The Coaching Puzzle

In today's episode, I'm excited to release a conversation with Stuart Armstrong. Stuart is the head of coaching at Sport England, and the founder of the Talent Equation podcast, which is a phenomenal resource that he created to give advice to coaches, parents, and talent developers on the best approaches and ideas to develop talent in various sports. 

You will hear Stuart talk about "the war against drills", which is a fascinating expression and concept that he came up with, and he also discusses why coaches should move away from traditional drills that involve a lot of repetition but no thinking and problem -solving, and provides an alternative option

In this episode, Coach Dorrance talks about the competitive cauldron, which is a fantastic tool that he uses to make his players and teams more competitive. We also talk about the importance of 1v1s, which was a topic in Episode 6, things that youth coaches can improve in youth soccer players, and the importance of team chemistry, and focusing on the process versus the end goal

In this episode, John talks about the changing the game project and his motivation behind starting it, gives his best advice to coaches and parents raising young athletes, shares his opinion on early sport specialization, early sport engagement, boys and girls playing multiple sports at a young age, and shares some practical advice for coaches and parents in terms of how to co-exist to give youth players the best chance to develop. 

In today's episode, I talk about the importance of creating training sessions that involve a lot of different forms of 1v1s when coaching young boys and girls. The more we put young players in those situations at a very early age, the more likely they are to develop the skills, confidence and bravery in those situations as they get older. I also share a couple of ideas for 1v1s activities that are simple for every coach to incorporate.

Alphonso Davies' assist vs FC Barcelona: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-nOOk-bacs

In this conversation, you will hear Mamadou Jallow, former college soccer player, talk about what it was like to grow up in a soccer environment that was very unstructured, and how growing up in such an environment made him a more well-rounded and versatile player once he moved from his native Gambia to the United States

In today's episode, Morgan Lewis is our special guest. Morgan has a wealth of experience in sport, both as a participant at a very high level, and a coach. In this interview, Morgan talks about the importance of developing mental skills, some specific mental skills that are crucial for young athletes, shares a mental framework called DARE that he uses with the athletes that he is working with, and talks about several other important concepts that aim to make players psychologically strong and that are also important for coaches  

In this conversation, Alan and I talk about the coach-centered approach and the athlete-centered approach, what made him adapt and change his approach, the importance of watching yourself coach, and developing players to be problem solvers using a specific practice idea that Alan previously used with his teams

In Episode 1, I talk about the role and responsibilities that come with being a youth soccer/sports coach. I also talk about 5 elements that every coach must look to incorporate into their sessions

WELCOME TO THE COACHING PUZZLE!!!!!!