Coaching
"The starting point of development is the passion and ambition of a player. What I've learned over the years is that there is one characteristically decisive factor that decides 99 per cent of development - love for the game. Because if you don't love it, you will never work hard and play enough to become really great."
Pepijn Lijnders, Liverpool FC, First Team Development Coach
Pepijn Lijnders, Liverpool FC, First Team Development Coach
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OUR PHILOSOPHY
We believe every coach and every club should be able to explain why they coach the way they do. Children deserve nothing less. Our coaching philosophy is unique and we try to set it out openly and clearly. Our philosophy is child-led and we have created a long-term model which evolves to meet the needs of the children at our club as they grow. From pure play, to the Constraints Led Approach, everything we do is carefully thought out. We coach in an age appropriate way and our approach rests on the self-determination theory of learning Put simply, we believe that any child who wants to get better at anything needs to love what they do and they must be driven by their own self-motivation, not the desires of others. This has led us to develop a child-led play model which puts the motivation of children front and centre. You can read more in our document 'Salisbury Rovers' Child-Led Play'. We use the Constraints Led Approach Our 'How we coach' document explains this a bit further. Our original document 'Club sessions: How we coach' document describes how we create and develop sessions across the age groups. OUR PRACTICE Our practice is widely shared in our podcasts, but, essentially, our aim is to keep children in the game for the long-term and to support child ownership of their game. Our club sessions will be fun, relevant and age-appropriate. We allow children to make decisions which can shape future sessions. We provide the environment for learning and decision-making but we do not dictate it. Children have a genuine voice and their views are sought and acted upon. Their decisions are not directed by coaches - we facilitate the game and use game design, questions are used to prompt and develop learning. The complexity lies in the playing of the game. Our coaching emphasis is on the design of our games which will present specific challenges. We often use the constraints led approach and we coach by asking questions to encourage thinking about the game as well as to help skill development. Please talk to us at any time if you would like to discuss this further. Free play is an essential part of this. So is social interaction. Our focus is the development of the whole child. Because of our approach we ask coaches and parents to refrain from coaching from the sidelines. If you are looking for a model where kids in kits in teams in leagues are dictated to play to adult tactics, we are not the club for you. |
PODCASTS AND FEATURESClub founder and coach, Debbie Sayers, is often invited on to podcasts and webinars to share the club's approach. Some links are below:
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Debbie was part of a free play panel discussion with Paul Cooper, Director of the National Children's Football Alliance, and sports science academic Rick Fenoglio (author of the seminal Man Utd small sided games study) .
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Match days
"Communication is key. There is no need to yell instructions from the sidelines. Instead create a coaching language that the players can use to guide themselves on what to do"
Rinus Michels, FIFA Coach of the Century, 1999
On match days, games will be viewed as learning experiences. Development is crucial and more important than adults' bragging rights. Football is unpredictable and players must learn to be responsible for making the correct decisions during the game. We have clear match day standards.
Learning is better facilitated by questioning not telling. We all learn by making our own decisions. Managers and coaches will help to develop skills by asking kids questions about what worked and what didn't in the game. Our focus is player ownership, fun and the process and not the outcome of the game. The score may tell you very little about how kids are progressing or whether they are enjoying football.
Finally, all kids deserve the chance to play. Kids develop at different speeds and no one learns by sitting out on the sidelines or never getting a game. All kids will get equal playing time. Let's keep kids in the game!
"Communication is key. There is no need to yell instructions from the sidelines. Instead create a coaching language that the players can use to guide themselves on what to do"
Rinus Michels, FIFA Coach of the Century, 1999
On match days, games will be viewed as learning experiences. Development is crucial and more important than adults' bragging rights. Football is unpredictable and players must learn to be responsible for making the correct decisions during the game. We have clear match day standards.
Learning is better facilitated by questioning not telling. We all learn by making our own decisions. Managers and coaches will help to develop skills by asking kids questions about what worked and what didn't in the game. Our focus is player ownership, fun and the process and not the outcome of the game. The score may tell you very little about how kids are progressing or whether they are enjoying football.
Finally, all kids deserve the chance to play. Kids develop at different speeds and no one learns by sitting out on the sidelines or never getting a game. All kids will get equal playing time. Let's keep kids in the game!
