I started using Saul’s MPFC App 2 years ago when Kayode turned 5 years old. The app has everything I need to provide Kayode with a technical and ball mastery foundation.

The Sessions are easy to follow and thoughtfully designed to help young players increase their confidence and movement with the ball.

As a parent, I do not have to worry about keeping Kayode engaged. We do a 20 min session every day.

I was pleasantly surprised when we moved to London and saw that the top Academies in Europe are doing the same drills Kayode had been working on for 2 years with MyPersonalFootballCoach.

The work we had done with Saul’s app, helped Kayode stand out during grassroots games and get scouted by two of the top cat 1 academies in Europe.

If you’re going to download and use a technical training app…there’s only 1 proven to develop players for the Premier League and Academy Football!

Aspiring football can start their journey with a MyPersonalFootballCoach Dynamic Ball Mastery Course.

An established individual online technical resource proven to improve technical ability and has helped a number of players make it to the top.

Join The Virtual Academy This Weekend

During my childhood I remember thinking about nothing other than wanting to be a professional footballer! As a young starry-eyed child, playing all hours of the day on the streets of East London, trying to squeeze as much joy from the game with my friends as I possibly could, whilst harbouring big dreams of captaining England at Wembley, or scoring in an FA cup final, or hopefully just becoming a professional football player one day. 

We’ve all been there; we were all starry-eyed children once upon a time, trying to be Eric Cantona in the playground (my collar was uplifted quite often). This is the first thing I want you to remember when we talk about being a ‘Football Parent’. I believe all children need an ‘elite parent’ or the correct adult support and guidance, to help them on their way. What were your experiences as a child trying to learn/pursue excellence in something? How did the adults around you help, or hinder your performance? 

How can you improve and become an ‘Elite’ Football parent’?

The title ‘Elite’ is used far too often, it’s misplaced and often unjustified and without supporting substance, but I believe I’ve seen first-hand Elite parent behaviour in my time, both with ‘football parents’ and just in general. 

Those seemingly absolute expert parents that have ignited and influenced their children’s development in such positive ways, that has created successful athletes and the development of exceptional human beings. I have tried to steal some of the correct and helpful behaviours that I’ve seen first-hand that have helped catapult young people to brilliant success across many disciplines from academic, athletic, football and even just by being amazing citizens and inspiring young people. 

I believe that being Elite at anything is not in a title or word, because we are all either just ‘Mum’ or ‘Dad’ to our children. Being ‘Elite’ is about your daily attitudes, effort, mindset, approach, behaviours, efficiency, consistency, succeeding, failing and being able to respond well to both and excellence amongst other things. 

In 2008 I became a parent for the first time (I’m no expert and there’s no magic rule book as we all know), but once I became a parent, my opinions on coaching, teaching, and helping young people develop started to transform for the better. I started to see the world through my children’s eyes and feel the world around them, trying to put myself in their tiny, inexperienced shoes, looking out at the big wild world (this is not always easy to do). By doing this I’ve developed a greater sensitivity to how other adults would speak, act, engage with and just behave around my very own precious children. Being a parent has made me more mindful around other children too, as I know they are listening and absorbing stuff even when we think they aren’t.

Do you as a parent need to become more Mindful? We all must check, challenge, and remind ourselves daily if we want to do our best by and for our children.

How many times have we seen disastrous adult/parent behaviour on the side of a practice or the touchline on a matchday? Too often! (Is surely the only respectable answer.) How many times has a young boy/girl had to suffer a miserable car journey home, with ‘the dreaded talk’ from ‘Pops Guardiola’ or ‘Jose Mumminho’?

I’ve also been that over-involved parent sitting on the side of a swimming pool when my 7-year-old daughter was trying to learn how to swim…. I was doing front crawl, breaststroke, all sorts with my arms, whilst sitting in the stands and calling out to my daughter across the swimming arena whilst she was trying to ‘Learn’ and her coach was trying to teach, coach, nurture, help her and inspire a love of swimming and most importantly, a love of learning. What happened? The coach looked at me, in a way that every coach has looked at an over-eager parent at some point and will know exactly what he was saying; “Dad, please stop! You’re not helping your daughter in any way”!

I questioned myself and reminded myself what Kind of ‘Swimming parent’ I wanted to be, or thought was helpful for my children’s development. More importantly what ‘Dad’ did my daughter want and need me to be?

Having coached since 1999 I’ve seen my fair share of parenting behaviours that most definitely have hindered a child’s progress and development. We all do things differently, but can we all do things aligned in terms of ‘intent’, and ‘purpose’ when it comes to our parenting skills and helping our children better develop?

It’s through a mixture of these experiences, I’m going to try and share with you some tips and ideas that I’ve seen and experienced on my journey to date, that may help us parents to become ‘Elite Football Parents’.

PUT YOURSELF IN YOUR CHILD’S SHOES

• Try to remember what being a child was like.
• Try to remember what parent/adult support you would have wanted as a child.
• Try to be positive and encouraging of effort, behaviour, sportsmanship, good play, and performance.
• Accept that success and failure is part of developing a young child’s character and ability.
• Child first, footballer second! Your child is just a child, don’t get caught up in adult goals and expectations. Let them be children.

AT THE PRACTICE/PLAYING PITCH

• Catch your child and others behaving well and applaud/encourage the correct attitudes.
• Applaud/encourage good play, behaviour, effort, and performance from all children. (As you would want for your children too.)
• Remember it’s a game and your children will soon be grown up, make sure you are helping them ‘enjoy’ and not ‘endure’ the experience.
• Try not to get caught up in the outcomes of winning, losing, success or failure. Focus on the learning and development and small steps of success.
• Be a supporter on the side-line, not a critic, not a coach or commentator. Plenty of positives. Well done Joe or Julia is sometimes enough!

THE JOURNEY HOME

• Simply ask your child how they played/ let them express themselves and move on, be ready for tomorrow’s practice.
• Understand that it’s natural and ok for them to be down about losing, and high about winning. They move on quickly, you should too.
• If you do want to give feedback at some point, just highlight 2-3 things you noticed they have done well.
• Encourage them to communicate with and build positive learning relationships with their coaches, teachers, and teammates. Encourage ownership of their ‘football’ learning.
• If they had an absolute nightmare of a practice session, get them to write it down on paper, go home and ‘bin it’, it’s where rubbish belongs.

Please remember your child’s sporting performance does not define you as a parent, nor your child as a person, they are just a part of their success and who they are. Their character and how they behave through the ups and downs is a greater reflection of you as a parent, and the wonderful job you are doing.

Can you become an Elite football/Soccer parent? I dare you too!

Until next time,

Take care

Aspiring football players can join Glen, Saul and more top-class coaches on the Virtual Academy for the ultimate player development program, working on players technical, tactical, physical and mental aspects of the game.
Now featuring 1on1 video calls and mentoring, player progress reports and exclusive training tutorials used in elite academies. 

Join The Virtual Academy This Weekend

I believe players are going to need to be more ‘football-flexible’ than ever, we may need a team of 11 Philipp Lahm’s, technically, tactically and physically advanced and adaptable to compete at the very highest level and meet the demands of the game. Players may need to be experts in several or more roles within the team.

If you’re a coach or parent of an aspiring young football player, it might be worth thinking about, but also have a glimpse into football history too.

What I believe you will find in today’s modern game, the game of 30, 40, 50 or even 80 years ago, is some players that are universal football talents that could adapt to any era of football. The main differences being developments in facilities, money, technology and science. 

If you are aiming to develop adaptable and versatile players that can function in many positions, that can deal with the varying situations that arise in a game of football, you’re onto a winner. The type that finds solutions for almost any problems, cope with the ever-changing demands of the game and adapt to the challenges of their opponents. 

I’ve always been fascinated by the most adaptable of players, those that have technical balance, tactical fluidity and the physical mobility of a middleweight boxer. Those types of athletes and competitors of a champion mind, that don’t set limits, have a solid 8/10 in most physical aspects needed to succeed in football, but also have the technical, tactical tools, combined with mindset and character.

Defenders like Paolo Maldini, Phillip Lahm, Lillian Thurman, Sergio Ramos, David Alaba, Dani Alves, Javier Zanetti, that can play anywhere across the back. They can meet the technical and tactical demands of the game in all forms and could even play midfield or forward areas of required too, such is their technical and tactical tool kit.

Midfielders like, Steven Gerrard, Ngolo Kante, Clarence Seedorf, Joshua Kimmich, James Milner, Ashley Young, Cesc Fabregas, Thomas Muller, Kevin De Bruyne, Zinedine Zidane and more. Players that have won plenty and been integral parts of their team’s success, playing many positions in the process to help their teams overcome the challenges of single games and long challenging seasons. Their versatility was key to their team’s success.

Forwards like, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Luis Suarez, Gabriel Jesus, Marcus Rashford, Wayne Rooney, George Best, Johan Cruyff and more. The type of forwards that would play in a variety of attacking positions, move fluidly during a game, or from game to game with ease, all with the intent to express their talents where the space and best opportunity allowed and to ruthlessly exploit opponents defensive weaknesses. As well as being adaptable to change within the game.

What can we do to better develop football-flexible, versatile and more complete players that we already do?

My top 5 tips would be for developing more versatility in young players would be;

• Encourage players to explore & experiment. 

Try not to ring-fence their efforts, nor put a ceiling on their potential, that you ‘think is right’, just allow it to occur naturally. They will find their limits in time.

• Pay attention to possibility and potential!

If they show sparks or shoots of progress, try and harvest it further. The child that never used to shoot, now plundering goals, because he found discovered home in front of the goal.

• Insist on two-footed practice and development in all techniques!

This is a game-changer, for physical and technical balance, but most importantly for self-efficacy and confidence. All players can become two-footed, but the biggest obstacle is ‘attitude’ and ‘outcomes’ you have to let them fail and grow through the discomfort.

• Let players play in all areas of the pitch on game day at some stage in their development.

This will allow players to both express their strengths and expose their weaknesses (which is key, how will they grow otherwise?!), which will allow more wholesome development.

• Develop individuals at all times. 

Every single player is unique, so try to develop and express each individuals potential, it will take care of the ‘group’ and ‘team’ game by consequence.

• Workout what the players need all the time, as it changes quite often. 

Who are you working with? What do they need? How can you help them develop? 

“Show me [a player] who does all the things Milner does well. There isn’t one. It’s hard to leave him out. Respect, commitment and performance level: 10/10, fantastic. He’s polyfunctional: full-back – the only position he doesn’t like – attacking midfield, wide. I played him as a forward and the team averaged three goals a game. He gives everything.”

-Manuel Pellegrini

Until next time,

Take care

Aspiring football players can join Glen, Saul and more top-class coaches on the Virtual Academy for the ultimate player development program, working on players technical, tactical, physical and mental aspects of the game.
Now featuring 1on1 video calls and mentoring, player progress reports and exclusive training tutorials used in elite academies. 

Join The Virtual Academy

Every child should come with a manual saying; this child is full of imagination, wonder, ingenuity, courage and creativity, so please handle with care, because these qualities are fragile. Please don’t tread on their dreams or kill their creativity! Each individual is unique in their own way.

We all may have varying levels of capacity for creativity and maybe some people are born with natural potential for extreme genial levels of creative capacity, but maybe not, maybe they were just allowed to function and blossom that way?!

The nature V nurture conversation has gone on for years, but one thing is for sure; if it’s in our ‘nature’ to be creative, then creativity as a living, growing thing definitely needs to be ‘nurtured’ if it’s to be utilised to its full potential.

How much creative potential is left lying dormant because of the environment created?

An environment with creativity for children can affect all parts of a child’s development and growth as a human being.

Are you allowing an environment for children to; play, explore, enquire, try, fail, express themselves with freedom and find their own solutions to their problems or challenges?

What are the consequences of a creativity rich environment, or a creativity poor environment?

What happened to that child that used to be full of wonder and expression and no longer is?

Maybe it’s through our very own inhibitions, insecurities, ignorance and poor perceptions of what is best for the child to grow.

How many times do we see a youth game of football that’s stale, dull, predictable, horrible to watch and the life, energy, effervescence and purity of the game has had the life sucked out of it by ‘adults’ interfering and dominating on a sideline?

If we just took the parents/coaches away, would we see a better game? More creativity? More expression? More joy? I think far too often, the answer would be YES!

We want them to be independent thinkers, problems solvers, decisive decision-makers, leaders, pioneers and just general every day highly efficient, functioning and productive people.

Try to enjoy the process a young child goes through, getting lost in a world of wonder. This process of creativity in action is a developmental masterpiece in itself, it’s a thing of creative beauty in its entirety and should be encouraged and not interrupted either.

I’ve often wondered how the genial creative mind of J.K. Rowling would tell stories to a child.

To create the Harry Potter legacy is no mean feat and didn’t happen overnight. A young mind that is inspired and ignited like this will grow in a creative capacity and its potential could be boundless?

‘It matters not what we are born, but what we are grown to be!’

– J.K. Rowling 

As a adult in the child’s world of learning, are you playing your part in ‘cultivating’ or ‘Killing’ children’s creativity?

If we do kill creativity (I know I have been guilty of this many times as a father and coach), then why?

Are we scared of the mess that comes during the process of creativity?

Are we as coaches scared to let our sessions become messy and unstructured? Are we coaching to a please a curriculum before cultivating creativity in the child? Are we impatient?

Are we afraid to lose control?

Every time we tell a child to stop making a mess at home or interject on a football pitch, are we stifling creativity through their play?

To get efficient football technique, especially when starting from scratch at a young age, or developing something new like ‘the weaker foot’, the process looks horrible and awkward at times, but it’s part of the process, to grow and develop. Growth hurts and sometimes we stop because we don’t want it to look so bad, or can’t deal with the discomfort of the ‘ugly’ performance. The aesthetics can wait, the process is much more important than the outcome, it’s a positive thing. Remember every butterfly was once a not so pretty caterpillar.

‘Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns to look at things in a different way!’

-Edward De Bono- 

Consider this with football, and learning about mastering the ball and mastering the game. Is creativity exclusive to our dribblers and number 10’s? Or 6,7, 8-year-olds, but stops at 11, 12 and almost evaporates by mid to late teens. Why? Are we coaching a curriculum too often, rather than coaching players and cultivating creativity?

If it is, it shouldn’t be, goalies, defenders, u10, u12, u18 and senior players need creativity to thrive in football, all players right through the team and ages will function better with creativity as a tool in their armoury for sure.

At home, at school, at play, from the football field to the kitchen table doing homework, how often are your children allowed to be fully expressive and creative when there’s a chance to be at some point in their day?

There are 1,440 minutes in a day, how can you encourage your child creativity?
Can you give them opportunities to try and fail?
Can you challenge them to try something new?
Can you give them opportunities to problem solve?

It’s almost an instinct of ours to go head-on towards problems with the inquisition, exploration in search of a solution, but in trying to help children are we actually taking away the opportunity for them to go head-on towards problems?

What part can and should we be playing as guardians of our children’s development?

Can you be a cultivator of creativity?

Until next time.

Take care, Glen Hicks, Head of Player Development.

Players can join Glen on the Virtual Academy for 1on1 video calls and mentoring, player progress reports and exclusive training tutorials used in elite academies. 

Join The Virtual Academy

Join The Virtual Academy

Every child should come with a manual saying; this child is full of imagination, wonder, ingenuity, courage and creativity, so please handle with care, because these qualities are fragile. Please don’t tread on their dreams or kill their creativity! Each individual is unique in their own way.

We all may have varying levels of capacity for creativity and maybe some people are born with natural potential for extreme genial levels of creative capacity, but maybe not, maybe they were just allowed to function and blossom that way?!

The nature V nurture conversation has gone on for years, but one thing is for sure; if it’s in our ‘nature’ to be creative, then creativity as a living, growing thing definitely needs to be ‘nurtured’ if it’s to be utilised to its full potential.

How much creative potential is left lying dormant because of the environment created?

An environment with creativity for children can affect all parts of a child’s development and growth as a human being.

Are you allowing an environment for children to; play, explore, enquire, try, fail, express themselves with freedom and find their own solutions to their problems or challenges?

What are the consequences of a creativity rich environment, or a creativity poor environment?

What happened to that child that used to be full of wonder and expression and no longer is?

Maybe it’s through our very own inhibitions, insecurities, ignorance and poor perceptions of what is best for the child to grow.

How many times do we see a youth game of football that’s stale, dull, predictable, horrible to watch and the life, energy, effervescence and purity of the game has had the life sucked out of it by ‘adults’ interfering and dominating on a sideline?

If we just took the parents/coaches away, would we see a better game? More creativity? More expression? More joy? I think far too often, the answer would be YES!

We want them to be independent thinkers, problems solvers, decisive decision-makers, leaders, pioneers and just general every day highly efficient, functioning and productive people.

Try to enjoy the process a young child goes through, getting lost in a world of wonder. This process of creativity in action is a developmental masterpiece in itself, it’s a thing of creative beauty in its entirety and should be encouraged and not interrupted either.

I’ve often wondered how the genial creative mind of J.K. Rowling would tell stories to a child.

To create the Harry Potter legacy is no mean feat and didn’t happen overnight. A young mind that is inspired and ignited like this will grow in a creative capacity and its potential could be boundless?

‘It matters not what we are born, but what we are grown to be!’

– J.K. Rowling 

As a adult in the child’s world of learning, are you playing your part in ‘cultivating’ or ‘Killing’ children’s creativity?

If we do kill creativity (I know I have been guilty of this many times as a father and coach), then why?

Are we scared of the mess that comes during the process of creativity?

Are we as coaches scared to let our sessions become messy and unstructured? Are we coaching to a please a curriculum before cultivating creativity in the child? Are we impatient?

Are we afraid to lose control?

Every time we tell a child to stop making a mess at home or interject on a football pitch, are we stifling creativity through their play?

To get efficient football technique, especially when starting from scratch at a young age, or developing something new like ‘the weaker foot’, the process looks horrible and awkward at times, but it’s part of the process, to grow and develop. Growth hurts and sometimes we stop because we don’t want it to look so bad, or can’t deal with the discomfort of the ‘ugly’ performance. The aesthetics can wait, the process is much more important than the outcome, it’s a positive thing. Remember every butterfly was once a not so pretty caterpillar.

‘Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns to look at things in a different way!’

-Edward De Bono- 

Consider this with football, and learning about mastering the ball and mastering the game. Is creativity exclusive to our dribblers and number 10’s? Or 6,7, 8-year-olds, but stops at 11, 12 and almost evaporates by mid to late teens. Why? Are we coaching a curriculum too often, rather than coaching players and cultivating creativity?

If it is, it shouldn’t be, goalies, defenders, u10, u12, u18 and senior players need creativity to thrive in football, all players right through the team and ages will function better with creativity as a tool in their armoury for sure.

At home, at school, at play, from the football field to the kitchen table doing homework, how often are your children allowed to be fully expressive and creative when there’s a chance to be at some point in their day?

There are 1,440 minutes in a day, how can you encourage your child creativity?
Can you give them opportunities to try and fail?
Can you challenge them to try something new?
Can you give them opportunities to problem solve?

It’s almost an instinct of ours to go head-on towards problems with the inquisition, exploration in search of a solution, but in trying to help children are we actually taking away the opportunity for them to go head-on towards problems?

What part can and should we be playing as guardians of our children’s development?

Can you be a cultivator of creativity?

Until next time.

Take care, Glen Hicks, Head of Player Development.

Players can join Glen on the Virtual Academy for 1on1 video calls and mentoring, player progress reports and exclusive training tutorials used in elite academies. 

Join The Virtual Academy

Harrison came to me as a U12 without and confidence on the ball his dad asked me to supplement the excellent work he got at his club with some world class ball mastery. He’s now U15s and one of the most technically gifted Centre Backs in the country…hard work pays off!

“Saul has worked with Harrison for 3 years now from u11 to u15 for me Harrison’s Technical ability and movement has improved massively, also from rarely using his left foot he now plays comfortably with both left and right foot,for me that’s what Saul is great at working on players weaknesses.”

– Reiss Parker (Harrison’s Dad)

Discover how the Dynamic Ball Mastery Program can help take your game to the next level and support your technical development outside of your regular team training. 

Master the Ball… Master the Game

Start Linking Your Ball Mastery To The Game

Mastering 1v1 skills and ball mastery in an in-game situation is guaranteed to make you the game-changer. However, practising 1v1 skills alone or with a teammate is completely different to using those skills in-game. 

To be able to use your 1v1 skills under pressure, you need to practice every day and build muscle memory. 

Practising ball mastery will build confidence, technical ability, control and co-ordination which you can take into your game. 

The trick is to start practising ball mastery in opposed situations, this means training in 1v1, 1v2, 2v2 situations. 

Master your technique and your skills using the MyPersonalFootballCoach app and then take them into training and game situations.

Here are some tips to help transfer skills from training to games: 

• Practice until you can’t get it wrong – the more your practice the more the movement will become muscle memory. If a skill is hard to do, you need to keep practising it every day, not until you get it right, until you get it wrong. 
• Practice with opposition or teammate – this is really important to build your ball mastery skills under pressure in 1v1 and 1v2 situations. Some of the best players in the world can dribble past 4 players without losing the ball.
• Develop your decision making – Once you have mastered your ball mastery and 1v1 skills, this means you can keep your head up and analyse your surroundings while being on the ball. You need to be able to understand the same from a tactical point of view and know what your next steps are. 

The players who are the game changers are the ones who take the risks, put in maximum effort and most importantly learn from their mistakes. 

Linking ball mastery to the game is going to take time, resilience and commitment. But this is what makes the game-changers. 

You’re going to make mistakes but that’s fine, that’s part of the journey!

What skills should you be practising? What’s going to help you. Stand out?

The players who stand out are the game-changers. So practice your 1v1 skills and master all of the ones on the MyPersonalFootballCoach app on the 1v1 skill library…these are the skills used by the best players in world soccer.

Then practice your end product:

• Passing
• Crossing
• Shooting and Finishing

This combined with your ability to stay on the ball and dominate your opponent will help you stand out from the crowd! 

Check out how some of the best players in the world use ball mastery to unbalance and evade their opposition.

Master the Ball… Master the Game

Start Linking Your Ball Mastery To The Game

Seeing Jack Grealish complete his £100 Million+ move to Man City is not only good for English Football at the highest level but importantly for player development in grassroots and Academy football. Seeing Grealish who loves to stay on the ball, dribble and create problems embraced by Guardiola and combined with Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden. 3 of the most exciting attacking players in Europe at the moment… 3 players who can play quickly but can also get on and stay on the ball under pressure. 

Sancho joining United is another example. The ability to break lines with the ball at your feet… A key attribute of the top attacking players in world soccer! As fans we also love these players… We yearn for them to be in our teams.

Jadon Sancho – Borussia Dortmund

As player developers, we have to look at this and try and understand what environments give players like this the best opportunity to develop. Also importantly often why are we often so resistant to give young players the opportunity to develop these traits by making mistakes?

It was great seeing Jamal Musiala excelling for Bayern Munich last season and Germany in the Euros, it filled me with lots of pride. In my first season with Chelsea’s Academy I took the U10s which included Jamal. This was an extremely talented group and thought of highly by everyone in the Academy but Jamal and one other were the stand out players for me. Jamal was and still is ‘a dribbler’ he used to play his own game and love trying to beat as many players as he could. He used to drive some of the other staff at the club mad as they’d often say to him ‘get rid of it’ ‘move it quickly’ or … ‘he just needs to learn how to lend it’. I was the opposite, I used to encourage him to keep on going…keep on trying to beat players. 

Jamal Musiala – FC Bayern Munich

Pep Guardiola was once quoted as famously saying…

‘Can this guy dribble? I only want players who have that skill so that’s always what I look at. I want full-backs and central defenders and midfielders and inside forwards and wingers who can dribble because you can learn control and good passing…so yeah dribbling that’s the key’

This is ironic on many levels as the reason why we maybe don’t produce/develop more dribblers is that many youth coaches try and model their teams on Guardiola’s teams. Quick play and possession is the key. Also, I think the danger of youth coaches basing all their training programmes on rondos and positional play is it lends itself to organised quick play. Particularly in the foundation phase, we want a bit of freedom, chaos, individuality and creative play. I’m not saying don’t use rondos or positional games but balance it with games that encourage players to stay on the ball.

Are we brave enough to accept/realise that football at the youngest age groups doesn’t have to look like first team football? The messy training/games will actually lead to more creativity and quality in the long term?

‘A successful 1v1 beats and tactic/formation’ (Ajax Academy)

This saying from the Ajax academy sums it up for me. We celebrate players who have the ability to break lines with the ball at the highest level. These game changers are the ones who win games but the irony is when players in the youth football environment try dribbling and lose the ball coaches often scold them or encourage them to ‘play it quickly next time’.

Jack Grealish – England vs Denmark

If we don’t give players the opportunity to make mistakes and hone their skills…how do we expecting them to develop this. Are we excepting the finished article in the Foundation Phase (8-11 Years)?
Also, with the danger of sounding like a broken record… how important is winning the game at youth level? Particularly in Academy football where each game is a friendly anyway?

I’ve been lucky enough to spend a lot of time at Hale End, Arsenal’s Academy training ground as Arsenal are utilising the MyPersonalFootballCoach app within their Academy. I watched a U10 game recently between Arsenal and QPR. I was astounded, this was one of the best academy games I have ever seen in terms of individual development and brilliance. You could see both clubs have a clear philosophy and identity around individual development. Every time a player received the ball their first intention was to go forward and to beat a player. Some of the skills, bravado on the ball and the goals were simply sublime. I have never seen a fixture when both teams had a similar intent.

The Head of Coaching at QPR is my old boss at Spurs and mentor Chris Ramsey so I know that they have one of the most progressive methodologies in the country. It was fantastic to see Arsenal with an identical approach that encourages individual brilliance and creativity over team outcomes and possession within the foundation phase. This lays the foundations for effective team play when players get older.

Many academies claim to have an individual focused programme but when it comes to games there is a clamour to win and play ‘pretty’ Possession football. The question is, is this really individually focused or simply coach/adult/ego orientated? I think we need to understand that youth football is different to adult football… Also the Foundation Phase is markedly different to the Youth Development Phase (12-16 Years). Give the players freedom to be individual and creative…

Let the dribblers dribble!

Master the Ball… Master the Game

Start Developing Your Dribbling Today

Leonardo – Signs @ Southampton FC

We always love to see MyPersonalFootball Coach players putting in the extra work to take their game to the next level and Leonardo has done just that.

Leonardo has trained to the MyPersonalFootballCoach Dynamic Ball Mastery and Virtual Academy Programs daily since 2019 and worked 1on1 with Saul to improve his game even more. Not only is Leonardo a great technical player, but with the help of the Virtual Academy, he has now advanced mindset and resilience, ready to take on anything that comes his way.

We are extremely proud to announce that Leonardo’s hard work has paid off and he has signed with Southampton FC Academy.

Good luck Leonardo!

Could you be the next star?