“Why isn’t anybody picking him up? He’s right there!” Somewhere on a touchline this weekend, a parent will shout that. A player has lost the ball, an opponent has sneaked in behind, and the verdict arrives straight away: nobody on this team talks. If your child is a quiet football player, that sentence can land …
Quiet football player? Why silence isn’t the problem Read More »
Six games into the season and your child has spent most of them in a bib on the touchline. You’ve started counting the minutes. They’ve gone quiet on the drive home, and last Saturday they asked if they even needed to bring their boots. If your child is not getting game time, you’re not being …
A parent asked me if their son could come and train with my under 16s. I’d watched him play a few times and, on skill alone, I was confident he’d hold his own. Partway through that first session he had a meltdown, it got too much for him, and he ended up leaving early. It’s …
Playing Up an Age Group: When It Helps and When It Hurts Read More »
There’s a player I keep seeing turn up in my sessions, and after enough years of this you learn to spot them inside five minutes. The ball breaks loose near the touchline, two defenders closing down, and the safe option is an easy pass backward. Most of the group takes the safe option. This kid …
Street Football Decision Making: What Parents Are Missing Read More »
A message came through on a Sunday evening, the kind I get a handful of times a year. A parent explaining that their son had just been released from academy football, and that his confidence had taken a hit he did not know how to fix. They were not looking for someone to tell them …
I still remember a player of mine trying to beat his man just past the halfway line, losing the ball, and hearing a groan go up from the sideline before he’d even had the chance to get back into position. Nobody said anything to him at half time about the ball he’d given away. What …
Why Game Understanding Matters More Than Raw Skill Read More »
My own son went through more than one of these. Same advice every time, standing pitch side before kick off. Just go and play your natural game. He was a skilful kid, good feet, brave enough to take a player on in a one on one, and every time the temptation was to do something …
Football Trial Preparation Most Parents Get Wrong Read More »
Learning to reinforce good decisions, not just correct mistakes, changes how a player sees their own game. It sounds simple. Most coaching, and most parenting from the sideline, does the opposite without ever meaning to. Watch any training session for twenty minutes and you will notice something. The session stops the moment something goes wrong. …
Walk past any grassroots pitch on a Saturday morning and you will hear it before you see it. A parent or a coach calling out what a child should do with almost every touch of the ball. The intention is good. Nobody stands on a cold touchline at eight in the morning because they do …
The Loudest Sideline Rarely Produces the Sharpest Player Read More »
Most players only start thinking when the ball arrives. And most of the time, by then it is already too late. The space that was there a moment ago has gone. The defender has closed the gap. What looked straightforward in training suddenly feels chaotic in a game. And parents on the touchline are left …
The Decision Window: Youth Football Decision Making Explained Read More »