歡迎 us here to learn as we go through the Zoom link or on Youtube live this evening wherever you are in the world. My name is Paul Bryde and I'm the technical director for the coaching manual and we are very pleased to be able to bring you another fantastic webinar through the coaching manual and again we will be taking questions through the Zoom webinar chat we will also ensure go ahead, we will see what is Cherry Mel abund at this recording queues him slept to the CoachingManual.com. So we have a great webinar lined up though today around player and team engagement, and it's very very relevant considering the current issues and current climate that we have to deal with in terms of training our players and restrictions on that. So, without any further ado, I'm going to introduce our two analysts for today's webinar. So first off, we ac mae'n gweithio'r rhagliannod o'r Antario, dda'r oesaf eisteddf yn Cynedig, i'r UASA Lythyn, a'r USSF B Lythyn o'r ysgol. Felly mae'n gwneud o'r maesaf i cyflawni'r ysgol yn ystod y University of Sirlyn a chymdeithasio'r FFA L1 Felly,helio 30 grwpeth i gefurdeg couливо sydd cy grievol. O attacked wedi'i gwleidio dypa'r làr mewn gorffwr menydled gan now I'm obviously founder and head of the Ian McClurg learn to form coaching website and programs. So, thank you so much Ian for joining us today. Thanks, Paul. Longer bio there, so looking forward. So, get some of the insight. Cos I'm very old, that's the way. Nah, we never took that. Fantastic, so moving on. Ynddod y ddwyf yr ydych chi'n oedd yma'r mawr? Dwi'n prynhaol yw'r ffwrdd yma. Mae ynw mewn gweld yma yn ymgyrch i'r bynnag. Mae'r mawr yn ymgyrch i ymddangos i'n gwybod yw'r ymddangos, a'r ymddangos a'r ymddangos i'r 2019 i'w roi'r programu. Mae'r programu e-cath i'r 2 yma wedi ei prynhaol mae'r ymddangos i'r ymddangos yw ymddangos i'r prinshwp. A maes gweld eich Llywodraeth yn ei hunan ond yng Nghymru'r Llywodraeth yw'r Llywodraeth yma yn y Llywodraeth Cymru,dda i dbylch Thank God hefyd yn ymryd! A gan fy mod yng Nghymru mae'n rhan o'r ffordd yn dynnu, a oedd yr ysgol ffordd yn ymrydol, mae'r Llywodraeth, ymryd, yr ymryd o'r ffordd, a gennym dd 안녕 a mor hyn yn yma i bandwyr eich lleid. so mae'n ddod i'ch cyffredin i gyngor i Gwel Llywodraeth a'r Unigodd Unedigolol. Ddod i'n ddod i'r cwestiynau, Matt, o'n gallu gyrfa'n gweithio a'r gwneud i gael. Ddod i'n gweithio a ddod i'n gweithio gyrraedd. Ddod i'n gweithio. Mae'r gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio, ysgol yng Nghymru a'r cyffredin i'r pwysig Yn ymgyrch gyda'n gweld, mae'n enw i'r ffrasil am gweithio'r maen nhw'n wneud i'r ffrasil ac mae'n gwybod y gallwn i'r ddechrau. Rydyn ni'n gweithio'r cymdeithas gweithio, fel hynny, mae'n bwysig i'r mwynhau a'r gweithio'r gweithio'n gwneud cyllidau a'i wneud i fynd oes i'r rheswm o'r gwirionedd. Rydyn ni'n fath o'r cwestiynau o'r adnoddau ac mae'r ffordd i gael y cyffredinol yma, ond i'n gweithio'r ysgolion gyflym yn ei ddifwng. Ond efallai, fyddwn i gydw i'n ffordd i'n gweithio'r un o bobl yma o'i gaelio'r ysgolion, a i wneud yn gweithio'r ysgolion gwybod ymddangos y ceiladau, eich gydweithio'r ysgolion gyda chi, yn gweithio'r ysgolion gyda chi, eich gydweithio'r ysgolion, reall, dwi'n gweithio'r ysgolion gyda chi, gyda'r ddiogelion o'n cyd-dweithio, yw'r hyfforddiadau? Gweithio'r ddiogelion o'r hyfforddiadau. Gweithio'r ddiogelion o'r ddiogelion o'r ddiogelion o'r holl arllunau a'r cyd-dweithio a'r cyd-dweithio a'r cyd-dweithio a'r cyd-dweithio i'r ysgol, i chi'n gwneud i ddefnyddio'r Llywodraeth. A'r gweithio'r ddweithio, mae'n gweithio amdano mi'n debyg, Rwyf i'n meddwl gyda chyffaid iawn a llwyddon yn gyflawn i rhai gyda siwr ac mae'r meddwl'n gweithio leisiriaeth a bwysig yr aelodau iawn ac mae'n gyfer o bwysig yn ysgrifetio eich hunol pedig ar daethau ac mae'n hai gaf, dyfodol, ond y plfysgu'r meddwl chi'n sefydlu, ondd y plfysgu'r meddwl yn ysgrifetio a gennych, ac mae'n rhaid i'n meddwl yma, dyfed i'r meddwl cyflawn i ddefnyddio'n meddwl a sgwrs er o ein fflaun ddju. Mae'r môl yn y FX-21 surden nhais yng Nghymru yn y Llyfrgell Llyrydol yma, Dw i'n gofyn i'r Math Ar sensesau, a sut yna sy'n bwysig i'r gwasanaeth yng Nghymru. Yn ddweud yn � wrth gwrs yr ysgwrd yn eu g ôl yn ddweud ar hyn yn y cyffredig ym gyfledd. A'r môl yn ymgylched ar gyfer yr aeithaol, fel y cyfledd ymgylched ar weltydd i gael ar ysgwrth. two and a half months, and we will get into that for the first year. It has you. And, Matt, obviously you're working with the younger stage groups within a professional academy setting, and I've worked at the foundation phase myself in a professional club, and new parents to the game, high expectations, little Johnny's going to be the next Premier League star. Felly, mae'n ffordd i'r clwb i'r cystech am ddod i ddod i'r gweithio. Roedd yn cydwysiau, nad yw'n cydwysiau fel gyda'r dda. Ydw i'r methu gwahodd i'r ddod i ddod i'r ddod i'r wneud yn cydwyd gwaith ysgol? Rwy'n credu y gallwch bod y ddod i ddod i gweithio, y gwirionedd wedi'u gweithio'r amser. Mae'n gweithio'n meddwl i'r llyfr yn y Prifacadome, yna yw'r 6 yw 7. Mae'n fawr yn fawr i'r gweithio'n gweithio'r ysgol i'r 24 mlynedd yn y dyna. Mae'n meddwl i'r chef i'r newydd, mae'n meddwl i'r newydd yn y dyna. Mae'n meddwl i'r newydd, a gwnaeth am 65-75% o'r newydd yn prifacadome a'n meddwl i'r newydd yn y dyna. Mae'n meddwl i'r llyfr yw i chi'n rhai i hyn a'r rhaid o'rżawd, ac mae'n meddwl i'r newydd o'r next level at y dyna, mae'n meddwl i'r ni'n meddwl ym mhawr ymlaun. Mae'r meddwl i'r meddwl i'r mhawr, mae'n meddwl i'r pryd sefydig. Rhaid, rydyn ni'n cytuno i Lleis-ŷn wedi'u hebon i chi'n beth ystod. Mae'n ddweithiau oherwydd y ffordd ystriw, o rhaid i ddweithio'r ffordd a 7-year-olders on what they should be doing. Whether it's play, loads of technical work. For me, it's the key relationships and I think that, in the teens, I've met a lot of people and again, I think it comes down to the honesty and that respect. And I think again, you know, you keep always keeping your integrity in place, but it's about where a support network is. So, when you look at the player, the support network of the coach, the club Felly mae'n gwybod i'n gŷnol i weld, os ydych chi'n gŷnol i'r gweithio'r penifithau a'r cywir. Yn ymwyno, mae'n gwybod i'r gweithio'r gyfrifiad yng Nghymru. Mae'n gwneud hynny mae'n cael gwirio gyrddur o'r cerddau gwirio gael gwirio'r preacadur. Oni'r gweithio gyda'r ffordd i gwirio'r preacadur. Yn gweithio'r preacadur, mae'n gwybod i'r gweithio'r gweithio. a ddyn nhw'n ymdw i'r ysgarr. Dyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ymddeithasol o'r 12 oes yn ymdweithio mewn fawr. Dyna'r cymdeithasol ymddeithasol, mae'n amser yw'r ddweud o'i bod yn digwydd iddo'r bwys, oedd yn ddweud o'r amser, o'r peth o'n digwydd o'i ddweud o'r bwysig o'r rhan. Rydyn ni'n fwy oedd yn ddweud o'r ddweud o'r bwysig, ond mae'r ysgarr yn ymddeithasol, is paramount. I think getting to know how little Johnny is at home and what his characteristics are, what his personality is, what he's like at school. So maybe even going into school, you know, our education officer, but I've been into a number of schools because I think that the more we know about that boy and the more we know about him within our environment, you know, it's going to help and again for me it's not about the 12 months or the 10 months that they play, you know, we're looking at our job or my job, can we get them boys to under 12 so you know that under 13 C and YDP so you're probably looking at three or four years so again you know what's the conversations who are we talking to so it is a joined up thinking method brilliant and touching on that that contact timing and I'm going to ask you a question here and we'll flip it back to Matt as well do you think obviously there's been a huge change in generations and you know formal practice and formal training seems to have overtaken the the street football mentality of previous generations and you know the generation I come through we did more street football and playing out on the streets and the parks than we did formal training and so Ian how how do you address that in terms of what what your training principles are are you trying to replicate some of that you know imagination and innovation in in your play 1v1 yeah it's actually quite a culture shock for me to come from a back home to north america because back home I started playing maybe formalized football at probably nine ten years of age over here we have you three programs in north america so the kids kind of almost are born obviously get trying to suck a shirt on them so I came a different environment and I had a little bit of a tough time adopting that initially I'm a big believer in in the players trying things making lots of mistakes and kind of working through problems to find solutions that's why I learned myself as a player so I had kind of a layered approach to things in terms of just basic ball mastery skills and building from there we have a little different season over here because of the weather so we're six months indoors I'm a big advocate of futsal so we play of futsal during wintertime especially when gyms for six months started our 12 month program so definitely from my point of view I think if you want to develop creative players you've got to give them lots of opportunities to try things in one-to-one situations that means small set of games that means futsal I think is brilliant for that in terms of also teaching attacking and defending principles and that transition game as well so I'm very much an advocate of trying to make it less structured versus more structured very structured north american I think it's a to a detriment to be honest yeah and you know I'm sharing the slide that you sent through here on your training principles and one of the things well there's a couple of lines of no I think love of the game and that desire to learn probably to what jumped out to me because you know without that love of the game that love of the game was developed by players in previous generations just going out and playing right just playing with your friends challenging each other it wasn't a development of the love of the game because I got through this training program two three four five times week it was that inherent everything what you see what what your friends did on the local estate so how do you go about ensuring that love of the game and then I'll ask um I'll ask you Matt the same question yes probably more responsibility over here in north america because not seen as a the major sport obviously we've got ice hockey and camp is the major sport so a lot of the parents we work with they haven't played the game before I mean I have as much knowledge as the parents back in the UK and so forth so a big part of our job is sort of education around the game and foster the game and thankfully in today's age the kids can watch lots of european football right now regarding obviously youtube and also live games as well so it's helped a little bit the last couple of years my first came here in 81 I was hard pressed to find football on television I was brought up in this culture of going right there you know obviously every week in my grandfather my uncle and watching the game and my kids in Linfield back in Belfast and I kind of fostered my love of the game so I try to find ways over here to just kind of replicate that if you will as best we can but it's it's so important because I think that um I was actually on a webinar a few weeks ago where Bernad talked about the first thing is love of the game love of the ball for example I guess a very important concept we lose was track off get to know the ball get love the ball that's how I grew up that's my lovely game came from that my love of touching the football and my family always telling me that there's no family photographs being growing up without a football man regarding the photographs and the videos and I think that part North America is missing out a little bit on so we try to foster that obviously a number of ways just just through our sessions making fun enjoyable uh have the kids like I say playing structure football as much as possible and try to obviously have that concept of going home and working your game at home that's how I learnt myself hour in hour out as you guys did against a brick wall many many times repetition I think it's something that's missing over here and I think it's it's a very important aspect of the game brilliant I've actually been to Windsor Park as well to see a game believe it or not sometimes I've seen Linfield Matt same for you as well you know the pressures and I know there's been research recently about you know the statistics 0.012 percent of young people who enter a professional academy are going to make it for the Premier League obviously club by club it differs but we're talking about four hours a week and then on to five hours a week for young players who effectively still babies really how does Sheffield United and your staff go about and yourself go about ensuring that they still develop that inherent love for the game as well and is there opportunities for less organised sessions and and just go out and play and be imaginative yeah I think that you know it all comes back down to your environment and your culture again I've been there for a long long time and you know I've seen six academy managers and you know they all got different strengths and I think when you look at the foundation phase or pre academy you know for me it's about you know Ian's just a little bit about playing that love of the game about the contacts about that expression about being an individual you know that that creativity but all that in mind how do you create that you know what type of games is it is it deliberate play you know is it play itself is it individual is it team you know what type of games are you playing in there whether it's rackets for you know the ball games basketball athletics you know all them types of games it's a games to support with the you know the physical literacy and again you know when you're talking about ownership I think that's you know Nick Cox who's the academy manager at man United now he was massive into street football and we used to do street football games even I was down at Bramoled during the during the meetings when he was speaking with the parents we were on the car park playing and again it was kind of like you jumped us a goalpost so it was actually winding back the years about what we did as kids so I think it's replicating what they do at school because I don't see an academy being any different to school where it's a it's a learning environment you know it's a it's a learning classroom but I think it's the variety and opportunities that we expose the boys to that you know again your program will be from do your boys come every week to the return and I think if they're enjoying it they're walking in with a smile on the face they're walking back with a smile on the face and they return the next session that you're doing something right but I don't think you can stand still and I think you've got to keep it you know you've got to keep evolving all the time and you know Ian mentioned foot cell um we've got a foot cell program you know they do it every friday uh mixed age groups and it's fantastic because again them constraints of playing a different game they don't get the understanding behind why they're playing it which is kind of like that camouflage coaching or camouflage in the game but they enjoy it and they love it but then you're linking it into your individual you know the ones or your 3v2s a union balance so I think again there's a lot football clubs out there you know like chef united like Ian like a lot of coaches you know they are being created they are inventing new ways because we've got to coach for the children they are children the young children so we've got to give them and Pete Sturges will talk about you know if you've got a happy player you've got a good player I love that brilliant insight and obviously some fantastic work that that you've done at chefford united over the years because the proofs in players are coming through and staying with the program and graduating as professionals over the last few months you know we kicked off with in the last two and a half months three months not just grassroots coaches not just coaches in competitive clubs globally but even the professional programs everybody's had to adapt and Matt I'm going to I'm going to show obviously the home program I'm just going to share my screen the home program that that's cheffield united developed and we're just going to get into this so obviously COVID comes out of the blue count me or play it that that team training is gone straight away so and obviously you you've set this home program with your staff at the foundation place um quickly so a couple of things that that I wanted to ask you on this in terms of obviously certainly development plan but the individual plan and the use of technology did did your players have individual plans to begin with in terms of setting setting things that you'd like them to work on um away from practice anyway sorry they've had a homework program and they've also had a physical program so the sport science have always since kind of like the six o'clock stretch so while moms and dads are having the tea they can have a six o'clock stretch um so basically you know just to do that I'm still I'm still recovering but no you know kind of like the six o'clock stretch of kind of like that flexibility and you know and supporting them and I think that it's not exposing them to anything that they won't do with the academy um so linking into this uh it was more about you know the staff got together the academy manager all the phase leads and we talked about what we were going to do you know phase specific you know we've gone from five and a half hours to zero um and I think it was kind of you know we get around the table we talked so myself and my colleague who works in pre academy and my other colleague who works in foundation phase we just came up with an idea but we didn't want it to be um a dictation of kind of the coaches we wanted to put some elements onto the players so the players itself and when you go through the the program a lot of it was about them inventing so we asked them to put a plan together because a lot of the the children were still at school now quite a few including my daughter who's 10 year old thought oh yeah we're on holiday now we can have six eight weeks off and it's like no no no you've still got to do your education so we asked them to put a a plan together per week uh which kind of their education in the morning which went from morning to afternoon you know depending on what their subject was and then after that we asked them to kind of like we sent them some stuff through top techers which is part of the coaching manual um I have to say it was one of the the best investments um that the the club has made um I've spoke to a couple of guys you know who also run top techers about how they use that Sam Keats at Burnley recently uh but we you know we moved it on to their individual programs so the individual programs about what they were doing in the week whether it was football uh whether it was social um but we asked them to kind of like run it on the guidelines of Monday Wednesday Friday which their training their training days would be so education in the morning and then after that I want to do some training whether it's physical you know a bit of agility work coordination work a bit of ball mastery you know the sessions that we actually catered the top techers that were in there but keep the weekends free because social time downtime is massive go for a ride with your bike go with your family go for walks you know go for techniques you know go and sit in the garden so I think there was a lot of stuff in the the programs that the boys uh were very very capable of creating you know things they did was create a session a family session but every session that they did they had to film and they had to send it through to me on whatsapp so my whatsapp group is just completely my phone blown up twice because of all the pictures but you've had people cooking dinner you've had people cooking meals you've had breakfast you've had people washing cars you've had empty and tumble dryers so all the other bits but the one that really impressed me was the kind of like the session that they did for the family so you know they come to the academy they do a warm-up they do a technical they do a small side of game we actually challenged them to come up with a 10 minute session to use their family use the cat and dog use the goldfish I don't care as long as he was involved and what they had to do was they had to plan it and write it down and then they had to deliver it and film it and some of the videos were absolutely fantastic and I think credit to the boys really really credit to the boys and credit to the families you know for that support within this period yeah yeah and there's a few there's a few items you've touched on that right that year as well now Matt is and and I read through the presentation Matt you sent me and I love some of the key points the social time I'm going to come to shortly because I've got that as a separate question because I think we can't lose sight on that so I'm not going to you know I'm not going to just pass that by but there's a couple of things that I really liked the first one that I wanted to pull up and get your insight on was this copy cat I thought it was a brilliant idea you know we talked we've just been talking myself you and Ian about developing that love for the game and love for the ball and Shefford United have come up with this copy cat idea of recreating you know classic well the classic for the young players aren't the classic goals can can you recreate these goals search on YouTube and I love that and we'll get on to the skills skills so were the players sending you videos on on these classic goals as well yeah and they were putting different shirts on as well if you actually had the shirts on so you had your brazil and your portuguese shirts on that you know I think that I think when they went into lockdown there was a lot of interaction on you know on Twitter social media you know the toilet roll challenge you know the beans the top techers you know top beans you know putting crossbar and so on and again I believe that every boy now has access to social media especially YouTube and you can see that in how that transfers into training so if they love the messes or the renaldo's and somebody was talking to me the other day about in the ester and he's going I you know I love how Ian ester plays in the tight and he gets on the ball and his distribution you know how he's scanning and so on and I'm thinking wow you're 10 year old which was absolutely fantastic um so I think it linked into into that really about you know we got together as a group of staff and we wanted to come up with kind of like you know areas they could practice whether it was a dribble whether it was a shot and then we just researched it and put it together and I have to say again you know the returns have been fantastic you know from what the kids have been sending and we just called it copycat you know it was a simple term you know can you copy you know your best mate or can you copy you know Birkamp's turn or you know his flick over the head and scoring against Leicester whatever it was going to be but it was just an opportunity for them to visualize it and then go and practice it and deliver it so it's been great brilliant and then the second thing I noticed obviously tied in closer with the top sector that you've been using as well was was your skills school and your skills tasks and the setting of challenges for your young players I'm showing the table there with with some of the the key components and skills and and scores and then the individual development plans really have obviously working on doctor's challenge at you know your technical weekly plan looking on your strengths because I think we forget that as cultures as well sometimes you know we've all been guilty of it I definitely have in terms of we're always trying to fix things but if you're creating young professionals hopefully then it's so important that they're working on the strengths as well and turning turning that strength into a nine or a ten out of ten because ultimately that's what's going to get you the full contract what are you a nine or a ten out of ten in what you're bringing to the table so how did you know that the technical trainer and and and the use of this technical weekly plan and the top techers how was it perceived by the players and what was the feedback oh fantastic yeah really really good um the the comments and I think that you know what's nice is that the academy manager um he's you know we've been making and we'll go into it later with the zoom calls but you know we've been speaking to the parents every of the week so every two weeks and it was basically Jim Beas just to say hello how are you how was the family that was it and you know the first thing that they'd say on the phone is oh they're doing the top techers and they're doing the homework and I'm like no don't worry about that I'm not worried about that I'm just asking if you're okay um but the kids have loved it um the there has been some negatives as well uh because you know the the sports scientists we were working together as an MDT and the sports scientists were giving me certain things um and we were putting them out there related to the age groups um but some parents uh were taking it to the extreme so it was one of them where one parent said to me that you know this is great uh my boy feels like he's a professional football where you can train every day and I'm like okay uh but then when you looked at his um videos and the timings of his runs he was covering a lot of mileage and I was afraid that he was going to get um fatigued mentally fatigued and I've had to talk to the parent two or three times just to kind of like get over you know my understanding of what this was all about and what we were trying to achieve and what the kids but from the kids point of view um and again I'll just mention it we we do a zoom meeting every week um and they have an opportunity to have you know three minutes now I've had to buy zoom a zoom package because these meetings aren't 40 minutes they're 90 minutes because the boys the boys want to talk to each other but the boys want to express themselves and they want to talk about what they've actually been doing so what we've said now is after the first one which was like a tea party um I think fortnight came out three further were throwing things at the tv and it was just chaos but it was great because I sat there for 35 minutes and just laughed um but we've got a bit of structure in there now where the boys are talking about three things that they tried to achieve and also a performance problem but that performance problem could be schoolwork it could be one of their sessions it could be a technical skill it could be you know they haven't had enough time because mum and dad you know are working for the NHS um so they've had their opportunity to talk about that but it's been received really really well um the academy manager as I spoke he's spoke to the parents they've spoke about it and I think you know it's not just chef united you know I've seen many many clubs across the across the country you know across the world that have been doing exactly the same uh and I think you know credit to credit to them all brilliant and I think one of the things what what made me smile as well was obviously keeping your players engaged with the game um but the things you've touched on around social you know social time making sure kids are kids I think we can all lose sight of that sometimes because we're so engrossed with the game as adults gotta remember that children are children and kids will be kids and we want them to be kids because the best times of your life um and and I love the family training session which you touched on but things like cook a cook a meal and prepare a workout snack and just just giving young people that ownership and that responsibility and go wash your own kit give your mum a breather all that stuff but like skills as well and and and those to be fair to be fair sorry paul to be fair that came from my that came from my daughter because brilliant I was working I was working and I'm sat there and all she's doing is she's bringing her pot she's 10 year old okay and she's bringing her pots out of her bedroom and she's just putting them in the sink and I'm like whoa what are you doing I've got them and he was like no no there's going to be a little bit of structure now that's a dishwasher that's where you put them so I'm thinking anyway when I spoke to some of the parents and I did get some bizarre phone calls they said Mike will you have a word with the such and such why what's up and they went oh he's not showering right okay he's not cleaning his teeth right okay all right so they passed the phone over and I said why aren't we showering oh well we're not at school I said okay I said if you were on tour I said and you went on a tour with chef and I so you were at a tournament you'd have to get up have your breakfast get showered and then you know get ready to go to the venue yeah I said would you clean your teeth they went yes well what's the difference and they went okay so again these life skills and it was actually my daughter that was a catalyst behind that she's still not done it by the way I can definitely imagine I've got two of those and there's been some laws laid down but for the benefit and I think young people do be like that responsibility when you give it them in terms of you know can you do this there's your challenge you know I've got to be careful with my daughter to bake me youngest daughter baking me cakes and stuff I don't want to bake me too many so brilliant insight and thanks for sharing and we'll cover some more of that again just just to bring you in because I know we're covered a lot with Matt and Sheffield United and the fantastic what they've been doing but obviously with your programmes and not being able to train in person with players and how have you gone about ensuring that you can still engage with the players and continue with with their development that's definitely changed in the last two and a half months and I think I'm better actually when we first started this whole thing it's funny actually I just went out and spent but a month prior to this filming our door videos for for the upcoming weeks ahead thinking that we've been moving our doors as opposed to being in gyms and so forth so that kind of backfired me a little bit so we had the the challenge right away at the kids not having space the train basically so they can really follow what I put together as well and that's one of the main reasons we went that switch the kids can go to the park they had limited space our weather wasn't great still so we may have days we had some snow up till a couple weeks ago believe it or not so they have very very small areas to train in I found a real difference once we actually started doing zoom calls on wippy bases I cleared part of my basement out I had some old turf from a couple of years ago I laid down I just started but it helped me to manage this as well as a coach I was missing coaching so I really enjoyed getting back with that with fast steady 25 people a session every week we're actually doubling up for June or not as well just a small area I think 8 feet by 8 feet in my basement and we're trying to do as well as get the kids fully engaged in terms of current number of touches that kind of stuff as well the other thing we've done is came across the program called coach now so the kids are able to go out and do their own work and their homework with top attackers etc but also poster videos uh poster videos which is great so everyone's seeing what everyone else is doing and it's building up that social camaraderie a little bit as well uh I mean the point now where the kids are even taking responsibility for even sending me notes I've done yoga six times in the morning right so this is doing we built obviously things like yoga uh game analysis little things that got around at the technical component um yeah and the big thing we sort of said the kids already own one saying to them it's a fantastic opportunity this uh go learn your language um go spend more time in your family try things you haven't done before I said in 55 years of age I really haven't had this chance myself to kind of reset it a little bit and and look around and see what things I haven't done so that's one thing one message we try to get out because obviously there's a lot of uncertainty a lot of fear uh because of what was happening I think it's important for players to kind of see the opportunities there versus kind of dwelling negatives in terms of can't see their friends but I think obviously they went from an environment where they're at school every day structured environment a training environment which is structured north american lifestyle is very very busy so a lot of these kids were finished in school literally you know by jumping in the car going to training session getting home late at night doing homework late etc so they went from a very structured environment so initially I initially I just assigned my my homework program uh to be honest and then the feedback was it wasn't much structured that the kids really weren't engaging very much initially um so once I started adding some structure of that and sort of saying well here's how your day might look you can adjust if you want and take on an ownership of that you've got all this you've got things like your grandparents be looking after you maybe away somewhere maybe sitting whatever just adapt to it and we didn't make a compulsion we just said it's optional here's some ideas if you guys want to spend time doing things I would say are engaging for the home program um by moving top tech courses went from a 20% to probably 100% in terms of kids doing it um it was interesting that I sent it out um initially and one of the young boys sent me a note back after a day and said okay I've done all the skills one now one next so like I kind of turned it around I said to him what are you thinking to do next he said try to improve my scores it goes there you go there you go you have the answer but it was interesting that way they love that um the trophies they love that the scores uh we actually have four or five players right now tied the very top which is great so a little bit of competition which is healthy but I think the biggest thing for me was just the videos I think that's really helped them to um engage we have players on our Zoom sessions um uh in their back garden we have some in their basements we have some in the driveways we have some the parents have never cleaned the living room out the carpets up and it's hardwood floors and doing a session in there which is is tremendous and the one thing I kind of got the players to do was think a little bit more about train loads things like that so a little more giving me feedback on um you know RPEs active time so if you may have a 30 minute session but how long are you active maybe 20 minutes in that that time frame what's your what's your intensity level what's train mode just kind of think of that those things a little bit more so not getting kids posting videos and putting those scores in which is tremendous just create some conversation and I think that one of these I've noticed the last my time here in North America when we take players overseas from ages 11 plus we find the players in North America a little bit not as mature if you will some of the European kids in term of taking responsibility with themselves for that's washing our kit or like you say kind of own boots things like that so I find a real difference the last two months with our players um I find players um be more responsible for communication with us in terms of getting the chat line they're asking me things regarding the schedule of things that got right right questions they had before this whole thing happened I would say 90% of my communication was with parents via email right so that's that part's changed um the players not pushing me for more stuff to be honest which I love that's great and it's a real sign of things but the kids are doing stuff off the bat themselves we're just giving them a little bit of structure a little bit of assistance along the way but I've seen kids really really change for the better be more responsible the last last two months in half months yeah I think I think you bring some very relevant points up there Ian about you know very rarely do any of us in in football get a chance to hit the reset button when you're in it every day you're on to the next and and then we all go on our coaching courses and talk about the importance of reflection it'll be nice nice if we've got two minutes but now we've got time and whilst it's not ideal to not be able to train and get back onto the field I think you know the the the thought processes and what what coaches and players and families are coming up with is when we get back to the field there's going to be so many new ideas and it's going to be a chance for us to really implement but quick question for why do you think that the engagement increased so much by using a technical app because we are in a different generation was it a case of they could see challenges from the similar was it so they can record the scores and see the progress or was it a case of I can now show my coach that I can do this or compete against my players or is it a mixture of everything do you think I think the biggest thing is especially North America we're very much based upon team dynamics versus individual developing individual and that's kind of an area I've kind of I love that part of things so I've kind of focused in that area myself and try to dry things for as best I can with my players and that so it really is I think in my opinion a lack of ball work amongst North American players at a very basic state of one player one ball I think this part is 1-360 it's kind of forced it forced to change a little bit I think players would spend more time with the ball and they have in the past and individually as well as opposed to I think it's a little concept over here of again it's a very structure show up to a session the coach tells me what to do I'll leave it going it's very much that kind of that kind of a culture in place and now the kids and go away anytime they want in a driveway in a basement try things it's as long as you want if that's 30 minutes great if that's 20 minutes great if that's an hour and a half great that's up to them okay but I think what I've seen is players develop a real level of the ball and that's that's for me fantastic and I think that's been the biggest change they always love a competition but I think um I think that thing for me has been a love of the ball and that's that's fantastic in my mind actually links nicely into my next question and I'll ask Matt personally I'll come back to you but Matt Ian's talking about a love for the ball and obviously the foundation phase is so important right now in coaching that there seems to be this you know in some quarters this tech unopposed versus opposed debate or technical versus game related practice for me I want everything anyway I want my players to be technically confident I understand the game and it's a process and but for the foundation phase how important is technical mastery and how much time do you spend on technical mastery of course you have a games program and everything else but what is that a key component for your foundation phase plays do you think yeah I think there is I think there's a there's a high percentage within our program you know for the technical parts part of the game when you talk about technical you know you're linking into you know ball mastery and connections on the ball you know the aerial and the groundwork you know when people talk about the the techniques and think it's just about keeping the ball on the floor but again you know that confidence to actually deal with different parts of your body you know I know there's a big thing about heading at the moment you know about ages and you know what should be right what should be wrong but I think it links down to the confidence you know if one you know if the child wants to go and head the ball are they bright enough are they brave enough to go and take it on the chest you know on the thigh on the shin you know they're really clever trying to you know land it on the back of the neck so again it links back into that expression but for me the techniques of that ball mastery that mastery you know that love of the ball being comfortable in there again you know when you put it into game situations and I talk about it with one of the FRY CDs back at the club about you know having the skills the face and the turns you know having that opportunity to beat players or to get yourself out of tight situations again you know when you're talking about dribbling and staying on the ball you know it's about that expression and you know whether you're working at speed or you're working agility coordination you're working your body I think it's all part of that and again it's just building blocks you know again you know Ian can probably give you know probably talk more about the 1v1s that I can but you know that 1v1 you know me against you you against me and understanding the cues and triggers and we two years ago three years ago we we employed a a guy who is basically he is a a panna player the panna expert and again he looks at cues and triggers of that 1v1 and now that 2v1 and he actually works in the the pre academy and the bottom age of William de Nights again it's all about that um contact on the ball you know again you know shifting your way shifting your balance using that protection and I think again you know boys love to stay on that ball and dribble at players you know why should we as coaches know no no again them decisions will come when they have to pop the ball off and they have to play around somebody but again who's playing the game me or them so again their decisions we're just supporting them with it so I think it's uh I think it's a massive part of the academy's I think it's a big part of a big chunk of chef united with that connection and combining with the ball um but you know for me it's such a young age they have to be exposed to that brilliant um Ian obviously asked you the the same question about the importance of of um you know that that technical mastery is probably bit of a loaded question because I can guess the answer I'm going to show I'm going to show you slide as well because I really like this slide what you showed around your technical training deliverable how it impacts across all areas of the game you know you mentioned technique tactical physical psychological and your end of season kpi's if you like or or measures successful in application technical skills during game situations which is the measure of a player as well so you know how important and how big of a chunk does does that technical training please play for you then yeah it's massive in fact we spend uh like I said six months a year indoors and in gyms and I use a tennis ball quite a bit in our sessions I'd say every session for example just to get like like map a little to the bounce in the ball shift in your body weight and so forth um I find that very um very useful in terms of accelerating players technical ability and just to find the last couple of years um it's actually over in Italy a couple of years ago with Kevin Verona I'm at a point that the ball is not always going to be in the grind is it you always want it to be there it's not always the case so Kevin Verona actually developed a program academy where it was ballmaster in the air so 90% of their work was ballmaster in the air so for example doing a 1v1 the ball was chipped into the player I take a ball in the chest bring it down and play from there little things that got I saw a 4v4 game in the air over there so a different way of looking at things definitely and it kind of impacted my coach a little bit too because I've always been used to ball master in the grind great moves skillful moves with 1v1 so all kind of good stuff but reality is it might have mentioned the ball is not always in the grind so we have to as coaches look at those situations and I think it's also important when I told debate regarding a pose on a pose that when we're doing on a pose training it's very important we explain to the players the relevance of that to a game okay why are we doing this how's that going to link into the game even though it's not in opposition we want the players to think about checking their shoulders scanning all those good habits even though it's not nobody in front of them right I always feel you've got to work on all four components of the game obviously all four corners but I always say to players that the technical part of the game will limit you that can be one way to limit you how far you go in the game so whilst a lot of parts are equally important I think it's technique is for me the foundation and I always said to them like you'll build a house with a strong foundation so it's a big part of what I do obviously my players are coming to me for additional training so I have to look at that and say what are the parts we're not getting somewhere else I'm not getting as much individual focus maybe in a team environment not the only reasons they come to me I think also they're trying to accelerate these are ambitious players more to be a player is one of that extra so then we get in three or four sessions a week at a club team but they want some more okay so I've got to look at that and say how can I best help these players I think technique is for me like it's massive yeah and and what you said about both yourself and Matt said about building blocks and just comes back to to the quote by Ars and Wenga I think we've all heard it about building a player's like building a house and if you don't have those technical foundations by the age of 13 14 forget it very difficult to build a house with no foundations and that's come from one of one of the best managers managers around in terms of obviously we're getting into this return to play phase now across the globe and teams are starting to consider depending on where you are start to consider going back to to training with restrictions and then they'll get loosened off but it's clear that the world has changed and how we're going to deliver football amongst other things has changed so Matt in terms of amendments to training programmes and curriculums and and what what's going to happen moving forwards with the foundation phase for Sheffield United have there been any discussions around how you how you amend your future delivery? We had a team meeting last week I think there was a meeting with the Premier League about return to play you know especially with kind of like Premier League and the championship you know talking about it so you know the academy manager sat down you know we got the meeting and we talked about you know what's planning now but also being in mind you know taking into consideration the you know the one and a half metres or the 1.5 to two metres you know less groups of five and what did that look like you know what did it look like from if we do get the opportunity to go back I don't see it being any different from what the boys have actually been doing as part of their homework programme because again you know if you're you're looking at doing carousels and you're working probably four or five players in there what does that look like it might be some finishing it might be technical sessions it might be ballmaster but again you know in areas of the areas of the pitch that they're away from each other again you can't get into that contact but it might be you know long lofted passes it might be a bit of combination played but again keeping them distances but I think what you know the boys have been doing over the last eight weeks to 10 weeks I can see that being transferred back into their training programme when they come back and again I think you said it earlier a lot of that's them actions and kind of like the good practice they've been taking on board you know why why are we not asking the boys what they want to do as well you know because we should be picking their brick because again I think with the the group work that they've been sorry the individual work they've been doing in regards you know the agility coordination kind of like the ball mastery you know airland ground they might have been doing the skill school they might have been doing a bit of finishing a bit of technique work you know working off mannequins if they're very very lucky with what they've got in the garden so you know for me it's going to look very very similar it's just going to be reduced numbers and again it's making sure that we have that thought process with the coaches to make sure that them restrictions you know again the biggest thing from me was when they see the mayor they want to go and give them a high five and it's kind of like you know it's going to we're going to struggle with that you know my daughter goes back to school on Monday and I and again I'm I'm a little bit mmm I don't know if she sees a friend they're going to get a hug and so on but it is what it is you know because the children you know and that's that's child's play um but for me there's not going to be much difference and I think it's about who's planning and it's us being careful uh because again you know the spotlight's going to be on us not just from the governing bodies but it's also going to be there from the parents you know the media itself if we do go back but I think you know the the smaller sessions the reduced sessions you know the distances between them but it's what is in the programme the elements of the ball contacts them being creative them you know when you look at the fitness work that they've been actually been doing I think they've been very very active while they've been away and they've actually been stimulating the mind as well so when they come back I can't see a lot of them going you know might have put a bit of weight on no no no no no let's get the ball down let's start doing some technical work let's do some finishing but as long as it's safe and we create that really good you know safe environment where they're going to learn I'm looking forward to it great it's you know you know again make some great points and I'm actually excited to go back I've got a couple of boys teams and I've challenged my boys I've told them straight when you come back to the field and when we do finally get out I'm expecting you to technically be better than when you left left and finished training so the gauntlet's been laid down now because once we can get towards you know more contact and opposite opposition then your technical social being your locker nor do I want you to stop working on it now habit forming you should have built that habit over two and a half months of getting out and getting touches on the ball and working on your technique if young players keep those habits now then it's going to make our life as culture a lot easier because we can get to the game and coach the game quicker plus we've got an opportunity to really have a generation of players who technically are better than they may have been previously in previous generations not saying two and a half months of the technical what's going to make the next generation of the Nadine Zydans and Paul Scoles but but hopefully that habit forming in that world for the ball and love for the game and thanks for that Matt. Ian same for you and I believe you've sent an example in which if I'm okay to share yeah go ahead start last Saturday a little bit unique situation in Canada because I'm a private academy the clubs right now in Canada cannot actually train because they're sanctioned by the governing bodies so they can't go ahead and train and come back and said no we can't so I was able to start just to be at the base upon the fact five people max so I started last Saturday with the players excuse me and obviously different different times so I have to adapt as a coach and have to look at what we can do I do quite a lot of one on one sessions so my first instinct was kind of go into the one-to-one format with the players so they all had to for their own grid last last Saturday I sort of stayed in the middle and I had four grids run outside of me and worked for about 40 45 minutes with the players mostly technical stuff as you imagine a little bit physical stuff as well but that's basically where we're at things like players bringing their own balls drop off pick upers protocols I won't play race up and try to hug me first day but obviously like Matt mentioned it's it's a new world to them and it was it was kind of strange having a distance between us but it didn't seem that much we get going and get started and as the coach on channel as we go so we'll probably go the month of June I think a combination of these kind of sessions plus the zoom sessions twice a week I think that's what we're looking at in terms of this month going forward and so we know nothing else from the governing bodies our players supposed to have their outdoor season achieved right now being full swing so they're not sure whether our season would get kicked off or not I mean they may lose their outdoor season this year which would be a real shame for everybody so our players and sort of calls I've made to them they sort of say the biggest frustration for them which is that they missed their season so some are struggling though with motivation to why keep training when there's no games coming up so that's part of it to try to keep them motivated with the top techers and so forth a couple things we've done which we'll definitely keep in place I think I'll listen to zoom sessions and I'm going to attain those because they're very flexible players they can come home at four o'clock on the afternoon when they're back to school for example and do 40 minutes of technical work right um second of all we've also had some webinars with the bases or brought some guest coaches in to see talk to the players I want to keep doing that so I'll keep that going all year I'm trying to end up podcast series so just again to get a little more information to the players we had your friend Mark Cavill on there Matt I got a hold of him and we had GM's on from Fleetwoods and Anyangria from Glasgow Rangers so I think Paul just answered a question more interaction with the players I think I've realized that we can do a lot more online now I think the players are getting used to it I've got 12-year-old players jumping on a zoom called me one-on-one these days and it doesn't phase them at all it's the world they're in I think I think the world's changed I think in football terms and kind of like I mentioned I think the focus is on individual development and it hasn't been that way because I'm seeing a lot of benefits out of this thing and I think I'll have to be careful with the session going forward I believe in Holland they're having the U12s do contact training and then after that it's six players per coach so I'm not sure whether that become enforced here or not right now I'm just doing the Matt mentioned technical stuff and some physical work as well but I told the players the very beginning come out of this thing flying I said come out to be the best around Terrell be the best around Canada come out of this thing and that's what I'm seeing they've actually rose to the challenge which has been great to see brilliant just a quick question for you what's coming off one of our attendees Ian from TED how does your your return to play plan differ them from those individual at home sessions um since they're they're still working in a confined area with no opposition what are the key components and differentiators in bringing players together albeit safely and at a distance as opposed to being online what do you think are the key benefits for that yeah I think our first sessions primarily have been similar to the Zoom sessions in terms of limited space I had them work off of five unit by five minute grid last last weekend um so it's quite similar to the technical work we're doing at home in the Zoom sessions what I'm trying to do is obviously build up a passing sequence and passing play we can do that safely at a distance and also shoot shooting as well a little bit more regarding the shooting because of obviously being at home working in confined spaces for a couple of months and a little worried about injury with that one right now but let's kind of build it up gradually and go from there I just want to keep it's very simple to start it was new for me as well to get started with that and uh I have to have kind of figured out as we all do as coaches do you think the social interaction made a difference as well as opposed to I know they weren't allowed to go near each other but the fact that now you can see your teammate and a friend 10 yards away is still a huge difference than seeing them on the screen and I've read some reports around you know how humans are having to work harder because we can't read the same cues uh from human behaviour on a screen that we can in person so you think that social interaction was important as well very yeah very important definitely in fact to one of the parents that told me that uh one of the players that told them that uh with the Zoom sessions for example that was the best 40 minutes of the week the fact that we'll see you know be training their friends again and that was the Zoom sessions I think getting back in the field together um was it was great and in terms of um it was kind of almost going back to one-on-one coaching when I started the Zoom sessions because it's all new to me regarding not having a physical plan in front of you how do you start off with that and just have to work it out basically but I think it's massive for the players to have a social aspect especially because of lost school and seeing their friends at the same time it's not just one thing that's been taken away it's been it's been their whole life really and how they try to use the interactive with their friends and so forth so I think that I think the social part is a big part that um and that's that's a strength of football isn't it we all love the game and the social part of the game is massive and I think we're all recognizing how much we miss it and why we miss it so much brilliant absolutely I agree with you um so final question for the pariah I'll ask Matt first um have there been any clear success stories I mean it's such a challenging time for everyone and I think you know the global the world has changed we keep saying it but there's still positives there's definitely positives has there been any success stories Matt to come off the back of it um whether it's football related or non-football related with some of your families and players or cultures even I think they're all success stories I think when you look at the eight to ten weeks that we've been in lockdown now I think the the amount of work that the boys you know not just from a school in the education uh whether it's designing their own practising you know cooking a meal uh doing other you know other jobs around the house and again you know it's not just about what chef united have achieved it's it's every club that's actually you know the clubs that have been uh continuing to work unfortunately the girls clubs being furloughed um so they've you know they lost that contact time um but the work that there's been in regards you know academy manager's head of coaching you know whether it's from a coaching point of view you know with the staff or with the parents again I think it's been brilliant and I think there's so many success stories you know I've got lads who you know Ian spoke about the zoom meetings and the zoom meetings for me that social interaction's been massive and I think having them you know as a group so we've done under nines under tens under tens 12 and so on but we've also done the physical day so the sport science has been on there we've had the gymnastics on there we've had the quizzes on there but it's been really really good because again it's about that interaction with the teammates you know seeing the coach you know having a bit of a laugh and a joke and so on but I think everything that they've achieved with all the pictures and the clips you know the work that they've done with the schools I think that's an achievement and I think the kids you know they've motivated themselves uh again it'd be interesting when they come back to play how motivated they are to continue in their good habits but I think every success story that a club has achieved you know whether it's little johnny at nine or a 12 that you know he's wrote down a program and he's cooked you know a chicken balty or whatever it is I think they're all success stories and I'm so so I'm so grateful you know to to the children because they've been open minded nobody's turned you know the noses up at it they've had a go at it you know whether I have to say I am the worst cook ever and they asked me to cook something so I cooked something and I showed them and they absolutely hammered me for 10 minutes but you know what I went okay I said come on I said you I said you back it up then you show me so I've got pictures of cakes I've got rice I've got chicken I've got a sundae dinner I've got milkshakes but everything across the board I think has been a success story that every boy that's been participated yeah um I could I could take your title for the worst cook ever I can't boil an egg I'm shocking I'm the same I'd also last night who's eight years old that's the cook made him put the chicken curry and I was all over like yeah this will do for me so absolutely those are the benefits I have not learned to cook I never will have hope brilliant insights Ian same for you in terms of success stories what you think of the key successes coming out of this period yeah similar to Matt just I've been bored the way to be honest with what our players have done I've told them I'm very proud of what they've done and I get excited also watching the videos and seeing them could be out in the street it could be on the driveway it could be anywhere anywhere we find a spot and a ball and that to me is something to be missing north america go back to basics go back to working with the ball and love the ball I think for me that's something that's came really really pure to the fore second of all is like I said the ownership piece regarding uh even with top attackers I know you can actually assign the players um you know the training plan I can't do a different approach I said to them I go you guys design your own plan go off look at the app have a look at things come back and sort of tell me you've done all right so they were going off themselves and working those things I which I think is very very important so um I'm looking forward to getting you know getting back in the fields and this is one thing we sort of mentioned that we've been watching the last dance with Michael Jordan and especially relevant over here I wasn't really a basketball fan myself and loved this series but um I think it's a message we try to convey to the players really it's we've given you information we've given you suggestions what you can do during a good downtime uh but really it's up to you and it's really a bit of personality and I've seen people respond to that in a very positive way uh even along the lines of the younger players watch the older players and obviously metric from them as well and sort of seeing one of the players say yeah so Jack tried this last week so I thought I'd try this week kind of thing so that whole whole community part even though we haven't seen it start physically it's still a community uh our training environment still a community uh everyone still loves the game together everyone still assures uh love of the game together so I think a couple of things come out of this and for me is like I said love of the love of the ball and second of all the ownership I've seen the players taken so it's not fantastic brilliant I'd agree with every one of those comments from me selfie and I'm from Matt and again you know some great learnings from the last dance not so many learnings from Tiger King but I started watching F1 drive it's good yeah it's very good yeah fantastic series I'm probably like to the game on that one but I was taking so much from that and I'm going to push to the players if interested it's got to be them who were the who were interested so brilliant um you like cricket Paul um I don't know which ended about to it but yeah I like it no there's a I think there's a documentary on Amazon uh well I think it's the the test uh about Australia uh yeah yeah I've heard about this yeah very very very good I'm sorry I've watched the last dance and I've just watched the test and the very very good insight a real good insight about kind of like the culture and where they were and how they went forward yeah very very powerful really really good yeah I've heard that one I'll put that on my on my watchlist um but when I get time with it we're in between all my zoom meetings and technical planning but um I want to say a massive thank you Matt and Ian for joining us uh today some great insights and some practical examples really on how both professional clubs and and private organisations and and and cultures are using um technology are using this time to keep engaged with players and families I think it's absolutely vital that we've done that and there's so that like you both said there's so many fantastic examples of of people doing some great work during this time and we're all we're all etched to get back to the field but when it's safe to do I think and we do it appropriately and and like we said we'll continue with these good habits for for me as I said earlier I'm excited about my players coming back and showing me in person now technically what they can do and how as a coach now I've got to think with that technical level raised I'm going to have to raise my game in terms of how I challenge them um so there's there's all sorts of benefits and we've got to see the positives as well because it's not an ideal situation but again massive thank you to all the attendees who joined us on either YouTube live or or directly via the zoom call um Ian where can coaches and players and parents find you so happy for you to to plug your side off we're going to social media hand those you've got yeah it's just that Ian McClure learnedreform.com basically so that's the best way to find me and if any coach you want to reach out and and touch base and help us best they can. Fantastic and Matt is there any way to reach you I couldn't find you on social media I don't I don't I'm on Twitter no I'm on Twitter um so it's yeah I'm on Twitter I'll send that through to you but you know my email address is matt.moley.usc.co.uk so if anybody wants to drop me a line and kind of like you know make that communication fantastic yeah I think that's another benefit right now coaches are actually talking to each other um the top coaches always were open and engaged um but the game because it's so competitive people have been a bit like my balltarks I'm not showing you my secret sauce um but as a result we've all started sharing more and more and and there's no secret to this game it's it's that what's best for the individual players at all times and and and navigating that path so really appreciate your time gentlemen thank you for giving us your time as always the recording will be on the culture manual dot com um everyone enjoy the rest of your afternoon or evening wherever you are and joining us let's go stay safe thanks Matt thank you thank you