Foot-Tech Academy

Massive congratulations to coach Dara who is expecting her first baby!

Amazing news for her and her partner, Nick.

We’re so pleased for you Dara Glynn you’re going to be a brilliant mum.

Today some of our team spent the day updating our first aid training ⛑️

We always use Mini First Aid for our courses and highly recommend them.

Always delivered really well with plenty of practical examples of what to do in different situations.

Hope we never ever have to use any of what we learn but we do things like this to make sure we’re prepared and can provide a safe place for the children we coach.

Fewer than half of children in England meet the recommended 60 minutes of activity a day.

That's most of a generation growing up more sedentary than they should be.

And it matters beyond football and fitness.

Children who are active are shown to be more resilient, more likely to keep trying when something's hard and to have better wellbeing than children who are less active.

Your child doesn't need to be obsessed with football.

They don't need to be the best player on the pitch.

They just need somewhere to move, play and be a kid, whether they're just starting out or already love the game.

That's why we build every session around getting them moving and developing a life-long passion for being active.

If you fancy giving your child that hour of movement, we run taster sessions across North and East Leeds ⚽️

Last month we launched a new plan to give more of our players the opportunity to work more closely with their favourite coaches.

Some of our players have had a private session with their coach and we've had some great feedback from parents. It's already easy to see the impact it can have when it comes to things like confidence and enjoyment.

🗣 'Hi
Jake had a 121 with Conner on Friday and Becky yesterday morning just wanted to pass on my thanks to them both! These 121's are such a fab idea to add onto normal sessions. Conner and Becky were so good with him made it so much fun. They both did different things with him so this was great he learnt so much. They are so patient and make learning so much fun he can't wait to book some more in. They totally get Jake and can communicate and guide him in such a positive way he listens to them as doesn't listen to our advice at home 😂He really really enjoyed them massive thanks to them both for being just great as always!
Thanks
Stacey'

One to one coaching is often miss-sold as a magic wand that kids needs to get better at football.

Truth is, the biggest improvements we see come from good quality group coaching BUT one to ones have their place and of course there are improvements that are made on the football side but they are certainly powerful when it comes to things like connection with a coach, confidence-building, self-belief and helping kids fall more in love with football.

Plus it's way more fun than kids just doing their individual reps at home by themselves.

Foot-Tech parents, if you've missed the info we sent about this just drop us a line. We're aiming to open up more spots in September ⚽️

Pressure-free doesn't mean low standards.

We talk a lot about no-pressure coaching.

A lot of parents hear "no pressure" and assume it means no expectations, no correction, everyone gets a clap just for turning up.

It doesn't.

Pressure-free means a child can try something, get it wrong and try again without fear of being shouted at or taken off.

Putting kids under loads of pressure does not mean they'll get better at football.

Take away the fear of failure and kids take more risks. They try more and they learn faster.

The standards don't drop.

Effort, focus, behaviour and application still matter at every session.

What changes is how a mistake gets treated. Not something to fear bu part of getting better.

Save this for the next time someone tells you kids need pressure get better at football and share it with a parent who needs to hear it.

Reviews don't get much better than that 💙⚽️

Well done, Josh.

This is what happens when your child learns from a coach who massively cares about what they do and how they do it.

Not just committed to getting better at football coaching but also how he can engage the kids he coaches and maximise their learning and enjoyment.

If you want your child to learn football from coaches like this drop us a message to find out what availability we have ⚽️

Big shout out to this legend...

Oliver has been training with us for six years and it's an absolute pleasure to coach him.

He's a prime example of what can happen when you train in an environment that focuses on what the individual needs. Oliver stayed in his age group for a number of years, but it became clear he needed to be challenged more technically. Since then he's always trained with players older than him.

That's brought its own challenges. Physically he's been smaller than pretty much everyone in his groups, but he's met that head on.

Working out solutions to those problems has meant he now plays off one and two touch with ease, and his decision making is easily one of the best I've seen at his age. He plays like he's got a 360 view of the pitch every time he gets the ball!

It means any disadvantage in size, strength or speed simply hasn't been an issue. His speed of thought makes him look quicker than anyone else on the pitch.

This is what happens when you have a real technical player like Oliver who isn't 'the big fast kid' and you facilitate that talent in the right way (unfortunately that doesn't happen nearly enough in this country, and our national team suffer for it. That's a post for another time!)

And it's what happens when you find the right place for your child to train, somewhere the focus is on individual development.

A good environment and good coaching are only part of it though. The rest comes from the player, and Oliver's bravery, consistency and attitude have played the biggest part in his development over the last few months and years with us.

It's also been great to work one to one with him alongside his group training. He's added a session every few weeks for extra reps and it's helped keep his confidence high.

Well done Oliver. You're a pleasure to coach, and we'll do all we can to help you keep progressing ⚽️