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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, we're Jamie and Louise, and today we're joined by Emily Senior, who's returning to Coachcast to talk all about tournaments and how to manage them. Well, hi Emily, welcome back to the studio. How are you?

[Emily]

Yeah, really good, thank you. Thanks for having me back.

[Louise]

Yeah, it's always nice to have you on. So thank you for joining us again. For anybody that hasn't tuned into an episode that you've been on before, can you tell our listeners a little bit about what it is that you do?

[Emily]

Yeah, I'm Emily Senior, regional coach developer for the Northeast and Yorkshire. And you'll probably tell that from the accent. So yeah, I coach, develop coaches from across the game, female coaches, male coaches, working in different environments all across the North Eastern Yorkshire.

[Louise]

Fantastic, thank you.

[Jamie]

Brilliant. And as you've been on before, you'll know that at the start of the show we always like to give our coaches and

[Louise]

our listeners some top tips. Yep, so we're gonna ask you to give us as many top coaching tips as you can in those 30 seconds. Are you up for the challenge again?

[Emily]

A little bit of pressure again but yeah we're up for it.

[Louise]

Okay when the music starts you can begin.

[Emily]

So first thing, make sure that we are always prioritising our outcome. If we've got the outcome clear in our mind, everything else that we do becomes really easy. We can observe the right things, we can give detail on the right things. That makes it very easy. Make sure that our practice design allows for loads of repetition of that, because if you've got repetition, you've got things that you can actually go in and intervene on. Make sure that we connect with our players. That is the most important thing. If you've got that connection, you can make it work for everybody. Wow. Thank you.

[Louise]

I don't know why, but I felt the urge.

[Jamie]

I love it. Really good top tips for everyone to take away. So, So yeah, thank you very much for that. Well, Emily, as we said, you've been on Coachcast before and you last joined us, I think it was to talk about Observation that roughly went out in about February. So how have you been since then and what have you been working on in that time?

[Emily]

Yeah, no, really good. We've we've had lots of projects going on since then, which has been really exciting. We've seen the start of and the launch of Powerhouse Project, which has been a really great programme that's been expanded in partnership with the Powerhouse Project and Nike and obviously us here at England Football Learning, which has been incredible. It's been really good to see so many coaches. I think we're at 30, roughly 30 across the country, but I've been working with the eight up here in the north and they've been doing fantastic things. And then the game's in a great place at the moment. I've been working with lots of different coaches across the game and seeing them excel, seeing them develop. So yeah, lots been going on. We're obviously ending towards the back end of the season now. So a very different point in the year, but that leads us on nicely to what we're going to talk about today. So yeah, in a good place.

[Louise]

Would you say you've had any learnings from any of the things like the Powerhouse project or anything? Have you kind of figured out something new that you've not kind of come across before or anything like that?

[Emily]

Every day feels like that, if I'm honest with you. Within the game, there's always something new to learn and develop on ourselves, even as coach developers, we're always learning. So no, not one thing in particular, but look, I learn from every single individual that I come across every single day. So I'm very fortunate in that. Yeah, there'll be lots of learnings. It'd be nice to take some time to reflect at some point over the summer to figure out what those things are.

[Louise]

Both really good messages that you never stop learning from people and also it's really good to reflect.

[Emily]

Absolutely that, absolutely that.

[Jamie]

Now Emily, at the time that this goes out it'll be currently pre-season, So what does that period of the year look like for you?

[Emily]

Yeah, pre-season for me is a part of the season or a part of the year that is completely full of opportunity. That's what pre-season's about. I work in the senior game, so quite results-driven, really competitive. It can be really difficult at times throughout that season to be able to look at certain parts of players' individual capabilities under more of a microscope and bring the social side of the game together when you feel like you're chasing results. So for me, pre-season is an opportunity to be able to do that, be able to get to know players a little bit better, be able to see how they interact with one another and to get to know them on a deeper level, both as players and as people. So for me, love pre-season. It's full of opportunity, which is great.

[Louise]

Would you say there's lots of things to do with team bonding and stuff? Have you got any tips of how you tend to do that?

[Emily]

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I know we're going to talk about it very shortly, but tournaments, great way for the social side to come out, a completely new environment, a way to give your players time to spend more time together instead of just the 90 minute match and then a couple of minutes after the game, get a full day together. If we don't have that, it can be social evenings where we get together, you know, we start to see end of season awards, what an important part of the preseason period. They are as well, or the off season. So it's a really good time of year to start connecting with individuals, both staff and players, a really good time for staff to have that social moment with a little less pressure as well.

[Jamie]

It's important working in that social corner, isn't it? Rather than everyone thinks pre-season, just being that sort of physical corner sort of thing, but social corner really does need the focus on as well, doesn't it?

[Emily]

Absolutely, absolutely. And particularly if you're working with the younger players, they won't get too much of that. If they're playing with players outside of school or different environments that they have on a week to week basis, they probably don't get all of their time to spend just enjoying the company of the teammates that are around them. And we all know what a big part of the game the social side is. So if they can connect well off the pitch, that's going to come on to the pitch as well. So yeah, really good opportunity to do that in pre-season.

[Jamie]

Now we've mentioned it a couple of times already in the few minutes that we've been recording that we are talking about tournaments today. They can equally be difficult but also really exciting. What side of the fence do you sit on there, Emily? Are you buzzing about tournaments?

[Emily]

I absolutely love tournaments. Probably comes from my fond memories of being a young player with summer tournaments. I really loved them growing up, again for a lot of the reasons that we've just mentioned, spending more time with people with really common interests that maybe I didn't see in my day-to-day when I was at school. I would then go out and see them when we were at our tournament, spend a whole day together. You even remember fond memories like the ice cream vans, the burger vans that are at the gala days alongside you and you know, it's that opportunity in between matches to have some fun with your teammates, maybe observe other teams and just the whole excitement around what a day together can be like. So yeah, I absolutely love them both as a young player and now as a coach.

[Louise]

Why do you think coaches should think about entering pre-season tournaments?

[Emily]

It's the perfect opportunity. We're using that word a lot already, it's a perfect opportunity to really look at players for different aspects so we can feel like the pressure's off, we don't have to think about executing a certain plan, it's all about exploring, being able to explore what capabilities your team have collectively, what capabilities individuals have that maybe we don't get to see sometimes within the season, within a short period of time. So we can see it as an opportunity to watch, discover and learn a little bit more about one another. So we can trial different positions, we can look at different formats of the game. So we might play traditionally seven a side, but we might want to join a five a side tournament, which brings out completely different demands for our players. So for me, that's what I love about it. That's what they can gain from it.

[Jamie]

Yeah, absolutely. If you was to list the top three sort of like benefits for it for somebody who maybe has never been involved in tournaments before, or maybe somebody who's not that intrigued about them, what would the top three benefits be then?

[Emily]

Yeah, opportunity to see players in different formats is a big one, which brings out different demands. The social, so that social connection with teammates, huge. And also trial in different positions, putting them in different areas of the game that they can explore different opportunities for themselves as well. So for me, that's the three most important parts of being in a tournament.

[Louise]

And if you had a coach heading off to their first tournament, what's the best piece of advice you can give them to help them prepare for the day, do you think?

[Emily]

Yeah, I think if it's not your tournament and it's one that you've been invited to, we can set targets, we can set challenges, whether that be individual or for the whole team. Make it really clear to them though that it is about exploring and make that something exciting, the way that we frame it as coaches can be really, really valuable to players. We wanna take that pressure off. That's exactly what preseason is about. It's not about results. It's not about being results driven. It might not be like that in your season, depending what age you're working with either. But pre-season, we really want it to feel like we're exploring the game. We're discovering different parts of our game. And if we can really sell that to our players and get their buying on that, that's going to make it more exciting for them as well. So putting in a little bit of groundwork in the lead up to the tournament, that it's going to be about discovering our game, exploring our game and using words like that, that makes them excited to go and be creative, be creative with how they go and play and try new things because you really will start to see different sides of players when they feel like they've got that freedom. So that's a really nice way to start thinking about it. But also there's a little bit we can do for parents as well. We want to make sure that they feel really clear on what the structure is going to be when we're heading to the tournament. You know, simple details in terms of the format of the day, what that's going to look like when they're there, the pieces in between, have we thought about what we can do in between each of the matches because we're not going to be playing non-stop, which I know can be scary sometimes when people think about tournaments, they think of that physical corner that you were speaking about earlier Jamie, so instead it's more about planning for the moments that are going to be in between and planning for the moments when we are on the pitch and what explorative challenges can we set for each of the different games. If we've got five games, why not have five different focuses that we have for the day where players can go and explore and have freedom within it.

[Louise]

I really like that, that kind of frames it in a different way that can get, I can imagine, the players can kind of take a bit of ownership for as well and kind of bring in what they might like to try out as well.

[Emily]

That's it exactly, giving them some ownership, great way to get the buy-in. Absolutely.

[Louise]

Have you got any tips for things that they could do in between, like in the down period?

[Emily]

There'll obviously be lots of other games going on, that's the beauty of a tournament. There's nonstop football, even if you're having a little rest. So there's an opportunity there for some observational challenges that we can have for opposition. And you know, I often see even our younger players, but also adults, really intrigued to get a bit analytical. They might not see it like that but starting to go and analyse certain aspects of other people's game. We're always learning then so they might be parts of the game. I'm quite excited because I'm taking my niece to her first tournament this weekend. And I know that there's going to be as much opportunity from the other games that are going on around us, where she might see another player doing a certain skill or trying something different that she's maybe not seen when she's played in the matches elsewhere. So there's the opportunity to look at that. Sometimes there might be different formats going on, so they can go and watch. If you've got a new format coming up in your season for this year, you might actually go and watch the pitch where they're playing that format and use that as a learning message as well. So there's so many opportunities there around the observational piece, but don't discourage the social side as well. There might be moments where you just want to let them, particularly if they're kids, go and have that time together where they get to know each other a bit better. They get to go to the ice cream van that's popped by to the tournament. They get to spend some time with one another's families and get to know each other a little bit better. So making sure you've got a nice balance of both, not overloading them with things that they must do around the observational tasks, but having that nice balance between the two is a really nice way to look at it.

[Jamie]

Yeah, and I like that and I like that key message because I can imagine going into it, whether it's a coach or in particular as a player, I'd like going into it just thinking you're just going to be playing all the time, like after one match going to another, to another, to another. It's not necessarily going to be the case and obviously if you go into your first tournament you probably wouldn't be necessarily aware that there is going to be a little bit of dying time for players to rest, for players to bond and so I just think that's a really important thing to say that actually you can use it as a learning moment but also yeah make sure that social corner, make sure you go and have fun at the end of the day. It's all about the kids having fun.

[Emily]

Absolutely. And again, if it is senior players that you're working with, they still need to build that connection. They still want to build a bond. It can be even harder with adults, with work life and other demands that go on away from the game. So they're going to need that time where they can just connect with teammates and have that little bit of downtime together. And you don't underestimate the power of that sometimes, because then taking that back onto the pitch when they know each other a little bit better on a personal level is really powerful as well.

[Louise]

It's really good to have like shared experiences, isn't it? And if they're in a tournament together, then it's a shared experience they can then bond over, I guess.

[Emily]

Absolutely.

[Louise]

What's the most common problem coaches could have at pre-season tournaments? And do you have any tips to help coaches to deal with it?

[Emily]

I think it can sometimes feel overwhelming when you are thinking about multiple fixtures. I think that can feel quite overwhelming, particularly when you're thinking about potentially getting to a quarterfinal or a semifinal or a final and you can end up getting hooked on that, hooked on the process of trying to get there. We really want to try and take that away throughout pre-season. It's brilliant of course for your players to experience some of the highs and also experience some of the lows. So the kind of format of that with the kind of results driven piece to an extent will give them that. And they need to experience that as well, the highs and lows to help with building resilience and composure, et cetera, all skills that become really important when we're playing the game. But we very much want to, like we said earlier, focus on exploring the game. What traits and attributes can we show our coach when we're on the pitch that we maybe haven't been able to show before. So giving them that opportunity to do that, as opposed to the pressure of trying to navigate their way through results and a performance for me is more the emphasis of pre-season because you will get way more from that. You're going to limit the kind of experiences and opportunities that your players get if you are focused on the results in the tournament. And that isn't what pre-season is there for. Pre-season's there to help us prepare. It's a moment of preparation, not a moment of chasing down silverware. Alright, so I think that's really important to remember and even at the elite part of the game, we know and most people that are a big fan of the game or supporter of the game, know that that's what pre-season is about even in the most elite part of the game. So it's very much about preparation. So make sure when we are going into it, it doesn't feel overwhelming, like we said earlier, as simple as having a different focus for each match. And it doesn't matter who the opposition is, stay clear on your focuses. There might be little ways that we can help them when we start to see them come up against the opposition, when we have a period pre-game if we've seen that team play, where we can give them a little bit more information that might help them on the pitch, but we don't want to overwhelm with that. We can have a clear focus and stick to that for every game.

[Jamie]

You touched on it just there in your answer, in terms of the tournaments are going to give like highs and lows. For coaches, do you have any top tips for like dealing with like winning and losing for the players like I can imagine and I'm not stereotypically saying it is just a younger players because older players might feel this way as well but like if they see a match as a as a big match say they're trying to get to a quarterfinal, semifinal and then final sort of a tournament but they've lost maybe. Is there any top tips for managing the emotions that come out of winning and losing?

[Emily]

When we try to talk about prevent rather than cure, right, and I think some of the ways we've already spoke about will help with that. Having this, using that language when we're framing the build up to the tournament or build up to tournament season, pre-season as exploring. It's all about exploring and discovering new ways. That gives a bit of a win-win feel to it because you can praise the moments that they are exploring and discovering things when they're at the tournament, which then will make them feel like that becomes a win. And so even if there's a loss in terms of fixtures, they'll still recognize the moments that they've achieved for the things that you set out to achieve prior to the tournament, which is why I think it's so important we frame it right before we go, because then our players have a really clear mindset as to this is what we're trying to get from this. The focus was to never try and get to a quarterfinal. The focus was not to get to the final. If that comes, it's a bonus, absolutely. And we can celebrate their moments. But that isn't what my coaches has outlined as us achieving. It's us going to discover, find out new parts of our game that we've maybe not unlocked before. And these are all the kind of terminology we want to use with players. Like, let's unlock a new skill. Let's unlock a new moment of the game that we've not found yet. Let's go connect with a new teammate that we've not connected with yet. Those are the wins that we want to try and focus on. And don't be shy in making that clear to your players that that's going to help for the season because that becomes the win. This is all about preparing for when we go into the season. If we unlock them new skills now, we're gonna be in a great place come the new season. So emphasis on that, as opposed to the results and the quarterfinals, the semifinals, etc. They all become just bonuses along the way as we start to grow.

[Louise]

Would you say, you've kind of mentioned like the start of the season and what have you, Would you say that there's ways they can, while having fun, they can still develop their skills? Like any other ways you can kind of suggest that you could do that?

[Emily]

Absolutely. Look, the beauty of football is the match itself brings out so many of our skill sets. So, and that's why you might be clever when you're planning your tournaments as to which formats you want to go into. So we know 3v3, if you can find a 3v3 tournament that's local to you, we know that that's going to enhance a lot of our technical and physical capabilities of players. So it's going to put them in 1v1 situations more often, 2v1 situations more often. They're going to see the ball more often, so more repetition of the technical actions. So that's going to develop that side of the game. If we look at the larger formats, then they are going to be looking at their team connections a little bit more. So their movement off the ball, their support play, how to create space as a team, how to penetrate teams, all become a little bit more under the microscope in our larger format so they can get a little bit more tactical in those kind of situations. So we can make our focus as very relevant to what we think the formats are going to bring out. It's like when we set up a practice design, I said it in my top tips earlier. When we set up a practice on the training ground for our players. We make sure that that practice allows lots of repetition of the outcome we want to get. So if we want to improve our pressing to force wide, then we're going to make sure the practice we set up allows for loads of repetition of pressing to force wide so that we can go and give the detail to help them get better at that. So if we choose the format in the tournament that is going to enhance the skill sets we want to develop, it's going to allow for lots more repetition of that so that we can give some detail and focus, whether that be in our breaks in between or pre-game to help the players enhance that when they go into the match. So that's a nice way to see it.

[Jamie]

Yeah, no, I really like that. And a couple of things that just kind of summarise from the past couple of answers, there's a few things just picking out in terms of the top tip of setting what success is as a team. Also ties into this making sure that you're developing skills as well, in terms of having that as the focus as well as obviously the fun element side of it as well. But also you mentioned like linking learning as well, like in terms of like you're preparing for the new season, this is going to help, but then also it gives you something that you remember that skill, you remember this in that tournament, that is your reference point saying this is why we do it. So I think some really really important things that you've said there. One thing we haven't necessarily touched on is, and it goes back to a question actually that we asked earlier in terms of like the potential problems that you might need to solve on there in tournaments, is kind of that squad rotation and sort of like playing time? I suppose it depends what tournament you're in and how many players you've got of course, but do you have any like tips to manage that?

[Emily]

You really want to give equal game time over tournaments, absolutely, because it is about opportunity and if that's what we're framing for players then that absolutely needs to be what we invest in as well. So making sure that there is equal game time, you can plan that out. This is the beauty of tournaments. You can plan that out prior to your tournament. Now there'll be little factors that do feed in as you're there. It might be that we're seeing a bit more fatigue from a certain player and that needs to change. It might be that just for one game someone's felt a bit of an injury and they'd be better going into the next one so we might need to adapt. It might be that a certain team that you're coming up against poses different problems that you know is going to help that player in your team that needs to really work on that and needs that challenge. So it might be better putting them in for that game to try and increase that challenge for them, but then making sure that whoever we've brought out of that to make sure that that player gets their challenge, gets an equal measure at having challenge in another game becomes really important because this is their opportunity to showcase skills without any real pressure on results and all that side of it. So we want to give everybody that opportunity to be able to do that, absolutely.

[Jamie]

Yeah, really, really important message. Like I say, everyone needs to be involved no matter what. And I just feel like it's important message to say, I know people want to win tournaments and stuff like that, but it is about development. It is about enjoyment and you can't really be enjoying that. Yeah, it's about them. They need to enjoy it, they need to be taking part.

[Emily]

100% absolutely. And that's why when you are thinking about your format, also be really clever with how many you want to take. And if it's looking like, you know, if we're entering a 5v5 tournament and we're taking 10 players, really we'd be better entering two teams. That's what we'd be better doing because we're gonna have five sat out in every single game and that's gonna make it really difficult for everybody involved and difficult for the players because they want to play and they should be able to play and showcase their opportunity in what at tournaments is going to be quite short time-framed matches. So that becomes really, really important. So enter a second team, get everybody playing. Don't worry about the physical demand in terms of everybody playing every game. If you've only got five and it's a 5v5, because we know they're going to get that downtime in between fixtures. So you would rather that and then get the opportunity to play and showcase skills and face new challenges than to have people say, oh, that's the last thing we want for players.

[Jamie]

Yeah, absolutely. I'm just thinking back to my experiences in tournaments when I was younger, and that's exactly what one year we did in terms of like just had too many players. So we entered a couple of teams, but we all got to play and that was much more enjoyable than just sitting and hoping that we get to be subbed on effectively. So yeah, it's a really good point that.

[Louise]

So imagine you've turned up at your tournament and you're about to play your first game, what should the coach say to their players at that point?

[Emily]

So I'd like to think at that point we've already framed what we're going into the tournament for. So it's a lot about reiterating them same messages, really emphasising that this is an opportunity for fun and we haven't done this before and if it's their first tournament as a team, this is a great way to get to know each other in a variety of different games. We're going to come up against different challenges. You might know what the first team's challenges are going to come up against If you do, if you have that kind of insight, no problem in sharing the kind of challenges you think they'll find in the first game, but not overwhelming them with information. That's the last thing we want to do. We've already framed what the day is about, So it's reiterating them same messages so that we can go into the game and feel like we have the freedom to play.

[Jamie]

Talking about information, and it is something that you did actually touch on at the start of the show to be fair, but just kind of carrying on to see a little bit more detail is in terms of the role that parents and carers actually have on the day. So do you have any advice to help coaches work more effectively with them and what, thinking from a parent perspective, do they need to be told? Because I get, you know, talk to a few people in terms of like how tournament experiences are for them and some parents don't actually get told maybe a lot which then obviously hopefully if they then told the information will then hopefully help with how they then interact on the day as well. So what sort of information would do you think that coaches should be telling parents?

[Emily]

Yeah, definitely the format of the day. That might also include rules because you want to create a really positive environment and if they feel like they have full knowledge of what is expected in the game then they're not going to offer any challenge if they see something different to maybe what they've seen in a league environment, because that will just leave them with questions. For example, if there's no pass backs allowed because the format's changed or anything like that, that might leave them confused on the side if they see something that they don't normally see. And the last thing we want is a negative environment and questions being thrown into the mix. So as much information as we can give around the rules and the format of the day, also what we framed for the players at the beginning, really important to share that with parents so that they can also bring through the same messages. Parents want to be involved. It's about sharing, sharing the insight that you've given to the players around exploring, and this is about discovering opportunity. Give that same message that we said around, this is about preparation for the season, it's not about winning or getting to the final, it is very much about developing our players and if they're aware of that then they're more likely to get on board with the key messages that we're sharing. They'll also want to know that the timing and the structure of the day, so if there is a tournament schedule and pictures that they need to be on when they arrive at the tournament venue, then it's important for us to share that with them so that it feels really at ease that they can follow the day through without you having to continuously keep everybody informed when they're there. So anything we can give to them that's been given to us in terms of format and organisation of the day I think makes it much easier that they feel in the loop.

[Louise]

Yeah, just makes it a bit easier to kind of focus on what you need to focus on the day instead of all the stuff that you could potentially put into place before.

[Emily]

Which is much more positive for the players as well, isn't it? Because everybody's on the same page, parents, coaches, players, everybody's singing from the same hymn sheet, which can only give to a positive environment.

[Louise]

I think as well, like, so there may be some players or, well, anybody who feels a bit more anxious if they don't know what is happening, what the plan is. So that might really help to put people's mind at ease. That's it, absolutely. In your experience, what's the most surprising thing that you've learnt from coaching at pre-season tournaments?

[Emily]

I think it is around the variety of opposition and the variety of challenges that you'll see. I think that's where players thrive and I think that's where as coaches we can help them thrive. We want to see a variety and challenge as a real positive. So if there's something different that we've not come up against in the league or against other teams in the past, that's an opportunity to put your players in what will feel a little bit uncomfortable and help them learn from it. That is always when we develop best, when we feel a little bit uncomfortable. So I think that's what I've liked and have probably been most challenged by in tournaments is that every game will likely be very different. So it's a lot of adapting for players, a lot of exploring for players and that's the beauty of it. So it's the challenge but it's the beauty of it because you'll gain a lot more confidence and a lot more ability from facing them challenges.

[Jamie]

Do you have any advice for coaches if they've got players who maybe they might be a little bit anxious or a bit nervous about tournaments at all?

[Emily]

A lot of that comes from the unknown if it's not something that we've been to it in in the past so gaining as much insight if it's not your tournament gaining as much information as you can from whoever is running the tournament will really help with that. Seeing the structure outlined, we always feel more comfortable when we feel more informed, so just gaining that. And I think as long as we're, like we said earlier, if everybody's on the same page and everybody's fully aware of what we're going after, that will put everybody at ease before we head to the tournament. So, and it's probably important to just say on here, that they're playing football. That's what we do on a week by week basis. There might be some people that don't think tournaments is the way they want to take their players into over the pre-season period. Overall alternatives are getting friendlies against other opposition that we've maybe played in the previous season or maybe looking at leagues that are local to our league but are maybe a bit different to the league that we play in on a weekly basis so that we're coming up against different opponents, different challenges, different formats, try out some different formats in your pre-season. It doesn't necessarily have to look like the tournament if you do feel anxious about it, but it is a great opportunity, particularly for that social side, to spend a whole day together. So see it as a positive.

[Jamie]

Have you ever had a tournament where things didn't necessarily go quite to plan and what happened and what did you learn from that experience?

[Emily]

Because of the way I look at tournaments and the way that I look at preseason in particular, I don't think that it couldn't not go right. And what I mean by that is, and it sounds a bit of a puzzle what I've just said to you there, but what I mean by that is, because we're going into it with no expectation over than exploring, trying to discover new ways to develop our skills, trial new skills, fail at new parts of the game, then there is no real failure to that. And that's the beauty of it for me. There is a no fear in the preseason period. So it's never really, I've never had a moment where I felt like this hasn't gone to plan. As long as we are consistently trying to get better and we go into every game wanting to get something new or learn something new from it, whether that be feeling it from a loss, feeling it from a failure but still gaining something from that, you can't really go wrong from that. So really I can't look back at any tournaments as a coach or a player and go on that I really struggled with. I've just always seen it as opportunity, opportunity to develop and grow. So hopefully that answers it some way.

[Jamie]

Yeah, I didn't know what the answer was going to be, but I actually really liked that one. It pulls back to what we've been talking about in terms of judging what success is and being open to things. So therefore, why would it not go to planning in that sense is what they're saying.

[Emily]

That's exactly the way I look at it yeah.

[Louise]

Have you ever taken part in arranging your own tournament at all and how did it go and do you have any advice on how people might do that?

[Emily]

I have arranged a tournament for a youth team that I took probably three years ago now. We had a variety of different age groups actually, so trying to pull that all together can feel a little overwhelming at first. You need different sized pitches, you have to think about the schedule that each team is going to come up against you then also need to think about what the rules are going to be in each format of the game. Trying to keep that, my big tip on that one would be trying to keep that as closely linked to what they're likely to be playing in that format going into the season because that helps everybody prepare for the kind of challenges are and that's what we said pre-season is about, it's about preparation to prepare people for what is coming so that's a nice way to do that. So yeah trying to pull all of that together initially can feel quite overwhelming. But the big advice would be just give yourself plenty of time, plenty of time in advance so that you can map out what that looks like for each of your age groups. Get the information out to everybody that is taking part. So once everybody's signed up, get that out to everybody that's taking part as clearly as you possibly can so that everything that you're informed of, they're informed of, they can distribute that to their parents, their players, et cetera. So that like we said earlier, if everybody's on the same hymn sheet, then everybody can make sure that they're pushing in the same direction. So that would be my biggest advice, but also make sure there's ice cream vans.

[Jamie]

Absolutely.

[Emily]

Ice cream vans and burger vans, something that gets that social interaction in between the fixtures. Make sure there's a little bit of that as well.

[Jamie]

Love that loads of memories going to the tuck shop. In between games for sure.

[Emily]

Absolutely maybe a healthy alternative.

[Jamie]

Yeah well yeah we'll advocate a healthy alternative for sure. Before we kind of go into like next section and kind of wrap in the podcast, what's kind of, have you got like a fond favourite memory of like any tournaments, whether from you playing in them or actually coaching in them at all?

[Emily]

I took one of the first teams I took, a grassroots under 11s girls side. I was around 18 years old as a coach and we did exactly what we said earlier. We had too many players. I think we played seven a side at the time. We were playing five a side in this tournament. We had too many players, so we did take two teams. Thankfully, it was me and another coach at the time, so we just split. We ended up getting both groups had gone through, done incredibly well. We'd seen players develop their skill sets to a level that we didn't expect. At that time we were so young, but we felt like we'd seen them develop as to what we'd seen over the season. In this one day is how we felt with it because we'd seen so many different parts to them that we hadn't seen in the past. At that point, there wasn't much 3v3 going about. It wasn't something that was seen as much. Obviously, we've seen how much that can help players technically, but back then, the 5v5 helped them massively with getting better with their ball mastery. And we'd seen that so much and we were seeing players throwing tricks in the games. They came up against one another and that social connection to both teams, you know, just having a great time. Of course, a bit competitive because that's the spirit of the game, but still just enjoying every moment of it. They actually both made it to the final. It was a really competitive final and to then see both sets of players on the podium all together, Didn't matter which one had won, all with their different coloured medals and just had the best day. There was lots of ice cream in that as well. You know, it was brilliant. It was really, really good and I can remember thinking, I think that was probably a big moment for me where It really hit home how much I loved coaching as well because everything kind of came into one we had the competitive nature We had yes a little bit of winning as well They wanted a little bit of that but more than anything they just really enjoyed themselves. They just absolutely loved it So that's probably my fondest memory in terms of tournaments, seeing them. And I still speak to some of those players now. They're making me feel old now because they're all adults, most of them at university, but like they have really fond memories of their tournaments and of their playing in that under 11 side so yeah that makes me really proud.

[Louise]

Yeah you can see it kind of as you're talking about it that obviously it's a really nice memory. Just before we do finish up is there any ever a time when you would say that a tournament isn't right for your team?

[Emily]

There is never a set way that you have to go about your pre-season. So it might be that you've recognised that you've actually put some social events on in your calendar over the pre-season period and that you potentially don't need tournaments to offer you that social connection. It might be that you know that in terms of skill set and on the pitch and the capabilities that you wanna develop on the pitch, that your players could get that from a variety of different formats, for example. So a tournament maybe wouldn't be the best way to do that for your players. It wouldn't give them a full diet of formats if you saw that as something that might be beneficial. So if you did, for example, want a 3v3 fixture one weekend in your summer period, you could do that and then flip it the next week and actually have 7v7, for example. So if you wanted to give them a full diet over a longer period of time and offer that social connection in a different way, then of course tournaments isn't the only way that you can go about giving them that full holistic approach over the pre-season period. So it isn't the only way. It is obviously a really nice way for lots of the reasons that we've discussed and discovered today, but it definitely isn't the only way. It's not a one size fits all. So if for whatever reason tournaments don't work for you in your environment, or maybe you can't get to a certain tournament that is local to you, there might only be a couple that are local to you, then there are other ways to make sure that your players get the full diet of the game. So it's about being creative with that and knowing what are the needs of your players, what are the needs of the individuals, and we'll structure a programme over pre-season that allows them to get all of those things.

[Jamie]

Looking back at everything that we've discussed in the episode so far, what would you like coaches to take away as the key messages?

[Emily]

The key messages for me are that pre-season is about opportunity, it's about discovering themselves as individuals, as players, but also discovering their teammates attributes and making that connection with teammates. So the social side of the game, but also a real opportunity to develop skill sets and discover skill sets with no fear. That's the big thing for me.

[Louise]

And if we were to ask you to challenge our coaches, so say they were going into a tournament or something similar, a little challenge that they could basically try if it's something that's quite new to them.

[Emily]

Yeah, if the tournament is brand new to you, definitely try and do what we said earlier. Look at how many fixtures are involved in that first initial period. That's without any quarterfinal, semifinal, any of that. The five that you get, for example, and have a really different Technical or tactical focus or maybe even a social focus Trying to build on that connection on the pitch for each game just one clear focus that everybody's going after There's no harm in having some individual focuses for the different individuals but a one team clear outcome that you want them to get for that game which is going to give everybody something to invest in, something to buy into and hopefully have lots of fun with along the way as well.

[Louise]

Yeah, love that.

[Jamie]

Yeah, absolutely. 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]

So another challenge for you, I know you like them. This one, we're going to ask you to explain a session idea to us in 30 seconds. Are you up for doing this again?

[Emily]

Absolutely, let's go for it. So music starts and you can begin. Okay. Okay, so we're going for a pressing focus this week. Imagine you've got three teams, three teams of four, get a space of around 20 by 30 yards. You want it short but wide. You've got two teams that are in possession trying to play across to the wide areas. They receive over the line, they win a point, but your pressing team is trying to guide and force central in towards the goals. If they can win the ball, their job is to finish very quickly. Okay, we just about got that out. Thank you very much. Thank you.

[Louise]

Do you need to add anything else to that now that the time has stopped?

[Emily]

I would probably just add that look a real emphasis on the detail that you bring to the players that are pressing. So because it allows for lots of repetition, which was one of the top tips we gave earlier. Lows of repetition of the pressing, it will be very high intensity because they're gonna be working hard, they're gonna be completely outnumbered by the in possession side, hence why we've made it quite short in terms of trying to get to the goal targets, whereas the in possession have a bit more width to work with, they must work in units, so they must work collectively together. So detail around hips to force central, so hips to goal, and then when they're guiding in they must make sure that their teammates are in a position to be able to get on the end of the pass and intercept to be able to finish. Brilliant. Love it.

[Jamie]

Thank you very much. Well, thank you very much for coming on and joining us again, Emily. It's been great to have you on to catch up and then also to hear and be excited by tournaments. Yeah. So hopefully you've enjoyed being with us.

[Emily]

Absolutely, thank you for having me.

[Jamie]

Right, well that is all we do have time for today. But don't forget to check out the description for the transcription of this episode and for all the links to our platforms. As always, you can head to the England Football Community to post your coaching questions for us to discuss on the podcast, or you can drop them in the comments section for this episode.

[Louise]

Yep, we love to help you out, so please do send your questions in. We'll be back soon, so if you haven't already, hit subscribe to make sure you don't miss it. From all of us at England Football Learning, thanks for listening.