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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 Sam Griffiths who's returning to Coachcast to talk about reflecting on the season so far. Well hi Sam, welcome back to the show, how are you?

[Sam]

I'm very good, thank you, you?

[Jamie]

Yeah good, thank you very much.

[Louise]

It's really nice to have you with us again.

[Sam]

I'm excited to be back.

[Louise]

Yeah, For anybody that hasn't heard an episode that you've been on before, can you give us a bit of an overview of what it is that you do for the FA?

[Sam]

Yeah, so my role, I've got a new role at the FA as Women's Pathway Lead Coach Developer. I had to think about a title then. So yeah, so my new role is basically working with coaches in the talent space within like our ETCs and things like that.

[Jamie]

Brilliant. Amazing. It's exciting. Absolutely. Well, just before we dive a little bit into that and then into the rest of the show, as this is a coaching podcast, we always like to give those listeners kind of some top tips at the start of the show.

[Louise]

Yep. So we're going to give you 30 seconds and we're going to ask you to give us as many top coaching tips as you can. Are you up for that?

[Sam]

I'll try my best.

[Louise]

Okay, so I'm going to show you a timer and once it starts you can begin.

[Sam]

I think my first one would be around like planning, appreciate time sometimes a bit of a constraint but I think if you understand like what you're trying to get out the session that really helps and use goals like everybody loves goals everyone loves scoring goals whether you're 5 or 55 and be yourself be authentic Don't be afraid to make mistakes if things aren't going right, feel free to change the session. Be present, like I know sometimes it's hard but being fully present in that session is probably my biggest one. That was really quick actually. Perfect, well done.

[Sam]

That went down a lot quicker than what I expected.

[Jamie]

It's very good stuff in there. Well Sam, you last joined us I think it was in season three, which was a little while ago. How have you been since then basically?

[Sam]

Yeah, really good. Like really busy, really busy with the new role, which is really exciting. Busy with like away from work with the stuff I do at Derby as well. So yeah, just pretty immersed in football full-time.

[Jamie]

And Derby going well as well?

[Sam]

Yeah, really enjoying it. Yeah, had an okay start to the season, but yeah, fundamentally we're in a good place.

[Jamie]

Good, looking forward to hearing a bit about that when we dive into the theme of today. So when this episode goes out, coaches will roughly be about halfway through the season. So we're talking about reflection. Is it an important time to kind of be reflecting on what's been happening so far?

[Sam]

Yeah, I think reflection, I think it's important that we're reflecting all the time, whether it's immediately, like after sessions, during sessions, but probably, yeah, that halfway point through the season is really important, whether you're working with younger players and then really in that player development phase, or you're working at a little bit higher level where you're probably a little bit more results driven. I think it's probably a pertinent time halfway through the season to reflect on where you're at, are you hitting targets, are players developing the way that you want them to develop?

[Louise]

What would you say that good reflection looks like to you?

[Sam]

I think part of self-reflection is being really self-aware. I think you've got to have a really good understanding of yourself first and foremost and what you're trying to get out of, whether it be a session, whether it be a game, whether it be like an individual development plan, working with players. There's steps, obviously, that you need to take to do that. I think understanding what your strengths are as a coach and the areas that you need to potentially get better at or some support with. And yeah, and just honing in on those around you for that support, I think always helps with reflection as well.

[Louise]

You can see how kind of just thinking about it and having it in your mind is a really good thing to help you kind of progress.

[Sam]

Yeah. And I think I think reflection can be a challenge. I think sometimes in for coaches that are taking the first steps into coaching, I think it can be quite a scary word like, well, when do I get time to reflect? I hardly have time to plan and everything else. And I think there's obviously different ways to do that, which is really important. And I think it's important that we help coaches understand simple, simple ways to reflect as well, that not everything's got to be sat down and writing for an hour or whatever it might be.

[Jamie]

What's the value of reflecting on sort of like the successes so far and maybe the even better ifs of the season?

[Sam]

I think it gives you like a, almost that checking point. Like I say, whether it's around like, if you were looking at the higher end of the game in terms of targets that you'd set for the season, like, are you on target for that? Where can we improve? Or like down to, like I say, down to grassroots with, you might have your first group of younger players, are they still coming back, are they still playing with a smile on the face, so I think there's depending in the context that you're working out I think there's completely different levels of like how to reflect and like sort of what you're reflecting against basically.

[Louise]

What kind of things would you recommend that grassroots coaches reflect on?

[Sam]

Certainly I think like body language is a massive thing I think if you like looking at your players and you can see that the body language and then enjoying it and they're playing with a smile on the face. I think that's a massive win fundamentally. That's what we're here for, is to give the kids a great time and a great experience when they come to our sessions. So yeah, I think things like body language, speaking to parents, like having a check-in with them, how are the kids sort of finding it. And yeah, and then there's just those moments for you as a coach to just on that drive home, like on the on the way back from training, like was the session, did it go how you thought it was going to go? If not, like why? And I suppose just having that question and answer with yourself on that five, ten, fifteen, twenty-minute drive on the way home, that's just as powerful as the deep reflection, if you like.

[Louise]

And I guess that shows that it doesn't have to be really in-depth or something massive. It can just be thinking over things.

[Sam]

Yeah, thinking over, having a quick conversation, checking in with like another coach. Oh, what did you think to that? Did you think we landed what we wanted to land? Anything like that just to probably get you thinking and those first steps in reflecting on your sessions.

[Jamie]

What's your process for reflection at Derby then? Whether it be on sessions or on match day and then what could that potentially, that process look like for grassroots coaches?

[Sam]

Yeah, I think for me, I think session and match day look very different. I think session, I think we're probably in a place where we can come off and have a conversation straight away around it. There's probably less emotion attached to training. I think match day is very different and I think it's something that I'm still trying to get my head around. We had a conversation the other week around, it's typically in the women's game, you have that reflection on the pitch straight away in a huddle. And I think sometimes depending on how the game's gone, I think that can sometimes skew your lens a little bit. And I think I've certainly reflected quite a lot that I think I get a lot of that wrong because I think emotionally we're driven. And I think even sometimes when we've won a game and you're all happy and you're praising the players and actually when you re-watch the game you go, oh actually we weren't as good as what we thought. And then vice versa. Sometimes like it can be really critical if we've lost like quite emotion and then you watch the game back and go, we were a lot better than what I thought. So I think it's one thing that I've learned from game day is to say as little as possible post-match, like try and let the players do a little bit of talking post-match. I feel like I need a bit of time to reflect on the game and make sure that the messages are landing from facts and not emotions. But I'm thinking the grassroots game, I think it's very different. I don't think it's about the results or anything like that. I think for me it's more around like have the players got on the pitch, has like all the kids had like the equal playing time, like are they happy, like have they tried to implement some of the stuff that they might have been like working on in the week. In grassroots you might be working off more of a bit of a scheme of work, so you're working on like one topic for a whole sort of six weeks or whatever it might be and if some of those messages landed in game so I think it probably looks a little bit different in terms of what you might reflect on game day for grassroots compared to those environments that are results driven.

[Louise]

So we've talked a little bit about grassroots and the difference between that. But if you were supporting a new grassroots coach, what's one question that you'd want them to ask themselves after every session or matchday?

[Sam]

Probably how did I show up today? Like, that's a big thing for me. We do a lot around the coaching and the delivery, But I think there's quite a lot to be said for like our coaches like hold themselves and the personality that they bring and the environment that they create for the kids. That'd be the question for me. Like how did how did you show up today for your players?

[Louise]

And I guess then they can reflect on like what impact that had or kind of, if it was really well, you know.

[Sam]

Did we get a reaction? Did the players enjoy it? And I've probably said that quite a few times now, but probably something that like, it's probably one of my values around working with the youngsters around the enjoyment, like that might be their one, two hours a week that they get away from the stressors of school and whatever it might be. And I think it's really our role as coaches and role models to provide that stability, environment and enjoyment for the kids to come and thrive.

[Jamie]

Yeah, it's so important that there's a really really good point to reflect on. When we were kind of discussing one of the first kind of questions in terms of what reflection is you mentioned like involving like the thoughts of others so when you reflect what sort of questions or what are other what are you kind of getting other coaches or other people to help you reflect on basically?

[Sam]

Probably to challenge my thinking. I think that's really important. I think as a head coach, I think you've got to be really open minded to taking on like other people's thoughts and opinions and I include players in that. I think it's really important for you to be able to reflect, you've got to take on other people's opinions and suggestions and see that as not like challenging your thinking, but see that as a support in like decision making and maybe looking at things like through a different lens and a lot of clubs, teams, even at grassroots, like you'll have different people with different personalities, different strengths. And I think it's, it's being comfortable as a coach to, to understand that like people do bring different strengths and how they support your thinking and, and, and ultimately challenge your thinking around some of the decision making. And like I say, I think players are one of the biggest, the biggest people that can help you with that as well. I think there's a process you have to go through to get there. I think having the trust and the relationship and the rapport between whether it be you and your players and you and your staff, I think that's really important. So I think there's a process to that you have to build to get to a point of being really open and having open and honest conversations, which ultimately helps you reflect on and kind of where you're at as a coach and are you doing the right thing at the moment?

[Louise]

You say it's a bit of a process. Is there any specific steps to kind of getting that trust?

[Sam]

I think time and I think opening yourself up and being open to having conversations and asking questions and opening the floor when you're talking about whether it be selecting a team or the sessions that you might be running or formation systems that you might be playing. I think having that open dialogue and getting a feel for the players, ultimately, like say that they're the ones on the pitch. Like I've always been quite big on letting them have not so much a say on picking how we're gonna go about stuff, but what feels right for them, what don't feel right for them, what works, what don't work. And I think as soon as like you create an environment where you have very much that like two way feel, I think that really starts to help with sort of as a coach of something that makes sense, like to you, your thought process of kind of what you go through in terms of reflecting on whatever it might be.

[Jamie]

And if, whether it be a player or whether it be a coach, when they're helping you with reflection and they bring up maybe a bit of a challenge to the way of thinking or the kind of decision making, suppose it depends what the situation is, whether it's match day, training, etc. And whatever the point is. But when do you decide to maybe implement any potential changes based on that check and challenge?

[Sam]

I think for me, I think there's always got to be like a rationale for stuff. I think you have to be careful that you don't get to a point where you open it up too much. And then there's like everybody having a say in it, because that also can not help you as a coach, because you're probably trying to take on too many people's opinions and try and make sense of it. So I think there's got to be like moments and times where, So if I think about like match day, like half time is probably like a really big time where depending how the game's going, you've probably got some big decisions to make. And I think it's how do you, how do you process some of that information and be really clear with staff or whatever that like, these are the bits of information that I need that will then help me process like the decision that I'm about to make. Because like I say, I think match day you can have emotion involved and like, we've got to do this, we've got to do that, we need to change this, we need to change that. Probably doesn't help the decision maker in processing some of that stuff. So I think having some sort of clear outlines of what support you need at various times is really important. Again, just bringing it back to grassroots, I suppose you probably should be a little bit more clear in terms of rotating the kids on and off and who might need a little bit of extra time in these positions and that position. So I feel like grassroots, you can be a little bit more planned in kind of your decision making. Whereas I think like higher up you go and you probably base more off like how games go in and how you're going to get back in the game or stay in the game or whatever it might be.

[Jamie]

Do you have any sort of top tips to help with that very quick reflection that you're going into half time, you've only got a little bit of time with your players. Have you got any advice to help listeners with that?

[Sam]

Yeah, I think it's really tough. I think it's one of the things that I've probably struggled with the most. I think half time is probably the hardest point in game day, especially if things change just before the halftime whistle. I've been in situations a few times where you feel like you planned, you 1-0 up or you 1-0 down, you planned with your changes, you planned with your team talk and either you score to make it 1-1, they score to make it 1-1 or you just go 1-0 down and suddenly everything goes out the window. And I think there's a part of you that has to have the ability to like, stop, pause, get into like that decision making mode really quick, because like ultimately you're limited to, it's probably 12 minutes in the end by the time you're in and everything else. So yeah, I just think being really clear in kind of your own processes, your staff's processes. Yeah. And just being really clear on the outcome that you want to give to the players. We sort of stick to three. We try and give the players like three things to go out with in the second half, whatever that might be. Because again, if you go after too much, it's pointless. I've been a player on the other side where you've just been hit with so much information. You're just thinking, okay, so which bit, like which bit are we going after? And like I say, just again, bringing it back to grassroots. I think those, whether they're half times or like it's every 20 minute break or whatever format you play in, there's real opportunities there to plan some like golden nuggets for each kind of break for the kids to support probably what you've been learning on in the week and bring it back to some of their individual plans that you might be working on with them.

[Louise]

So with all that we've discussed in mind, how's the season been going for you so far?

[Sam]

Yeah, it's been good. It's been a bit of a roller coaster. We didn't probably have a great start to the season. Then we went unbeaten in September, which was really nice. So yeah, I think managing the emotions of players, staff, when it started on a real low to then a real high, to then a bit of a low where we lost last week, to then a draw this week. Coming back onto the topic of reflection, I think it's something that never sort of stops. You're always constantly chasing the 1% and how do I do that as a head coach? How do the staff do that? How do the players do that? How do we do it as individuals? How do we do it as a collective? So yeah, I think that's that reflection, that self-reflection is just constantly yeah going on all the time.

[Jamie]

What would you say has been your biggest learning or biggest surprise so far this season that other coaches might relate to whatever level they coach at?

[Sam]

I think the biggest thing for me, and this goes right from the mums and dads out there will probably relate to this, is time. The time and effort that it takes to coach is tough. I do it on top of like a full-time job, as do many mums and dads that are running like grassroots teams. So the time, finding the time to plan effectively, to deliver effectively, to reflect effectively, like is tough and that's probably been the biggest thing that I've found this season is trying to find the time to be the best that you can be. It's tough and I think sometimes we can probably be a little bit harsh like on ourselves and I'm probably the biggest critic and I'm probably going to sit here and go like it's okay like especially like say at grassroots as long as you're turning up and the kids are going home with a smile, like that's the most important thing for me.

[Louise]

It's nice saying that you're yourself sometimes or people might be themselves when they're coaching. So probably really nice to think of something that you're proud of. Is there one thing that you're proud of this season particularly? And then one thing that you'd like to work on kind of going forward for the rest of the season?

[Sam]

In a busy lifestyle, I think the way that I think we show up, I talked about that earlier, right? It's really important for me that you show up in the best, the best version of yourself. And I think that's something that myself, the staff, the players have consistently done this year, which has been really nice. I think one thing that probably want to get better at is probably like the reflection bit and probably for us more of as a collective, but that then probably goes back to the time. So where do you find the time in a busy working week to reflect like as staff? Because you're always planning for the week ahead and going, have we got time to reflect on the week that's just gone or what went well or what didn't go well? That'd be something for me that I probably want to try and get better at.

[Jamie]

Have any of your reflections that you've done so far actually changed like any plans for the rest of the season or contributed to them at all?

[Sam]

I think what we've probably started to do this year, we've started to try and set targets in chunks So we kind of go on a four-to-six-week game basis and the players do that. The players will sit down and, and kind of go, this is where we want to be. So how many points we want, this is where we want to get to in the cup, sort of every six weeks. I think we've probably been reflecting on that and how that's gone and whether that's helped or not helped. And we sometimes come in and we've got like a couple of zeros next to the three that they wanted. So we've had a chat around that this week as to whether that's like helping the players kind of or not. So yeah, time will tell with that one, whether that changes. But I think just in answer to your question of like in terms of that reflection, it's constantly like going on and I think we're constantly trying to find those 1% gains, whatever that might be. We had a big chat around like nutrition this week and things like that. So, so yeah, but I think that that target piece would probably be something that we've that we've started and then now going, is it working or not?

[Louise]

So through all this reflection, coaches can increase their self-awareness. But what does self-awareness mean to you? And do you think it's important for coaches to be self-aware? We kind of have spoken a little bit about that kind of reflecting on yourself.

[Sam]

Yeah, I think self-awareness for me, I think is probably one of the biggest challenges as coaches, especially new coaches coming into coaching, that I think it's really important that you get to a point where you understand you, you understand your strengths, like what you bring, what are your super strengths as a coach, what are your areas for development. And I talk about this all the time that I think sometimes you need to understand what your strengths are and if you overdo them sometimes, then it can be perceived sort of in a different way. So use an example, like you might think that like you're really helpful, like as an assistant coach maybe, But actually sometimes if you're too helpful, you can probably come across that you're just a little bit annoying or you're sort of helping too much, interfering, whatever it might be. Same with self-confidence. I'm the most confident person you'll meet, blah, blah, but actually can you sometimes come across a little bit arrogant. So I think it's really understanding that what you've got, like what you bring to a team, whether that be as an individual, if you're running a grassroots team or whether it be part of an MDT or whatever it might be, but understanding like how it might be perceived if that goes a little bit kind of like too far if you overdo, we talk about like if you overdo your strength if you like. So I think that self-awareness piece is really important and just how you come across to people. I think that's and that's probably something that I've learned more than anything being at the FA especially when I was in the mentor program when I first went into that just being self-aware of like how you come I was quite sort of self-driven in terms of numbers, targets, things like that and probably spent very little time with the mentors as people. And that was probably something that I learned a lot in those five years that I was in the mentor programme, that how important it is to connect and be self-aware of how you come across yourself. Yeah. And I guess it's

[Louise]

a bit like not just working on the things that feel like they come naturally to you, it's working on the bits that don't necessarily and kind of dialling things up and down.

[Sam]

Yeah, and that's probably the biggest challenge. And again, just bringing it back to grassroots, I understand it's hard because nine times out of 10, most of the mums and dads don't have a choice in taking that child's team on. If you don't do it, it's not going to run. So I think you very much go straight into coaching mode. Right, I've got a bag of balls, got some cones, how do I put sessions on? The last thing you're probably thinking about is yeah, yourself and being self-aware and reflecting and all those things that kind of are the wraparound of the coaching bit.

[Louise]

It's a lot to kind of all be doing at once.

[Jamie]

It absolutely is. Do you have any examples that you could share where being maybe self-aware has helped you either cater to your team or to help you develop as a coach yourself?

[Sam]

Yeah, I think just working with a number of players that I've worked with over this year has helped me understand how to deal with individuals differently. This year we've got a lot of individuals that need dealing with differently in the group. And I suppose if this would have been my first time in coaching or whatever, like as a head coach, I think that can be quite a challenge if you've not had some of those experiences. And I think it's okay. I think it's okay for people to not know how to deal with that, like at the start, because ultimately your coaching courses will give you your X's and your O's and your tactics and things like that. Whereas the actual, the human bit and the connection bit is probably the bit that you have to go away and try and learn and understand and by having conversations with players and just trying to work, find out like what their needs are as players and what they need support with and how they want to be dealt with. I know at the minute we've got some that kind of just want to be told, don't really like the fluffy, all-round side of it, and then others that really need that and that's how you get the best out of them. So yeah, but I think that takes time. I think that is something that is very kind of self-taught and I think you've got to be open and willing to do that.

[Louise]

Do you have any advice to help coaches stay aware or to realise what their impact has on a team?

[Sam]

I think talking to other people, I think checking in with whether it be your MDT or like I say just bringing it back to like some of the grassroots stuff, backing with parents, like checking in with parents, think that's really important. I think parents know the kids better than anyone, and they'll tell you if they're really enjoying it, if they're not enjoying it, if there's something that you're missing with that child. And again, it comes back to what we talked about earlier. The challenge is time. Where do you find the time to have those conversations like with parents and things like that? But yeah, I think that that is really important. I think in the longer run, it can make your life a lot easier. And one thing I would say about grassroots, which is quite nice, to be fair, is a lot of coaches will go through the age groups with the kids. So I was with a coach not so long ago and I think he was saying he'd been with them from under sevens and I think they're like they were under 15s or something. So the rapport that he must have with those kids now and the understanding of those kids are probably on the level of probably some of the parents which is really nice.

[Jamie]

Yeah I suppose that gives a little bit of time as well, doesn't it? Once you get to know your players, then it kind of gives you a little bit of time to probably think about how you are impacting them, what their needs are and what you can

[Sam]

bring to the team. Whereas I think if you're looking in the talent space, whether it be the boys game, the girls game, like the senior game, we have certainly in the senior game, we have such a churn of players. You're starting from scratch sort of every season. Same with like the talent space or the academy. Like if you're the under 12s coach, you'll get a new under 12s group every year that will have very different sort of needs to the previous under 12 groups who you're starting from scratch every year with that. So yeah, that is a bonus of the grassroots space that you really do get an opportunity to connect and understand your players.

[Jamie]

Does that sort of like that constant turnover of players and new players make you reflect on in terms of like the environment you're set in and how you're welcoming those players and getting to know them as well?

[Sam]

Yeah definitely and I think it's okay for the environment to look different every year. I think you'll have groups of players that will need one thing, groups of players that will need another thing So one year the environment might look different in terms of, I don't know, the way that you set stuff up or the way that you run your sessions, the way that you behave, because the players might need something different. And I think that's where it's like MDTs are really important that you don't get a clone of yourself. I think it's really important that you get a balance across your staff that bring different things and I'm more than happy and we've done this for a while now where I might know that you're better suited to support that player, your personality, your coaching behaviours so and I think that's okay, I think that's okay for players to have different staff to go to if they need different things.

[Louise]

How important is it for coaches to be aware of their own wellbeing as well at this time of the season?

[Sam]

Yeah, I think there's obviously been a lot going around just lately on social media and stuff and in the media around. I think head coaches take, and not just head coaches, like coaches take a lot on. They carry the weight a lot of the time. I think there's a lot of support out there at the minute for four players. I think there's been a few people come out saying that it's really important that there's more support out there for coaches ultimately. You're the ones that make the decisions, you're the ones that hold the key to a lot of results and I don't think people realise internally a lot of stuff what kind of goes off in terms of you feel like you're the one that's responsible for holding things together. You're there like constantly for the players, the other members of staff. And it can be a pretty lonely place at times. Sunday plays can be pretty hard if you just come back off a loss and you read stuff that's posted about you like on social media and that's hard. And I think like I say, grassroots think feel it the same as much as probably not so much around like the results and things, but they might have a really tough week at work, stuff going on in personal lives, but they still show up. They're still there. They're still present. They're still trying to run this kids football team and be the best version of themselves. And it is hard. And I think that you have to get to a point where you can distance yourself from it in the week however that might be whether it's going out for a walk whether it's like getting out a book something you have to find a way to put your phone down because you're usually always connected with some sort of football if you've got your phone So yeah I think well-being is a really hot topic at the minute for coaches.

[Jamie]

It's important to kind of get away and be able to recharge yourself realistically to be the best version of yourself like you say at the start. So how do you look after your well-being throughout the season and do you have any advice to help others do the same?

[Sam]

Having a good network around you, I feel like I've got some really good people inside the game and outside the game where it's nice to have more formal conversations and check in with people that can help you on the pitch if you like, but then I think it's also really important that you have people that you know nothing about football and aren't really interested in football and don't really want to talk about football and I think it brings you back to reality a little bit of there is a life outside of the beautiful game if you like as well and I think that's really important. So yeah I think for me it's just trying to use and take every opportunity when you're not out on the grass or you're not doing like your day job that you do find different ways to relax to switch off and yeah just probably spend time with family more than anything.

[Jamie]

Yeah there's a really important point to be saying like just being able to take time away from it to be able to switch off it is difficult we all love the game but be able to switch off and just come back as rested as possible is a really important thing.

[Sam]

Yeah and I think it's important that like not feeling guilty for doing that I think I went through a stage of life I didn't have my phone or I did switch off whether it be like from work because you worked a stupid amount of hours that week or you just come back off camp and think it's you have to get to a point where you go you've got to put yourself and your own well-being first. I'm going it's OK to switch off now for whether it be a few hours or a couple of days if you're actually off.

[Louise]

I was just thinking as well, there might be like, so if you're part of like WhatsApp groups or something where you're sending information out about the games or for the team, it might be good to set some boundaries of like when you don't respond, like you say, you're not constantly responding to things all the time. It's OK not to respond to everything right away and kind of leave it if you need a bit of space, so just little practical things like that as well.

[Sam]

Yeah definitely and I think as long as you communicate that that people don't think like you've literally disappeared but I think yeah just letting people know that whether like say it's a few hours or a few days whatever it might be I think sometimes putting those WhatsApp groups on mute, I can't even tell you how many WhatsApp groups I've got between like a personal phone and a works phone. It can get pretty intense. And I think, yeah, trying to manage that and manage time and manage your wellbeing is huge in this day and age.

[Jamie]

Yeah, I think we've had it before on the podcast and forgive me for not remembering which episode it was. I think it was on match day in terms of like other than having that an initial sort of reflection with the players at the end of the game. We're just like I'm not going to respond to any like WhatsApps over the next message. It'll be we'll have a bit of a cold reflection sort of thing at training so that we're not getting peppered with messages from parents or whatever just on the match because of course emotions can be heightened on match day.

[Sam]

Yeah and I think match day is always a tough one because there's always emotions involved whether it's a higher level and it's results driven, whether it's grassroots and either parents aren't happy because somebody's not played in the right position or somebody's fell out or whatever it might be. So I think it is like really important to set boundaries, like whatever environment you're working in that actually this time, like this has our own time, like from this time on this day, that's when we can check back in or have a chat like around whatever it might be. So yeah, I think again, I think that just helps the coach as well. I think it helps just everybody look at things differently 24 hours later. All right.

[Jamie]

Well, we've just got a few sort of quick fire questions for you Sam. So the first one, what's the best top tip you can give to coaches to help them with self-reflection when they don't have much time for it?

[Sam]

Take your drive home and use that to check back in with whatever your targets were, whatever your outcomes were, whatever your session, whatever it was about or whether it's a match day, just use your drive home to check back in. And sometimes that might just be leaving a voice note, but yeah, just using it. It might be even a call, might be a call to someone, but just trying to utilise that 10 to 15 minutes on your way home to self-reflect.

[Louise]

And What's one message you'd like to give to coaches as they pause to reflect on the last few months?

[Sam]

Where do you see yourself? Go back to what we said earlier, like how have you shown up in the last however many months, whatever it will be, and probably what are you going to do, what are you going to put in place to be better for the rest of the season.

[Jamie]

And finally, what advice would you give grassroots coaches heading into the second half of the season?

[Sam]

Enjoy it, make sure the kids have loads of fun, make sure you're using goals in your practices and yeah, I think just measure yourself on how many smiles you see in your practices and game day.

[Jamie]

Looking back at everything we've discussed in today's episode, can you summarise the key top tips that you would like coaches to take away?

[Sam]

Yeah, I think my first one would be self-reflection is really important. Taking time to understand yourself, understanding your strengths, get some feedback, be open, get some feedback from your players, get some feedback from parents, from staff, whatever environment you're working in. Look after yourself, like prioritise your own wellbeing, what we've just spoken about. And lastly, just when reflecting, just have a think around what are your ultimate aims, goals, whatever environment you're working in. Might be the same day, the same week, but also having the vision of what does a long-term goal look like, what does it look like at the end of season for you as a coach.

[Louise]

And if we were to actually to set a challenge to coaches who've listened to this episode and it might be what's the first thing they could potentially try to self-reflect a little bit more?

[Sam]

Basically, what I did, we did this university degree through work, through the mentoring stuff and I did mine on like self-reflection and self-awareness and I was introduced something called the Johari window and it's probably one of the most powerful self-reflection tools that I've ever used. So if coaches want a real challenge on self-reflection, just Google Johari window. And it's a really interesting self-reflection tool that can give you some real insights on how you perceive yourself, how others perceive you and kind of what we call like our blind spots that you don't see and others don't see. So yeah, and it's really quick and really easy to do. Okay, brilliant.

[Jamie]

What are your top tips for using like the Johari window and like how does it work?

[Sam]

It's really simple. Like you can, You can send it out through WhatsApp. You pick, it gives you like a list of words that you pick for yourself that like you would that you would say that these best describe me. You then send the link to whoever you want. You can send it to players if obviously you work in a more senior environment, staff, family members, like whoever you want. And then they're asked to pick like five or six, can't remember the numbers, like how many words that they would best describe you. And basically it collates it all into like four windows for you. So basically the words that you see and nobody else sees, the words that like I see and you see, the words that you see but I don't see, And then potentially some areas that like nobody sees. And I think for me, it gave me a real it was at the time that I was in that mentoring program that some really good words that came out around being like really knowledgeable, like really strong minded, really confident, but probably lacked the empathetic side, which was a real reality thing for me to go, if I'm going to go into this mentoring world, I've probably got to be a little bit more softer and open to like getting to know people and not be seen so much as like, she just comes in and like just wants to tell us or has got all the knowledge or is really driven. So yeah, it was really powerful tool.

[Louise]

And I guess it just gives you that different viewpoint, isn't it?

[Sam]

Yeah, definitely. That you wouldn't necessarily have known yourself. And sometimes it's nice as well, because sometimes people see things that you don't see yourself and you're like, okay, that's quite nice. Yeah. There's no bad words either, they're all okay words.

[Jamie]

No, no, thanks for bringing that up. Like I say, that ultimately ties in so well to today's episode, like just being able to be a bit more aware about yourself and again that impact that you have on others as well. Right, well we are coming up to the end of the show now, but it does mean that we've got time for our swift session feature.

[Louise]

Yes, so another 30 second challenge, but this time we're going to ask you to explain a session idea or practice idea for us in those 30 seconds. Are you up for that?

[Sam]

I'm up for that, yeah.

[Louise]

Okay, so once again I'll show you the timer and once it starts you can begin.

[Sam]

So my session would be a little rondo practice, so 30 by 30 square or whatever size you want it to be. Three teams, one team defending so two teams work together. Two goalkeepers, four mini goals in the middle, back to back, and basically the two teams are trying to score. But it's really, really active. The keepers get to try and defend like four goals. Gets quite frantic, but really fun. Keep like getting balls straight into the practice. So yeah, that'd be mine.

[Louise]

Perfect. Yeah, I

[Jamie]

like that. Yeah, nice.

[Sam]

I was trying to visually go, like, how do I describe this that sort of makes sense? Probably should have put the four goals back to back first.

[Louise]

Well, is there anything you want to kind of explain now that the time has gone just to kind of finalise it?

[Sam]

Yeah, so basically you have like, if you can imagine four mini goals back to back so all the mini-goals are outward facing and you've got a boundary and it doesn't matter you could have got 15 players 10 players basically split the teams into three so you've got 15 players you'd have 10 that are like keeping the ball trying to score against a five that defending but then you'd have two goalkeepers that would also be trying to defend like but four goals. So it's quite good for possession, like keeping the ball and yeah, and the defending team just worked frantically to try and keep the ball out the net. But you get keepers like diving around the sides of the because he's trying to defend like four goals. And the idea is like, can you switch it quick enough to find like the open net? It's quite a good one. We do that as like an activation warm up, like on camp quite a lot. And the kids, yeah, the kids love it. Brilliant.

[Jamie]

Yeah, and I like I've seen that one in action before in a previous role, seen a coach use that. Yeah, it's good. I like that. Well, thank you very much, Sam, for coming and joining us today and talking about reflection, self-reflection through the season so far. Hopefully you've enjoyed being with us again because it's been a little while.

[Sam]

Yeah, no it's been great. It's been nice to spend some time with you.

[Jamie]

Yeah, no it's been great to have you back on. 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'd love to help you out so please do send your questions in. We'll be back soon with an episode focusing on match day behaviour. 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.