak to the goalkeeper, the back players, how many you're using or whatever it is, I'm not going to be focusing in the middle of the pitch. So that could be a nice way for the coach to go, where do you stand, where do you see yourself talking? I helped a coach many years ago and I still use it now is on match day you end up talking to the two players that are on the same side as you. So it could be your left back and your left wing and in the second half they don't speak to them at all because they're too far away. So even on match day try to think about not just speaking to the players that are directly running past you up and down the line. So how do you then talk to them? So yeah, use match day skills as well to help you in terms of a heat map of going, yeah, she's right, I've just thought about that, I only talk to my left-sided players for the first 45 minutes, I don't speak to them again until the end of the game. So use those as indicators to go, I'm purposely going to look at talking or positioning myself in different ways on training or match day to help me see different players. 
 
[Matt] 
Yeah, and I think a lot of this, putting the person first before the player, a lot of it, like the advice that coaches are getting at the moment is self-awareness. And I think that's a massive thing. And that kind of links back into what I'm about to ask you. Looking back at everything that we've discussed, can you summarise the key bits of advice that you would give to coaches? 
 
[Suey] 
Have a smile on your face, be welcoming, which will then help them build trust. Ask questions where, again, it's not too much information, but quite light, so, do you have any pets? Just really quick wins that they'll say yes or no to. So really close questions, but you get a quick answer. And as you develop the relationships, then start to ask those open questions of, okay, you mentioned that you have a pet called Dexter. What type of dog is he? Is he a Labrador, et cetera? And go a little bit into there, but that happens over time. So smile on your face, ask close questions, start with, and then during the season open them up because you're referring back to them. Again, make use of drinks breaks, time to walk back to the car with the parents, just to have that little bit of talking time to them as well. But make it meaningful. Don't just do it as a tick box exercise. Okay. You're in it because you love the game, but also you want to help the players, but you also want them to become really good people first and foremost, and then the players will just develop over time. 
 
[Louise] 
And I think just the other part of it is just wanting to get to know who you're spending your time with when you're doing these sessions, and it must be really a lot nicer experience if you get to know all the people that you were spending time with. 
 
[Suey] 
Yeah, especially in the grassroots because they're volunteers. So if you're giving up two, three hours a week away from your own family to help other people develop, then it's got to be enjoyable for you as well. Yeah. 
 
[Louise] 
And if we were to ask you to give a kind of a challenge to our coaches for people who perhaps haven't approached this kind of thing before, what would be the first thing that you'd suggest that they do? 
 
[Suey] 
It's coming up to the end of the season. So the biggest thing would be if you're planning to have your group into the next season, so season 25, 26, maybe ask them one thing that they'd like to get better at next season. That's football obviously. But when they come back, then you start the conversation on what have you done over the six weeks holidays to help you get better at that? Have you been on holiday to practice etc? So if you're with a team already, ask them something that they'd like to come back to in August that'll help them be a better player. That's your closed question, then you open it up when they come back. If you're thinking of starting out as a new coach in the new season with your potential under-7s. Maybe look at just getting something really basic like a picture of the favourite player, so a template where they'd stick their favourite player there. What's your favourite animal? What do you like to have before a football match? Just those little things that they have to kind of take away and come back with. So as a new coach, just a little template, maybe three or four questions, stick a picture in of your favourite player and then it could help them develop those relationships as well. 
 
[Matt] 
Just from having played rugby quite a lot of time while I was growing up, I know when it comes to the end of the season typically they have like awards nights and stuff like that or like awards days and stuff like that. Do you reckon that's a really good opportunity to get to know your players as people without sort of the preface of today we're going to be working on dribbling or whatever? 
 
[Suey] 
I'm gonna be quite controversial so that's fine but we've got to have the right awards nights for the players. So too many times and I'm sat here because I've been guilty of it as a reflect is I've got hundreds of pounds of trophies on the table and I've got girls in front of me that's 9, 10, 11 years old and they're expected to sit for three hours and really it's just for the parents to have a good night. So if you are thinking of an awards night, bouncy castle, in the daytime, bit around us, different sports. That's how you get to know your players and different personalities as well. So certainly if there's something towards the end of the season to get to know your players, it isn't about the trophies and getting them to sit for three hours. It's about hiring a field, putting on a sports day as such and just getting your plate. You'll see different personalities come out then. It's not just football. 
 
[Louise] 
Yeah, that's a really good. Put it in a different setting and then you kind of see something from your players that you wouldn't have necessarily seen in training. Yeah. 
 
[Matt] 
Thanks for all of that, it's been fantastic. But we are coming to the end of the show now, which means that it's time for our Swift session feature. 
 
[Louise] 
Yes, so you're used to this. I'm not sure how many times you've done it now. Is it once or twice? 
 
[Suey] 
I'll still go over the 30 seconds. We'll give it a go again. 
 
[Louise] 
You know what the deal is, but for anybody who doesn't know, we're going to ask you to explain a session idea to us in 30 seconds. So we've got Sui the Pro, and we're going to Start the music and give it a go. 
 
[Suey] 
Three pitches, two teams. So again, you might have two on each pitch, make your pitches different sizes, different lengths. Then if they score a goal, they move to a different pitch. So you've got blues against the yellows, blue scores a goal, that player moves on to a different pitch and then you'll keep rotating around so you'll have different numbers playing against as many players as 1v1 to maybe 5v4. 
 
[Louise] 
Perfect, we didn't even need the whistle. You did it within 30 seconds. Is there anything else you wanted to add to the end of that to put any more context on it or are you? 
 
[Suey] 
My session? Yeah. I haven't made 
 
[Louise] 
a loud more than 30 seconds have I? Yeah you can tell us a bit more about it. 
 
[Suey] 
No it's just around obviously if we get them to explore different numbers so three pitches of different shapes so you might have quite a wide pitch, a thin pitch and a short pitch. Then players have to then use different dribbling skills, they might run with the ball on the pitch that's longer. But certainly changing when you score and you move pitch, you might start with 5v4 on your pitch and all of a sudden you're down to 1v1 because they've all scored and you've left with just you and the other player on the pitch. So that becomes a nice battle for the players that are not so confident as well, or they don't get a pass to, is they've got no one to pass to, they're just on the same pitch playing against someone maybe with a similar ability as well. 
 
[Matt] 
That's a brilliant idea that, Sui. With your wealth of experience as well, it's nice sitting here being part of this here and that, it sounds fantastic. Thank you very much for your time, It's been great having you on Coachcast and thank you for sharing your advice. Really appreciate it. 
 
[Suey] 
Thank you. 
 
[Matt] 
Right, that's all we have time for today, but don't forget to check out the episode description for the transcript of this episode and for all the links to all of our platforms. There you will be able to click through to the England Football Community, which is where you can post your coaching questions for us to discuss on the podcast or just 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.