The Sporting Resource

How do you know whether a player actually understood your question?

Over 300 people answered:
→ “What’s one thing you think youth football gets completely wrong about player development?”

We grouped those responses into the five themes that appeared most often.

Today, number 2:
→ Physical maturity mistaken for potential.

Two players can be the same age and still be at very different stages of physical development. That matters because being bigger, quicker or stronger can make a young player more effective right now.

They might win more duels or reach the ball first. Protect possession more easily and potenitally cover greater distances.

The mistake is assuming it automatically tells us more about their long-term potential.

So when assessing a young player, it can help to separate what they are doing from what is currently helping them do it.

If a player is dominating physically, look beyond that advantage.

• Are they scanning before receiving?
• Can they recognise different options?
• How is their first touch?
• What happens when there is less space?
• Can they combine with teammates?
• How do they respond when the problem changes?
• Do they take information on and adapt?

The same applies to the player who currently looks physically "behind".

If they are losing races or struggling in contact, don't allow that alone to define the assessment. Look at the football underneath it and one simple question coaches could use is:

→ If this player wasn’t currently bigger, quicker or stronger, what would I still be noticing?

For the physically later-developing player:

→ What qualities might I be overlooking because of what they cannot physically do yet?

This isn’t about ignoring physical qualities, more so it’s about making sure we don’t confuse a temporary physical advantage with a complete picture of the player.

This was the 2nd most common theme from the 300+ responses.

Tune in tomorrow when we finish with the most popular answer: Short-term results over long-term development.

Pick one player and watch them for two minutes without coaching them.

Watch what they do before receiving the ball, immediately after releasing it and when possession changes.

Then ask yourself:
→ What did I notice because I wasn't talking?

What's something you believed about coaching when you first started that you no longer believe?

Interested in the experiences that changed your thinking.

Looking back, I wasn’t really coaching.

I started coaching at 16 or 17, my first experiences were after-school sessions with five, six and seven-year-olds, alongside summer camps at a local club.

I could set an activity up, explain what the players needed to do, then add points, conditions or little competitions to make it feel fun, purposeful and engaging. Then we’d finish the saession with a game.

At the time, I thought that was coaching. Looking back now, much of what I was really doing was coordinating activity.

I didn’t yet understand the deeper part of coaching.

• What am I actually noticing?
• Why am I using this practice?
• When should I step in?
• When should I leave it alone?
• How do I adapt for the players in front of me?
• How do I work with another coach rather than taking over myself?

My first qualification gave me some structure around activities, progressions and session ideas.

The deeper learning came when I studied sports coaching at college (BTEC) and started being challenged on how I actually worked with people.

One piece of feedback kept coming back:
→ "I took over too much. I didn’t delegate enough."

At that age, I thought being the coach meant leading everything, doing everything and having all the answers.

I had to learn that coaching was far more than that.

That feedback and lesson has stayed with me ever since, running an activity and coaching the children within it are not the same skill.

Slightly dangerous thing to casually browse on a Friday…

Football jobs.

You might not know this, but we have a Jobs In Football section on The Sporting Resource too.

So you can visit looking for a session idea, coaching tool or article and potentially leave considering an entirely new career.

Have a look and see what’s out there:

https://www.thesportingresource.co.uk/

If you suddenly decide to hand your notice in, I accept absolutely no responsibility.

Over 300 people answered:
⤷ “What’s one thing you think youth football gets completely wrong about player development?”

We grouped those responses into the five themes that appeared most often.

Today, number 3:
⟶ Adults making too many decisions for players.

• Where to stand.
• When to pass.
• When to dribble.
• Who to mark.
• Where the next ball should go.

Sometimes players need that information, yet good and effective coaching isn’t about refusing to give answers.

The concern in the responses was what happens when adults begin making so many decisions that the player rarely has to.

Football doesn’t give players much time to wait for instructions.

They have to notice what is happening, make a choice, act on it and then deal with whatever happens next.

That decision-making develops when players get opportunities to try, receive feedback, make sense of what happened and then try again.

Which means mistakes aren’t always something a coach needs to remove immediately. Sometimes they are the information the player needs in order to make a better decision next time.

Perhaps the question for us as coaches is:
⟶ “Could the player work this one out before I give them the answer?”

Not every time, but probably more often than we think.

This was the 3rd most common theme from the 300+ responses.

Tune in tomorrow when we look at the 2nd most popular answer: “Physical maturity mistaken for potential.”