25 recommendations the FA believe will help improve the English game

I have listed below the recent announcement by Sir Trevor Brooking recently,  I would be very interested to hear everyone's views on this 25 point action plan, and if you believe this will improve our game, which point will have the biggest impact and do you think any are just unrealistic.

               

1. Agreed mandatory pathway for grassroots youth football playing formats

2. Promotion of The Future Game as a best practice guide to player development

3. Public communications campaign to target teachers, parents and volunteers about the importance of player development

4. The FA to continue work with the other football authorities on whole game youth development issues, and to consider how youth development could be given greater prominence in the game’s governance

5. Expansion of The FA Tesco Skills Programme nationwide

6. Work with policy makers to ensure the protection of football provision in primary education sector

7. Work with the professional game to understand the impact of the ‘relative age effect’ and what solutions might be developed

8. Identify opportunities for grassroots clubs to provide talent identification and development support to the professional clubs

9. Update The FA coaching strategy and promote The FA’s coaching philosophy across the whole game, including the development on an online resource

10. Ensure that age-appropriate qualifications are included in rules and regulations for the appointment of coaches

11. Establish a Coaches Academy network to bring together outstanding coaches of different levels and experiences on a regular basis for coach education opportunities

12. The FA to launch the Licensed Club for Coaches to kite-mark qualified and up-to-date coaches in the grassroots and professional coaching workforce

13. Work with the professional game and grassroots to ensure The FA supply of coach education staff is in tune with the demand across all levels of the game (seniors)

14. Work with the professional game and grassroots to ensure The FA supply of coach education staff is in tune with the demand across all levels of the game (youth)

15. The FA should undertake to report on an annual basis the latest available research on coaching techniques as well as an assessment of performance in terms of coach education, retention and development

16. Develop further opportunities to ensure that England international development team coaches work closely with clubs on the identification, development and transition of young England players into the U16 England development set-up

17. Expand and coordinate club visit programmes for the international to ensure that the international programme for individuals players is appropriate and consistent with their club-based development programmes

18. Encourage England teams at all developmental age groups to play with a consistent playing philosophy to ensure transition amongst teams is consistent

19. Overlay the transition of coaching staff individuals across age groups to provide continuity to young players progressing through the international teams

20. Require future England senior team coaches to have significant input into exposure to the national development team structure

21. Work with the professional game to consider ways to support the U17 – Under-21 age groups of developing young English players to ensure they maximise their opportunities for playing elite level football and their chances to experience the Club England environment

22. Agreement between The FA and the professional game on the mandatory release of players for international duty

23. Agreement to work with the professional game to collect and collate match performance, fitness and medical testing data to consider the impact of the English football calendar on pre-tournament fitness levels

24. Undertake research to better understand the ‘player experience’ of international tournaments to inform future decisions on preparation and environment

25. Formally engage with the leading professional clubs to share their experience on establishing the optimal preparation and environments to encourage player performance.

Taktifol Tactics sheet

As a coach have you ever written your team sheet on the back of a fag pack?

Have you given your team talk using cones to represent players?

Do you ever give a team talk and notice two players who still dont know what to do?

When I completed my level 1 course, my assessor advised all coaches to invest in a coaches board to help when planning and presenting sessions to your team.  I have tried a few methods over the past 5 years but never found a method that suited my style until I discovered Taktifol.

Taktifol is a product which incorporates electrostatic sheet with a football pitch marking.  I have trialled this product over the past 2 months.  I have planned my sessions with the sheet on my office wall, explained the session to my coaches on my car bonnet, and presented the formation and tactics to my team on the side of a portacabin using the scenarios in the photos below.  

Over the past couple of months the sessions I have done have been windy and very wintery, probably the worst weather to coach in, and I haven’t experienced any issues.

To make this product even more desirable to coaches, once you have finished presenting your tactics, the sheet folds away and can be put into your coat pocket, ready for when you need it next.  The sheet also comes with a marker pen which can be rubbed away, if needed.

Below a several photos of the Taktifol sheet being used.

Depending on your coaching needs there are a few different products available from a simple Taktifol Football Tactics sheet, to starter, coach and Pro Sets.

For every purchase of either the Taktifol starter, coach or pro set from my website will receive a £5 discount, just click the link below and when entering the details at checkout add the code GRFC to take advantage of this fantastic discount.

http://www.playnasium.com/acatalog/Taktifol.html

Goalkeeper warm up session

Always make some time for your goalkeeper when planning your sessions, from my experiences in a match, for every 10 fantastic saves my keeper makes, they always remember the 1 mistake.  This could affect the keepers confidence short and long term.

This session can be done before a match or at the start of a session and only takes 10 minutes.

This session is very simple to do, but very effective.

Get the keeper to sprint to the first cone

Needs to side step across to the end

Get the keeper to sprint into the final cone

Once the keeper reaches the end, play the ball into the middle for the keeper to make a full length save.

Repeat this exercise going the opposite way to avoid creating a weaker side.  Use your own judgement when working on this session to make it right for the keepers ability but improving the difficulty each time

This will allow the keeper to improve speed, agility, and movement.

Interview with Nuno Ferreira

Background in football


My name is Nuno Ferreira, i´m 35 years old and i live in Portugal (Lisbon). I´m a school teacher and i´m a Soccer coach.

In the last four years, i´ve been working on Benfica (Major Club) with the young players of the academy (U-19, U-18, U-17, U-16 and U-15).

I have worked in other clubs here in Lisbon, some more popular, others less famous.

I already participated in many international tournaments, like Milk Cup on Northern Ireland and others in Europe (Spain, Italy).

I have 10 years of experience, my certification and licensing is (UEFA-B) but (UEFA A (soon).

The players from Portugal and his coaches have good skills and a lot of potential, some of them are recognized all over the world. (José Mourinho, Cristiano Ronaldo and others)

Other Interests

I love music, I love going to concerts, I love cinema and I'm a chess player. I like study and find out about the religions of the world.

Biggest achievement in Sport

National champion (under-17) in 2008 (with Benfica)

Regional Champion division 1 (Lisbon) with Tenente Valdez ( u-19) in 2009

I was voted coach of the year in the City Hall of Odivelas. (2010).

Most Memorable Moment

We were playing (Benfica U-17 team) a tournament in Northern Ireland, Milk Cup in the semi final, we played against Man Utd at the stadium of Coleraine, I remember the stadium being filled to see a game U-17 teams, I got goose bumps, was one of the best moments I lived until today.

Most Embarrassing Moment

the most embarrassing moment that I lived so far in football, a tournament that was invited to Benfica and when we got to the Algarve (Tournament) all other teams were sub-15, someone was wrong to send our team would have to go the U-15 team Benfica and sent our U-17. Obviously we won the tournament, but it was very embarrassing because our team was older.

Ambitions for next 5 years

Right now I am 35 years old, I work with youth teams for over 10 years, I would jump to professional football, but also would like to work at a club outside of Portugal.

Best player played against/with

The best player I played against perhaps Adrien (Sporting Clube de Portugal)

Best player coached

The best players I coached, Roderick Miranda (Benfica) and Carlos Canedo (Estrela da Amadora)

Any players you have coached at youth level playing top flight football nationally or internationally.

Roderick Miranda, Nélson Oliveira, David Simão and Carlos Canedo (Soon)