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S1 E4 - David Baird
48 Plays3 months ago
On today episode we are joined by David Baird. David has coached youth football for over 15 years and is a UEFA A Licence holder. He currently works as a Coach Educator and Football Development Officer for the Scottish Football Association. Prior to this David has spent time coaching in the United States of America, the United Arab Emirates and most recently within the Heart of Midlothian Football Club academy in Scotland. He is the creator of the Scoreboard Soccer method of coaching and has published a book by the same name. Enjoy!
David Baird
To purchase David's book - https://bookshop.org/p/books/scoreboard-soccer-creating-the-environment-to-promote-youth-player-development-david-baird/16985902
Twitter / X - Follow @CoachDavidBaird
For Online Course and Webinars please email: david@scoreboardsoccer.com
Session Share
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpF44AndExPudaD9AXe2v3Q
Twitter/X - Follow @SessionShareNet
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Transcript
Introduction of David Baird
00:00:17
sessionshare
Hello and welcome to our latest episode of session share, the coaches podcast. My name is Craig Burtzel and I'm delighted to have David Baird. David has coached youth football for over 15 years and is a UEA for A license coach. He currently works as a coach, education educator football development officer for the Scottish Football Association. Prior to this, David has spent time coaching in the United States of America, United our Arab Emirates and most recently with Heart of Mididothian Football Club, the academy in Scotland.
00:00:50
sessionshare
He's the creator of Scoreboard Soccer, method of coaching, and has published a book by the same name. Welcome, David. How are you doing?
00:00:59
David
Yeah, I'm good, Craig. Yeah, I'm doing great. Thanks. How's yourself?
00:01:02
sessionshare
Doing well. I'm really enjoying these podcasts, getting to meet some fantastic people and to bounce some ideas around. So let's get started.
David's Coaching Journey
00:01:12
sessionshare
So um first off, David, can you tell us a little bit about your background? What got you involved in football?
00:01:17
David
ah Well, I loved playing football as a kid, you know, like like so many people do. Really, really enjoyed street football, that you know, and probably learned this on reflection looking back.
00:01:28
David
loved playing football with my mates, but probably didn't enjoy ah organized football as much. ah you know didn't Didn't know any better back then, but looking back now, I probably didn't get the full experience in regard to how like wonderful football training can be, you know how fun it can be, and you know how kind of games-based it could have been. And yeah, I probably just started to think started coaching quite young at like 16, 17 and the driver behind that was probably like giving kids a better experience than I had, you know, trying to make it more fun and more games based and probably learning more from the, in my opinion, the coaches I didn't really like when I was younger, ah you know, had loads of coaches that were big on running around the pitch, you know, thinking fitness is everything, you know, always playing two touch when the reality is in street football, I love to dribble and I love to take people on and like didn't really get those opportunities. So, um,
00:02:19
David
Yeah, that's when I started coaching when I was like 16, 17.
International Coaching Experiences
00:02:23
David
And just just been doing it ever since, you know, from kind of volunteer coaching back then with a couple of, you know, local grassroots clubs and then, ah you know, did sports coaching at college and then university. And then, yeah, really lucky to get some opportunities like you said in your intro there, you know, went and coached over in the ah the United States where where a lot of coaches do and that was brilliant for enjoyment, but experience as well, you know, go over there well,
00:02:49
David
It can be tough to find roles in Scotland that are like this, but over there I think I was coaching you know three teams, you know two rec programmes, summer camps, Easter camps. You're just constantly coaching and I think that's just like probably the best way to actually refine your skills. and I take that parallel from playing football. I'm just like a huge believer that genuinely speaking, when you're of a certain age,
00:03:12
David
playing the game is the best way to to learn it. And I think the same for coaching, you know, going out there and coaching as much as you can is a great way to define your skills and, you know, obviously learn a bit along the way as well. But um yeah, and then I moved back to Scotland and I think it was 2017 moved back to Scotland.
Influences on Coaching Philosophy
00:03:29
David
um And as you said, you know, I worked within the heart of Malothian Academy for a number of years. I work currently for the Scottish Football Association. um And yeah, just, you know, love it.
00:03:41
sessionshare
That's excellent. It's interesting that you say that you weren't that into organized soccer and you kind of said like some of the coaches, let's say, were probably not of the standard that you're used to nowadays.
00:03:47
David
yeah yeah
00:03:53
sessionshare
and So do you feel that when you were younger, it was because of the lack of freedom that you experienced? Is that kind of why you didn't really enjoy organized soccer or football?
00:04:06
David
yeah Yeah, I think there was a lot of instruction um and didn't really have that freedom. ah Now, my coach education journey and my experience in learning from a lot of other people has taught me a lot along the way because you know I do sometimes pull the comparison of when I was younger my coaches were quite instruction based and like you know they'll freeze and they'll say stop stand still and the coach is a thing or two um and that was probably the right approach and back then because in regards to my football and diet I was playing football before school I was playing football during school I was playing football after school
00:04:41
David
at the weekends you know football was my activity of choice so i had a pretty strong foundation you know me and obviously i'm my my friends my teammate and had a very strong foundation of like loads of touches and loads of exposure to opposition, direction, transition, you know, you don't think about that at the time, but you know, you're always playing like World Cup or copy doubles or picking teams and playing games, you know, had a lot of that games based approach. So it probably made sense that on a Tuesday or Thursday night, this coach will now be like, okay, I'm going to teach you something now. And you're you're adding that to like this huge base line of just playing the game ah that that that you have. ah It wasn't the most enjoyable, but looking back, it it probably was good, good coaching.
00:05:26
David
and And what I do quite a bit of time now is, again, just my opinion with with some of the coaches I try and support and almost try and let them learn from my mistakes a little bit, is when children now maybe don't have that strong foundation of street football in loads and loads a loads of touches before, during and after school and, you know, going out in the back garden and and football being their activity of choice because we know how desirable other alternatives are in regards to technology.
Philosophy on Youth Development
00:05:52
David
then coming along on you know Tuesday, Thursday night and being over instructive and you know trying to coach something that they're maybe not ready for because they don't have that baseline loads and loads of touches and and loads and loads of games which as I say I think is really really crucial and really really important so essentially I think we just need to build a lot of that in to our organized football sessions because children maybe aren't doing it on the street as much
00:06:18
sessionshare
I 100% agree. I feel that, um, we have a tendency to just blame, say our generation was better. Do you know what I mean? That's kind of what it is.
00:06:28
David
Yeah.
00:06:28
sessionshare
Like my dad said it, my dad's dad said it and so on. And I'll probably say it to my boys and everything like that.
00:06:33
David
Yeah.
00:06:34
sessionshare
But we have to kind of evolve as coaches, because as you say that, like, I remember reading a book with, uh, Johan Cruyff and it said about how the fact that he would do organized practices three or four times a week.
00:06:36
David
Yeah.
00:06:47
sessionshare
but he'd be playing every night in the street, just like you said and everything like that. So he said, where do you think I actually learned the game?
00:06:54
David
yeah
00:06:54
sessionshare
And it speaks volumes that though that freedom session where he was able to take what a coach learned him. add that to what he was doing out on the street. And that's when he was practicing it without that that problem.
00:07:03
David
Yeah.
00:07:06
David
Yeah.
00:07:06
sessionshare
But now as coaches, we're looking to evolve now because but children are playing less and less unorganized sports.
00:07:13
sessionshare
So we're having to kind of interpretate that into our sessions now.
00:07:13
David
yeah
00:07:18
sessionshare
So that's that's really interesting to hear. And that kind of leads me into my next question with what do you feel your philosophy is?
00:07:26
David
In regards to coaching children, coaching football, or in regards to what
00:07:31
sessionshare
Yeah, coaching in general, if you have a more broad um for coaching children and most of our coaches that we coach ah we get on this podcast, coach at academies or youth programs and stuff like that. So I kind of ah take your interpretation of the question, if you will.
00:07:49
David
Yeah, um it's is's something, so if I maybe go into a certain program or a certain team or a certain you know coach education event as it might be, I'll kind of mindfully sit and think, you know what what are we trying to achieve here? you know what What is the the philosophy for this particular thing I'm trying to change? and Because you need to you need to bend, you need to shape that for the for who you're you're coaching. So like genuinely speaking,
00:08:16
David
When I go in and work with younger children, and we're talking you know four, five, six, seven, like first experiences of of football and sport, my philosophy is to develop a love for the game. you know And that that involves like and just making a love for the environment.
00:08:30
David
they probably want to like the coach so high fives and well-dons and asking them you know what have they been up to did they did they see Messi's goal last night and all that kind of stuff and and and trying to develop a real real love for the game because as long as they keep coming back then over the years we can we can develop them as as players so um yeah i think that would be my philosophy and i think like as a coach of of probably um recognize maybe but where my strengths are and it's taken me quite a long time to to get there. You know i'm I'm probably never going to be a first team manager, um even the kind of like really in-depth tactical analysis and opposition analysis. Got a little bit of experience of that but what I really really enjoy and where my strengths are are probably with those younger age groups. So from the ages of kind of like five to 12. My philosophy is probably all around ah developing a love for the game, developing the person and the player. ah You know, you want to develop those off-field skills as well. like Football can be a great vehicle for developing communication, confidence, sportsmanship, teamwork. I wonder all that kind of stuff. And I think if I can give children the right approach during those like really crucial ages,
00:09:40
David
If they really lean into it and they're really motivated, um hopefully what I've developed is a you know a good little footballer who's a good little person who loves a game so is maybe practicing at home and I've probably hopefully given them all the tools that if you know academy football or professional football one day is is really want to move to then I'm handing over a great individual that someone can maybe coach any tactical formation or any, you know, set up. I think it's really about that individual development, those younger age groups. um But yeah, I think my philosophy is like, kids that I coach, I'm really just hoping they'll stay involved in the game for as long as as long as possible. You know, that might go play a really good level and unfortunately enough there's a
00:10:24
David
a few players that I have worked with. He makes in my time at the Hearts Academy. James Wilson scored his first goal for Hearts last night. He was ah a kid that I coached for a number of years. And that's that's great to see that. That's really nice to see that. um But, you know, children that maybe don't go and play at the top level, are they still playing amateur football? Are they still playing junior football? Are they going to get involved in coaching themselves or refereeing? I think my philosophies are around developing a love for the game, so they stay involved in it as long as possible.
Instilling Love for the Game
00:10:51
sessionshare
I love that and I especially love the bit at the end that you mentioned the fact that, because obviously that's 0.01% that makes it into professional. um We're obviously coaching a lot more that don't make it. So did we develop a love for the game? Will they look back at those moments that they were coached by Craig or they were coached by David as fun fond memories of their childhood? And have we now encouraged them to bring their kids into the game and their kids into the game and so on? It kind of snowballs in. I absolutely love that. And what I also loved
00:11:23
sessionshare
was the fact that you have a general coaching philosophy that's kind of like broken down per age group and per like zone.
00:11:28
David
Hmm. Hmm.
00:11:32
sessionshare
And i I think that's fascinating a great way for our coaches to listen and look at that. Because obviously the needs for an eight year old is very different for a needs for a 16 year old.
00:11:40
David
Yeah, I kind of try to jump in Craig back in a break it down to, ah you know, love the game, play the game and then learn the game.
00:11:42
sessionshare
So
00:11:50
David
And if my experience has told me when I go into work with a group or I want to take a new team, I can kind of see where they are on that trajectory. So, you know, are they maybe really young or or maybe not?
00:12:00
David
You know, I do a lot of work with the female footballers, so maybe don't come into the game until they're 10, 11 or 12. So it's like, right, I need to make sure they love this because they're going to lean into it and they're going to develop more of that. They really, really enjoy it. But then the next one where I think some coaches fall down on maybe because they've not had that mindful thought about the demise of a lot of street football is that play the game next. So is this a group in front of me that just need to play loads and loads and loads of the game because What they will learn through kind of just subconsciously playing is is huge. And of course you can dr feed in some feedback and some coaching points, some instruction, but you probably need to see them play the game before you can then pitch. You know, what can they work out themselves? What can they problem solve? How far can they take them? And what are their actual gaps that you need to go in? But I think, and then you get to that learning the game. So they go in and work with an under 15s academy team.
00:12:51
David
They all love football, you know, you can tell. They've played loads and loads of football because they've had coaches doing age and stage appropriate training from 8 to 12. And now, you know, I can come in and I can, we can teach them the game now without any technical breakdowns, you know, and they're probably a little bit more in tune to listen to you because they want to learn the game.
Scoreboard Soccer Method
00:13:09
David
They want to learn how to win the game this weekend or win the league. So yeah genuinely speaking, I think, ah kind of try and pitch, you know, where are the people in their journey? Pitch it there.
00:13:18
David
And if you have the time to do it, one of the most crucial things, and I really advocate this to coaches, is get their voices and opinions as well. you know What do they think they need to work on? What culture do they want to be part of? What philosophy do they respond to?
00:13:33
David
And I use the example of fairly recently, um you know, a bit later in my playing days, and I moved house and I went and I joined like a local amateur team, you know, still trying to play at my age. um And then the coach moved on and somebody knew I did a bit of coaching. So naturally I said, you know, David, what you would you do about coaching a team? So I had like an amateur team, and guys mostly in their thirties and I just did an exercise with them.
00:13:59
sessionshare
Thank you.
00:13:59
David
I was like, okay, I want you to think tonight when you go home, 10 reasons, why do why do you play football? Why are you still coming along on a Wednesday night to to play football? And then I wanted to try and narrow that list down to a top three, and then everybody takes me your three. you know And then I designed a philosophy and a culture around that. you know the The players told me that they wanted to get a bit of fitness. They wanted to keep playing football.
00:14:26
David
nobody said they wanted to come along and to run, those are passengers, they said they wanted to play football and they wanted to get ah out of the house and away from their their families for a couple hours a week, you know, to socialise with like-minded people, so that Steered my philosophy for that season that coached that team, you know, um it shaped all of my discussions with them It shaped all of my session plans Nobody told me they wanted to win the league and nobody told me they wanted to win games Nobody told me that they wanted, you know, the best players to play and they don't mind sitting on the bench as long as the team wins They all told me they just want to keep playing football so even at an adult team and this was a lot of coaches minds and We had equal game time, you know, um to a certain extent, you know, wasn't exact. But a lot of people think that's maybe a kids, you know, thing or a kids philosophy. Whereas I had a load of guys that just still wanted to play the game and never told me their motivation was to win every game. So why wouldn't we take off our best striker and bring on someone who's just there for the social, the fitness and the love of the game. And actually, because
00:15:28
David
I kind of leaned into their motivations and the environment they want to be part of. The success then came. you know We did do it pretty well and won the majority of our games. um But if you don't ask the people you're coaching, you know, so why are you here? Why are you doing this? what What do you want from me?
00:15:45
David
because it's their game the coach is there just to fa facilitate you know what what they want. To a certain extent I know at different academy levels and first team roles you maybe need to be a little bit more of of a dictator in some areas of the game um but yeah I think you need to meet people where they are um on their journey and and you only know that by by talking to them and then there has to be a little bit of give and take and bending because everyone's different and you need to find a bit of a middle ground. So I don't know if that will help any of your listeners at all, but I think those discussions are crucial.
00:16:16
sessionshare
I think that's excellent. I think that's a real good fresh approach and a good way to look at it in order to give the players, and I won't just say kids because you mentioned an adult, ah give it the best that they want.
00:16:25
David
Yeah.
00:16:27
sessionshare
So that's that's really good stuff. And we'll be back shortly after a brief message from Zencaster, where we're going to talk about one of David's passions, soccer board.
00:17:18
sessionshare
Welcome back. and We're going to focus on an area of David that is very passionate about. ah David, please tell us a little bit about soccer board and what benefits you can get from this program.
00:17:29
David
Yeah, no, it's scoreboard soccer. yeah so And like we were saying just before we started, I didn't have a fancy name or a logo or a website for this. Many, many years ago, I was just a volunteer coach running some summer camps and had a bit of a light bulb moment. you know I'm going to try this little thing and the engagement went through the roof. and And I think a lot of players really developed from from using kind of scoreboard soccer games and that approach. ah So yeah, just to take you on that journey, um and I've already touched on how big a fan I am on that kind of games-based approach and and loads and loads of small-sided games to maximize touchy's involvement and learn through play. But for a lot of and children, that's not going to work to the full extent. you know Maybe some of them haven't developed that love for the game, which we've we've spoke on. So actually saying, okay, we're going to play 4v4, just play. Some of them might become disengaged within that. I had the real world problems that so many coaches have of
00:18:28
David
mixed ability levels so you know David's dominating the ball Craig's not getting a lot of touches and sometimes depending on the children you know the discipline can be an issue as well if you just try and play some football and then and then step back so yeah really organically I was playing a game had four kids in and red and four kids in blue and we were playing and I had all those issues so for example Craig was dominating the ball he was dribbling by everybody and score in scoring and nobody else could get the ball from him now ah blows my mind a little bit that some coaches would look at that and see that as a bad thing that you know a kid can dribble by everybody and score and unfortunately the alternative sometimes and no doubt I always get to this but when I was a a newer coach as okay Craig you now need to use your weaker foot or you have to play two touches or you can't score or you have to pass um and like really mindful of
00:19:21
David
not not bringing the kid down to the rest of the group but trying to pull the group up. so But as tough as a coach, how do you praise that kid and keep encouraging them to develop their talents while you're bringing other kids along? So as I say, I really organically, I just put four red coins at the side of the field and four blue coins in a stack of footballs. I said, okay, we're going to play football, but if you score, you're going to come over to the side, you're going to put a ball on your team's coin.
00:19:48
David
this is the scoreboard you know and the first team to fill their coins wins and just play and it was a clever way that when Craig dribbled by everybody and scored I'm saying Craig brilliant go fantastic keep giving me more of that but come over and get that point And ah you know the game continues as he comes over so other people can get some so some touches of the ball. But when I put that kind a really simple intervention in, the engagement from everybody went up. you know the The motivation for players to try and get on the ball and try and score ah really, really increased. The discipline was no longer an issue because you know there
00:20:25
David
They're kids and they want to have fun and they can see the scoreboard. They're competitive by nature, you know, because they're children and because they've subscribed to a soccer camp. um So it just worked like really, really well. And then I've just been on a journey ever since with that really simple concept, um you know, stepping into the kids and saying, OK, is goal scoring the only good thing we can do on the field? And of course, the children say no. You say, well, what else could we be doing out there? And, you know, they'll tell you we could we could hustle back, we could spread out, we could pass and move.
00:20:54
David
We can try a skill from the training session and the game and I just say, okay, we're just going to play. And if I see any of that, if I see anything I like, you might get sent to the scoreboard. So that's in a nutshell is create an environment where yes, they're playing the game because I'm so big on this games based approach,
Coaching Workshops and Development
00:21:11
David
but we have this extra later motivation, you know,
00:21:14
David
And when you say, oh David, great communication, come to the scoreboard, you see all the other kids are now starting to communicate. you know they they They just really, they really want to be praised and they really want to be rewarded. um And obviously the journey I've been on for the last eight years now is like designing other scoreboards, coming up with really, really fun games at the side. I've got different categories of scoreboards now. So I've got some that are just fun to develop that love for the game. I've got some that are technical. So come over and juggle the ball or take a throw in to hit a cone or hit the crossbar.
00:21:44
David
So you can get a little bit of coaching at the scoreboard by all the rest, you know, benefit from that games-based approach. So um yeah, it's it's something that I recommend the coaches giving a try. um And obviously I'm happy to network with anyone who needs a little bit more information.
00:21:59
sessionshare
Fantastic. i love that I love the fact that one, you say it's a simplistic concept, but it's also an ingenious concept because even just off the top of my head, um I'm um'm thinking of ideas, the fact that you've pulled that one kid aside because he's got a score, he's put a ball on top of the cone.
00:22:16
sessionshare
It's made him feel great.
00:22:18
David
Yeah.
00:22:18
sessionshare
It's now encouraged everyone on his team to want to do it too, to be just like him.
00:22:21
David
Yeah.
00:22:23
sessionshare
And while that kid's off the field with the scoreboard, the advanced player, if you will, like you you said, it's now created like a four versus three. So you're talking about overloads and under loads and stuff like that as well, right?
00:22:32
David
yeah
00:22:35
David
Yeah, so I kind of take coaches on. So so I deliver like workshops to different associations and different clubs and support their coaches.
00:22:42
sessionshare
Mm hmm.
00:22:43
David
And I kind of take them on a journey of a series of workshops. So workshop one, we just look at individual development. you know That praise and that behavior, so they repeat that behavior, um they'll be motivated to build you know good habits.
00:22:55
David
I mean, we dig a little bit deeper into praise and the difference between praise and affirmation. And there are a few things you need to be careful of in regards to, how and when ah you you praise children. But we really look at that individual ah development. um So for example, yeah, you're right. David could be at the scoreboard because he he's a little bit more advanced. But what you could do is you could intentionally send his three teammates to the scoreboard at the same time. And now the advanced kit is 1v3, 1v4.
00:23:24
David
So we're lining up, there's a lot of clever little things you can do. We're lining up the challenge with his individual ability because, you know, lots of people want to develop the next Messi or Ronaldo, but we're not going to do that with 1v1 drills because I watched Messi last night and he took on six players with one dribble.
00:23:41
David
you know, so we we really need to stretch the better our players, and or the ones that are just a little bit more advanced, you know, for whatever reason at that time. So that's kind of workshop one, we we talk about how we use it for that individual development, but then just as you allude to there Craig, workshop two is okay,
00:23:57
David
Yes, we've taken Craig to the side, maybe he's working on a beat the goalie and a bit of shooting. But what we've really done is we've changed the picture on the pitch. You know, they're going to go from 4v4s to 4v3s to 3v2s to 1v4s and then we dive a little bit deeper. okay What might your coaching point be?
00:24:14
David
um if they need it i mean i find children learn quite a lot through just exposing them to those different pictures and need to problem solve and decision make and it seems to ah get tidier with time making better decisions but yeah there might be a time when you have to say okay freeze your 2v3 because david's at a scoreboard We're all kind of diving in and, you know, we can't go player for player because we don't have the numbers. What could we do? And that's when you get them talking about being narrow, being compact and trying to delay the attack until David recovery runs ah back from the scoreboard. And so, yeah, take I take clubs through a series of workshops. First one's player in-person development because we don't want to just praise passing dribbling and shooting. We want to use this concept to develop resilience and sportsmanship and teamwork, communication.
00:25:02
David
The second one is and ah team ah yeah team and culture development, so it's about those overlords and underlords, but also about you know If you're saying that the culture within your team is playing really quickly or pressing high or passing moving, then you can create a culture through these behaviours, particularly across the whole club. So a lot of the clubs I work with, you go into the changing room and they've got resilience and teamwork and you know values on the on the ah changing room. Okay, but how are you bringing these to life? They can't just be words.
00:25:37
David
So this concept that I'm explaining, the scoreboard concept, it gives you away from the under sixes up to the the senior teams that you can all be praising and awarding and talking about the
Influences and Inspirations
00:25:48
David
values. you know they can be They can really be brought to life through that that praise and award and these values.
00:25:54
David
And then the final one where we take them on and is on like leadership. So ah it's quite a long journey. It's on autonomy and leadership. And it's around like the kids picking the teams, the kids creating the scoreboards, the kids recognizing good behaviors and and praising each other by sending each other to the scoreboard. Those those are weird the wonderful ways we do that around captains and leadership roles and you know partnering up with someone on the other team and having the freedom to praise each other. So yeah, I know you said I was passionate about it, Craig. That was quite a long,
00:26:23
David
ran of me trying to fit like eight years of development into a quick rant but loads of things you can do with it and any of your coaches listening if their club wants to get involved I can certainly take them on that on that journey.
00:26:36
sessionshare
Yeah, fantastic. lot and That was actually my next question. and I'm fascinated myself by listening to it. um i've I've followed you for a few years on Twitter.
00:26:46
David
yeah
00:26:46
sessionshare
but That's why I reached out to do this podcast because it it does intrigue me and I want to learn more about it and I'm i'm pretty sure our listeners will feel the same way. So one thing I know we'll do is ah in the description for the podcast as well.
00:27:00
sessionshare
We'll leave more details that you can get involved and look at David's book. You can and you talk about the like web webinars and stuff like this that you're able to do um and workshops ah and so on.
00:27:14
David
Yeah, my the the web the webinars are really enjoyable, and as you know, I've got one tonight with a team down down south.
00:27:15
sessionshare
So I'll let you put that in.
00:27:20
David
um Because I learned so much, you know, a big part of the concept is empowering the coaches, ah you know, going to break a breakout room and design a scoreboard. You know, what what what scoreboards can you think of of a U10 high-performing, you know, well, maybe not U10, U15 high-performing men's team or, you know, a U8 team that are just wanting to develop love for the game.
00:27:40
David
and then these coaches come up with these great ideas that I can then go and use at my same session you know what what can we think of as scoreboard so yeah exactly I would appreciate that because the other learning comes comes back in the room and then we we cross share different scoreboard ideas through a WhatsApp page and the the website and all that different stuff so yeah anything you can do to network with your coaches and clubs be brilliant
00:27:48
sessionshare
wim when right
00:28:04
sessionshare
love that We'll be back after a short message.
00:28:22
sessionshare
Welcome back, and we're talking David here. We just had a fantastic conversation about his concepts. And I'm really intrigued, David, to see um what sort of advice have you been given in your career that could potentially help our listeners.
00:28:40
David
ah Yeah, that's ah that's a great question. and There are two key moments in my coaching career that have influenced so much of what I've done. um And the first one involves a little bit of a name drop, ah but I'm sure he won't mind. So when I first started coaching, you don't know what you don't know, right? So my coaching was probably quite similar to the experience I had. um A lot of instruction, a lot of like, I'm the coach and you need to listen and football training is serious and hard work and things like that.
00:29:10
David
So I was going through my journey, my coaching badges, my studying at college and and laterally university, and I had to get a part-time job right to, um you know, fund my my studies. And that coincided with Kevin Keegan opened up a training academy in Scotland called Soccer Circus. And so much of what I do is is came from from Kevin, he actually wrote the foreword for my scoreboard soccer book.
00:29:36
David
um And I remember going in for the interview thinking like this is something he's probably just put his name on and you know You'll never be here and then I sit down for my job interview and he walks and sits at the other side of the table So that was a pretty surreal cool moment. But anyway, Kevin had this idea and when he retired He was going out in a place called Soka Circus, which he describes across between football training and Disneyland So some of your listeners might have seen it before unfortunately, it's not around anymore But the kids would come in They would get a kind of card to turn on all these games and they would go around a circuit and one of them was on dribbling, lights on the floor, one of them was on passing, there was lights on the wall they had to pass. How many can you knock out in 45 seconds? One of them was on shooting, which was like this kind of big bowling alley where the balls just kept coming out and you just kept smashing them, trying to k knock the pins over. Like so, so much fun.
Creating a Fun Coaching Environment
00:30:28
David
Um, and yeah, that's when I kind of started to realize, yeah, football training can be really good fun.
00:30:33
David
and they lean into things a lot more ah when when it's fun. um And we had the kind of skills area where we used to do birthday parties and summer camps, you know, did a bit of coaching. And I was really lucky to see how Kevin coached kids, you know, and it was eye-opening. It was just so much fun. that They were learning and developing the skills without even realizing it because it was so enjoyable. So that's when I've probably first started to think around, and this is me getting to the advice, but how powerful the environment can be If the environment's right and you put kids in it, you know, they're going to grow. um Yeah, because, you know, they would they'd go around, they'd get their scores and then they'd play the games again, they'd be motivated to beat their scores. It was excellent. um So yeah, that's when i the penny really dropped around, like fun engagement, you know, being a bit silly and a bit fun with with children. And then the second piece of advice I got
00:31:28
David
and really really helped me and it probably affirms the first bit of advice. so as i say So Kevin Keegan opened up his second soccer circus in Dubai and he took me over with him to train up the coaches and and open up the the store there so I did a bit coaching there.
00:31:46
David
I then coached in America for a number of years. I then, and you'll be wondering where I'm going with this, I then met my wife who lived in Edinburgh in Scotland. So I'm not from Edinburgh, I'm from kind of West Coast. So anyway, essentially I had to move back to Scotland um and I went from coaching every day in America to volunteer coaching again and I had to get a job. And my nine to five job this time was in behaviour change and it was in mindset and it was around How do we create environments that people can start to help themselves?
00:32:21
David
And I started to take that nine to five, like all the education I was getting and the day to day learning of how powerful environments are into my volunteer coaching at night. And I think my coaching just went through the roof.
00:32:34
David
You know, I learned so much within that that day job. A big part of that was how detrimental instruction can be at times.
00:32:40
sessionshare
Thank you.
00:32:43
David
Whether it's good instruction or bad instruction, you know, givenvin telling people what to do just doesn't quite get that response, that creating an environment and guiding them towards kind of self-realization does. um And I won't go too deep into it, but it was hugely beneficial.
00:33:00
David
um And that was consultations for people that, you know, they wanted to stop smoking, or they want to eat better, or they wanted to stop drinking. and And it was like, if you just tell them what to do, you're going to get loads of justification for why they do it anyway, you know, justifying non-behaviors. But I learned little hints and tips and did different courses around the environment you can create for people to um to to help themselves in some of the guided discovery that you can do. So yeah, they'd they'd be the two key moments for me. And if I was to summarise, the first bullet point is making it really, really fun. And the second one is is creating the right environment.
00:33:39
sessionshare
I love that. Great advice. Really do. And on a lighter note, just to finish the podcast, David is, uh, can you to tell us what your favorite moment is in sports?
Favorite Sports Moments
00:33:49
sessionshare
It could be as a player, a fan, a coach.
00:33:53
David
Well, my favourite moment in sports. Yeah, i'm really I'm really not sure. There's a couple that come to mind. I was at Hamden when Lee Griffith scored those two free kicks, kind of back to back against England. And when the second free kick went in, I've never experienced anything as a fan like it. ah But that's probably not going to be at number one because Harry Kane then scored really late in the game and and and made that draw.
00:34:18
sessionshare
I enjoyed that one.
00:34:18
David
um James McFadden's goal against France in 2007 comes to mind. Okay, my favourite moment and and in football, nothing's ever quit with me Craig, sorry, so there's always a story. But I i am a huge Leo Messi fan. Within my lifetime, I've just never seen a player as good. um I think he's unbelievable. And not just the way he plays, but the way he handles himself off the field as well. I think he's a role model to anyone involved in the game.
00:34:49
David
um So I had that kind of bucket list to see him play live. um So I traveled to Barcelona and ah the team line came out and he was on the bench because they were playing a lesser team in the division, Legan is, and and ah I was pretty heartbroken. you know I still like Barcelona, I've seen some great players.
00:35:11
David
ah But I'm in the stand thinking, if Barca are two or three now up here, there's no way he's going to come on the rest of them for the Champions League midweek or Real Madrid at the weekend, whatever it is. But then they were struggling. They you know they were really, really struggling. ah And then yeah watching him live was unbelievable because he just came out and started doing a couple of runs up and down. Nobody was watching the game. The whole camp knew went went crazy when he came out to warm up.
00:35:35
David
And then he jumped on the pitch, scored a brilliant goal, assisted another one, and they they they won 3-1. And it was it was pretty special, almost almost better that you had that down and then that up. um Yeah, that was that was a pretty special moment, seeing someone that good live, you know, that was a bucket list moment.
00:35:55
sessionshare
That's fantastic. And as a Villa fan, I'm famous with the saying that the the downs make the highs higher. So yeah, so I totally agree with that.
00:36:02
David
Yeah.
00:36:03
sessionshare
So that's awesome.
00:36:04
David
there's a There's a great book called The Power of Moments, I think it's from Dan Heath probably, and it's it's not really anything to do with coaching, but you can take a lot of coaching from it because it's like yeah the power of moments and actually to build these really memorable, enjoyable, lasting experiences.
Conclusion and Further Information
00:36:21
David
Sometimes you need to intentionally put in maybe a down and then build people up. It's really, really It's really really interesting and actually when you ask people just I've just gave an example of this When you ask people what their best experience was a lot of the time it starts with a negative, you know ah ah they They got my order wrong at the restaurant, and but then they they took all the money off the drinks for us You know our other hotel was full, but then they put me in the honeymoon suite, you know It's exactly as you said there Craig, you know, the the downs can make the high else and check out that book power of moments. It's fantastic
00:36:57
sessionshare
That's awesome. Excellent. Well, thank you so much David for this conversation. It has been an absolute pleasure. As I mentioned earlier, we will put the information in the podcast description and I'll be sharing much on our Twitter page as well about David's book.
00:37:13
sessionshare
courses he runs through United Soccer Coaches, the webinars, um the workshops and so on. So again, thank you very much, David, we'd really appreciate it. This was an episode of Session Share, the Coaches Podcast. Thank you very much for joining us. Please be sure to join us on our socials and read the podcast description for all the David's information. This has been Session Share, the Coaches Podcast. Thank you for listening and thank you for coaching the beautiful game.
00:37:46
sessionshare
That's good.