Coaching Philosophy
“To create, develop and maintain excellent young adults who have a passion for football.”
As a young, creative and enthusiastic coach I aim to provide players with a positive, safe, relaxed and comfortable environment in which they can collect and develop skills, gain valuable experience and important knowledge around specific topics. All of the above will be relevant towards their footballing journey and also their life journey.
To be able to execute the above I feel it is vital that I have an in depth understanding of the players I am working with. This would include the players; past experiences, motivation for playing the game and their current/future goals/aims. I also value the players own opinions as this has a huge impact on how they behave. I value collecting data such as players opinions on their; strengths & weaknesses, favourite playing position, favourite club, favourite player, favourite playing formation and any other sports/hobbies that they may have. Any additional information I can collect around the individuals home life/background will help me with my approach towards the player, the way I treat them and it will help give me a better understanding on how I can help them in the way which is best suited to them.
Once I have a clear understanding around the individual/team I am working with I will then be able to provide sessions that offer the opportunity for maximum development while being able to gain confidence without the fear of failure. Throughout sessions I will vary my coaching style to suit the players I am working with. Predominantly when working with the foundation phase, sessions will be focused more at individual development. I will favour guided discovery, trial and error and question and answer. This is so the individual can have the creativity to experiment and problem solve for themselves which will ultimately enhance their decision making.
When working with the youth development age sessions will be linked to performance. Observations and data will be recorded on performances which then can be used as evidence when working on areas of development. To do this I will use a lot of Q&A to identify where the players understanding is and encourage them to share ideas and thoughts around the specific topic. This also encourages individual/unit/team problem solving. When needed for technical/tactical parts of the session I will use a more command style of approach but also referring to guided discovery if I see good practice. Giving the individuals freedom and creativity is a must so they can express themselves. A lot of gamecraft/games based approach sessions are extremely effective for creating realism and relevance for the players.