Please Note: The transcript is automatically generated by Supertranslate.beta in case you come across any typos or misquotes during your reading.    

 

[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 Lee Brown who returns to Coachcast to answer your coaching questions. Hi Lee, welcome back to the show. How are you?

[Lee]

I'm good. Appreciate you having me.

[Louise]

It's really nice to have you back on again. For anybody that hasn't listened to an episode that you've been on before, can you give us a bit of a rundown of what it is that you do.

[Lee]

Yeah, probably a new role over the last few months. So I am a regional manager, grassroots coach development workforce. So my role is around supporting the coach development workforce in the grassroots game.

[Louise]

Fantastic.

[Jamie]

Thank you very much for that. Now, Lee, you have been on the podcast quite a few times, you're a regular here which we're very grateful for and you kindly joined us earlier in the season so usually we would have some top tips to get us started at the top of the show but today we thought we'd do something a little bit different.

[Louise]

Yeah so rather than doing our top tips in 30 seconds We thought we'd ask you to reflect on your coaching journey somewhere in the past and kind of see if you've got a favourite coaching story that you'd like to tell us.

[Lee]

Okay, one of the lessons that I learned and I didn't realise I'd learnt it until several years later, I was working in a primary school. So I was working for a community trust in a primary school, middle of a housing estate and the head teacher, her name was Erica Holt. And she said, if there was ever a time that you can't deal with the behaviour of the children, come and get me. And there was just a time, so I was probably late teens, early twenties, and I looked back at it and I sent one of the kids in to go and get the head teacher. Just because they were just in real pain that day and really couldn't kind of manage them. And the teacher came out and first of all, there's clearly some consequences to the behaviour of the head teachers there. But she spoke in like the softest, most monotone voice you could imagine. And all the kids were in a trance. I was in a trance, just listening. And their behaviour just changed immediately. And it wasn't until years later that I kind of started to reflect and went through a couple of coaching courses and did a little bit of learning around my behaviour as a coach and how when I want to, I guess, impact the behaviour of young people when I'm coaching them, that actually not to raise my voice, because when I raise my voice, they raise theirs, and I raise mine, and they raise theirs, and it ends up not saying a shouting match, but your voices are raised, nobody gets heard. So actually to speak in this more of a monotone, softer kind of voice, a lot slower, was really engaging for the young children who were at the football activity that we were doing after school. So that was a real kind of key lesson for me and one which I try to share with coaches around how you project your voice to calm situations down, but really captivate the group that you're speaking to.

[Louise]

Yeah, I love that. It's kind of, I suppose it's you putting out the energy that you want them to match I guess, so it's kind of quite interesting.

[Lee]

Yeah, or lowering that energy completely to try and manage some inappropriate behaviour, absolutely.

[Jamie]

Yeah, yeah, interesting. Ah, I love that, Thanks for sharing that story, that is good. Now for this episode, Lee, we've sourced a variety of questions which have been posted across our channels this season. A big thank you to everybody who's contributed, whether it's been asking the question on our socials, on our community platform, or even during the live webinars that you've been attending. So Lee, shall we dive in?

[Lee]

Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. I think these are the best questions. These are like the real questions that coaches want to know. So if I can share one or two bits of advice and one or two experiences that I've picked up along my 20-to-30-year coaching journey, then fantastic.

[Jamie]

Lovely. Well, the first section, we've kind of bunched them all up into themes to make it a bit easier and a bit more relevant. So the first section is going to be on training. And the first question we've got is on Instagram from Oli, which is how do you deal with imposter syndrome?

[Lee]

Interesting question around how somebody feels as an imposter. What do they feel they're imposing themselves on and how do they feel in an environment? My big bit of advice would be understand the environment that you're in and have some confidence in things that you are really good at. So again, if it was imposter syndrome in a training session, is it from a coach? Is it from a player? So in terms of understanding the context of the question will be important, but I'll try and give you some experiences from both lenses, I guess. So from a coach perspective, if you're working with other coaches, it will be kind of figuring out what are the strengths of the other coach that you're working with, what strengths do you have and how can they complement each other as opposed to feeling like you have to be somebody that you're uncomfortable with. So that will be something I would encourage. I guess from a grassroots perspective there may be mums and dads who haven't put themselves forward to coach the team and this individual may be the coach of the team and just have some confidence that you are doing a really positive job by providing some football activities for some young players. And then thinking about what is it that you feel as a coach, what areas do you feel uncomfortable with or you feel as though you're imposing yourself with, and then figure out what could I learn and how could I figure that information out? Who could I lean on for some support to develop myself in those areas. So hopefully that gives one or two answers. I guess you could say it from a player's perspective as well. So if you had a new player, how do you integrate them into your squad without them feeling as though they're an outsider, if that's the right phrase to use. Because it could be there's a player who is more advanced at any given moment than players that you already have. So how do you deal with that? So that will be like an integration of somebody into the team and how you develop relationships as opposed to it being around the technical, tactical side of the game. Thinking about how you develop those relationships with a player and also between players so they feel part of a team and also recognising other people's strengths within that team and not just that individual. So hopefully that answers a little bit of a question and gives one or two little ideas.

[Louise]

Yeah, really good to have that kind of three different viewpoints there. So really good. We've got a question from one of our past webinars. How can a coach quickly create the right environment for their players at training?

[Lee]

The first part to that I would pose the question about what is the right environment because if I was working with non-league adult players that's a completely different environment that I might try and create compared to if I was working with a group of under-8s for the first time. So I think the first thing to really think about is what is the right environment and what does that look and feel like in any given context. The big part for me will be the transparency behind that. So if it is grassroots football and I'm working with young players, it's understanding what they want from football, their motivations for football. If it is they want to be there for fun, they want to meet new friends, they want to feel fit and healthy by taking part in football, well I have to create an environment based on their motivations and aspirations. The other element of transparency will be with the parents and carers and people on the side of the pitch. So how do I provide that clarity on the environment I'm trying to create based on the wants and needs, the motivations of the players that are coming, because once these motivations on mums and dads might be slightly different to the children, for instance. So actually creating something where everybody can buy into the purpose of my football environment will be quite crucial. So yeah, that transparency piece, understanding individuals, understanding their motivation, and then making sure that's communicated is crucial. And then it links to like your behaviours as a coach. So my behaviours on the side of the pitch may differ from a non-league adult environment to under eight, for example, on a Saturday morning who are playing mini soccer. So my coach behaviours need to be adapted to the environment. If I was working with under 16s, potentially moving into under 18s football, under 18s football coming towards under 21s open age football, actually my behaviours might need to be adapted to prepare them for what comes next as well. So behaviours are quite crucial, but mums and dads and parents and players all understand that as well in terms of my behaviours. My practices will play a part in that. So what's the purpose of my session? What's the purpose of my environment? How do my practices link to that purpose, the motivations of players? So some players, it may be they want to get better and develop some technical skills. Well, actually, I might need to provide them with some practices to be able to do that. If it's very much around making effective decisions when teams are attacking, how do I provide opportunities for my players that are realistic to the game to make those decisions? So really understanding the environment you are trying to create based on the context you are in and adapting your behaviours and practices to that as well as a transparency would be crucial.

[Jamie]

Fantastic, yeah it's all about knowing your players realistically isn't it and what their wants and needs are.

[Lee]

Yeah and you could then take that into your club environment as well. So what's the purpose of the club? Some clubs, grassroots clubs for example, have got two teams. One is a, let's call it a participation-based team. One might be a little bit more development-focused in terms of the players and their motivations, aspirations. So again, you might be from the same club, but you might have to adapt it a little bit from that perspective. If you are in one of our thriving community clubs, which is two or three star, and it's very much around participation, increasing participation, providing opportunities for people to play football, again, considering the wants and needs of the club is going to be crucial to that environment as well. So there's a number of factors to consider but yeah just be really clear on like you said the the mums and dads, the players, the club on what it is you're trying to create based on their wants, needs, motivations.

[Jamie]

Next question that comes from Waze FC on Instagram, How do you keep 18 under 13s boys focused in training?

[Lee]

I'd say that's an easy one. Play a match. The first thing that they'll ask any age group, especially the teenagers, they're going to get to training, when are we playing a match? And my thought would be, are they going to be professional players first and foremost? If they're not, how can we give them what they want, but then couple that with maybe what they need? So if it is playing a match, I'm not suggesting you play a nine-a-side match on a small pitch. It may be that you've got a four-a-side and a three-a-side going, but that will be some element of a match. So two teams competing against each other, whatever that looks and feels like, because that's when players are really engaged. The second part to that play in a match will be then to put some, we will call it constraints. I think a better phrase might be put some little rules or rewards on it. So if you want them to score from crosses, for example, it might be, if anybody scores from a cross, it's a double goal. For example, if you wanted to work on intercepting, it could be, a reward would be If you intercept the ball and set somebody up, the goal counts as three. So you could still be working on intercepting or scoring from crosses, but within the context of playing a match. The next part to that would be like interventions, like how often you stop it and speak to players. So in terms of that engagement, 18 under 13s, the more I stop it, the more frustrated they're going to get. So my advice would be very much to limit yourself to maybe two or three stoppages during the session. So that will put a restriction on me without the players knowing it. And then I would challenge the coach to think about how they provide some individual support for players. That might be taking a player to the side of the pitch and give them a bit of support or advice or some tips. It might be, I would call it like a butterfly coach where you actually, you're on the pitch and you provide some support or guidance to an individual. So very much would be around the design of the practice specifically playing some kind of game, some kind of match and then my behaviors as a coach, my interventions as a coach to think about less stoppages, more individual support as games are going on.

[Louise]

Yeah, you can see how that would really suit that kind of age group. Another one from Instagram from Peters Village FC. Do you have any advice for training with under sevens who have ADHD?

[Lee]

The first thing to say is neurodiversities present themselves in different ways. So I'm pretty sure there'll be people listening to this who have behavioral challenges with some of their players for a multitude of reasons. So you've mentioned ADHD. I think the thing to notice is that actually that might present itself in different ways for different players. The other part for reference for coaches is that we are working on some neurodiversity workshops at this moment in time, and we are piloting them throughout the country. So keep a lookout, keep your eyes peeled, because there'll be some specific support that we're able to give on this subject. I think the big piece of advice that I would give to the coach would be to engage in the parents and carers of that individual. So what might trigger some of the behaviours that you're observing? And really start to maybe ask mum's dad's carers, how would you then deal with that behaviour? So rather than me trying to be the expert as the coach, the real experts are the mums and dads, the parents carers who engage with their sons and daughters every single day. So what triggers some behaviours that the coach is noticing and what interventions might I put into place to one, nullify the, I guess the risk factor of those behaviours occurring. But if those behaviours occur, how might I deal with that situation? So I think my, yeah, bit of advice would be to go to the parents and ask for that information because they'll be the people who can really support and provide that nuanced information because as I said ADHD might present itself for different players in different ways and that other other forms of neurodiversity that that also would would apply to. So yeah I would engage with with those people who are experts on the individual to support with the before the behaviors occurring during that behavior occurring to support the coach.

[Jamie]

And this one's from Ken on Instagram, do you have any sprinting advice and exercises since sprinting in football is different from athletics?

[Lee]

Interesting question, I think if you ask some people that I used to play with and some of my mates, sprinting was never one of my fortes. But look, when we talk about sprinting, clearly that's a huge part of the game of football. And quite often, when you look at the top level of the game, it will be very much positional specific. So the top level of the game, they will have GPS data to provide coaches with the types of sprints, the intensity of sprints, the duration of sprints. So there's all that data that comes from it. And the sports scientists, the people who work in the performance environment will have all of those data, all of those metrics, and be able to provide some really specific support for players at the top level of the game. When we're talking about grassroots football, I think it's thinking about the variety of movement skills that somebody's gonna require, sprinting being one of those. I think the biggest piece of advice for grassroots coaches, if you're asking about sprints, would be potentially to do a little bit of an analysis on your game. Now that doesn't have to be via video footage. You might just look at one player and note the number of sprints so you could tally up the number of sprints they do in a game. Is it turning to sprint backwards? Is it your team have just won the ball so it's a forward sprint? And then looking at how far those sprints might be. So I think you could do something reasonably simple as a grassroots coach to look at the volume of sprints. The challenge then is to replicate that in practices. So if you've got a really small area at training and you've got lots of players in a small area, the chances are you're not going to get loads of high intensity long sprints if that's something that comes out of analysing the game. So the important thing to then recognise is your practice design becomes crucial to replicate some of those sprints and other movements that players would do in a game.

[Jamie]

Yeah absolutely and just one thing to say there just like you mentioned obviously movement skills your episode that you did earlier this season is definitely one to look out for Ken so do go and check that one out to learn more about movement skills.

[Louise]

So we've got a question from the community from Stephen. How can you help players improve their finishing and decision making in the box so that they don't rush their chances?

[Lee]

Really, really Good question. I think on the course of my journey, and certainly on the infancy, finishing was always a line of players with a ball each, passing it to the coach, shout left or right, and then you smash it at the goalkeeper from the edge of the box. The reality is that's not how goals are scored in games of football. So the first thing, and it goes back to analyzing the game again. Go and have a look and analyze where assists come from and shots come from in your games. So whether that be under sevens, playing three v three, whether it be in people playing 9-a-side football, 11-a-side football, just go and do a little bit of analysis and tally up or just kind of plot out on a penalty area where shots come from, maybe where the assists come from for a shot and you might find there's not loads of assists because it might be deflections. And also look at the number of touches that somebody has before they have a shot. When you've got that information what that will do is give you some really clear ideas on how you might design a practice to get repetition of shots and finishes that occur in your game. And when I say your game, again, that could be seven V sevens, three V three, five V five, seven V seven, nine V nine, up to the 11-a-side game. So try and replicate that. The big bit of advice in terms of a general rule of thumb that I would put in would be to do like two penalty box sizes. So if it was the 11 v 11 game we know that the width of the penalty area is 44 yards so that will be the width of my practice and then it will be one and a half lengths so we know it's 18 yards add another nine yards onto that so 27 yards. So as a bit of a rule of thumb, if it was the 11 v 11 game, I would look at a penalty area or a practice design for finishing of maybe 44 yards wide by 27 yards long and have two goals in it and then I'd be looking at the number of players that I have in that because the question suggests that the person is or the player is under pressure when they score goals so it's likely to be in and around the penalty area which when you do the analysis that's where most goals are going to be scored from on one or two touch. So if I had, I don't know, 12 players, I had two goalkeepers and a 5v5 in the center of that area, if I was working the 11-a-side game, that will give me lots of repetition of finishes in and around the penalty area, in tight spaces, under pressure, where I'm going to have to adjust my body really quickly think creatively around how I can Finish on one or two touches in a variety of different ways Again, if you think about it being 5v5 football The penalty area is going to be a little bit narrower and it's going to be a little bit shorter in terms of the distance but the same principle will apply of the size of the penalty area and where goals are scored from as a general rule of thumb to try and replicate some of those challenging situations where you might have to finish under pressure quickly in a game.

[Jamie]

Yeah, and I like that. It's just replicating, you know, what's relevant to them and giving them repetition of what they're basically going to be experienced on matchday.

[Lee]

Yeah, and you might get little rebounds. It might be a deflection that goes in off somebody. That's the reality of types of goals that scored. It might be that somebody has a shot, it deflects off somebody that's trying to stop the ball going in the back of the net and it comes to me and I've got to shoot quickly. But replicating those moments will be crucial to that quick decision making under pressure being able to adjust my body, adjust my technique, being really adaptable in those scenarios.

[Jamie]

Fantastic. And the next one and the final one for the training section is from the community from James. What can coaches do to encourage players and give them the confidence to give goalkeeping a try?

[Lee]

It's a really good question, it's sometimes really bespoke isn't it? You want somebody to go in goal that gets the shots peppered at them. I think the big thing will be to just try and have a rotation. Now that's easier said than done trying to get the players to rotate. It goes back to a question around the environment, like how do I create an environment where there's fairness and equity in that environment, whatever that might look and feel like, but as part of positions. So certainly one of the things I would try and have from the outset is that rotation of positions. Because if I'm a goalkeeper, take the save in the ball out. It may be that I've got to pass the ball out to a defender. So I'll be working on passing, as an example, to one of my teammates. I'll be judging the flight and trajectory of the ball to be able to come out. So I think you could sell some development points potentially to mums and dads of younger players, but also to players that might categorise themselves as outfield players as how they might develop themselves by being a goalkeeper, being able to see the whole pitch and some of the things that the opposition are doing, some of the things that their team are doing to defend and how that might help them when they go back onto the pitch as an outfield player. So I think I would try and sell some of those messages to the players. I'd be looking at the environment that I create so that fairness and equity in that to have a rotation and that comes to the players buying into it, mums and dads buying into that environment as well. Yes, we're talking about training and having a go. Again, do you have one goal at one end in training as opposed to a goal at each end? And a scoring method might be dribbling the ball into an end zone, like an American football end zone, as opposed to shooting, and both teams get a chance to swap, so you don't have to have somebody in goal at both ends all the time. So I think there's little things that you can do. Like it's easy for me to say here, sit here and say, have a go at doing these things. And it might be things that somebody has tried already. So the other thing I would do is speak with other coaches, how have they overcome some of those challenges around people going in goal? Because I don't sit here and say I've got the answer to everything, but certainly the environment, how you rotate them, how you sell some of those messages of development outcomes. It may be if you have a going goal, you play the whole of your fixture. So rather than rotating the goalkeeper, you get a chance to play for the whole game and you just rotate the team on a match day in terms of game time as well. So there's different things that I could sit here and say, look, this is great, I need to have a go. So have a go at them if they're new, but I would encourage people to speak to other coaches who have, yeah, they're going to give you a lot more experiences that might support as well.

[Louise]

So we're moving into another section now, game formats, so we've got some questions from recent webinars. So the first question is, transitioning to 9v9 means the introduction of the offside rule. What's the best way to teach this to players?

[Lee]

The first thing I would say is don't panic, don't worry about it, because if you ask players what it is, most of them will be able to tell you. It's just the applying it is sometimes the challenge. And like anything in life, people will learn things at different rates. So you might get some players understand the law and that might take them different times to understand it, but it's also going to take them different amounts of time to then apply it. The challenge is always somebody makes a forward run and then the pass is not timed right because somebody doesn't understand how to time that pass, they're waiting for them to get somewhere. But that's part of learning, right, for young players. So don't worry in terms of their understanding, they'll all understand it at different rates and they will all be able to apply offside, whether that be from an attacking or defending perspective at different rates. The big thing is just make sure it's part of training. I think so often I see coaches play a game at the end of training, but don't necessarily enforce that you are playing offsides, and offsides is a rule, is a law that you are playing to. So I would be a big advocate of making sure in your training sessions, just make sure that your practices and your training matches include off sides. And I'm not saying you do a specific training session on off side, because it might be through balls, as an example, you need to stay on sides to get on the end of a through ball. It might specifically not be that you're working offside, there might be some topics that are hidden. It could be like intercepting, for example, and somebody's trying to get the other side of the defenders from intercepting. But it might be a hidden topic that you have around offside to support individuals relevant to them. So one, don't worry about it, they'll all understand it at different rates, just incorporate it in your practices and in your training games. Guess the season that they're going into it, just before that season, the second half of the season I think will be a really good time to really enforce those messages in preparation for the following kind of August, September time when they start.

[Jamie]

What are the best training session activities to help girls adjust from 5v5 to 7v7?

[Lee]

I would say it wouldn't matter whether it is girls or boys first and foremost in terms of adjusting from 5v5 to 7v7. In terms of training activities I would just suggest the space that you use is crucial. So a 5v5 pitch 50 by 30 something along those lines, 60 by 40 is going to be your 7v7 pitch there or thereabout. So again you're helping players Understand how to use a different space and also you're gonna have an extra two players on the pitch So essentially what you're helping them do is deal with that space and deal with two extra players Now for example in 7v7 if you were to play a formation that you had three midfield players but in 5v5 you were playing with two midfield players or you had two kind of defending players and two attacking players you might want to consider how you get players working in groups of threes because they may not have been used to that. It could be that you want to get them in working in groups of fours. So three things, get them working in threes and fours potentially in training if that's what they're going to need to do in the games. The space is crucial to provide them with appropriate spaces to figure out how to use that space effectively. And then you're going to have two more players on the pitch. So you've gone from 10 players on the pitch to 14 players on the pitch, how you might interact with different people, but it's links to working in threes and fours.

[Louise]

And the final question in the game format section, also from a webinar, how can coaches help players who struggle with confidence when they move into bigger formats?

[Lee]

It's a really good question because it happens quite a lot that somebody might be brilliant in 7v7 and go to 9v9 where the laws change slightly, you've got off sides bigger pitch, more players, and all of a sudden they're like, I can't deal with it, and they're not as effective in that format of the game as they were before. The first one is give them some reassurances that they're getting used to a change of format. It's a bit like if you move from primary school to secondary school, you might need some reassurances or you move up a class in school and you've got a different teacher, different classroom. It takes you a while to get used to that environment. So first and foremost, give the individual or individuals some reassurances that it's okay to feel a bit uncomfortable sometimes because they're getting used to something and that will be quite crucial. Saying like, I understand it's challenging, I understand we're going to a different format, it might not be perfect all the time, We might struggle at times, but we're going to help each other through it. So that reassurance I think would be crucial. The next part is provide them with some positive reinforcement. So when they do something really positive linked to that change of format, make sure they know it, as opposed to honing on, oh we can't do this, or we're not using space effectively, or we haven't got the physical capacity to run up and down the pitch that we used to do. But they're all things that will come with time as players get older, pitches get bigger, players get bigger. And they get bigger at different rates. But just give them some reassurances, linking to the positive actions that they make in a game, as opposed to focus on the can't-dos, focus on things that they are doing would be quite crucial. I think that's two really important things around confidence to support individuals. And then there's the training sessions going back to that, like providing practices where they're going to have to utilize bigger spaces and different numbers of players. Again, it's quite crucial because then you can transfer that learning from training into the matches and to give them some reassurance again, we've done it in training, you'll be okay in a match. It might not look perfectly with time but we've done some work in training so I guess you could say not trying to give them advice on things during matchday that you haven't already supported within training because that might be a bit alien to them. So reassurance and positivity, I think are quite crucial.

[Jamie]

Yeah, it's really key like linking that learning from training to match day and again, going back to the repetition, the relevance and the realism to the actual game that they're going to have on the weekend.

[Lee]

Absolutely. And I think from seeing training sessions, I guess reflecting on me and things that I might have done in my infancy as a coach, when things are unopposed and I don't have opposition in the practices, well, I don't get a chance to utilize the spaces because the opposition aren't stopping me from using those spaces. So yeah, absolutely. The realism of the challenge that you have, a problem-centered approach to your practices would be quite crucial in terms of developing their confidence.

[Jamie]

Fantastic. These next bunch of questions are all focused on match day And the first one comes from Yanusa on Facebook. How do you constructively give players feedback in the heat of the moment?

[Lee]

Really, really good question. I guess who is in the heat of the moment is my first question back. So the first one, heat of the moment could be very much around coaches and coaching. I really have to focus on how I control my emotions as a coach. So if I was to get frustrated because somebody hasn't performed an action that I would expect them to make because the opposition are doing something that's inappropriate because the opposition coach is behaving in a way which I don't agree with, that could also be in the heat of the moment. So I think the first thing from a coaching perspective is to really focus on yourself to make sure that you are able to control your emotions and then subsequently articulate yourself in a positive way for your players when you're under pressure as a coach or when you're in the heat of the moment and that's crucial first and foremost. If it is the players when we're talking about the heat of the moment or it's a game, the challenge is always to make a decision on when I connect with them, when I speak with them, when I intervene. Like in the moment might not be the most positive thing. So I look at it from a perspective, okay, I've observed something, I've observed the behavior, I've observed an action, and I want to support somebody. Do I deal with it there and then? That's up to the coach to decide. Do I wait for a break in play? So it could be a throw in, a goal kick, a free kick to get a little message on. If it's a short message that might be appropriate it might be something a little bit longer. Do I wait till half time when I have a little bit longer to support somebody and speak to them on an individual basis? Am I working with rolling substitutions and can I find the appropriate moment to roll that player off to then get them back on the pitch again? Again, so it doesn't look obvious that I'm taking them off for a specific reason. Do I wait till after the game to have a conversation with them when actually we're probably out of the heat or the pressurized, the stress of a game of football. The other one is, just do I wait for training? So do I actually just wait and put something into training? If it is training, do I speak to the individual? Do I just deliver a training session which will help them with whatever it is I've observed without even telling them. So it's a really long answer for the players, but I think we have to be really thought out as a coach as to what's happened, what have I observed, and when's the most appropriate time to deal with the behavior or the action that I think needs support.

[Louise]

Yeah, and that's lots of things to think about, isn't it?

[Jamie]

Yeah, and I think that last bit where you're just like saying like just thinking about the most appropriate time, just having a little bit of a step back, considering when and where the message should be given. Is it something that can be done at halftime, after the game, at training or whatever, just so that you're kind of almost taken out of the heat of the moment so that you can actually reflect constructively yourself before giving that feedback?

[Lee]

And it goes back to, as a coach, being able to control your emotions, understanding yourself and some of your triggers for your emotions and being able to control that yourself. Because if we can't control it ourselves as coaches and a scenario occurs and we are too wrapped up in the game and bull watching a bit like at Wimbledon, we're going side to side, sometimes we don't see things that might really help us. So I think, yeah, like you said, that's a crucial element of controlling your emotions to be able to then support the individuals that you're working with.

[Louise]

And it's just good to know that you don't have to deal with everything in the heat of the moment, whereas perhaps this person's perhaps not considered that that might be an option.

[Lee]

If I'm working with under 18s and we've just conceded from a corner and let's say I was meant to know there was a certain player that was meant to be marking somebody else. Well, I've got to get that message on next time there's a free kick. Don't let that person score. You know, you have to mark them. That's your job. That's That could be something I get across. If it's something I'm marking for eight and nine year olds, well, actually I could maybe park that one and support them with how we mark players in different environments when they're seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, whenever their most appropriate moment might be. So again, yeah, it's thinking about the moment you're observing, the context of the game, the development of the players, controlling your emotions. There's a multitude of things to consider, but controlling your emotions and having a deep consideration of the most appropriate time to then engage with that player would be my advice.

[Louise]

So what do you do to keep your subs engaged on a matchday?

[Lee]

I love this one and it's something that I've spoken about with coaches loads and loads of times before. I'll tell you a little story. I was watching my friend's son, watching his team play and the opposition had I think three or four subs they were in a red and yellow kit I can picture it now so you've got two teams one's in a white and black kit one's in a red and yellow kit and there was four children and they were playing a game on the side of the pitch on a park and it was who can get the ball in the bin first, dropping it and kicking the ball in the bin. While this was happening their team conceded and the coach's behavior was jumping up and down frustrated and they saw that. This genuinely happened. So when it was a case of bring the subs on, the subs wanted to carry on playing, kick a ball in the bin instead of coming onto the pitch. So my message in there is one, the behavior of the coach will impact the engagement of the substitutions. So it goes back to behaviors again. So the behaviors of the coach will impact the engagement of the subs. So what could I do? One would be doing some analysis on the side of the pitch. And that could be seven, eight year olds doing that as well as adult players. In school, kids are paired up and they share experiences and give each other feedback. It was only yesterday that my daughter's come home and she's working, she's four years old, in reception class, and she's working with one of the year one children talking about letters and things. They work together, the kids are used to doing that. So it could be a younger age group, then I'm watching one of my mates to give them some feedback on something. A coach tells me, for example, I'm going to go on and this is the position that I'm going to play, go and watch the game and think about what I might do when I come on the pitch to have a positive effect on the game and be better than my opponent, for example. So absolutely you could get players of any age observing the game on the side of the pitch, thinking about how they might give their mates some advice, or how they might perform when they go on the pitch and I'll be asking them some questions. So that would be one way of engaging the subs. I guess you could say ball in the bin, the example I gave earlier on, and little fun games on the side of the pitch. The biggest one would be play like a little 2v2 match. If you've got four subs, set up a little pitch, get some mini goals or just put some jumpers for goalposts and get them playing a little 2v2 match on the side of the pitch while the game is going on. That may be between your team because they've got four subs, but if you've got four subs and they've got one, why not get the opposition's one sub involved and get them playing a little game on the side of the pitch. Now if you want that to be uninfluenced by adults, great. If there's two or three of you that are coaching the team, maybe one person's responsibility on match day from your team could be playing a little practice, a little training session with the subs on the side of the pitch to help them with a given topic. And I've seen it so many times, freezing cold, little kiddies on the side of the pitch, shivering in the winter, waiting to get on. When they get on, they're kind of, they're frozen before they've even kicked a ball. So, yeah, it's okay, go and warm up, that's fine. That's maybe the old school thing to do. But yeah, playing little matches, the little 2v2, 3v3, 4v4 games on the side of the pitch, if you're fortunate to have the facilities to do that, because granted, you may be playing on a 3G pitch and you don't have an opportunity to play a little game. It might be some little 1v1 games you ask your players to do. It might be going stand with your mum or dad, who are going to keep you warm. That could be another thing in the winter because they've got some big coats on. But certainly some little analysis tasks would be nice, whether they're tallies, whether it be feeding back, but playing some little activities, either a little training session with another coach, if you're fortunate to have space and that available, engaging with the opposition to play some little games would be great if you've got that facility and opportunity to do it.

[Jamie]

Yeah, it's certainly be just standing still or sitting down still, like you say, shivering in the cold in the winter. Yeah, get players moving, that's fantastic advice. The next question comes from a recent webinar, what advice can you give to help motivate a squad when they're not competitive?

[Lee]

My big thing would be given some, I call it secret missions or hidden objectives, however you want to frame it. So if you're going into a game and look, I'm not naive enough to think like you generally know that the two or three best teams in the league that are likely to win most often and if you're not one of those teams when you come up against one of those better teams you know it's tough as a coach because you kind of know there's a possibility or a decent possibility that we're not going to win the game today. So and that's the links to kind of the competitive element. So having like a little secret mission. So it might be the number of shots that we have is the number of goals that we're going to count. So I'm calling the number of goals, it might be the number of shots. And if we have 15 shots in a game and the opposition have scored three goals, we've won 10-3. So you're trying to give your players a bit of a secret mission. It might be each individual's got a little task around the number of interceptions that it gets. Each time you intercept the ball, we're going to tally it on the side of the pitch and that's a point for our team because we want to get better at intercepting. So those kind of things of, I'm calling it a secret mission. Like if I'm 17, 18, that's probably not going to engage me a little bit, but having some, some kind of development measures that aren't related to the scoreline would be something that I would be a big advocate of to, yeah, to engage the players in those games of football where you go there's a decent possibility we're playing against the team who are the better team in our league and we're not likely to win the game today so having those little tasks I think would be beneficial.

[Louise]

Yeah you can see how that is a really nice little motivator. So from Instagram we've got Craig who asks how do you get players to have much confidence they have it in training?

[Lee]

Great question. I guess throughout the history of football, if you ask professional players, there'll be people who say, this person was amazing in training and just didn't perform in a game. I think the first one is the reality of performing under pressure in a pressurized environment. Some people flourish in that environment. It's more of a struggle for other people for a multitude of reasons. So I would guess what pressures are put on them. So what conversations are had on the way to training would be a question I would pose, because there may well be mums and dads who, through no fault of their own, and they don't mean it, and everything's well-intentioned, but some of the questions that they ask and the way in which they motivate some of the children might put them under pressure. Same as a coach. So the team talk a coach gives could put players under pressure. I remember watching a training session once and the coach was talking about, it was under four teams and it was at one of the Fibre side centres and I was on the next pitch training and the coach said to the kids, well, we're playing against this team next week. We've got to get up for it. They beat us 2-1 last time. And one of the kids said, who did we play? Like, I don't remember it. They've got no idea on the game. So guess what I'm saying is the coach has got more emphasis on the result of the game and what a match day looks and feels like to them, as opposed to the players who are just turning up for a game of football. So the other thing I would frame in terms of the pressurised environment is how do we frame a game of football for a child, a young person? What does it mean to them? I guess it's like a nativity play at Christmas time, they're just trying their best, but if you get your lines wrong, nobody says you forgot your lines. It's like football. Now how do we, how does it feel like they're their nativity player? They've been practising for something and they're going to show off some of their skills to the mums and dads watching, the people on the sides of the pitch. So How we frame what match day is could be quite crucial for some individuals. How we speak to them before the game as parents and as coaches is another one. The other element will be to think about who's watching them because quite often there will be individuals who perform differently if mum and dad come to watch, if auntie and uncles come to watch, if nobody comes to watch. And I'll give you an example. I was watching a coach last year, watching a game last year, and I said to the coach, your right winger, it was an adult non-league game at Step 5, I said, you're right winger, I said, tell me about him. Yeah, yeah, he's quite young, he's only just kind of come to us. Right, I said, who's watching him? They said, why do you ask that? I said, he keeps looking into the stands. I said, it's really strange you should say that because his mum and dad have come to watch and they don't usually come to watch. So at any age it may affect them on who is coming to watch them perform. Like is it a case of that person has a real positive effect on them? Is it a case of they have a detrimental effect? So there's a number of situations that might impact them in terms of how they perform. It could be, like they've had a really tough week, they've been doing exams at school. How does that affect somebody in terms of how they perform on a match day? So there's a multitude of things that are factors that may affect somebody and their ability to perform under confidence, linking training to a match day, familiarisation could be one of those, do you know the opposition, do you know the facility that you're playing at, have you played there before, there's a whole host of things that could affect it but being mindful of as human beings we all perform differently in different environments and there's some individuals who will just really struggle in that pressurised environment and others that may flourish.

[Jamie]

The next one comes from Luke, how can I motivate my players to play in defence when all they want to do is score goals?

[Lee]

Another good question, everyone who wants to score goals. I guess at some stage players will recognise some of their strengths and that might not be goal scoring as an example, but they'll still want to score goals. So in training sessions just make sure all of your players have got an opportunity to score a goal. At the end of training I would judge success by has every one of my players scored a goal at the end of training if I work in youth football. So boys and girls, I'm working in youth football, have every one of my players had an opportunity to score a goal? Have they all scored a goal? That would be a positive. The other element I would suggest would be how do I reward those people who are playing in defensive positions with goals and assists for example. So it could be that I'm a defender and we say If you manage to intercept a ball and set somebody up, that's like a personal point for you or a personal mission for you to be able to try and do that. So it could be you play as a fullback in the 11-a-side football. So how many opportunities do you get to put the ball in, make a cross by overlapping runs? So it could be those people in defensive positions speak to them about their impact upon the game from an attacking perspective. If it's younger players, especially the mini soccer age players, how do you then rotate positions? Because you could pigeonhole somebody at an early age and they end up being brilliant at something else that you didn't know that it could be great in. So yeah, that rotation of positions, the environment you create, the transparency of rotating positions would be another one that I would give a little bit of a tip on.

[Louise]

One from the community, from Benjamin. On the flip side of a question we had earlier, how can teams manage playing time effectively if they have more than one player who wants to be a goalkeeper?

[Lee]

I would suggest having the same goalkeeper each week. So rather than trying to say you play half a game and you play half a game. That might work in certain environment. I guess if I know I'm playing first for half a match and it's 20 minutes each way, I know that I'm playing for the first 20 minutes and the second 20 minutes, it doesn't really matter what's happening. The other player might think, well, I'm playing for the second half, so I don't need to get there on time. It's not as important. That could be a bit of a challenge. You might manage it as a coach in the environment you work with. I guess I would be an advocate for going just rotate it on a weekly basis. So there's one person that plays in goal for the whole game each week if that works for you and your environment. The challenge is then if you are pigeonholing somebody as a goalkeeper later down, do you have the other person as a substitute or are they an outfield player to get an opportunity to play outfield? Are they not there at all? I can't answer that question for a coach because that's very personal to a coach. So yeah, if it's a case of playing half each or playing in quarters, you might be able to manage that one. If it's playing a whole game, then it's a challenge. What do you do with the other goalkeeper? Are they a substitute? But no, they're not going to come on unless required. Do they play outfield? Are they a goalkeeper but can come on for a short amount of time outfield, as an example? Do they not go at all? And is that happy, happy environment for the mums and dads and the goalkeepers if you are pigeonholing them into a position? So that's something that coaches would need to work out based on the environment they create and that transparency with the players and parents to come up with a solution as opposed to me as the coach trying to solve a problem when other people might be able to solve that problem for me. The other thing to recognize for young players is the benefits of them playing outfield. If you look at the current international goalkeepers that play for England, maybe do a little bit of research. When did they start specializing in being a goalkeeper? Because I think you'll find it probably wasn't from the youngest age group of players. I remember Jack Butland, men's goalkeeper, speaking about not specializing as a goalkeeper to the age of 13. I've seen something around that. So actually rotating players in their positions and the modern goalkeeper being able to use their feet effectively and pass with a, I call it a wide set of golf clubs to be able to loft the pass. It could be on the floor, a little putter to putt it short. There's different ways in which you can pass, which will be important for a goalkeeper. So to play outfield, to develop some of those skills might be quite crucial for a goalkeeper later down the line. So rotating them, yeah, and how you rotate them and give an opportunity to play outfield will be a personal choice based on the environment and the transparent conversations that a coach would have with the mums and dads and the kids.

[Jamie]

Yeah, and I like that. I think that's definitely something that we would echo. Again, it goes to the context and the environment that you're coaching within and the understanding that you've got with the players and parents but yeah just sort of selling that sort of like how beneficial it is to play in all positions. It is great that obviously you've got players that are wanting to be in net I know there's probably quite a lot of teams that players maybe aren't encouraged to go in net or wanting to do so. I know myself, I'm better in net, but as a kid I was terrified of wanting to go in net because we conceded loads of goals. So I never, ever, never, ever went in or was never encouraged to go in.

[Lee]

Yeah. And there are those children who just want to play in goal, like, because they recognize that's their strength and you put them outfield and that's not a positive experience for them as much as going in goal. So we also have to recognize that as much as we say, oh, they rotate positions and go in there, we also have to just be mindful of that, that there are some young people who are happiest when they are in goal. As much as me as a coach might have a philosophy on rotating positions to see the benefits of somebody playing on the pitch, that might not help with the enjoyment short term of a young person. So just being mindful of that as well would be crucial.

[Jamie]

Just coming up to the final section now, which is, we've just got a few questions from a recent webinar on parents. The first one, what are the best ways of discouraging coaching from parents and carers during matches?

[Lee]

It's a really interesting one because I, you know, parents are valuable to me as a coach, as well, I would say. Like, how can they be part of my coaching team to support me? So, in terms of the question around how they coach the players or how they speak to the players on the game. First of all, I would make sure that the parents and carers and people on the side of it know what you've been working on. So if one of my players has a shot from outside the penalty area and it goes high, wide and handsome and I'm applauding it because I've been working on long range shooting in training but the parents are going, oh you should have passed it, well there's a conflict there. So if you make sure that the parents and carers are really understanding of what you've been trying to work on and asking them, look, please help me develop the players by encouraging them to do this, because this is what we've been working on in training, pretty sure you're going to get buy-in from them. If you can have some frank and honest conversations and say, look, it's really unhelpful for you to shout past it to players because we've been working on dribbling, not everybody's going to be that fortunate to be able to have those conversations. But if you can, that open, honest, frank conversation to say, look, from the side of the pitch, you're shouting things which are contradicting some of the work that I've been doing with. I really want you to support me, but this is slightly unhelpful. Then great, but that's not as easy to have those conversations. You get the screamers and shouters who are shouting things on the side of the pitch that are like massively unhelpful, also frustrate mums and dads on the side as well. I would go, how can we use them as analysts? So if you ask me, if I was a parent, can you analyse the number of times that your child dribbles past a defender or opportunities your child has to dribble past a defender, their mind and sight and hands are focused on coming up with a little tally as opposed to vocalizing things that they see during the game. So using mums and dads and people on the side of the pitch as your analysts to tally things up, to provide people with some specific feedback, will be crucial. Get them to write things down, because then you're focused on doing something other than shouting. And if they feel as though they're having a positive impact on your coaching and their children, that also helps. It might be then linked to training the next week. So yes, I will be an advocate of having proactive training sessions or working on things over a number of weeks as opposed to being reactive and going, oh, this game, we weren't great at this or we need to work on something. I also see the benefit of that from engaging mums and dads. So it could be you ask me if I was a parent, can you analyse the number of times we put a cross in the box? Because I'm going to utilise that to work on it in training. And that might be from a defensive perspective or an attacking perspective. So yeah, engaging the mums and dads in doing something positive, which is going to be part of your, your coaching or part of the development there. Children will be great as well as if there's an opportunity to have some of those honest discussions or helpful discussions around how they can support you and the messages that you're trying to get across.

[Louise]

Really like that idea, I think it just gives, like you say, gives parents or carers a really different way of looking at the game and what's happening in front of them. Another question, what can I do to improve my communication with parents or Guardians after match day when emotions are still heightened?

[Lee]

Really tough one. I get it. Like there's a son or daughter hasn't played as much game time as somebody said they were going to get for various reasons. And mums and dads want a conversation with the coach in the heat of the moment. There's also that those WhatsApp messages that ping across, they're not happy with the coach and things like that. So that's a really tough situation for coaches to manage. And it's something that I really empathise with and recognise. What I would say is maybe have a process, if this is a challenge in your environment, have a bit of a process that everybody should follow. Whether that's your communication as a coach towards the children, the players, the parents, the spectators, or it's the other way around, their communication with look. You've seen those interviews on the television at the top level of the game where there's a manager that's just lost and they kind of lose it a little bit and the press hang the hat on it. It's the same kind of concept if you like, when you start to interview and ask questions, you say things that are sometimes irrational. So I would have a process in place and a way of reporting things. So if you have a form, for example, where people can submit a question to you and you're going to answer them by the following training session to them directly, or you have a window where if anybody wants to call you, they can book in a bit of a conversation. It sounds a bit structured, but it would help from a perspective of having those heat of the moment conversations. Whether it's a case of mum or dad, there's a time when they could send the messages in, look, can I book a conversation in with you? Where it's asking for a conversation because those WhatsApp messages as purposeful as they might be sometimes get misunderstood. Then they get sent out to other mums and dads. What do you think? And that escalates. So I will be a big one for having a process in place. And when there is a conversation, which is a debate, having that in person, one-to-one on the telephone, as opposed to in a group chat would be something I would be an advocate of and maybe structuring in some time as when those conversations can happen but certainly give it 24 to 48 hours before those things occur.

[Jamie]

And the final question probably ties into the last couple of answers that you've given really is, how can I get better support from parents?

[Lee]

I think the big thing is having them as your coaching team. Like when you watch games of football on the TV you've got like a whole bench of people that support those players. How can you see the parents on the side of the pitch in youth football as your coaching team? So what roles and responsibilities are you going to give them? Who's going to be the opposition liaison person that goes to speak to all the other the mums and dads if you want anything any questions come to us as opposed to parents getting a loggerhead sometimes when heat of the moment how do you know who's going to put the nets up and so it's not all on the coach so I see it so often where the coach has to do everything because they don't necessarily ask for support and parents are not forthcoming in it. But I would certainly look at the parents as part of that coaching team that sit on the bench. I'm not suggesting all the mums and dads are on the side of the pitch behind the coach. Certainly see them as a coaching team and be really clear on like lots of people performing different roles and responsibilities that are going to help deliver a match day experience.

[Louise]

Well thank you for answering all of those questions I think they're going to be really useful for people. Throughout all of the questions that we've asked you is I'm not sure if there might be any bits of advice that kind of stand out to you and you could use it to kind of challenge coaches to try something different in what they're going to do after listening to this episode.

[Lee]

Yeah, the biggest thing I would say is practice design and coach behaviours. They're the two big things I would speak about really broadly. So do your practices engage your players? Do they link to their motivations, their wants and needs from a training session? And or do they look to address, genuinely address some of the challenges that you think your players need to overcome. So practice designs are absolutely crucial for engaging your players, motivating your players, but giving you the outcomes that you want. So have a deep reflection on what's my purpose, what's the purpose of the practice, and is it genuinely going to get me outcomes that are going to help the players to love the game or get better at playing football. The next thing is around my coach behaviours which link to match days, which link to training sessions, which link to engaging parents, which links to the environment. Who do the players and parents need me to be and who am I? What do I need to give the players? What support do I need to give the players? What communication do I need to have with the players? Likewise with mums and dads. So that real consideration for like who do the players and parents need me to be and who am I being at any given moment. So my behaviours will be quite crucial. So yeah, coach behaviours and practice design are the two biggest pieces of advice to nail down and we get those things right generally we're in a good place.

[Jamie]

Right well we are coming up to the end of the show now Lee but it does mean it is time for our swift session feature.

[Louise]

So we've got to give you 30 seconds and we're going to ask you to explain a session idea to us in those 30 seconds. Are you up for that? Yes. So I will show you a timer and once it starts, you can begin.

[Lee]

I'm going to direct everybody to TikTok. I recently did something on our social media channels and I called it Skill Square. Go to TikTok, have a little look, doesn't matter whether you've got two players or 22 players, you just need four cones and a ball each and there's a great little game on TikTok which I'm sure we'll direct you to called Skill Square which I think the players, especially younger players, will really engage in.

[Jamie]

Brilliant, I love that, I love that you're plugging other stuff that we've been working on, fantastic. Yes, definitely go and check that out, we'll put that in there in the description as well so so you can watch that in action. Well thank you very much for your time again today Lee. Something different today our very first ever community questions episode so well done for tackling that and hopefully everybody's took plenty away from that so hopefully you enjoyed it.

[Lee]

Yeah no pleasure, I hope that there's one or two little ideas but I also be a big advocate of coaches, talk with other coaches, share your problems, share experiences because you can solve things together. It doesn't have to be somebody like me sitting here with some of my experiences with an FA badge on, there'll be people out there within your clubs, within your environments that just chat with them, speak to them. They'll have other challenges. They'll have similar challenges that, you know, help each other out.

[Jamie]

Brilliant. Fantastic. 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 and if you do that, your question could be featured on our next Community Questions episode.

[Louise]

Yep, we'd love to help you out so please do send your questions in. We'll be back soon with an episode focusing on indoor training and futsal. 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.