If you dont want to track back .............................

Firstly last weeks game wasn't our best performance ever, we didnt in my opinion deserve anything out of the game, ive seen teams earning  millions thou, having similar performances, we cant be superb every week think we just had an off day

This Sundays first 15 mins , seemed to be a hangover from it. I know it was cold and the pitch was heavy , but a few , looked like they weren't putting in any effort. When they come off i just explained to them i would never take players off because they are having a bad game, but would if I thought they wasn't trying . Having done 3 of the FA youth modules , i have to choose my words    carefully , the military phrase    "fear works best as a motivator" i mite have to change into u/10 context " if you don't want to track back, we've probably  got 5  on the bench that will "!!!

I try to be mostly positive but sometimes i think you have to tell  em how it is !

I hope i managed the situation well.

To  come back from being two down to win the game ,  they may have realised I was serious !!!, for me the winning was irrelevant , the fact that we never gave up ( after the first 15 mins) was what i took from the game. Ill take character over ability every day of the week, they were a very good side , probably one of the best we have come up against, hard work, chasing lost causes, shutting down quickly , got us the result today in my opinion, and that's not the  first time this  season that's been the case . I love how  comfortable we are playing the ball around at the back, we will concede goals doing it , but we are not part of the 30 million sky deal to stay in the premier league , so I don't really care .Having watched a few other  games  this season , I find it a shame that we congratulate kids ,  that's parents and coaches, for kicking the ball of the pitch when in a tight  defensive situations , its no wonder we struggle in the English game with players being comfortable on the ball, my opinion is they need to learn how to get out of that situation time and time again, surely if we allow them to make mistakes and concede the odd goal at  9 years old , we may have players who have learnt how to get out of those situations and   by the age of 14/15 , we have players who are more comfortable and don't panic on the ball, think they call it RISK AND REWARD , just my opinion, in any case they are in a no lose situation , ill  take it on the "gunger din" if we concede .....

First Futsal friendly for a while on  Monday night vs Finta Futsal, ill also be shadowing Diego,s first session from 6-7, lately I have been doing a lot of coaching, I need to be doing a lot more learning, it will be the 2nd futsal session this month I have shadowed, I took Nathan and Tobi to Carlos's session at CM FUTSAL 2 Fridays ago .   

Some more small sided games for the coaches

I am always looking out for more sessions and different , sessions keeps the kids focused . Another PDF I have just came across, ill get the wife !!! to print it off at work and have a more in-depth look . May be or may not be beneficial to your sessions , but worth a look






http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/327948/3466832/1246308165223/Training+program+manual+for+U7+and+U8.pdf?token=Po3UPY2REVTQDrkMtt6VlBNgh80%3D

Chasing "a dream "

With the stats stacked against an 8 year ever reaching the    elite level of the game are we chasing  "a dream "
I was once asked by an "academy director! ! .If I would like to take my 2 boys to Brentford academy for a trial .Having spent the last 27 years as a driver, 23 years as a class 1 HGV driver, and the last 12 years as a London cab driver . Travelling around the north circular on a Friday night for a 5.30 pm start, 2 hours training then sitting in all that traffic  again to come  back my replie was " na im alright for that"!!.
He looked at me like I was mad .But harry ,Jack , bla bla bla is going .Hope the do alright then,  I replied .The fact of the matter IS  my two are not good enough , simple as that. Why would I want to travel a four hour round trip, for six weeks , for them to tell me what I already know .At the time , & things have changed drastically you could "nick a few quid in the cab" so adding to the traffic I would also lose money by not working . . Anyway just reminded of that little bit of history ! when I read this piece below .Its a good read






http://changingthegameproject.com/does-youth-sports-get-the-math-all-wrong/












It is frustrating for coaches, too, especially those who value trying to develop players for long-term success, instead of trading tomorrow’s development for today’s win.


 Yet, at the critical ages of development, where kids need as many touches and attempts as possible, we are choosing to play competitive games that give them very few, instead of practice that will help develop technical mastery.






. Let your kids play multiple sports, and help them find their passion instead of trying to determine it for them.




http://changingthegameproject.com/does-youth-sports-get-the-math-all-wrong/

Futsal club Roding " a potted history" -streetplayer sessions

Fed up with the lack of football due to the weather during the winter months  , the Buckhurst Hill  u13,s  (then u/8,s) were in early  2014. We started our Monday night sessions with 7 kids as a training session, they brought their  brothers who brought their  friends. Back then  I looked around and no one in this area was playing Futsal .Although when we started at Roding Valley school I met up again with Gavin Prince from  then (LOASS FC), a great coach who I  have a lot of time for, . Gavin coached my two 10 year olds at 4 years of age ( yeh he did the hard bit )!!!  good coaches are always on the cutting edge of  Football and you guessed it Gavin had thrown away his footballs and replaced them with futsal balls , so Gavin Prince was officially the first coach in the area to play futsal !!! (im choked) !With Mondays full up from 5-6 pm , I had  no hesitation passing kids on to Gavin who I couldn't fit in. Sessions have since come and gone mainly due to working in schools during the day, we currently Jan 2019 have 3 sessions Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday  .

 We  are looking  to add to our sessions , Monday girls session  7-8 pm and our Tuesday 6-7 pm session both at Roding Valley High School. Our sessions work on the WHOLE-PART-WHOLE principle, so we generally start with a game, move on to our "learning objective"  then back to a game      .Email me    Stuart.blake@bhfc.co.uk.   if you are interested in our #streetplayer #sessions, more games, more ball rolling time.  .Here is a piece I have shared before from Joey Barton
 

http://www.joeybarton.com/football-futsal-future/












And have a look  at the way these u/11, s stroke the ball around . Beautiful to watch


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDW2FASAo9s

Rough guide to Monday and Tuesdays Futsal session 5/6 th January 2016

We kicked off with some small sided games 3 vs 3,s 2 vs 2,s , get  all the kids on the ball, more passing more control more decisions to make I like to use the whole part whole system from the youth modules. Start with a game / some isolated practice , followed by 10 mins at least of ball manipulation .I see the basics as the inside cut and outside cut , if you watch any pro game you will see these 100,s of times I then asked the players to pick some turns / skills , which they had a go at . Here are some below






inside /outside cut




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlMwNGOmkwA


The Maradona


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYXcoG_mVUA




Cruyff turn




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOqQbamkPvE




We then went into some isolated practices just passing using different parts of the foot, controlling the ball with one foot (futsal trap), then rolling it to the other foot, passing it on, lots  of different variations
Then we progressed to more small sided games , I use the dutch style games , and tonight we used , the line goal game which encourages the players to attack and be positive , to score a goal they have to breach the line and put there foot on the ball  . At the opposite end we used the 4 goal game , two goals each end , coaches use this a lot for switching play, and it breeds by its nature more decisions . . We split the group in two , Owain took the players from his Barkingside team and I took the BHFC kids , both teams varied in ages , both were 4 vs 4 . We switched teams and both played at both ends of the court
We then set up two zones and focused on our 1 vs 1,s , on any pitch anywhere regardless of the number of players on it , there will be  lots of one vs one situations, an all round player should be competent in attack and defence and the more 1 vs 1 ,s you can do in any session the better the player you will produce. Below is a slight variation of the one we used tonight, I tend to give the defending player 3 pug goals to score into , I explain this , as when a defender nicks the ball of an attacker he doesn't give it back to him .The pug goals separated one on the left , one in the centre and one on the right represent a left and right sided player and a player in the middle is the centre fwd . I also found in any session I have done over the years, the more goals you give a defender to score into the more players will volunteer to be defenders !!!, but they have to know the reason they play into them. Ie a centre back wins the ball and plays out to his left sided midfielder ( the pug goal to his left ).














https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4KXrv8M1wk




With all games and training likely to be called off this Saturday and Sunday, 45 local boys and girls have had training over 2 nights and 3 sessions , playing indoors this time of year is a must , that is why we started Futsal nearly two years ago.

Developing creativity by Saul Isaksson-Hurst

1v1 soccer skills create problems for defences and change games.


Supporting our players in learning and mastering these will open up a world of creativity and options, as they decide which ones they prefer and want to use.


http://mypersonalfootballcoach.com/1v1-soccer-skills-coaching-part-1-routes-to-the-end-goal/






http://mypersonalfootballcoach.com/1v1-soccer-skills-coaching-part-2-learning-mechanisms-soccer-education/




Ball manipulation as an unopposed session


https://youtu.be/TiABNepxTLw

Developing creativity from Matt Whitehouse

http://whitehouseaddress.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/developing-creativity.html

 

KEYPOINTS

Players will make mistakes and young players will make many of them, yet mistakes should be viewed as a key learning tool, because they are very important for a player’s development. For players to develop they require a challenging environment and, of course, they need to make mistakes.


Before receiving the ball a player should be fully aware of the situation and ‘pictures’ which are around him/Her


Painting pictures, for grass roots coaches  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaoyrKAzZY0

There is a new craze which people believe will develop the skills for young players; futsal. Futsal helps to develop creativity in players perhaps more than any other version of small sided football. By its nature it promotes imagination, inventiveness and skill, and also improves decision making and spatial awareness. It promotes players to learn and cope in tight spaces under pressure…a significant issue which many English players struggle with.

The obsession with winning has stopped education, learning and creating skilful and creative players. The problem is many of our young footballers are being placed in the hands of coaches who are not skill ‘developers’ but skill ‘destroyers’. For all the well-meaning coaches who proclaim their wishes to play good football and promote the use of skill…as soon as these coaches get in the ‘heat of the battle’ they forget that they are developers of talent and instead focus solely on the result.

The reason this skill-set is restricted is as follows; firstly the issues above regarding coaching and limiting players. And secondly, the positon specific nature of young players development, being pigeon holed and asked to develop only the skills needed for that position. Players at nine or ten-years-old are being ‘labelled’ as defenders or forwards and being developed for those specific roles. Players should be developed to possess all the key characteristics of being a ‘footballer’. Why not develop an all-round skill-set which allows a player to fit in anywhere?

". Coaches may lose their bottle when results appear to go against them, falling for short termism over long term gains. It is perhaps why so few are genuinely creative in their ways; the fear of failure, a pathway marred by the wrong people.