Course Learning’s

by Adam Clark | Apr 1, 2022 | Coaching Blog

Last week, I detailed my journey on the pathway to receiving my UEFA A License. While this journey had many positives, there were also times when things got tricky and challenging (as expected). I’m going to outline a number of the key areas, that I feel each coach could benefit from, if they know more for their own journey.

Having players to work with

When you register for your desired course, you’ll be required to travel to a destination, as arranged by the respective FA. Once you arrive, you’ll participate in a course with mixed theory and practical sessions (the workload will vary, dependant on the badge that you take). In previous years, you would have to participate in the coaching sessions, so that your fellow coaches can attempt to execute, what is required. On the UEFA licenses, my understanding is that you now have players to work with, which allows you to solely focus on coaching and not to worry about playing.
Once the course has concluded, you will be expected to go back to your respective club and practice the coaching process, that you would hopefully have been shown.
One important thing to note here, is that you have to have players to work with. Regardless of ability and if they are ‘poor’, this is better than having nothing to work with. If you are unable to practice regularly and make mistakes, how do you think you’ll improve? While the process will allow you to evolve, you will have time constraints from the course regulator in completing the qualification.

Learnings – Get on the grass as soon as possible, be adaptable and make mistakes.

Forming relationships with the coach educators and fellow delegates

For the next 4 weeks or 12 months (dependant on your course), you’ll be brushing shoulders with males and females of different ages, from different back grounds and at different clubs.
The only thing you will have in common with these people, is that you are either on the same learning journey, or you are learning from someone.

Coach educators – Learn as much as you can and question everything they say. This isn’t to cause yourself problems, merely for the purpose of gaining knowledge and to further your own understanding. When the educator is demonstrating in a coaching session, don’t scribble notes down on ‘how’ they do it. Zoom out and look at ‘what’ they are coaching. Consider the interventions they make and ask yourself, does this look like football and are the players learning?

Fellow delegates – These people will be on the same journey, so don’t isolate yourself. Build relationships, be approachable and ask questions. When in this process, the power of reflection will be hugely important. Each coach is different and has his/her own way of applying the art of coaching, so they will be different. This is beneficial as you may see/hear something that will give you a pop up, that should NOT go to waste. Write it down and reflect on it afterwards…..

Learnings – Be open to conversation, feedback where needed and have 3 questions that you can use to fuel a topic and engage with someone further.

Expect criticism

We all strive to get better and want to be a success, in completing our coaching badge. That’s why we registered in the first place and have attended the required dates. Our brains work on craving compliments and experiencing as many dopamine hits as possible. When we receive some feedback that we don’t expect or like, or conscious wall will get provoked and come into action. This acts like a barrier at times and can prevent you from listening to the message and instead, have negative feelings towards the messenger. This isn’t good practice and something you should strive to correct, if you think like this.
During the course, there will be bumps along the way and a session that will not go to plan. This is a fact and to be expected, as you aren’t yet at the competency level, that the coach educator so desires. Instead, you are taking small steps to achieve this competency level, so mistakes will unfortunately happen.
Accept the feedback that you are given and use this as a learning opportunity. Without it, you won’t improve.

Learnings – Have an ‘open’ loop brain, opposed to a ‘closed’ loop brain. Failure, mistakes and poor execution of actions, will allow you to improve in the future. Purchase this book, to learn more; https://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Box-Thinking-Performance-Surprising/dp/1473613809/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=black+box+thinking&qid=1648632252&sr=8-1

Differentiating between the what the how

One of the biggest takeaways I learnt from my coaching journey was the understanding between the what and the how. What is football? How is football played?
If I had known, what I know now, I feel I could’ve taken a lot more from my journey.

The what – This is universal and isn’t widely (or wasn’t) explained during my journey. Understanding exactly what the game is, is of the highest importance, because if you don’t know ‘what’ something is, how do you expect players to understand what it is? Remove all opinions from this and look hard at the facts.

The how – This your application as a coach and ‘how’ the game is played. There are infinite different ways, in how you can set up your team and execute the desired decisions of the coach.

From my experiences previously, I was shown a lot on how to play the game and not necessarily the what. There were many interventions over the years, that just focused on how the player should pass the ball or how she should defend 1 vs 1. One thing that was missing, is the process that a coach should use in actually coaching these players. The what is vital, as that is what the game is. The how is down to the players, as they are the decision makers.

Learnings – Look at football through a philosophical lens where possible and try to understand that the how, will always be someone’s execution.

The ‘bar’ that’s set

When starting your respective course, the anticipation builds and the expectations you have, will vary depending on what you think. By merely expecting an outcome, you are playing out different scenarios in your brain, that may/may not help you.
Once you get underway the expectations are outlined and an end goal is created. For you to achieve this goal you have to make many little steps, in order to achieve the final objective.

During my journey I did realise that there are at times, coaches who find things challenging. I was part of this on more than one occasion, but it’s how you react and embrace the challenge that will make you a better coach. For those that aren’t able to display the required competency levels, things may get tough and frustrating. Towards the course conclusion, there will be a required task to undertake, as to whether you have demonstrated what is required.

One question to consider when you’re on your own journey, is to recognise where the bar is set during your course? Is it high and are you expected to work towards this? Or, does it start high, then get lowered to the weakest link, to ensure everyone ‘passes’ at the end?

Learnings – Surround yourself with like minded coaches where possible and always strive to get better. By doing this, you’ll be giving yourself the best chance in reaching the highest bar.

Filming and recording yourself in action

The power of self reflection, is something I’m a strong advocate of and would encourage any coach to undertake. While listening and watching yourself may not be for everyone, it can give you the opportunity to recognise where your faults may lie and if your communication isn’t as clear, as you originally thought.
By filming yourself, you’ll be able to observe non-verbal communication and what position you take on the field for example.
The verbal recording can then align with this footage and provide you with an objective opportunity, to analyse your performance.
On the first couple of occasions, this will seem very uncomfortable, but I’d encourage you to zoom out and focus on what you are doing and how you are executing this.

Learnings – Use any video software that could be available to you, such as Veo. Audio recordings can be made on applications, such as ‘Otter’, available from the app store.

The hours you will need

Coaching is a job that (sometimes) involves unsociable hours. Before stepping into this profession, whether you are a volunteer or professional, you should always be prepared to dedicate many hours to perfect your craft. While no one will ever reach, ‘perfection’, allocating time will give you a much better chance in getting better.
On the field, you will be required to be present, from anything between 30 – 90 minutes (dependant on your level). Before this, you should’ve planned, with an evaluation following afterwards, meaning more time that is allocated to coaching. Time is key in this profession and if not respected, you could find yourself doing more than you need to. Alternatively, if you don’t use it appropriately in planning/evaluating, you may not get as far as you wish too.

Learnings – Being organised is something that you should be, in everyday life. When you’re coaching, you are performing and executing coaching actions, that can have different outcomes. The old cliche of, failing to plan – planning to fail, is most relevant here.

Learning never stops

Finally, once you reach your goals that you set out for on your journey, you should sit down and revaluate them. Having steps (even if they are small) in place, to guide you to bigger goals is key in any type of progression. Keep looking for those uncomfortable moments and opportunities that you may struggle with. You will only improve and get better, by making errors, reflecting and then trying again.

Learnings – Be open minded and never discount anything that anyone has to say or discuss. Whether speaking to coaches or managers from the top level, as well as grass roots coaches from your local club, everyone has there own unique journey and one that could help you improve.

UEFA A License – A journey

by Adam Clark | Mar 25, 2022 | Coaching Blog

For this weeks blog, I’m going to explain about my coaching journey, specifically the coaching badges that I undertook.

The journey started in 2012, when I took my first badge – which was the old version of the FA Level 1. This was with a local association over a number of evenings and weekends, in the build up to an ‘exam’. During this assessment we were required to deliver a session with our fellow (soon to be coaches). Under the watchful eye of the coach educator we were all notified of our progress, at the end of the 2nd weekend.

For this first assessment, I was given the task of delivering a session called, ‘waves’. The emphasis was on 2 groups attacking each end of the pitch and then shooting at a GK. As most coaches will know (who have taken the course), it is pretty hard to ‘fail’ and as expected I was given the FA Level 1 certification.

The date was now 2013 and I’ve just registered for my FA Level 2 course. This wasn’t with a local association, so on this occasion, I had to ride my bike to the train station, take 2 trains and then ride again at the other end. At this moment in time, I was working full time in sales and wasn’t actually driving. So, this meant I had to book holiday and swallow the financial commitment of achieving what I wanted.

Throughout this course, I met some great people and immediately noticed the difference from the FA Level 1 course. Being the logical progression in the coaching pathway, it was obvious this would be more of a challenge and require more work.
After around 4 months, assessment day arrived and we were given the opportunity to showcase what we had learnt. For this course, I was given the topic of, ‘short passing’.

During the process on the FA Level 2, we were taught how to structure a session around our topic. The recommended guidelines of a, ‘technique’ practice first, followed by a, ‘skill’ practice, second, with a small sided game to finish – using a 4 vs 4 format.

Upon completion of a tiring weekend, we were all given the news that we had ‘passed’ and were now FA Level 2 coaches. There were a couple of, ‘red flags’, during this process, which will be explained in next weeks blog!

After going back to my club in 2013, the coaching bug really took a hold of me and I found a new love for the game. Initially this was just a hobby, but I wanted more and explored the opportunity of moving into football, full time.
This dream became true in the summer of 2013, when I started at (then conference south), Basingstoke Town.

Once the initial settling in period was over and I understood my role, I applied for the ‘prestigious’, UEFA B License. Fortunately, I was successful in this application and began this coaching course at the end of 2013. In the build up to this course, there was a huge amount of anticipation and anxiousness, due to the ‘label’ that this badge holds. Again, this meant travelling a fair distance, paying for accommodation and taking time off work, to ensure I could complete this badge.

Upon starting this course, you could again see that the expectations again were higher and we were expected to coach the ‘game’ and not the ‘session’, which we had previously done on the FA Level 1 & 2.

Throughout this course, we were assessed 3 times, in order to measure our progress against the competency levels that are required to be a UEFA qualified coach.

My first topic was, ‘coach attacking players clever movement’, which was delivered in the first, initial block. Progressing into the second block, I was given the topic of, ‘coach full backs to join the attack’.
While learning in my own environment was slow, I found the contact blocks very informative and an opportunity to test myself, under the guidance of some well respected individuals.
The 9 months of this course flew by and it was again time for an assessment. On this occasion, I was given the topic of, ‘coach a team to press, mark and cover’. From what I remember on this day, the weather was exceptionally hot (being in June) and England were taking part in World Cup 2014!

After around 20 assessments, the finish line was crossed and we were given the news on whether we were competent at UEFA B License level. The great news was that, I again passed first time and left with the qualification.

After 3 very informative years, it was now time to apply a lot of what I had learnt on my courses and explore more on, ‘how’, to coach. While the ‘what’ was largely missing on all courses, my focus on ‘how’ I did things was important to my development and progressing over the following years.

Fast forward to 2019 and after a number of failed attempts, I was finally granted the opportunity to take my UEFA A License. This was another occasion, where I had to travel and fund all of my own expenses.

This course was a lot different than previous ones and rightly so, as this was the highest coaching badge available, outside the UEFA Pro License. The years previous to this, I had been coaching at a higher level and also managing. So, upon coming into this course I was a lot more mature and understood so much more about the game, than previously in 2014 (when I passed the UEFA B License).

There was an approach used of, ‘reality based learning’, where my mentor (coach educator), would work alongside my current situation and view the footage of my team. I then had to find solutions to the ever growing list of problems, that I experienced. This was so much more beneficial than any other course I had been on, as this was ‘real life’ and my learning aligned with the course task.

During the closing stages of this course, we were unfortunately hit with the COVID – 19 pandemic, which as we know, brought it’s own life changing circumstances.
Although we had had a lot of contact during the course, the final block would be delivered online. The hours were now completed and it was time to execute our final coaching session – with mine taking place here in the UK, filmed.

After years of hard work, in learning and applying knowledge, the final hurdle was in front of me and I had the opportunity to showcase everything I know. Given that the course was reality based, I was allowed to pick my own topic, based around the current circumstances within my team. For this final piece of the puzzle, I chose to work on, ‘pressing in a high block and forcing the opponent into wide areas’.

The session itself went well and I was to merge this with my plan, that I had recently formulated, along with the evaluation following afterwards.
The long awaited email finally arrived in December 2020, saying that I had now received my UEFA A License. After such a terrible year of lockdowns and disappointment, this really made the end of the year memorable – for good reasons!

I’d now like to provide a summary of key points on my journey, in becoming a UEFA A Licensed coach, without being an ex professional footballer;

– I had to pay for ALL my coaching badges, as well covering ALL my expenses (travel, food and accommodation).
– Volunteer work started me off on my journey and was highly beneficial. Working voluntary gave me the opportunity to experience different age groups and abilities.
– I was very fortunate to get into football full time, during the early phases of my coaching journey – make as many connections as you can!
– I have had A LOT of knock backs along the way and while at times, it may seem easier to quit, try and find just one thing to give you that motivation to continue. Remember, a dream can only become reality, if you take forward steps – even if they are slow!
– Become familiar with being comfortable, in UNCOMFORTABLE situations. Without this, you won’t ever identity your incompetencies and where you need to improve.
– Take criticism and understand that ‘failure’, is an opportunity to reflect and learn further.
– I’ve coached alongside current Premier League managers and ex Champions League winners, on my coaching journey to date. One lesson I’ve learnt is – they are only human too and will make mistakes. There is some what of a level playing field, within the learning process.
– Lastly, learning never stops and although I reached my dream of achieving UEFA A License status, tomorrow is a new day – which brings with it, it’s own uncertainties. Everyday is a new opportunity to learn and improve by 1%. Who’s standing in your way from achieving this?

Although the journey looks like it’s a thousand miles away, anything is possible and it all begins with that first step. Take yours NOW!

The art of coaching

by Adam Clark | Mar 18, 2022 | Coaching Blog

When you step on to the field to lead a training session or game, it’s important to consider all of the external factors regarding the occasion. The factors will influence the environment and possibly the outcome, so it could some what hinder the process of the team.

While taking all the external factors of the game into consideration, it’s important not to come away from the objectivity and your team values (intentions – that you have set out). We may, on occasion have to adapt, but it’s important to keep our intentions in place and clear, in order to contribute to the overall objective.

The communication from the lead coach/manager is vitally important, as guiding the team will be his/her responsibility. Guiding a process and getting the players to execute this, is what the person in charge needs the players to do, so if they don’t understand what’s needed for the challenge, it could be a symptom of future failure for the team.

Some of the external factors that will need to be taken into consideration, could be;

The fans – Are they supportive of something, or negative?
The facilities – Do you have world class access, or nothing available for your team to use?
The weather – Is it hot or cold, or possibly windy or raining?
The press – Are they trying to apply additional pressure?
The occasion – Is it a fixture that has a lot resting on the result?
The referee – Is he or she making decisions, that you deem correct or possibly wrong?

While the list isn’t exclusive to all coaches, for every occasion, these factors should always be taken into consideration. Having poor weather for example, could influence the playing surface, which could then in turn, effect the style of play that you may wish to execute.

Upon experiencing an external factor, the coach will have a decision to make. This will be based on their own opinion (subjective) of what they may possibly propose and how they will deal with it.

Alongside this subjective application, we have the universal references of football. As we know, the game has a set format (independent of the age group) and a set of rules outlined by the football association. These don’t change and will always been in place, to allow all players to execute football actions, within a controlled environment.

Your role now, as the coach or manager during the planning process, is a key one. What do you take as your starting point? The external factors surrounding you, or the objective facts of the game?

We should always take the game as a starting point, as this is universal and can’t be effected in any circumstance. If the weather is poor, the rules will stay the same, thus meaning, the ‘how’ in which things are executed, needs to be adapted.

Being adaptable while coaching, is part of the profession and will no doubt be experienced very early on in your career. This subjective application that you use, can help you make correct decisions and allow you to experience other outcomes, that may enable you to learn further.

The problem with taking subjective application as a starting point, is that you may fall into the ‘flavour of the month’, or only get so far. If it’s only your opinion and other staff and players know this, then surely their opinion is also equal? This could create very grey areas and allow players to put responsibility, completely outside of themselves.

Taking the game as the starting point will help you and allow for objectivity to shine through. The game (objective), in addition to your application (subjective), will give you the, ‘art of coaching’.

Your players

by Adam Clark | Mar 11, 2022 | Coaching Blog

Upon planning your training session or match day squad, you will have to consider a number of factors as well what players will be involved. Some get confused of what football actually is, so to summarise, it is a players sport and it’s their decisions, which will shape the outcome of the team.

Too often throughout football, coaches use a variety of different starting points that can cause confusion and mis – guide the process that they are intending. Some of the starting points used, could be;

Taking the coaches favoured formation to begin planning
Considering what form the team has been in
The severity of the fixture that is being played
Choosing principles and a ‘how’, above the ‘what’

While the above isn’t exclusive to one coach or organisation, I have experienced the above along my own journey. For some (myself included), you may not know or have known (once upon time), the actual starting point you used or actually need.

Without going too far ahead, we need to look at our players. These are the most important aspect of the game, as their decisions will influence what actually happens. Where do the players fit though, in our hierarchy of planning?

Before planning a training session or picking the starting team, you have to consider the playing ability, above everything else.

What are your players capable of?
What do they struggle with?
Where are your best units of communication?
Who needs support, under the different pressures the game produces?

Once you know what the capabilities of your players are, you can then consider the next step in the process of implementing your team intentions. Taking the capabilities in to account, can also be summarised as, the ability your players have, in executing football actions.

How may you set up your team in attack, in order to build up?
Which actions do you want your players to execute, when you lose the ball?

Having intentions in place, gives direction to ‘how’ you want the game to be played. While this doesn’t mean there are any guarantees of success, it allows for more objective feedback to be sought and gives the players responsibly of aligning their intentions, with that of the team.

Would you request that your brand new under 7 team that hasn’t played before, take part in a training session, that Pep Guardiola designed for his Manchester City players? Then when it goes wrong, do you question the ability of certain individuals? While this could be something that you’ve previously seen in the past, it clearly isn’t the best starting point you could take.

While deciding on your team intentions, can your players;

Achieve these desired outcomes, in order to assist with the team objective?
Execute what you’re requesting?
If this plan (a) doesn’t work, what is your plan (b)?
How often do you evaluate and adapt these intentions?

Lastly, you have to implement a playing formation which is a tool used to execute your team intentions, while also taking into consideration the abilities of your players. A previous post found here, highlights this information; https://www.parktopro.com/formations/

From reading this brief blog, I hope you can now understand the importance of your players and how you could assist them, in contributing to your team objectives.

Training exercises

by Adam Clark | Mar 4, 2022 | Coaching Blog

For a training session to be a success, we can use a variety of practices that will combine in order, to contribute to the overall objective.
Whether you have a small area to train in once per week, or you have the opportunity to train on a full size pitch, there is no reason to not design an effective training session and have practices to suit.

Before we go any further, we need to define the different practices that you could use;

Kicking exercise – Unopposed, without any interference.

Passing exercise – Opposed, with at least 2 players on the same team.

Possession exercise – Opposed, with the objective being, keeping the ball.

Position exercise – Opposed, with goals present.

Tactical exercise – Opposed, with a larger format used (more players & bigger space).

As you can see from the above, there are 5 different practices that you could opt to use within your training session.

Each exercise will have it’s own benefits, with some better suited to a certain age group than others. Before you decide what exercise you want to use, you may want to decide on the following questions;

How big is the training area that you have at your disposal?
How many players are attending?
What is the objective of the session?
How are you planning on achieving this?
What football actions will the players be required to execute?
Is there a scoring system that you wish to implement?

There are plenty more questions you could ask yourself, while anticipating all the external factors. These could be the weather, training area/surface and equipment that is available, to name a few.
By anticipating the external factors, you are then giving yourself a much better opportunity to prepare accordingly.

Once you have acknowledged the external factors, what next?

You will need an intention that you wish to work to and by doing this, you give yourself direction in achieving the respective objective. Maybe you could consider the following?

Where does this moment of the game take place on the field?
Who are the key players in making this happen?
What is your team intention in this part of the field?
Which actions will the players need to execute?
When could this moment of the game take place?
Why does this happen, during the game?

By answering some or all of the above questions, you should be able to visualise what you would want, in your training session. Now, the question is how are you going to achieve this?

If you take the objectivity from football and then use your subjective application (external factors considered), you now have the art of coaching. This will need to be applied, in order for you to execute the desired practices. If you opt to use one training session, opposed to another, this is completely your choice. What you as a coach needs to understand though, is that some exercises will benefit the team better than others. You also have to consider the players within these exercises and this is what we will look at next week!