The Soccer Coaching Podcast

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In this episode we are delighted to be joined by the wonderful Stuart Armstrong. Stu discusses his podcast (www.thetalentequation.co.uk/podcast) and tells us why he started it and what he's learned on the journey so far. As huge fans of the podcast ourselves we were delighted to have Stu on. It was great to get to know more about him, get an insight into his coaching principles and find out about his hopes for encouraging all us coaches to always be thinking "is there a better way?".

The audio is a bit `wobbly` in parts so please bear with it.

We hope you enjoy it!

Twitter - @SoccerCoachCast
Email - [email protected]

This episode was brought to you in association with our friends at Soccer Coach Weekly.

Established since 2006, Soccer Coach Weekly is a leading source of inspiration and advice for all grassroots coaches. Join thousands of youth soccer coaches, just like you, saving time and effort in their goal of having the most effective, enjoyable and successful coaching journey for them and their players. – https://www.soccercoachweekly.net/

Thanks for listening and we hope you enjoyed the episode!

In this episode we are delighted to be joined by the wonderful Stuart Armstrong. Stu discusses his podcast (www.thetalentequation.co.uk/podcast) and tells us why he started it and what he's learned on the journey so far. As huge fans of the podcast ourselves we were delighted to have Stu on. It was great to get to know more about him, get an insight into his coaching principles and find out about his hopes for encouraging all us coaches to always be thinking "is there a better way?".

The audio is a bit `wobbly` in parts so please bear with it.

We hope you enjoy it!

Twitter - @SoccerCoachCast
Email - [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode we welcome Lewis Bloom from Wycombe Wanderers FC to discuss coach CPD, what makes a great session and player reviews. Lewis explains his role in supporting the Wycombe Elite Development Academy (EDA) and shares his thoughts on a number of topics relating to coaching at this level.

@SoccerCoachCast
[email protected]

This episode was brought to you in association with our friends at Soccer Coach Weekly.

Established since 2006, Soccer Coach Weekly is a leading source of inspiration and advice for all grassroots coaches. Join thousands of youth soccer coaches, just like you, saving time and effort in their goal of having the most effective, enjoyable and successful coaching journey for them and their players. – https://www.soccercoachweekly.net/

Thanks for listening and we hope you enjoyed the episode!

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode we talk with James about making the transition from playing to coaching and some of the challenges in changing your mindset from being `result` focused to being `development` focused and how these impact on your coaching principles.

This episode was brought to you in association with our friends at Soccer Coach Weekly.

Established since 2006, Soccer Coach Weekly is a leading source of inspiration and advice for all grassroots coaches. Join thousands of youth soccer coaches, just like you, saving time and effort in their goal of having the most effective, enjoyable and successful coaching journey for them and their players. – https://www.soccercoachweekly.net/

Thanks for listening and we hope you enjoyed the episode!

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode we discuss the different types of interventions, how they impact on a session and the difference between using them in training and matches. We also discuss the idea of `counter coaching` as well as the benefits of a 2-2 formation at 5 aside, England FA DNA and collaborative training games.

This episode was brought to you in association with our friends at Soccer Coach Weekly.

Established since 2006, Soccer Coach Weekly is a leading source of inspiration and advice for all grassroots coaches. Join thousands of youth soccer coaches, just like you, saving time and effort in their goal of having the most effective, enjoyable and successful coaching journey for them and their players. – https://www.soccercoachweekly.net/

Thanks for listening and we hope you enjoyed the episode!

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode we chat with the super knowledgeable and wonderfully accommodating Kieran Smith about his time in Spain and his passion for Spanish football. We discuss how this influenced his coaching methodology and take a closer look as how to use `rondos` and the importance of `Positional Play`. Kieran also explains how he uses `layering`, the difference between difficulty and complexity and the importance of having an `end goal` as a coach. I hope you enjoy the episode and thanks so much to Kieran for giving us his time!!

This episode was brought to you in association with our friends at Soccer Coach Weekly.

Established since 2006, Soccer Coach Weekly is a leading source of inspiration and advice for all grassroots coaches. Join thousands of youth soccer coaches, just like you, saving time and effort in their goal of having the most effective, enjoyable and successful coaching journey for them and their players. – https://www.soccercoachweekly.net/

Thanks for listening and we hope you enjoyed the episode!

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode we discuss a question sent in from Santi (who is coaching in the Philippines) around the difference between ball rolling time (BRT) and Active Learning Time (ALT). We then discuss the idea of Collaborative Training Matches (CTM`s) as a tool for supporting training and providing a bridge between training and matches.

This episode was brought to you in association with our friends at Soccer Coach Weekly.

Established since 2006, Soccer Coach Weekly is a leading source of inspiration and advice for all grassroots coaches. Join thousands of youth soccer coaches, just like you, saving time and effort in their goal of having the most effective, enjoyable and successful coaching journey for them and their players. – https://www.soccercoachweekly.net/

Thanks for listening and we hope you enjoyed the episode!

In this episode we discuss a question sent in from Santi (who is coaching in the Philippines) around the difference between ball rolling time (BRT) and Active Learning Time (ALT). We then discuss the idea of Collaborative Training Matches (CTM`s) as a tool for supporting training and providing a bridge between training and matches.

Send us Fan Mail

So why is it not about `winning v’s development`….?

Football (soccer) is a sport.

And sport is by definition: “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.”

Compete: “strive to win something by defeating or establishing superiority over others.”

This means that `wining` (and losing) are intrinsically built into sport and therefore are built in to football (soccer)…you can’t remove it or chose whether or not to have it! It’s not and it can’t be NON-COMPETITIVE! It’s a sport! 

It can be child/player centred competition!

If we can accept that ‘wining` is part of the game, then we can stop the debate on if `wining` (especially at the foundation and developmental phase) is a good or bad thing. It’s neither, its simply part of the sport, just like the ball or the goals!

So if it’s not a question of winning v’s development, what is the real question...

All sports need a way to measure the success of the game, so in turn will conclude with a `Result`. 

Therefore the real question for us to ask ourselves is `how important is the `result` over player/team development`. This is because, often making choices that better enhance our chances of improving the result of the game will impact on developmental (and learning) opportunities of the players. This is because the two can often be mutually exclusive.

`Result v Development`

This means there are essentially two approaches we could choose to adopt when coaching players. One is `Results focused` or `Short-term’ and the other is `Development focused` or `Long-term’. 

What’s the difference between the two approaches;

RESULTS FOCUSED (short term)

·         The result of the match is the priority

·         Training is focused on how to achieve the best result

·         Players only/often play in their `strongest` position and are played to their strengths

·         The team plays rigid formations with limited decision making

·         The coach gives the players lots of instructions during the game – Don’t, Do, Must, Never, Always

·         Players are not encouraged to try things and mistakes are criticised

·         Coach leads all team talks and tells the players what they must and must not do

·         The Result is the measure of success

·         Players are selected first on their physical strengths

·         Players are told what they must do and how to do it

DEVELOPMENT FOCUSED (long term)

·         The players learning is the priority

·         Matches are there to support the training

·         Players rotate and play all positions (when the game allows)

·         The team plays formations that challenge the players to make more decisions

·         The coach provides guidance and asks the players questions at appropriate times during the game

·         Creativity and independent decision making is encouraged even if mistakes are made

·         Coach encourages the players to lead team talks and share ideas about how they are playing and possible changes

·         The players progress (individually and collectively) is the measure of success

·         Playe

This episode was brought to you in association with our friends at Soccer Coach Weekly.

Established since 2006, Soccer Coach Weekly is a leading source of inspiration and advice for all grassroots coaches. Join thousands of youth soccer coaches, just like you, saving time and effort in their goal of having the most effective, enjoyable and successful coaching journey for them and their players. – https://www.soccercoachweekly.net/

Thanks for listening and we hope you enjoyed the episode!