WATFORD ACADEMY TRIP

UEFA A Licence coach & Director of TWSports.Org, Tim Wareing, was invited to Watford FC to view their wonderful Academy.

I arrived on the Monday evening & was collected by Watford coach, Dave Godley.  I was welcomed on board onto Dave's narrow boat which provided a relaxing stay in London.  Tuesday morning we attended the Harefield Academy (the school).  Watford have about 40 of their Academy players attending the school.

The presentation offered an insight into how Watford have taken a successful Dutch academy set up but personalise it to suit their own needs.  Other clubs in attendance included Tottenham Hotspur, Reading, Southampton, Derby County & the Scottish FA.

After our tour of the school we listened to the presentation & success stories.  We then got the opportunity to watch the training.  The boys receive two sessions daily & up to 15 hours coaching a week without losing out on their education.

Later in the day we got to watch the 7's & 8's train before heading down to Vicarage Road to watch the first team play Bristol City.  A very eventful game with Watford going 2-0 up only to end the game drawing 2-2.

I flew home from Luton on Wednesday after enjoying lunch with Dave & a look around Watford town centre.  I was so impressed with the set up & will be writing a full report on the trip on my blog.  If you enjoyed this short report you'll love my full report.  Make sure you save my blog to your favourites; www.CoachTim.Org. 

Tim would like to extend his thanks to Watford FC & the Harefield Academy for their wonderful hospitality.  It is refreshing to see a club open its doors to let other coaches view their set up.  Special thanks to my good friend & Watford coach, Dave Godley, for providing transport & accommodation for me.

TODDLER SOCCER SESSION

I have been off all week as it is a national holiday in Northern Ireland.  My 1-on-1 students have also been away on holiday.  It is nice to have some time off & spend time with my own kids but you do miss the coaching.  With full days of playing catch up with paper work & planning for next weeks Fun Week on Monday & yesterday it was great to get out this morning & coach in a local nursery.

We coached in this nursery last year & have returned this summer.  What a great nursery it is!  Superb kids & staff.  Today the numbers were slightly lower due to the public holidays but we all had great fun!  Below you will see some pointers to working with young children, mainly from 2-5, & the games I played with them today.  Feel free to use but please credit back to my blog.

How do I start?

When working with a group, get the toddlers to sit in a circle.  Ensure that adults kneel down with toddlers so that you are speaking to them at their level.  Always start with introductions e.g. ‘I’m Coach Tim & this is Coach Ronnie’ as they may have forgotten your name or be a new member.

Relax & build a relationship with them.  Ask what kind of week they have had.  What did they do at nursery?  Comment on new shoes or T-shirts.  If they think that you are interested in their lives they will be more inclined to work with you.

Finally, do a simple listening game so that everyone gets ‘tuned in’.  Do silly things such as getting them to put their hand behind their ear & tuning in to Coach Tim FM!  Another idea is the ‘Stop, freeze’ game.  Toddlers run about & then freeze when the whistle is blown.

Now introduce the game you are going to do.  Keep instructions short & make sure everyone can hear & see you.  Always ask if everyone understands & repeat if necessary.

Coaching Style.

It is best to be vocal.  Tell the story so that each child can visualize what is happening.  Use different tones to tell the story.  Make each session an adventure!

To get the toddlers to interact, start a sentence but get them to finish it.  When you are kneeling down & they are sitting on their ball listening, then begin the story.  ‘Ok, we are in the jungle today & we are Diego & Dora.  Our ball is the little monkey from Dora the Explorer…what’s his name?’  They reply ‘BOOTS!’  It is great to have the toddlers join in & give feedback, then you know that they are fully engaged.  I once had nearly 50 passers-by stop to see what the heck was going on!

Always demonstrate.  Make your language child-friendly & break skills right down.  Don’t stand & demonstrate a skill such as a drag back to the toddlers as you would to ten year olds.  Paint the picture instead.  Ask them to imagine that the ball is a puppy & he wants to roll over & have his tummy tickled.  Can we put our foot on him & roll him backwards?

Get a more able toddler to demonstrate a skill as this will encourage his peers to have a go when they see that someone of their own age can do it.  Give lots of praise.  Be vocal & use the ‘high five’!

Lose your inhibitions!

This is of prime importance.  Forget about parents & passers-by watching you.  Get down to the toddlers level.  Kneel down to speak to them, use funny voices & pull funny faces.  Bring these sessions to life!  Remember, the coach who leads the programme will determine how successful it is.

Try to get inside the toddler’s head & use as a starting point what they like to see, hear & do.  Those who have children should find easy as they will be up to date with the cartoons they like to watch.  But do not rule out young coaches.  I find that they can relate well to kids.

An example of a silly thing to do with the toddlers is to turn a small traffic cone upside down & place a ball on top of it.  Then tell the toddlers ‘Well done!  Now have a big ice cream.’  Add to the fun by making funny noises while squirting pretend strawberry sauce on the top of the ‘ice cream’!  We also put discs (small cones) on top of our ears to look silly & pretend to have supersonic hearing!

My session notes…

This morning I used Toy Story as a fun warm up game.  It was my first time at the nursery so a few toddlers were a little shy at first but this game soon brought them round!

Toy Story

Emphasis

A great game that toddlers can relate to as one of their favourite movies!

Movement, awareness, dribbling & co-ordination & skills.

Set-Up

Every player has a ball inside a 20 x 20 yard grid.

Objectives

The Toy Story game offers loads of mini games insuring maximum participation along with fun for all toddlers!

Here is some ideas of how to use the characters to bring your mini games to life.  Use your imagination to create even more!

• Warm up using Buzz Lightyear. Each toddler has a ball (Buzz) at their feet.  They grab the Buzz with their hands & stretch to hold Buzz above their head while shouting, ‘to infinity & beyond!’  Carry this is out a couple of times & encourage toddlers to shout even louder & get on their tip toes!
• Coordination using Bullseye. Toddlers stand with their legs open & use their hands to guide the ball (Bullseye) around their toes & through their legs to create the figure 8.
• Skills & dribbling using Woody (for boys) or Jessie (for girls). Offer all toddlers a cone so they can place it on their head like a cowboy / girl hat.  Get them to lift it off their head & shout, ‘YEE HAW’!  To get on Bullseye the toddlers perform toe taps.  Once they have got on Bullseye encourage them to, ‘GIDDY UP’!  Simply start dribbling.
• To stop the ball place foot on top of Bullseye & shout, ‘YEE HAW’!  Along with doing an imaginary lasso!
• Heading with Mr & Mrs Potato Head. This time add a cone to either ear so you look silly!  Then encourage toddlers to head the ball from a simple throw to head using their fore head.  To get some laughs have one of your ‘ears’ fall off!

Progressions

Add a series of other fun mini games during the session…

1. The Rex Game! Using a selection of green cones introduce them to the toddlers as Rex.  Ask them what noise Rex makes?!  They should reply, ‘ROARRR!!!!’  Ask the toddlers to close their eyes while you hide 10 or so Rex cones.  Hide them under other coloured cones or maybe on someones head!  They simply have to find Rex.  When they find a Rex they roar & bring him into you!
2. Dr. Evil Porkchop (Ham) Game! As the toddlers dribble their footballs Dr. Evil Porkchop (the coach!) trys to steal their balls & place in the net!  You can either allow each toddler to reclaim their ball or join the Dr. Evil Porkchop gang!
3. The Zurg, Buzz & Slinky game! Split the grid in half by using a series of pop up cones (they represent Slinky!)  Half the group on one side is Buzz while the other side is Zurg.  There is a supply of balls in either half.  You can play the game 2 ways.  (1) Use the balls to knock over Slinky (the cones!) or (2) Try to get all the balls in the other half by kicking them over Slinky.

Coaching

• Close ball control.
• Turns & skills.
• Listening skills.

Take Puppy For A Walk

Emphasis

Dribbling & skills. Toddler Soccer favourite!

Set-Up

Set up a grid to suit the size of your group. All players have a ball & dribble around the park (grid). Encourage them to look for space to play with puppy.

Objectives

Each player (master) dribbles with a ball (puppy). The coach calls out various commands. Also say to the players that their foot is the collar & their leg is the lead. Make sure that puppy doesn’t stray off the lead or the park warden (coach) will get puppy!

Progressions

1. Keep puppy on a short leash (dribble keeping the ball close to the foot).
2. Puppy runs away – is caught by his master.
3. Master strokes puppy with his foot – toe taps.
4. Jog with puppy.
5. Walkers swap their puppy’s.
6. Puppy to dog toilet (marked area).
7. Teach puppy tricks, i.e. get puppy to roll over (roll bottom of foot over ball).

Coaching

• Close ball control.
• Keep head up.
• Use of both feet.
• Look for space.

Find Woody & Rex. Hide 10 yellow cones (woody) & 1 green cone (Rex) under other colour cones, i.e. white cones (Zurg!) & red cones (Dr Evil Porkchop!)  Ask the toddlers to close their eyes while you hide 10 or so yellow cones & 1 green cone for Rex!  Hide them under other coloured cones or maybe on someones head!  They simply have to find Woody & Rex.  When they find Woody (a yellow cone) they bring it into you.  The toddler who finds Rex can give a bog ‘ROOOOOAAAARRRRR!’

Once you have all the cones in have the toddlers sit down while you make ‘Woody’ fly & they have to count from 1 to 10!

Want more info?  You can buy my Toddler Soccer book by clicking here!  Follow me on Facebook, Twitter or You Tube : )

PODCAST INTERVIEW

Director of the TWSports.Org Group, Tim Wareing, was interviewed recently by BetterFootball.net about the release of his new book; '1-on-1 Coaching The Secrets To Improve ALL Football Players - GUARANTEED!'

Head of BetterFootball.net, Pavl Williams, is a Development Coach at the Manchester United Academy.  An experienced coach that has travelled the world along with being an author himself.

In this podcast you will hear Pavl & Tim talk about youth development, Tim's philosophy, club visits along with his new book & the success of his Toddler Soccer programme.

You can hear the interview by clicking this link.  You can also add your thoughts by adding your comments at the bottom of the interview page.

1-ON-1 COACHING THE SECRETS TO IMPROVE ALL FOOTBALL PLAYERS - GUARANTEED!

Tim Wareing has released his second book through his publisher titled, '1-on-1 Coaching The Secrets To Improve ALL Players - GUARANTEED!'  Copies are available in paperback or e-book!  You can order online by clicking here.

HOW MANY TOUCHES DO YOU GET?

Over the past couple of weeks we have monitored a child to see how many touches they actually receive on the ball during training sessions & matches.  In my last blog post we talked about the 10,000 hour theory, in that to become an expert or professional in any field it takes 20 hours practice time per week.  What we experience as coaches is parents believing that their child has made it by playing football for a club that in some cases only have one session per week & one match per week…but how many times do they touch the ball?

To improve & develop you need to practice.  In football to be more comfortable on the ball & possess a good technical ability you need to practice with the ball.  Simple theory but crazy how many people miss this at such a young age!  I watch youth sessions & I see kids running round a pitch in 2′s with the coach shouting, ‘left hand down, right hand down’.  They get away with it as all parents see is their kids in their footy kit, with ‘coaches’ dressed in their gear & training on the best 3G pitch.  Well before I talk about improving the technical ability of kids I want to make a simple statement.  When paying upwards of £50 to hire a 3G pitch I don’t want to run round the edge of it – I want to use the bloody pitch!

Then we have the IFA run mini leagues that encourage small sided games which in theory is great but again, unfortunately, they get it completely wrong in my opinion.  I operate Toddler Soccer in an indoor 3G arena on a Saturday morning.  Next to us we have kids only a year older than some of my toddler group playing in these mini leagues.  They play 5 a-side, but on the same size of pitches as fully grown men play with the long wide nets!  To me this is still like playing 11 v 11 on a full size pitch with the big goals!  What happens?  The ball is at one end of the pitch with 9 kids around it while the poor little kid is at the other end stuck in nets waving to his dad…then the inspired words from the coach, ‘GET RID OF IT!’, as little Billy lumps the ball down the other end for the 8 kids to run after with the other coach shouting, ‘KEEPER – SWITCH ON!’  It is a waste of time.  Some will argue that the kids enjoy it, I don’t know.  I would split the pitches in half & play left to right into mini goals with NO KEEPER, & encourage 4 v 4.  Still loads of space but more touches of the ball, more 1 v 1′s, more tricks, more goals, more fun = improved technical ability.

Through poor training methods & mis-guided development games the technical ability of our game suffers.  This starts from the grassroots game & no surprise continues through to the professional game.

Reading a recent report the Premier League has announced plans to at least triple the amount of coaching for promising young players in England which it hopes will eventually help improve the quality of the national team.

Under the plans, Premier League academies will provide 15-20 hours of coaching a week for 9 to 16 year olds instead of the current 5 hours, meaning youngsters would get even more coaching time than those in Germany or Holland.

The plan, which might also include football schools, was agreed by the 20 Premier League clubs before the World Cup in which England produced their worst ever performance.  There were 222 English-qualified players who played first-team football in the Premier League last season.  League chief executive, Richard Scudamore, believed that was enough to find 11 to perform in international competition.

Ged Roddy, the Premier League’s director of youth development, stated that the average 18 year old at Ajax gets 6,000 hours of ‘contact time’ with coaches compared to 2,500 for the equivalent player in England.  He also added that the English system has lagged behind & it needs reconstructed.  One of the aims is to have about 10,000 hours of contact time in the future.

One English Club leading the way is Watford with the Harewood Academy.  They studied the set up at Dutch Club, Willem II Tilburg, & have tried to replicate the set up in England.  The focus is that the boys are transported to the Harewood Academy, which is a normal school with other pupils attending, so that boys continue their education but have more coaching time with the coaches.  Already the contact time with coaches has increased from 6 hours per week to 15 hours per week with studies, home work & meals all completed on site.  The project is currently based on 11-15 year olds.  They train in the morning then have classes before lunch.  More classes in the afternoon along with time for homework & another training session before returning home.  You can watch some videos about the Harewood Academy by simply clicking the following links…it also includes ballet dancing in one!  Harewood Academy 1, Harewood Academy 2 & Harewood Academy 3.

‘The young boys, they practice 5 times a week, at the end of the year they will not be the same players.  It’s no superiority from any other country, it’s just that here in England is less practice with the children than anywhere else.’

Arsene Wenger, Arsenal Manager.

This leads us on nicely to our study.  We took one player & counted the amount of times he touched the ball in different environments.  This was from training sessions to matches.  If you want your child to improve technically you should monitor how many practice sessions they are doing on a week to week basis & what they actually do in these sessions.

IFA National County Programme (2 hour training session)

20 minute warm up, working 1 ball in pairs passing.  171 touches.

Remainder of session working on patterns of play & a match.  53 touches.

Overall touches – 224.

Dungoyne FC Club Training (1 hour session)

Warm up, individual with a ball each.  170 touches.

Remainder of session based on possession game then a match.  137 touches.

Overall touches – 307.

Dungoyne vs. Carniny, League Game (30 minutes each way)

Played in midfield for duration of game on wing.  Scored a goal & set up 3.  Dungoyne won the game 8-1.

Warm up, 20 minutes.  162 touches.

During game, 60 minutes.  80 touches.

Overall touches – 242.

1-on-1 Coaching (1 hour session)

Session started off with keepie ups for a warm up.  Then operated the skill square concentrating on dribbling, turns & skills.  A fun passing exercise was followed by S.A.Q. (still using the ball).  A selection of shooting activities completed the session which included volleys, lobs, over heads, free kicks & then a cool down.

Overall touches – 699.

No surprises that the 1-on-1 session involved the most touches but shows the importance of them.  The overall total touches is heavily affected on what you are working on in training.  It is also interesting in the results that the shorter sessions still resulted in more touches of the ball!  This can also be a reflection on the coaching style.  How many times the session is stopped, how long the coach talks for, etc.  But one thing to remember is the importance of using a ball during the warm up.  The difference from a short warm up with the ball (average 165 touches) compared to zero touches if running around a pitch!

In signing off, how many touches does your player / child receive during a typical session or a match?  If it is not in the hundreds & they are not completing enough sessions / practice time you can bet their technical ability will suffer for it.  Why not take a count at the next session or game & add in the comments box?