What does it take to be a successful coach of the youngest players in the academy system? Three leading Foundation Phase coaches explain all…
The Foundation Phase is where players take their baby steps in professional football. For children aged 5-11 these are truly formative years – in their lives as well as their sporting development. It’s also an age group crying out for ex-pros who want to develop their coaching career.
Experiences here can have as much impact on the teachers as the youngsters with a ball at their feet. So say Sheffield Wednesday’s Foundation Phase manager Max Wragg, Shrewsbury’s Foundation Phase coach Charlie Musselwhite and Travis Binnion, Academy Manager at Sheffield United…
PASSION AND PATIENCE
The coaches are unanimous in their view of the qualities that make a good Foundation Phase coach. “I always look for someone who is vibrant,” says Max Wragg. “The kids pick up energy off the coaches. If you have a coach who has a good manner with the kids, it’s a great start.”
Charlie Musselwhite agrees: “You need a lot of enthusiasm for that age. If you’re not enthusiastic, sometimes they can lose concentration and the session goes a bit sideways and doesn’t go to plan.”
As well as outwardly showing your passion for the game, Charlie cites patience as a major virtue when working with players who may have only just started school. “You’re used to the terminology and the technical aspects you are talking about, but it might take the kids time to understand that. Once they get it, they can really progress.”
PASTORAL SKILLS
With minds and bodies so young, Travis Binnion advises potential Foundation Phase coaches to be mindful of their responsibilities.”You are an influencer,” he says. “You’re the first person they might see, so you have to know what you want from the player.
“We look for some kind of outstanding quality in the player and in the past we’ve been obsessed with technical ability. Now we’re looking for kids who have really good character – kids who are mentally right, first and foremost. You want kids to love the game.”
Little wonder so much time is spent trying to set an appropriate atmosphere for the players and ensuring they are supported. “Straight away we want the kids to come into a happy place here,” explains Max. “If you create that environment where the kids are happy and smiling, they get into group discussions and feel part of a squad. You’re then going to get fewer people unhappy about training or that their wellbeing is not right.”
PREPARATION AND DELIVERY
From the outset, young players are hungry for feedback and a big part of the Foundation coach’s role is providing comments and planning objectives. Often players down to the U9s age group get individual learning objectives, which they check between sessions.
“Sometimes we pick one out and ask, ‘what’s your learning objective for this phase?’” says Max. “They check that before training so it’s in their heads and after training they can think whether they have hit those points. We don’t want to bombard them but it’s always nice for them to have something to think about.”
There is a very structured approach to training but the key to success is that players love the basics and do a lot of work with the ball, according to Max.
“We do a lot with manipulation so kids are learning control and to use both feet and then we touch on the basics of 1v1 defending and attacking.
“We want them to express themselves at times. If you have a dribbler and we’re doing passing I don’t want to pass the dribble out of them. I want them to be their own player but I want them to have an understanding of the basic elements of the game.”
TRACKING PERFORMANCE
Clubs use the Performance Management Application (PMA) system to record performance and track development, a widely supported tool throughout the game. “It’s especially helpful for the part-time coaches where they can put their training reports online,” says Travis, “so after training sessions they report on who has attended and give each individual a mark out of 10.
“Coaches also give a little comment about how they have trained around their individual learning objective, then weekly reports and bigger reports.” While that may sound laborious to the uninitiated, Travis reassures aspiring coaches that post-training reports take just ten minutes to pull together once you get used to the process.
Sports science, as well as data, plays a significant role even at this early stage. At Sheffield Wednesday the first 30 minutes of each session is split into six stations, three of them sports science with a ball and the others focused on technique.
Then again, sometimes a back-to-basics approach is required, as Max explains: “Kids aren’t kids anymore. They don’t go out and play in the park these days. We try to do skipping with them and half of them can’t even skip. It’s doing basic things that we used to do and trying to let kids be kids, but while they’re in an academy environment.”
PARENTAL ADVICE
The PMAs are useful for coaches managing their interaction with parents. They spell out the philosophy of the club, give parents and players a weekly timetable and show them what you are focusing on in coaching sessions.
If a player needs to be moved up or down a group the PMAs provide valuable context. “Before we move a player we talk to the parents because they are the kids’ biggest influence at that age,” says Max.
“We are always here to support, so if the kids have any problems they will always contact the lead phase coach, who will then get feedback from the age group coach of that player and then they can discuss the issues with them.
“It’s a cutthroat industry but we’re always approachable, so parents come in and kids check their learning objectives as soon as they get in the training ground. We try to keep it as fair as possible.”
Travis agrees: “The biggest part of the kid is a parent. If you get a parent on board, the kids will do anything for you.”
USE YOUR EXPERIENCE.
A highly valued asset for coaches at all age groups is playing experience. That can be particularly relevant for the very young players, as Charlie explains: “A lot of the time I relate their experience to my experience. I use mine to build rapport.
As soon as you do, you have a personal connection. That helps them to develop because they start trusting you.”
Faith is deepened when you’re able to demonstrate the techniques you are teaching, something Max feels coaches could do far more of. Demonstrating skills instantly forms respect in the minds of young players.
But experience can be a bad thing if it’s not articulated correctly, warns Travis.
“They want to please you, they want to express themselves. There are a lot of ex-pros who forget what it’s like to be kids. If you can get your positive experiences across to the youngsters, that’s powerful.
“There needs to be more ex-players working at younger age groups, but they have to be able to relate to the kids and that’s hard for anyone.”
RICH REWARDS
While there’s a tendency for football to reward coaches financially as they progress up the age groups, there are huge positives to be taken from working at the Foundation Phase level.
It’s a great way to develop your own skill, says Charlie: “If you are someone who needs to build confidence the pre-academy and Foundation Phase is a place that can hone that development, especially with players who have maybe not had a glittering professional career, like myself.
“As soon as I got into it, I absolutely loved it. Sometimes the kids come out with something that will just make you laugh – it’s really enjoyable.”
A Working Week
Max Wragg explains the routine of a Foundation Phase coach at Sheffield Wednesday…
SESSION DESIGN
More senior coaches will refer to a technical curriculum used throughout the year and draw up the outline of your weekly schedule. They will dictate a topic for each session, but it’s up to the coach to design the nuts and bolts.
That planning and preparation takes up a chunk of your time.
ON THE PITCH
The age group coach will take the youngsters for training on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Saturday is a skills morning with four stations across various age groups, helping to promote mixing and a sense of belonging. It’s a purely technical morning focusing on skills such as crossing, turning, passing and shooting.
MEETINGS
Before coaching and afterwards there is an opportunity for discussion and, crucially, a chance to reflect on how sessions have panned out. “Some sessions you come away and think ‘I could have done better there’. We all make mistakes and you know you can rectify it for next time,” says Max.
For more information about coaching courses please click here.
.jpg)
