Football4ALL Coaching Philosophy:

To provide a fun, positive learning environment based on learning through play

That sounds great but what does it mean?

Fun

Well the fun part should speak for itself. The more players enjoy our sessions the more attention they will pay to what we are trying to teach them and the more they will want to learn. Our sessions are based on a series of fun activities that encourage players to use the particular skills we are working on.

We take our role as coach very seriously but we still try to have fun with our players. We require some degree of discipline so that everbody can enjoy the session and improve their skills but we will always try to have a laugh with the players.

“Learning through fun is our philosophy during the early years of development”

Ian Brunskill, Liverpool FC Academy Coach

Positive learning environment

We are always positive and encouraging with our comments durring training. We try not to point out errors but but encourage players to seek out alternative solutions to improve their play.

“Alf was very quiet and to the point. Coaches often strike up a different tone to their voice. They lecture you but Alf didn’t, he’d just have a conversation and make suggestions”

George Cohen talking about Sir Alf Ramsey, England’s World Cup winning coach.

Learning through play

Give players a ball, something with which to mark out some goals and enough time, the players will teach themselves how to play! Our job as coaches is to facilitate this process.

Football skills are best learnt in game situations. By placing conditions on a game we guide the players into learning whichever area of the game we are working on. When players discover problem solving solutions through their own initiative, then they are more likely to learn from that experience and retain the information longer.  

We help them on the journey of discovery by asking questions and giving advice. Some technical aspects may be best taught initially through ‘unopposed practices’ but we move players on to learning in a ‘game like’ situation as quickly as possible so they will learn to do the skill under game conditions.

“Children learn by playing.”

John Allpress  FA Player Development Coach