This has been written in response to questions I, and
colleagues are often asked about how to develop a club philosophy. There are
some excellent examples of how a philosophy can be developed and delivered
across grassroots football, none more so than that of Longfleet YFC
(@LongfleetYFC). Graham Parkes, whom I employed as an FA Coach Mentor in Dorset
was responsible for coordinating the process of developing the philosophy and
in a recent meeting he explained how he receives several requests for copies of
the philosophy each week. We discussed how the document was produced to suit
the specific nature of their club (Longfleet YFC) and that simply applying it
in another club would be of little benefit to coaches and players respectively.
We agreed that there was a need to develop a framework that clubs could use to
develop their own philosophy, something unique to their club that would serve
to enhance the development of coaches and players alike. This framework is
presented below but first it’s important to consider what a philosophy is.
Simply put a philosophy is a way of thinking about something, a group of ideas
that act to guide how we behave, in this case as coaches. The benefit of
developing a club philosophy lies in providing an identity for your club, and a
consistent approach across your club to make sure the key messages are the same
throughout all age groups.
Consultation
Consulting with parents
A philosophy should represent the thoughts of the people involved in
its delivery. In order for any plan to
be delivered effectively and supported by the key people within the club it
must represent everyone. Grassroots coaches across all age group report parents
as being the biggest challenge preventing them from effectively fulfilling
their role. Parents questioning the coach’s decisions, and coaching from the
side are among the most popular responses received.
Parents are arguably the most important influencers in their child’s
development. Coaches should involve them in the process rather than assume they
know the purpose and vision of the coach. Involving the parents in the
development of a philosophy is crucial for many reasons. Make them feel valued
by giving them a voice and allowing them an input into what their child will
learn. After all, parents spend every day with their child and know them
individually better than us coaches. We can gain an important insight into
their child and how they learn if we just ask. Consulting with parents can be
done in various ways including workshops, feedback questionnaires, and informal
discussions.
Consulting with players
As coaches how many times have we delivered sessions that we want in
a way that suits our delivery? Ask yourself that question, I did. My response
taught me that I deliver some good sessions, some not so good, and many that I
don’t even know whether the players have truly been motivated to learn. Why?
Because I hadn’t asked them why they played football, what they hoped to
achieve from the game, or what they wanted to learn form my sessions.
The FA youth modules first alerted me to the need to challenge my
own approach, and this need was substantially strengthened when conducting
research for the first study of my PhD where I interviewed a range of key
stakeholders in grassroots football. The overwhelming expectation of grassroots
football coaching reported by players was to allow them to develop social
skills. Yes that’s right social skills not football skills. In fact less than a
third of the players’ main expectation was to develop football skills. Quite
staggering to some maybe, and I’m not suggesting this is true of all young
players in all clubs. However, other research such as that conducted by Nick
Levett as part of the Youth Development Review revealed similar findings. I
therefore urge you to ask your players and find out: why they come to your
sessions, and what they’d like to achieve/learn. They may very well support
other research in grassroots football.
Consulting with coaches
Coaches play a significant role in developing young people. Everyone
remembers their youth football coach, quite often more for what they taught you
about life and being a good person than about football. This is certainly true
of mine who taught me the true value of hard work, being determined and
committed to everything, and respecting everybody equally.
It’s vital that the coaches at your club believe in and are
passionate about what they are delivering if the philosophy is going to be
effective. Giving all coaches the opportunity to contribute to the development
of the philosophy is crucial. It’s easy to assume the best person for writing a
philosophy is the most qualified or knowledgeable coach. Whilst they will no
doubt create something spectacular it will reflect their values and beliefs and
not all coaches.
What do your coaches stand
for?
Find out what your coaches value.
Our values are things we deem important and can include things like equality,
honesty, effort, perseverance, loyalty, education…. Why are these important –
because they are very much individual and every decision we make is based on
our values.
What are your coaches’ beliefs?
Our beliefs are assumptions we make about the world. They grow from what we
see, hear, experience, read and think about. They determine not only how we see
ourselves but also how we see other people.
The clearer each coach is about their values and beliefs, the more
effective they can be.
Once you’ve gained input from parents, players, and coaches it’s
important that you find the common ground between them all. The easiest way is
to pick out the key things that represent each group (parents, players,
coaches) before bringing them together to identify the things they agree on.
These then become your core values and beliefs that provide your club with an
identity. That is, a mission statement, as a club we believe in ………….. and
strive to ……………
Consulting with others
The power of social media allows people to connect easily. This
makes it easy to consult with thousands of experienced coaches, teachers, and
educators to gain a wide array of perspectives that can support, and influence
your thoughts. It also provides a fantastic resource for acquiring good
practice resources and templates.
Developing a
programme/curriculum/syllabus
The next stage in the process is to develop a programme that allows
you to promote your values, beliefs and live your mission statement. This is
important as it demonstrates your commitment, ‘walking the walk’ if you like.
There are some excellent resources that will help you to do this. The FA’s
Future Game document is a great start point. It’s important to stress the
importance again of compiling sessions that do what you need them to do, and
that allow you to deliver them in a way that enhances your players learning.
Simply copying sessions from any document or from watching another coach does
not ensure a great session. Make sessions your own.
Think about giving players what they want and need, creating
opportunities for them to make lots of decisions, allowing them freedom to
experiment and be creative, and ensuring lots of time active in the session.
Much is reported in media about the England ‘DNA’ launched this weekend, being active
in the session was emphasised where for 70% of the session the ball should be
rolling. This provides a great start point for structuring sessions. Coaching
in this way is not easy and we could be forgiven for thinking that our role is
to allow them to play. Whilst this is somewhat true, as coaches our role is to
unobtrusively facilitate learning. This doesn’t mean simply allowing the
children to play but providing challenges and finding ways to intervene with
the relevant players without stopping the session – not all players need to
hear every instruction, challenge, or question. Be specific over who needs what
– your consultations will help you with this.
Drawing upon the expertise of a range of coaches is immensely
beneficial for developing practices and I know Longfleet YFC did so when
developing theirs – again the important part is ensuring the sessions reflect
your needs as a club. It’s also important not to underestimate the experience
of the people involved in the club who will all no doubt have a bank of session
to contribute.
Share, share, share
Once the philosophy is developed share it with everybody at the
club. You may wish to present it in meetings or provide handouts. Consider
writing a one page summary rather than handing out full copies of the
philosophy – few people will sit down and read multiple pages. A summary will
also allow you to produce posters and other material that can be displayed and
serve to inform, reinforce, and remind of the key messages.
Live it, challenge, and
reflect
There is little point spending considerable time producing a
fantastic philosophy if it becomes a document that nobody uses. It’s important
that coaches in particular are prepared to follow through their intentions,
delivering sessions and behaving in a way that promotes the values and beliefs
that shaped it’s existence in the first place. We should be prepared to
challenge each other to ensure we all strive to ‘live it’. I appreciate this
isn’t easy to do, particularly when working with volunteers. The success of
Longfleet YFC demonstrates that this can be done though.
Once developed its also important to reflect religiously on it’s
effectiveness and seek ways to continue to improve. The easy way would be to
think the hard work has been done. The world continues to evolve, and so will
the demands and challenges faced by young people. We as coaches need to ensure
that we continue to develop players as people. As new players join the club,
expectations may change. How do we continue to service their needs?
In summary, ask yourselves: Why do we want to develop a philosophy?
What will it allow you to achieve? How committed are you to living it? Don’t
fall into the trap of writing something that only reflects your thoughts: this
is a coach philosophy and whilst it will no doubt be very useful for you as a
coach, it will likely do very little to motivate and engage other coaches at
your club. A philosophy takes time to develop and should continually evolve,
take the time to consult with as many people as possible. This is a long-term
investment not a short-term fix, avoid the temptation of taking another
philosophy and simply changing the name and badge – it won’t meet the needs of
your club, coaches, and most importantly your players.
