Jonathan Henderson is the Academy Manager at Bristol Rovers FC. He is someone that takes the process of talent development very seriously. After all it is his profession and also his livelihood.

In this context you might expect it to be all about winning and results and the training methodology to be all about structure and organisation...

Far from it...

...if anything Jonathan's academy goes in the opposite direction...the focus is on player development it is an environment that tries to live and breathe the philosophy of 'player centredness'.

This is someone who is right at the coaclface of talent development and understands that the best way to develop players is to foster a playful, creative environment where players are free to explore and stretch themselves without fear of failure.

In this conversation we discuss:

- Why he refers to his academy environment as 'The performance playground' and what that means
- How the research for his Masters qualification saw him focus on self directed activity as a source of motivation
- How the academy mimics street football because children don't play on streets any more
- Why technical development is done at home
- The creative ways he has used competition to provide an optimal learning environment

This is an excellent conversation from a master practitioner that will be full of ideas and new thinking

Enjoy

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