Coaching objectives
Make session enjoyable
Set Team Goals
Stages of Learning

The previous Sunday it was important for the players resurrect themselves as a team and as individuals as last weeks training session was about setting morals and team work. It was important to forget about the previous weeks performance as compliance was gained and keeping the players in the dog house (Martens, 2004), would just build pressure on them and anxiety would be experienced hindering performance. The team ran out 4-0 winners against Blyth Spartans, a great result , it would seem that the players were all extroverted on Sunday, they were focused and aroused to a more optimum level in order to perform, this was caused by and increased amount of activity as after the game the captain said the players knew they had done wrong the week before and wanted to gain my respect, this supports Yerkes and Dodsons Law (1908) as extroverts are renowned for heightening their arousal to a more optimal level by increased activity, social engagement and other stimulation-seeking behaviour The ability to perform these components is questioned; Weinberg (Weinberg, 2003) argues that players need to maintain a level of concentration, motivation and arousal levels. .

Tonight’s session was about making the drills enjoyable and building on the team spirit that had been placed following the impressive performance at the weekend. The warm up was called king of the ring and although this is predominantly a child’s game, it was clear that although this drill was well below the players age demands, the enjoyment was there for all to see. King of the ring is a dribbling drill used to make players look up whilst dribbling with the ball; awareness is also used in this drill as the objective is to be the last man standing with your ball inside the circle. The drill was progressed quickly as the circle was made smaller, as a result of the players grasping the cognitive stage of the drill it was important to use differentiation, this encouraged the players to shield the ball and make use of their upper body strength keeping their ball on the furthest foot away from the opponent, it was obvious that everyone wanted to win, as a coach having differentiaition in drills improves achievement and motivation of the players (Wigfield, 2002; Eccles 2002). This supports Watkins finding in the late eighties that adolescence posses a greater level of physical activity and that excellence in athletic ability is dependant on physical skills (Watkins, 1989). Authors such Kelly research in the eighties contradict Watkins theory and that sporting excellence does not just depend on physical ability, cognitive, emotional and interpersonal are components that lead to excellence in performance suggesting there is a great deal of psychological elements that make a great performer. The interpersonal element resulted in the players excelling in this drill as in the drill debrief the players commented on how much they enjoyed it, I asked the players if they knew what the aim of the drill was, they could not answer the question. This could suggest that the players were autonomous in their performance, further suggestions could identify that the players were in the top-down model where their central system is advanced in order for minimum cognitive thinking taking place. It was important for the players to experience an enjoyable drill, the performance level was very high, this supports Gardner’s writing in the early nineties, he quoted that if a performer is enjoying a session they perform to a higher ability (Gardner, 1991), relating to this research conducting exciting and enjoyable sessions is identified as positive discipline by Martens research this is progressed from step one, this is creating the right team culture (Martens, 2004), of course any player will tell you they want to win, but encouraging good practice and enjoyment is what sport is about that is the environment I am trying to create.

Sundays 4-0 victory was the second clean sheet of the season, the response form the players was just what the doctor ordered, from this I wanted the team to be dedicated to the team goals which I was about to set, setting team goals is part of the coaching process skills identified by Lyle where planning for competition is concerned (Lyle, 2002). I wanted the team see how many games they could go without conceding a single goal this included cup matches, Salas (Salas et al, 2001) that goal setting and problem solving are more than likely to have positiveeffect on team performances, this would be taken one game at a time and the necessity of all the players in agreement to this goal was vital. I expressed my belief in the players that they could achieve this goal, with the hope that this would install belief in the players to carry out the task, extrinsic factors can hinder the achievement of team goals, this includes the opposing team, their environment, but most importantly the team them selves, the ability to perform these components is questioned; Weinberg (Weinberg, 2003) argues that players need to maintain a level of concentration, motivation and arousal levels. .
Setting team goals are essential to performers; it can be the difference between winning and loosing, it is a coach’s role to develop the players in order to achieve these goals, they have to set the correct environment in order for the player’s state of arousal to be reached (Yerkes and Dodson, 1908), This relates to Sir Alex Fergusons beliefs that are the role of a football coach is identified as shaping and motivating the players as individuals and as a team in order to achieve their goals that are set (Sir Alex Ferguson, 2002).

A number of skills are required in order to enhance team goals, when referring to the role of a coach; these are identified as discipline, communication and enthusiasm (Sabock, 1973). D Broadley (1999) argued that a whole number of people that take on the role of coach are unaware of the depth of knowledge and skills required, as football is no different to any other subject, if taught properly can enhance an increased level of development of not only the coach but the participants and their goals, this relates to Holbrook and Barr’s research into how respect is gained, being knowledgeable about the sport gains respect of the players (Holbrook, 1979; Barr, 1979) this knowledge can be gained by personal experience or by listening to another personal experience. Relating to this research it is clear that in order for the team to achieve this goal set by myself, it is up to me to guide and instruct the squad to the best of my ability, a humanistic approach to coaching of which I have tried to work closely to when delivering these coaching sessions is a good way to deliver theses seesions, this has been addressed by Lyle as the emphasis of empowerment of the individual towards achieving his/her goals that is created by a persons centred philosophy (Lyle, 2002).


Gardner, S. (1991). The Tensions Between Education and Development. Journal of Moral Development, 20 (2), 113-125

Holbrook & Barr (1979) Respect May be gained. [online] http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/FunSchool-6095-DrChung-Coaching-Process-Skills-Qualities-CoachSabock-1973-Management-Monitoring-Athletes-drchung-ppt-powerpoint/ Accessed 30/10/07.

Martens, R, (2004). Successful Coaching.
Lyle, J. (2002) Sports Concepts [online] Sports Coaching Concepts: A Framework for Coaches' Behaviour. Accessed 30/11/07

Sabock, R.J, (1973) The Coach. The University of Michigan

Salas, E. Klein, G.A. (2001). Linking Expertise and Naturalistic Decision Making. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publications. 142.

Sir Alex Ferguson (2002) Roles of a Coach [Online] accessed 30/11/07

Watkins, B., Montgomery, A., (1989) Conceptions of Athletic Excellence among Children and Adolescents. Child Development, Vol. 60, No. 6, pp. 1362-1372

Weinberg, R.S. (2003) Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology. USA: Worth Publishers, Inc.

Wigfield, A., Eccles, J.S. (2002) Development of Achievement Motivation (Education Pscyhology. U.S: Academic Press Inc.

Yerkes, R. M., & Dodson, J. D. (1908). The relation of strength of stimulus to rapidity of habit-formation. Journal of Comparative Neurology and Psychology, 18, 459-482

Coaching objectives

Set the line of discipline
Back to the cognitive stage
Awareness of time and effort

Sunday’s performance was below par, the cohesion that had been developed on the first two training sessions hadn’t seemed to have worked resulting in a defeat, after the game we spoke about the space we allowed the opposition to exploit and the inability to defend as a team, allowed the opposition to create more chances. I was informed by one or two of the parents that their sons had been partying on the night before, defying the specific instructions I had given them to have an early night, as a coach you cant always keep an eye on your players individually, once the training session has finished, they are able to do what they wish. If they are committed to their team, they would have followed my guidance.

Today’s session started with drawing the line of discipline for the players to realise my thoughts of what happened on Sunday. I emphasized the importance of empathy and understanding the impact their behaviour had on the other team members, they let their team mates down and more importantly themselves. I was confident in my ability when disciplining the team, my points clearly stated what I wanted them to stop doing, (Martens, 2004) the players responded not only to the points made but to the change of tone in my voice, I eliminated differential treatment refraining from singling people out, although when I was talking it was clear they knew who they were. This supports Marten’s Findings in the early 21st century that leaders install values. Similar results were found by Holbrook (Holbrook, 1979) working on how respect may be gained, I refrained from singling people out and made sure I treated all players the same. The process of telling the players what to do becomes tedious and restricts them from gaining the experience of making the decisions for them. Being a strong disciplinarian gains the respect of the players (Sabock, 1973), although it can have a downside as some players tend to switch off when a disciplinarian approach is carried out, however I felt it was important to give the players an indication of how angry I was, however it was important to remain calm and under control (Martens, 2004) emphasizing the dedication that I have to them, making it clear what I expect from them in return, this seems to contradict the statement made by Sabock (Sabock, 1973) that dedication earns the respect of the coaches performers.

There were cones set 10 yards apart from each other, the players were put into pairs with one ball between two facing each other, the players were instructed to pass the ball between themselves to their partner. I decided use a more direct instructional approach I gave the players 5 minutes to pass the ball with the inside of the foot to their partners using both feet one after another using the inside of the foot generates a more accurate pass, with coaching points such as communication and moving to meet the ball the players were given a target for every pass that did not meet their partners feet, 10 push ups were added , this meant if one player made a mistake it would have an effect on their team mates and they would be letting them down. This caused a high locus of causality as the players concentrated on the task. This was then progressed, the cones were marked at twenty yards apart from each other, again the same instructions applied, some of the players made comments during the drill that it was becoming tedious, but showed the determination to not let the team down, in the end of the drill 50 push ups were handed to every member of the team as 5 mistakes were made in the whole of the ten minutes. The direct instructional approach to this drill is usually used for beginners characteristics, this drill is used for players at the cognitive stage of learning, the players showed an autonomous display when passing the ball to their partner, however this could have been the result of the players self pacing this drill as the concept was not about the quantity of passes it was about the accuracy which meant this drill was exposed to a number of closed skills as there was a distinct beginning and end to the skill. The weight of the pass varied from player to player changing the response requirements from one response to the next response they had to make (Gentile, 1975).

In the debrief, I compared that drill to the attitude of a selected number of the squad relating to Sunday’s performance, the concept was that one mistake does not just have an effect on you but results in your team mates suffering as a consequence of this mistake, even at under 17 level of junior football appropriate behaviour is expected to achieve goals , it is interesting to note that Siedentop working in the early nineties also defied appropriate behaviour as consistent, positive behaviour aimed at achieving goals set (Siedentop, 1991). Included in debrief, I asked the players what their perceptions were relating back to that drill, they commented on the fact they did not want to let their team mates down and felt pressurised to perform for their team mates and understood the correlation between this drill and Sunday past even though the drill was tedious, this relates with team cohesion as if this is being achieved a feeling of an individuals sense of belonging to that group will be highly motivated in order to achieve their goal (Turman, 2003). My response to that was until they were willing to co-operate with my guidance the concept of using more advanced drill would be used in sessions, I explained that the chance of deciding for themselves had been spoiled by their attitude and until they gain the respect and trust of myself the direct instruction approach would continue, I left that up to them to decide.

The session was progressed to a game of keep ball, the intention was to add open skills to the session, bringing the players out of their comfort zone in order to react to their environment, here the players effort was too a high standard, This supports Triplett’s Social facilitation that the introduction of an opponent serves to liberate latent energy not usually available in order to compete to win (Triplett, 1898). This drill also related back to the four category classification where the required response of the players changed from one response to the next (Gentile et al, 1975), the concept of the drill was again like before if the ball went out of the area, the team who gave that ball away would result in there being 10 push ups added to their tally at the end of the drill. I added coaching points to the drill, points such as communication, support, movement, awareness and reactions, all components of keeping possession successfully in football (Reilly et al, 2003).

The following Sundays match was specifically arranged for the same time, in the debrief I explained the reasoning , I wanted the players to prove me wrong and be dedicated to team, if they wanted to play to their full potential a good nights sleep and the prevention of alcohol would be required, I emphasized they had all week to party or go out with their friends, and that if their football was important to them they would do everything possible to prepare them selves appropriately for their game, I explained that I had their best interests at mind as Krzyzewski stated in 2001 that it is a coaches responsibility to prepare the individual for their needs in order to perform effectively to their situations (Krzyzewski, 2001).

Gentile, (1975) Cited in: Samela, J.H, (1982). New Paths of Sport Learning and Excellence. University of Michigan. P15.

Holbrook & Barr (1979) Respect May be gained. [online] http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/FunSchool-6095-DrChung-Coaching-Process-Skills-Qualities-CoachSabock-1973-Management-Monitoring-Athletes-drchung-ppt-powerpoint/ Accessed 23/10/07.

Krzyzewski, M., (2001) Five-Point Play: Duke's Journey to the 2001 National Championship
Martens, R, (2004). Successful Coaching.

Reilly, T.A, Williams, M. (2003). Science and Soccer. Routledge Publishings. Liverpool.
Sabock, R.J, (1973) The Coach. The University of Michigan

Siedentop, D. (1991). Developing teaching skills in physical education. Mountain View, Mayfield Publishing Co.

Triplett, (1898). Cited in: Hagger, M. Chatzisarantis, N. (2005). The Social Physiology of Exercise and Sport. Mcgraw-Hill International. P176

Turman, (2003). Cited in: Hagger, M. Chatzisarantis, N. (2005). The Social Physiology of Exercise and Sport. Mcgraw-Hill International. P172

Today’s session’s aim

Make session game related
Progress session
Guided discovery

From Sunday’s performance, some coaches may presume there is not much more they can work on, there few negatives to choose from, so why not work on the positives? One of the main responsibilities of the coach is to ensure that the participant has to be cared for and not experience negative rapport from their coach as this is the result of a form of anxiety in the athlete (Baker et al, 2000). The emphasis on today’s was on creating space and making as much game related situations as possible allowing the players to become inhabitant with the components of creating and exploiting space.

The efficacy of warm ups are questioned by Noaska (Nosaka et al, 2004) so I alternatively decided not to use the usual dynamic and ballistic stretching in a 30x30 grid, alternatively I gave each player a ball and gave them the opportunity to use as much as the space given to them as possible, challenging them to cover as much blades of grass as they could individually this motivated the players to create a realistic tempo, there was a cognitive element to this session however to raise the stimulus of the squad, dribbling techniques were installed in order to make the warm up game related, finding their own space with their head up looking for a space to move into. Here a number of motor and cognitive skills are developed as the players are maximally controlling their motor skills whilst cognitively initiating which technique and what speed to approach the skill co-operatively arguing the case that football is situated in the middle of the continuum, however this varies depending on position of the players which is an element I have to be aware of when introducing techniques (Reep et al, 1968).

The session was progressed to complement the sessions objective (Harrison, 2002) to a keep ball drill where two teams where put into a 20x20 grid, the concept of this drill was to encourage the players to use the most of the space given and make the picture for the player on the ball big and allow options for a pass, as in football there is not always going to be space given to you as defenders are closing the space down and challenging for the ball creating space is a player’s ability to create space on the pitch and exploit it cognitively and effectively (Bangsbo et al, 2003). They were encouraged to use 2 touches of the ball maximum as this makes the team who are defending ‘team’s workload heavier as they do not have as much time to adjust to the ball. Basic elements were introduced such as communication, first touch, movement. This drill could predominantly be stated as displaying open skills, as the players were performing in a moving dynamic environment (Poulton, 1957). However this drill may have displayed closed skills as the players were able to consistently reproduce a defined movement pattern (Ericsson, 1991).

A 6v6 in a 60x40 grid was progressed from the small compact space to encourage the players to exploit a bigger space given to them where the objective was to create space, to create scoring opportunities. The players were inhibited with the situations of the first drill and this allowed the players to identify the key roles of certain situations that may occur in the progressed drill. I allowed the players to find multiple answers to the problem, this was created through guided discovery, I could have just used a direct approach to this drill where the aim was to learn a specific component and the specific outcome which was a scoring opportunity occur. I wanted the players to think independently, as new approaches to creating scoring opportunities may occur. We linked back to last weeks training session referring to cohesion as communication and an objective was developed (Gadson, 2001; Schneider et al 2005), this allowed the players to become autonomous in order for the drill to become fast and error free (Anderson, 1982), however the players did have to go through the three stages of learning in order to make the drill successful, I intervened and added some procedural knowledge so that the cognitive stage could be understood (Anderson, 1982). We discussed after the cool down in the debrief that if more strategies became autonomous the consistency of results would keep coming our way.

This Sunday’s game was a very early kick off at half past ten in the morning meaning that the meeting time was going to be quarter past nine in order to get to the venue where we were playing as it was away, i strictly advised the players to get a early night as rest is just as important as performing as sleep aids in the players BMI rates increasing and prevents fatigue from occurring resulting in a lack of concentration (Cardinali, 2002).
Anderson, J.R. (1982). Acquisition of cognitive skill. Psychological review. 89 (4) pp369.

Baker J, Cote J, Hawes R (2000). The relationship between coaching behaviours and sport anxiety in athlete.

Bangsbo, J. Peiterson, B. (2003). Offensive Soccer Tactics. Human Kinetics Publishing. P19

Cardinali, D.P. Analía, F.M. , María. Reyes, P. Brusco, L.I. (2002). A Multifactorial approach employing melatonin to accelerate resynchronization of sleep–wake cycle after a 12 time-zone westerly transmeridian flight in elite soccer athletes. Journal of Pineal Research. 32 (1) pp 41-46.

Ericsson, K.A. Smith, J. (1991). Prospects and Limits in the Empirical Study of expertise: an introduction. Cambridge University Press. Pp 1-38

Gadson, S. (2001). Psychology and Sport. P55

Harrison, W. (2002). Recognizing the Moment to Play: Anticipation, Imagination, Awareness. Reedswain Publishing. P11.

Nosaka, K., Sakamoto, K., Newton, M., Sacco, P. (2004) Influence of Pre-Exercise Muscle Temperature on Responses to Eccentric Exercise. Journal of Athletic Training. National Athletic Trainers’ Association, Inc. 39(2).132–137
Poulton. (1957). Cited in Davids, K. (2002). Interceptive Actions in Sport: Information and Movement.pp7

Reep, Benjamin (1968) Cited in Reilly, T.A, Williams, M. (2003). Science and Soccer. Routledge Publishings. Liverpool. P249.

Schneider, F.W. Gruman, J.A. Coutts, L.M. (2005), Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical. Sage publications. pp 132

Session Two

Today’s objective

Organising sponsorship
Arranging match
Motivating players

This week after the first training it was up to me as head coach to advertise for sponsorship for the team’s kit, this included a full set of home and away strips and a tracksuit for training with, fortunately two of the parents of the team own their own business and were more than willing to sponsor the team for their strips, this was finalized and was a massive relief as unfortunately at grassroots level sponsorship is not given to you, (The F.A, 2007) you have to go out and advertise your case of kits and equipment, this will all entail to the players fulfilling their potential and increasing motivating players as the team spirit that was concreted in the first session should hopefully relate to the teams moral.

This week I also had my first experience of arranging the time and the referee of the game, this was a stressful experience especially arranging officials for the game as of all the hundreds of referees that were displayed in the Northumberland F.A handbook only one person was available to referee the game which resulted in a cost in money through phone bills and time as it was on the Friday when the referee confirmed he could officiate the game. The other option was to referee the game myself or the opposition’s manager, this however would stereotypically give an unfair advantage to whoever was officiating the game so it was important to have a neutral referee. I was still working on the players judgements of myself and I did not want to come across unorganised this may leave the team feeling a high level of anxiety (Baker, 2000). Officiating the game would take my commitment away from my team, as communication with your players is key during the game (martens, 1997) in order to motivate the members of the team, this could hinder the chance of the team achieving their goals, as my dedication would be distracted which is an important role as a coach (Sabock, 1973).

Last weeks session was about setting the foundations of what was expected from myself and most importantly from the players. The game on the Sunday ended in a 1-0 victory over Wallsend Boys Club, this was a massive start to the season with the players playing above the expectations of myself and themselves, in the team talk I emphasized that the opponents were just eleven players on the pitch, no different to them, I also instructed the captain of the team to get the team together in a huddle before the game to identify what their aim was in the game as there is only so much a coach can do in order to motivate and instruct the players, once the players cross the white line it is up to them to take on board what has been said and perform to the best of their ability, this seemed to be effected by their motivation, the team were obviously aiming for achievement and respect from others this coincides with Maslow’s (Maslow, 1954) hierarchy of needs, as their lower demands were met in order for their state of arousal to meet the demand of the situation. This was proven with the players selected and substitutes coming on playing above their expectations.

After the game we spoke about why we won and they identified that they took on board what was said, that they are only eleven players like them despite their history and knew if they were together in their goals they could achieve them. They also mentioned that they knew there were other players on the bench who could come on and influence the game and stake a place for their place in the team, having competition for places raises the motivation of players, there was a distinct display of intrinsic motivation showing a strong locus of causality resulting in greater effort in performance (Deci, 1985).

The cohesion of the team was high, external factors such as communication and having team goals, which were achieved, influenced the cohesion of the team (Gadson, 2001; Schneider et al 2005), where as authors such as Tuckman (Tuckman, 1965) addressed that cohesion is achieved through the team becoming acquainted with one another, this was the first training session’s main aim and the end result was achieved.


Baker, J. Côté, J. Hawes, R. (2000). The relationship between coaching behaviours and sport anxiety in athletes. University of Queensland, Department of Human Movement Studies, USA. Journal of Science and Medicine in sport. 3 (2) June, pp.110-119

Deci, E.L. Ryan, R.M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self determination in human behaviour, Plenum Press, NY

Gadson, S. (2001). Psychology and Sport. P55
Martens, R, (2004). Successful Coaching.
Sabock, R.J, (1973) The Coach. The University of Michigan

Schneider, F.W. Gruman, J.A. Coutts, L.M. (2005), Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical. Sage publications. pp 132
The FA Centres of Excellence (1997), (2007) [online] accessed 14/10/07 23.16pm http://www.thefa.com/GrassrootsNew/Player/Postings/2002/05/CentresOfExcellence
Tuckman, B. (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological bulletin, 63, 384-399

I have arraigned with Red House Farm Junior Football Club that I shall take over from their previous coaching staff and take full control of their under 17 football team. Red House Farm were established in 1990 this is very new in terms of grassroots football and are a voluntarily run club, the team secretary has informed me that the goal of the club is to take this team into adult football and achieve F.A Charter status by developing teams for females through all ages.

My job will entail, arraigning times with referees and opposition managers, bookings of pitches with managers from the different age groups of Red House Farm. Motivating and introducing my coaching style to the players, a financial factor comes into perspective as every week subs are received by each player in order to fund kit and equipment in order to insure that every player in the team are able to make the most of their ability in training and in game situations.

Session one

Objectives of the session

Introduce myself to the players
Relationship Building
Talent identification

On meeting the players I was very apprehensive as the age difference between myself and the players was only four years, gaining the respect of the players is the first aim of a coach, this must be earned through a variety of qualities. Sabock addresses that coaches should be knowledgeable about their sport and have strong ethical values with a goal that is set with a desire to win. (Sabock, 1973)

The team train every Tuesday night as this was agreed by every player so that they could arrange part time work and educational time around their football, this gave the impression to me that they were committed to the cause as they had a drive to train with so many other factors going on in their lives. Training

On introducing myself my aim was to stamp my objectives from the start and provide direction for the team. I installed my enthusiasm and ethics of football into the players in order for them to get idea of how I coach with knowledgeable terms without the use of profanity so that the players respect was gained instantly and instructions and actions were not confused. (Holbrook & Barr, 1997)

Today’s session entailed team building with game related situations added to identify the players stages of learning and identify what their strengths and weaknesses are. It was put towards me that some players had been released from academies and had represented counties for their respected age groups; this gave me an idea that these players may be at the Autonomous stage of learning where their motor skills have been established and can maintain a high level of automacity. This started with the warm-up, warm-ups perform an important role in a coaching session as they help the body prepare for exercise both mentally and physically and potentially decrease the likelihood of injury (Fradkin et al, 2006). However, authors such as Nosaka (Nosaka et al, 2004) question the efficacy of pre-exercise muscle warm-ups on injury prevention. Traditional static stretching routines can be detrimental to performance (Bazett-Jones et al, 2005; Nelson et al, 2005) so the emphasis here is on dynamic stretching (Papadopoulos, 2005). This was then progressed onto game related passing drill combined with patterns of movement that were set a game paced. This entailed passing and finding a new space as I was told about some of the players being released by academies, I allowed them to find their own space as they are able to perform the drill without verbalisation and act on their own thinking. Some players got the grasp on the warm up and some players didn’t as players have different strengths and weaknesses, some players fell into the associative stage as they were given more specific instructions. The players who grasped the concept were progressed onto more advanced drills as they were given a more competitive drill this consisted of 30x30 yard grid where defenders were added and was encouraging the players to pass the ball short and long. So for instance if the first player passes the ball short, the player who receives the short pass his next pass has to be long, Development and differentiation is an important role in a coaching session as well as the warm up. By having differentiated tasks I was able to improve achievement and motivation (Wigfield and Eccles, 2002) this resulted in the players who didn’t grasp the session to perform to a higher level so they could be with their peers. As adolescence posses a greater level of physical skills it is important to develop the players who grasp the session quickly. Authors such as Watkins (Watkins, 1989) researched into different age groups and stated that athletic excellence differed in opinion. This was set at game tempo and in this drill it was easier for me to get and indication of their talent by putting them under some pressure by opposition, in football there are all different range of passes short and long. I directed attention to the most important part of the drill which was the correct part of the foot to use and the correct factors such as support, communication, as this had to be stopped and addressed it was clear to me that the players weren’t autonomous as they had to be told the basics, however they were able to resurrect themselves after the specific instructions. which is a factor of associative learning to a short pass is more preferred as it is more accurate (Luxbacher, 2005), Luxbacher argues that the long pass if successful is more likely to create an goal scoring opportunity as the opponents don’t have enough time to readjust to the ball.

From today’s session I was able to build a social relationship as after the session I took time after the cool down to talk to the players on how they felt the session had went, they gave me positive feedback, it was clear to me that the players had enjoyed the session and found me approachable after one session as I added humour and my own personality into the drills this I believe got the respect of the players as well as stated sabock (Sabock, 1973), as some players are motivated when fun is entailed this built an healthy atmosphere and great team spirit with everyone knowing that when Sunday came they would be committed to the cause. My perception of the players after one session is that they are a fantastic group of lads who gave me their full attention, maybe this was down to being the first session and they were wanting to impress me or maybe that I had a put on a enjoyable and motivational training session for them to realise their potential.





Bazett-Jones D., Winchester, B., McBride, J., (2005). EFFECT OF POTENTIATION AND STRETCHING ON MAXIMAL FORCE, RATE OF FORCE DEVELOP Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 19, 2; ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Source pg. 421

Fradkin, A.J., Gabbe, B.J., Cameron, P.A,. (2006) Does warming up prevent injury in sport? The evidence from randomised controlled trials? Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. 9 (3). 214-220
Holbrook, J.E, Barr, K., (1997) Contemporary Coaching: Issues and Trends, Cooper Publishing Group
Luxbacher, J.A., (2005) Soccer Steps to Success
Nelson, G., Driscoll, N.M., Landin, D.K., Young, M.A., Schexnayder, I.C., (2005) The effect of static and dynamic stretching Acute effects of passive muscle stretching on sprint performance 285-291-285

Nosaka, K., Sakamoto, K., Newton, M., Sacco, P., (2004) Influence of Pre-Exercise Muscle Temperature on Responses to Eccentric Exercise. Journal of Athletic Training. National Athletic Trainers’ Association, Inc. 39(2).132–137

Papadopoulos, G.,Siataras, Th., Kellis, S., (2005) exercises on the maximal isokinetic strength of the knee extensors and flexors

Sabock, R.J, (1973) The Coach. The University of Michigan

Watkins, B., Montgomery, A., (1989) Conceptions of Athletic Excellence among Children and Adolescents. Child Development, Vol. 60, No. 6, pp. 1362-1372 doi: 10.2307/1130927

Wigfield, A., Eccles, J.S., (2002) Development of Achievement Motivation (Education Pscyhology. U.S: Academic Press Inc.