My assistant coach pulled me aside before kick off, nodding toward the boy warming up near the halfway line. “He’s too small to play football at this level,” he said. “We need someone else for this game.” He wasn’t being unkind. He was saying what most people around youth football would say looking at the …
Too Small To Play Football? Here’s What Actually Matters Read More »
A dad stopped me after a session a couple of weeks ago, arms folded, and said what a few other parents have said this summer without quite putting it so bluntly. “Three v three at under sevens. Five v five for two whole years. How’s that going to prepare them for real football?” He wasn’t …
Small-Sided Football Isn’t Dumbing the Game Down 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 »
I want you to picture a scene that plays out on football pitches every weekend across the country. A young player gets substituted. They walk to the touchline with their head down, shoulders slumped, clearly frustrated. Before they have even sat down, a parent is straight in. “You were brilliant. The manager got that wrong. …
Building Resilience in Young Footballers: Are We Helping or Hindering? 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 »
There was a parent I worked with a few years ago whose son was in one of my junior programmes. He’s someone I’ve thought about a lot since, because he genuinely wanted to support his child in football. He just had no framework for what that actually meant. He was one of those touchline presences …
Most Football Parents Are Running on Emotion. Here’s a Better Way. Read More »
It is the third session of the week. You are in the car. Your child is staring out of the window and you are not sure what is going on inside their head. You tell yourself they are just tired. Maybe they are. But maybe something else is happening that neither of you has the …
Most parents measure youth football player development by goals scored and games won.The players who develop most consistently show signs that never appear on a score sheet.Here are three of them and why they matter more than any statistic. Picture the end of a match. Your child’s team has lost. They made a mistake in …
3 Signs Your Child Is Developing as a Footballer That Most Parents Completely Miss Read More »
If your child performs better in training than matches, you are not alone in noticing it. Daniel Priestley, one of the sharpest business minds I’ve come across, has a saying that has stuck with me ever since I first heard it. “Environment dictates performance.” He was talking about business. About how the people you surround …