🫶 Social media drill envy

Hey everyone,

Tell me I’m not alone on this one…

I was planning a training session the other night with a clear idea in mind. Then I made the mistake of scrolling through social media.

Suddenly, I’m seeing all these amazing drills from professional coaches, former pros, and academy players. These drills are being executed flawlessly by kids who look like mini-Messis from the Planet Wonder Kid. 

And then the self-doubt starts to creep in:

• Are my drills good enough?

• Could I coach that?

• Why don’t my players perform like that when I teach them?

• Is it because I’m not a good coach?

• Am I doing something wrong?

But then I remind myself of the reality on the ground.

While I’m trying to set up drills, one kid is kicking a ball at me, another is arguing with a teammate, and another is rolling on the floor for no apparent reason.

That’s when I realised: you can only prepare as best as you can to deliver the best session possible.

• Plan it out

• Keep it simple

• Don’t make it too complicated to set up

• Make it easy to explain

• Deliver clear messages

That’s the best you can do.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll definitely try to use some of these drills—they’re great. But it’s important to stay realistic and not be too hard on yourself.

After all, no one’s posted anything about me on social media… yet 🙏 

And remember, It's Only Kids Football 😉 

Let’s keep going…

 🧠 Jimmy from Coerver shared a bunch of Coaching hacks.

Coerver Coaching has influenced me massively. They’re pioneers. So having Jimmy Galustian join me for a chat was a real pleasure.

Not only did he drop a bunch of practical takeaway pieces of advice, he shared his experience of coaching his own kids.

🎧️ Listen to the full episode on your player of choice.

👀 Kyle Walker had an Extreme Football Dad

Football parenting styles vary.

At one end of the spectrum you have indifference and neglect - at the other extremely vocal.

The Kyle Walker story joins a number of pros who’ve talked about the relationship they had with parents: John Terry, Thierry Henry, Peter Crouch - this is a topic that we’ll get into some more.

The full story is on BBC Sport.

 📢 Advertising for kids to play in positions

Is it right or Is it wrong to advertise for kids to play in specific positions at this age?

Two issues are at play here.

Firstly whether kids should have fixed positions at such a young age.

Then there’s the adverts.

🌶️ There will be opinions….

Curious to know what everyone else thinks.

I have my own take on this and will be getting into it on the pod with my Assistant Manager, Mike. He’s joining me on one of the next episodes.

 📋️ Some drills for your sessions

Beating the opposition and putting the ball in the net. Useful.

OK there we go. More to come next week!

Thanks for reading 🙏