Hi coaches, this is the first in what we hope will be a whole series of blogs to help you become the best and most effective Foundation Phase coach that you can be. We hope the blogs will create discussion and debate so that what emerges will be a clear and consistent direction for us to follow regarding the coaching of our young children.
We hope that this will result in a new beginning for your coaching and the enjoyment this will bring to the children you coach.
We want to start with a series of challenging questions. Where on ANY FA qualifications, courses or CPD events are the following advocated or suggested as good practice?
Coaches and parents should shout and criticise children in order to improve their enjoyment, performance and motivation to keep coming back to football
Coaches should use long lines of players in order to provide opportunities to develop individual technique and enjoyment of training
Coaches should use language, terminology and concepts that children do not understand in order for them to improve at football
We could go on but hopefully our point is made. We're sure none of the above are ever suggested by an FA tutor as something to try with your team, YET, this kind of behaviour and practice continues to be an issue. The question is, where does it come from? There has been a big improvement in how our children are developed in an age appropriate way but there is still a long way to go because there is still a lot of poor practice out there and this is where our community can play a big part in changing things for the better.
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A great place to start is to clearly define what those “Golden” Foundation Phase years are for as this will surely influence our behaviour and our practice. Children of this age are in the perfect time of their development to learn new things, and to establish a life-long love of being active, fit and healthy. This must be our priority.
Learning new things:
Developing a fantastic touch and feel on the ball – this will only come through millions of ball contacts (so no long lines please)
Having the opportunity to move in lots of different ways and for lots of different reasons (sessions should be full of energy, movement and fun)
Presenting problems to solve, new things to discover and develop a curious and flexible approach to leaning new things (let’s introduce them to the JOY of learning through a games-based approach)
Prioritising these things will ensure that development is maximised in line with where the players are developmentally. You prioritise, individual skill, movement and enjoyment now and you will be putting something quite special in place for the future. Helping your young players become exceptional decision makers and problem solvers will mean they are able to react appropriately to any situation that occurs in a game. This is what will help your team become successful. However, it is a long process and one that will challenge your ability as a coach, your beliefs about young player development and your patience because this approach is not easy. But with the support of our community we will help you understand how to do this as effectively as possible so look out for the next blog. Pete & Lauren
Kevin, thanks for your very kind words. Ironically, I am at the airport in Dubai having been a guest presenter at the New South Wales football conference in Sydney talking about the Play Phase and Foundation Phase developments in England. They are on a similar journey so it was great to share ideas, present and work with their coach educators, technical directors and do some Futsal coach education and showcase some of our sessions from the website.
If you like the content, Kevin, please share so that our community grows and this forum becomes the go to place when working with our young children. Best wishes and keep in touch to let us know how things go. Pete