The Sporting Resource

Messages like this genuinely make my day.

A huge thank you to Matthew for taking the time to send this.

The Sporting Resource is something I run alongside everything else, so hearing that someone follows the work, values it and describes themselves as a “massive supporter” means a lot.

There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes creating the resources, posts, session ideas and videos, and messages like this are a useful reminder that people are actually getting something from them.

If TSR has helped you in some way, whether through a resource, an idea, a post or a video, I’m always grateful to hear about it.

If you’ve got a spare minute, leaving a review on the page is another simple way you can support the work and help more coaches discover what we do.

Woke up this morning to see we’ve surpassed 30,000 followers 👏🏻

Thank you 🌍

René Meulensteen raises a question that is worth considering in youth football:

“If you see coaches working with ten or twelve-year-olds and trying to implement a Pep Guardiola style in 11v11… what are we doing?”

His argument isn’t that young players shouldn’t learn tactics. It’s that tactical development has to be built in the right order.

First comes awareness:
• What position am I playing?
• What are my strengths?
• What am I capable of?
• What is happening around me?

Then comes understanding.
• What is my role when we have the ball?
• What is my role when we lose it?
• How do we defend together?
• How do we build attacks?
• How do we solve problems in different areas of the pitch?

The danger is skipping those foundations and jumping straight to sophisticated systems, patterns and tactical detail because that is what we see at the highest level.

As Meulensteen puts it, children will often do what coaches tell them to do, but following instructions is not necessarily the same as understanding the game.

If the information arrives before the player is ready to understand it → “It won’t stick.”

Full conversation via ihatesoccerpodcast on Youtube: https://youtu.be/D21BST00Beo?si=oHv3dlvNKmykyyZ8

Credit: Instagram:

Need some fresh session ideas for training?

I’ve added 19 completely free football session plans to The Sporting Resource.

They cover:
→ Possession
→ 1v1s
→ Transition & counter-attacking
→ Passing & first touch
→ Small-sided games
→ Warm-up games

Each one is available as a downloadable PDF.

No account, email address or sign-up.

DM (Direct Message) me “SESSIONS” and I’ll send you the link to the full library.

I thought being the coach meant doing everything.

When I first started coaching, I wanted to lead every part of the session.

• Set it up
• Explain everything
• Demonstrate it.
• Manage the players.
• Make the changes.
• Give the feedback.

When another coach was working alongside me, I would often end up taking over. At the time, I didn’t see that as a weakness.

I thought that was what being a "good coach" looked like.

Then, while studying BTEC sports coaching at college, the same feedback kept coming back:

→ "You need to delegate more."

It took me a while to understand what they were really telling me.

I had confused leadership with control and I thought being the coach meant being highly visible, too involved and responsible for every part of the session.

Trying to do everything also meant I wasn't always giving co-coaches or assistant coaches space to contribute, and I wasn't giving myself enough space to step back and observe.

Learning to delegate wasn’t about becoming less involved, it became more about learning that I didn’t need to be involved in everything.

That was one of my earliest leadership lessons in coaching, the being responsible for the session doesn’t mean you have to control every part of it.

A good answer doesn't always tell us how much a player understands.

They might understand the problem or they've simply worked out what answer the coach is looking for.

A big thank you to Alfi for taking the time to leave this review on our page. Reviews like this make a genuine difference to an independently run page.

They help other coaches decide whether The Sporting Resource is worth exploring and give us useful feedback on what is actually helping people.

If you’ve used one of our resources, watched a video or found something we’ve shared useful, would you be willing to leave a recommendation on our page?

A few honest words about what you found useful and thank you to everyone who continues to support the page.

Sometimes the best coaching intervention is the one you decide not to make.

A player makes a mistake and the instinct can be immediate:

→ Stop it.
→ Correct it.
→ Give the answer.
→ Restart.

Important to remember that every intervention has a cost, sometimes stepping in can help the players other times it can remove the opportunity for children to recognise the problem, adapt and try something different.

Not every mistake needs correcting immediately, occasionally the mistake is part of the learning process.

Whilst observing the session, can we reflect in practice and ask "Does the player need me here, or do I just feel like I should be doing something?"

Of course, there are moments when players need information, support or a well-timed intervention.

The take away tip here is before stopping any element of the practice, try asking:

→ What might happen if I give them another 30 seconds?

Yan Diomande’s journey is not evidence that every young player who takes an unconventional route will end up at Real Madrid.

That is not the message, the message is this:

→ There is no single pathway through youth football.

At just 10 years old, Diomande left his family and joined Académie Inter Foot Sud Comoé in Côte d’Ivoire to pursue football.

At 15, his journey took him thousands of miles away to the United States, where he joined DME Academy in Florida.

At 16, he was playing for AS Frenzi in the UPSL.

No European super academy, with no obvious straight line towards elite senior football.

Then everything accelerated, at 18, he moved to Spain and signed his first professional contract with CD Leganés.

Later that same year, RB Leipzig paid €20 million to take him to the Bundesliga. At 19, he represented Côte d’Ivoire at the World Cup.

And now, still only 19, he has signed for Real Madrid for £125 million.

Ten years old to nineteen.

Côte d’Ivoire → United States → UPSL → Spain → Germany → World Cup → Real Madrid.

Look at what happened before the destination everyone notices.

• Leaving home young
• Moving countries
• New environments
• Different levels of football
• Years outside the traditional European academy system
• Opportunity arriving at different moments
• Development continuing long after anyone could sensibly predict the outcome

Youth football often becomes obsessed with where a player is right now.

• Which academy or team?
• Which level?
• Ahead of whom?
• Behind whom?

Diomande’s journey is another reminder that development does not have to look impressive at every stage to eventually become exceptional.

The pathway at 10 does not tell you the player at 19. Perhaps that is one of the biggest mistakes we make with young players:

We look at where they are today and convince ourselves we know where they are going, but we don’t.

→ How many young players are being judged on their current environment rather than their capacity to keep developing?

Maybe one of the harder skills in coaching is knowing when not to give the answer.

Young players will make mistakes, they’ll miss passes, make poor decisions and sometimes solve the problem differently to how we would.

The question is does the intervention help their learning, or just remove the decision from them?

Sometimes the player needs the problem more than they need our answer.