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Starting out on your coaching journey can be a daunting experience and although I would consider myself an experienced coach now, I can still remember with lots of trepidation those first encounters with groups of young children and the prying eyes of the parents as they watched the sessions. My bi

Hi coaches, In the first blog I asked you to think clearly about what coaching in the Foundation Phase means for both the players (who are in a magical period of development) and for you as the coach who is tasked with maximising the development during this important phase. I cannot stress enough t

 Hi Session Collective, the FA are taking throw-ins out of the game for my U9's. I want them to practice throw-ins as they will need this soon when they play in bigger formats. Should I keep practicing them? Any advice? Thanks

Hi, currently just a dad supporting a 5 year old in early phase of football as part of u6 team but hoping to do some coaching soon having done the initial courses on FA website. I’ve been listening to the podcast (which I think is invaluable) but I wondered whether there were any other sources (b

Hi Tom & Callum, Engagement at a young age is hard at its best. Having attended Pete’s CPD’s and his Playphase roadshow I’ve taken a few nuggets away and applied them in my own environment and it works a treat. If your main focus is their engagement, nail that first and the ball mastery secondary. I

Passing and receiving as part of development at the beginning of a player’s journey. Is there a priority order – a step by step approach OR, if players are at different points in their development, can we use this more as a checklist? No particular order although it would be worth discussing to se

We believe the Play Phase framework and approach will present being physically active, enjoying being physically active and being social with other children in a way that will resonate with our youngest players so they stick with being physically active long term. As always, child first and football

Each type of play should be facilitated, encouraged and allowed to develop in such a way that the following 4 features exist. Take a look at the image, with a particular focus on the Features of Play arrows, and find a breakdown of each below. 1. Participation and Agency. Skilful players are fast

Throughout this series of blogs the intention is to present a model of best practice for the development of our youngest players. An added bonus is that you will also have lots to consider as you plan, deliver, review and evolve your coaching practices and your coaching methodology. To help give you

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 rega

In an area or penalty area, everyone has a ball and 2 players are ready to enter with a car chamois, the aim is to hit as many footballs as possible in a time limit, take it in turns, exaggerate and make big bang noises if you hit a ball etc, players with a ball encourage them to maybe shield or acc

Hi Pete, Absolutely love your work and ideas on how football at these early ages should be played, I coach U8’s and we constantly follow your ideas in nearly everything we do, we have a great group of children and brilliant supportive parents !! Do you know when you’ll be coming to Nottingham doin

Looking to connect with fellow coaches as I’m quite new to it. I’ve just been asked to help out with a group of 5 and 6 year olds and they have quite mixed ability. I want to help each player but I’m not quite sure what to do. Looking for any advice! Thanks

Hello fellow coaches i’d love to hear some great ideas of various ways to keep players engaged while also helping them improve mastering the ball at under 7 in community. I am currently coaching at SPORTING KHALSA FOOTBALL CLUB LIMITED community which I have under 7s and I am trying to work on the

Watch or download the slide below for information on Invasion Games redesigned for Play Phase players.

In the Play Phase there are four elements of play that create the play framework, a framework that is all based on academic rigour. We believe that if we get things right that are included in this framework then the children have got a much better chance of achieving the outcomes that we want them t

The last blog gave an example of the value of small number practices and the possible returns from these when carefully crafted and delivered. These small practices will also help the coach develop their observation skills leading to a much greater accuracy and confidence when noticing the small tec

In my last blog I introduced the idea of play and how important this was to the overall development of our young children. As football coaches, adopting a games-based approach and a coaching style that embraces empowerment, experimentation and freedom of expression is a great way to maximise the dev