Rhys Surringer Coaching

2011 boys made the final of the Outlaw Cup ⚽️🏆

4 Pillar Model - Position Specific Development

While in lockdown I started putting together a model for football development from first kicks, all the way through to senior level.

Coaching the little ones is probably the most challenging age group and also the one that coaches seem to get wrong the most.

It is important to keep things as simple as possible, thinking about what the child needs in terms of their development.
In the past, I’ve seen a lot of coaches playing games with large numbers of 4 & 5 year olds, 8v8 etc. One dominate child running the ball from end to end, the rest not touching the ball.

While on the side coaches & parents expecting them to process a number of decisions such as; who to pass to, when to pass, how to pass etc. Lets be honest at 4 years old, it is very difficult task to process and execute properly while surrounded by a swarm of defenders, who are counter pressing the ball like a prime Barcelona.

I believe it is far more beneficial at this age, to break the game down into the simplest form. Set up 1v1 games, take away all the choices and let the kids have more contact time with the ball, develop their dribbling and control of the ball and also enjoy the thing all players love most - scoring goals!!! ⚽️

"How can I develop during lockdown?"

With Covid19 putting a stop to football at all levels, players and parents may be asking themselves what they can do to improve and keep developing without team sessions.

As lockdown starts to ease, what can we do to work out and hit the ground running when the season eventually starts back; there are a number of things we can look at when it comes to development; these can be broken down into 4 Pillars; Technical, Physical, Tactical and Mental.

When looking to improve it is vital to consider these different aspects for development. When it comes to individual training, each position differs in relation to the four pillars and will have different requirements as a result.

Pictured below are the player development needs for each position in relation to the four pillars; individual training sessions should be tailored towards improving with specific positional development in mind.