Let the Game be the Teacher

If a picture can paint a 1000 words, a video must be able to paint 100 000 pictures.

This is a topic that is close to my heart, and in the 7 years I have been coaching this is the one topic that has stuck with me the most.

Many coaches have to be seen and heard to be coaching. A lot of junior football coaches will pride themselves on the tracksuits with the initials in the corner and the whistle in hand. Who would be the better the coach? The coach who stands and shouts, blows his whistles and gives directions or the coach who stands with arms folded watching the game but not saying a word.

Many a coach could talk until they are blue in the face about the importance of being able to beat your man 1v1, about how overlaps can create space and how a ball into a strikers feet who has dropped into the hole can create space in behind for the 3^rd man run. How many of these words will a young child or player take in? If you asked a child to switch the play or play the ball out from the back, would they do it? Probably, but would they understand the reasoning behind why they have done it or what it has created. British players are in severe danger of becoming robots, playing without freedom or really knowing why they are doing what they are doing.

How long will a coach stay with one team? My reckoning is only a couple of years. The stresses and strains of junior football will take its toll after a couple of years and in Academies and CofE’s the coach will work in only one age group therefore introducing himself to a new bunch of players each year. If a player has been told what to do in a game, taken constant direction from one person, where will they be when that person is no longer there to give direction? Lost is my guess.

Young children just like playing games. Any coach will tell you that the most often question that they get asked is ‘When are we playing a match’ You can do this but still get across your methods and ideas to the players. Children as young as 4 or 5 will be able to understand that switching play can create space. They will be able to grasp the fact of playing triangles and playing the ball wide but they will also struggle to put those ideas into words and phrases. How do you expect them to understand a coach when he tells them this? Move into space or drop into the hole are fantastic phrases that a coach likes to use and a non-football person will think these sound great, but do the players understand that? My guess is again no.

There are literally 100s of games that allow The Game to be the Teacher. 4 Goal Game will encourage the players to switch play. Line Ball will encourage the players to attack 1v1. The Real Madrid Game will encourage passing in triangles. Coaches game will encourage playing the ball out from the back. Diagonal Game will encourage the players to pass in diagonal lines. Multi Ball Game will encourage awareness off the ball.

All of these games and many, many more will encourage a player to adapt and think their way out of a problem. It is a guarantee that if you create these games and let the players just play, they will surprise you with their decision making.

A good coach does not need to be seen or heard in order to be good.

I will leave you with this gem from one of the all-time great players.

Ferenc Puskas ‘I am grateful to my father for all the coaching he did not give me’