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How to Lose Football Matches - by Billy Ready

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  How to Lose Football Matches - Seeing the Bigger Picture on Matchdays “If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always got.” Played 24 - Won 0 - Drew 2 - Lost 22… GF 31 GC 155. Could you tell from this photo? As we enter the final few weeks of the season, the coaching world is already preparing for the next season. The notebooks are being scribbled all over and the phone service providers are earning their monthly subscriptions. New players are being contacted and sold the club’s game models and aspirations ahead of pre-season. The elite of the elite are about to take part in the World Cup, young people and coaches alike are preparing to be inspired by the very best competing in the pinnacle of the sport.  Whilst we enter the brief moment of pause and detach from the hustle and bustle of the coaching season; this period is an important time to reflect on the previous 12 months and how we as practitioners can develop our players even further going forwa...
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#2 The Art of Vulnerability - A Coach's Dilemma

"Comparison is the thief of joy." As I write this blog, I have this quote at eye level on the calendar on my wall. I have it there to remind me of the consequences of the different compulsions I feel during the day. By no means have I mastered controlling these moments, it is a constant battle within, but it also serves as a stark reminder that there is a long way to go in the turbulent journey of life. In the 10 years I have been setting cones out on fields, playgrounds and AstroTurf pitches, I could tell you all about the different practices I have delivered, the funny moments that players and coaches have provided, and the interesting environments that I have been fortunate enough to have stepped into. I could tell you of the players that have signed for academy sides and of crazy encounters with opposition coaches and parents. But today I want to tell you more about the unspoken side of the world of teaching/coaching, the moments where you don't feel good enough, the ...
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#1 - Coaching Philosophies... Illustrating My Purpose

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Hello there! I hope you are doing well ... Before we begin, this is not going to be a coaching philosophy document that details what blade of grass I would like my full back to step on when my centre back receives the ball... this is more of a journey towards the values and beliefs that I hold dearest and live by on the coaching field. I would like to think the players I work with feel the same way, but you never quite know what 8 year olds are thinking (of you or in general) at any given moment... Philosophy. A word found scribbled and circled in nearly every coaching pack on any coaching course or webinar you will ever visit. Makes even the most basic of beliefs and actions sound really intelligent and interesting. "A theory or attitude that acts as a guiding principle for behaviour" is how it is defined in the dictionary, although I feel it is a word that has become more a "buzzword" as opposed to a "key word" in recent years. Every man and his dog has ...
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