A Real England Manager

 An Article written by John Cartwright of founder of Premier Skills UK, former England Youth and Arsenal First Team Coach, and ex-professional footballer.

The Job of Manager to the England football team has been a ‘Poison Chalice’ to almost all of those who have taken on the role. Perhaps the problem stems from the title, England Manager, for isn’t it a Coach we should be seeking?  The job requires so much more than a personality, presently having a successful period in Management at club level. The role should include the control of English Football from junior to senior level with the appointee providing a self-designated playing method along with a re-design of the coaching and development infrastructure here.

Yes, a big job and an important appointment for the future of our game. The time for over-departmentalizing of football playing and football learning must end. How one plays should reflect in the way one practices. The route towards the England Coach’s playing vision must be clearly set out and determinedly followed. Like the Dutch and the Spanish as well as so many of our foreign opponents, we must embrace the need for planned, long-term progression and dispense with the ‘off the cuff’/ blind alleys’, approach we have tinkered with over the years.

From day one, our young players, 5/6 years old, must enter a development system that transports them carefully and intelligently through the ‘golden years of skill learning’ and, on exiting it, be prepared to play the game with effective style and understanding at senior levels. Our pretence that mediocrity is great must end and be replaced with an honest appreciation of class and skill. The route set from bottom to top of the game for our players must be the responsibility of the next England Coach. This appointment will show the true qualities or obvious weakness of those making the decision to select the right person for the job. I have serious doubts that the person who is finally to take over from Capello, will be selected to look at the bigger picture, his role will be dominated by the forthcoming  European Championship and followed by qualification for the 2014 World Cup: this will be a massive mistake!

I believe the sad loss of talent, time and money will continue unabated. As in the past, short-term success, if achieved, will propel the incumbent forward from game to game and long-term development will be left in the hands of those who have shown no ability in the past to improve the standards needed for the game here. Should the ‘hired gun’ begin to lose, the ‘built on sand edifice’ that represents our international football will collapse and then another ‘saviour’ will be appointed with the short-term objective of re-building the ‘crumbling castle’.

Our ‘amateurish’ approach and lack of foresight to produce a long-term plan for the game here is a national disgrace. Those at the head of football throughout the past 60 years have a lot to answer for; after all those years we have needed foreign coaches for our senior national teams and a large importation of foreign players to support our domestic game. Now, with everyone demanding an English appointment, it seems we only have one acceptable candidate for the job. Unfortunately, the appointment will be made to appease the Press and Public and it will make little significance to the future quality of our game.

Worst Penalty Ever!

Looe 4 v 1 Bodmin - February 26th

Good game of youth football today at Looe, where the home side came out on top after an excellent second half performance when they scored all of there 4 goals. We opened the scoring in the first half from a shot into the corner of the net from Owen, but were then indebted to Ciaran in goal who pulled off some excellent saves in the first half, especially a double save from a Looe forward early on. The first half we created and succeeded to miss a few chances, but then as seems to be the familiar pattern at the moment we conceded goals in the final 10-15 minutes of the second half to leave us well beaten.
 We have training tomorrow as normal and then no games next weekend.

Bodmin Youth AGM - 25th May 2012

Bodmin v Wadebridge - Sunday 19th Feb

The friendly match against Wadebridge was originally planned to consist of two matches enabling all player involved and available with both clubs age groups to play a full match, unfortunately due to late unavailability and more commonly illness, this ended up being one eight a side game with rolling subs over four quarters and involving approx 25 players. The game was played out in the spirit that youth football should be played in, with Bodmin running out winners by 8 ( possibly 9 ) goals to 2. Although i think both sets of managers and the large contingent of parents present would all be in agreement that regardless of the score today, all the boys had a good run-out and ultimately an enjoyable couple of hours of football as it should be.

Should Junior Competitive Football be banned?

An Interesting article from Chris Hodgson a coach with over 15 years experience, something for all adults to consider.

My Mum says “Stop being so MESSY” but my Dad EXPECTS me to be MESSI!!!!
A new season has started within Junior Football and it is still evident that there are still many problems within our beloved sport:
1.​Some Coach’s still dictating to kids, urging them on for results
2.​Parents shouting and berating towards the child’s team, urging them for results
3.​Fellow Coach’s phoning each other to mock after a poor result!
4.​Children walking off the pitch……UNHAPPY!!
Is this what Junior Football is all about? If it is then it’s time for change.
TAKE AWAY THE COMPETITIVENESS
Junior Leagues were created to mimic the Adult Form and in my opinion for the interest purely for Adults not children, yes kids love the league but it’s the Adults that dominate them. Kids are becoming more pressurised to perform consistently and as a result the dropout rate from Junior Football is alarming. The fun has obviously gone for them through over-competing and when they eventually do return to playing football, more just end up playing for sub standard teams with sub standard coaching.
Should Junior Leagues be banned? WHY? You must be mental!!! You’re all thinking, but here are some suggestions:
1. Ban competition and introduce learning which is age related, a Player Development Process within Junior Clubs/Soccer Schools etc
2. Kids to be coached at Junior Club/Soccer School through the week/weekend culminating with in house games i.e. 4v4, 7v7
3. Parents also to be educated, to help them understand the requirements to help children develop within the sport.
4. Create Summer Tournaments where all Junior Clubs/Soccer Schools can enter and all the kids can play and show off all their dedicated hard work in a non competitive way
What’s your thoughts so far?………………….
Kids would more than likely stay at one club where the lure of a more successful team would be erased to win things, unless the standard of coaching is poor. How many kids have you lost because of a dad who is success hungry takes his child away to a team that’s winning Trophies? So his child will get noticed hopefully by Pro Academy Scouts so he can boast that his child has made it! All your valuable coaching practice wasted or more probably benefiting another team. How much effort is lost because of this?
Coaches should be educated to coach age related specifics i.e. U6 would be Ball Mastery and different topics through different ages. So if a coach has an U8 team he should be aware of what that age group should be taught for the coming year.
With no Leagues, Junior Clubs would get kids who want to learn to play football and not pushed into it by pushy parents and at the end of the day we want to coach kids who want to be successful in football and hopefully help them achieve this success.
Take Karate for instance my Daughter attends twice a week yet I’ve never seen her train, she’s been going for two years, she is now ready to compete in a competition in which I can watch. She is 8 years old, how many kids who play football have been allowed to train without a parent insight for 2 years??
Kids would play for their respective schools/districts, again no League format (there wasn’t in my day) in school time only, NO PARENTS. Scouts could come and watch like in the old days where if you represented your School/District team it was an achievement unlike today.
How many of these so called Coaches would then drop out of Junior Football? With no competition they would fall by the wayside leaving dedicated Coaches who want to develop and teach Children Football?
It would also give coaches time to become more educated, learning alongside more experienced coaches, instead of a dad passing his FA Level 1, being given 10 kids and let loose with them to teach them what? Nothing but bad habits, or what Hansen and Lineker has told him from Match of the Day! Coach Education is paramount and shouldn’t be looked down upon.
Yes this might take years to implement but surely we must do something to stop this rot!
Introduce competitive Leagues when kids reach the age of 17. What you will have then are kids that have stayed the course, learnt the game, the technique and everything else associated within the sport ready to be unleashed into the Football World with NO FEAR!! Could you imagine the standard of football that will be played, so imagine instead of an U8 League actually being an U17 League, an U9 being an U18 league and so on.
Alot of 17/18 year olds who have played at a high level suddenly have no team to play for as there is no popularity for it and for some of these footballers end up signing for Pub Teams, if the League format starts at U17 and onwards surely its win win. Junior Clubs/Soccer Schools still collecting Subscriptions for coaching the kids over the years and now still receiving Subscriptions for young footballers wanting to play in Leagues from the age of 17 and possibly playing for a number of years. Surely that makes more sense.
What I’m saying is just REVERSE the League Format, Develop first then when they are ready you let them compete instead of having poor little Jimmy crying because his dad shouted at him, calling him an embarrassment for the way he played. When actually Jimmy doesn’t like playing football! But his dad makes him play….Pride can be such an awful thing.
Yes kids will drop out during time, but what you will have at the end of all this are young footballers who WANT football, all of whom have worked hard for THEMSELVES to learn and play football, which is what we need. These kids would become dedicated, hungry footballers who have been taught the aspects and have developed and honed their skills. We English have gone about this the wrong way, making kids compete at such an early age with no education to help them, because let’s face it, Adults are today unwilling to let kids learn for themselves, no mistakes allowed, every performance must be perfect because if not the kid will get lectured on the way home if they haven’t already been subbed for costing the team a goal and this is all just to feed an Adult obsession to compete within football using kids as their prey.
I will leave you with this thought,
Have you ever tried to look at football through a Childs mind?
A CHILD WAKES UP AND SEES A POSTER ON HIS WALL OF HIS IDOL MESSI AND DREAMS ONE DAY OF HOPEFULLY BEING LIKE HIM,
IN THE OTHER ROOM IS HIS/HER DAD WAKING UP EXPECTING HIS CHILD TO PERFORM LIKE MESSI EVERY SATURDAY!
A sad fact but very very true!.

Skills from Ronaldo....

Sunday 19th February v Wadebridge

This Sunday we have 2 games v Wadebridge, the first one kicking off at 10.30am, followed by an 11.30am kick off for the second, this will enable all available boys to get a full game this week. Both games will be at home at our Coldharbour ground.

Bodmin 2 V 5 Padstow

Fully deserved victory for Padstow today who battled back from 2-0 down to run out convincing winners.
Bodmin started well playing down the slope and after several near misses scored when a shot from Roland went through the keepers legs, although this was probably the impressive keepers only mistake of the game. Shortly after we went 2-0 up when from a corner Thomas hit the ball into the top corner of the Padstow goal for his first ever league goal. Padstow came back and scored two goals just before half time to level things up.
The second half, apart from a couple of breakaways from Siam and a shot which hit the bar, Bodmin were mainly outplayed by a more determined Padstow side who scored a further 3 goals without reply and but for good defending from Roland, Thomas and keeper Ciaran the score would have been even more.
A disappointing result as the boys know that they can play better but as long as they learn from the manner of the defeat and realise that just because you take a 2-0 lead the game is not over as Padstow proved, you still need to maintain the concentration and effort for the remainder of the game.
But it is only a game and they are only 8/9 years old, and so far the skill, attitude and commitment of all players has been second to none...... Training as normal tomorrow.

A Poem/Message written by football coach Chris Hodgson, something that all of us adults would do well to take notice of.

Not Adults Yet

They stand on a field,

Their hearts beating fast

The whistle has blown,

The die has been cast

Mum and Dad can't help,

They stand all alone,

A goal at this moment

Would send the team home.

The ball nears their feet

They kick and it misses;

There's a moan from the crowd,

Some boos and some hisses.

A thoughtless voice cries out

'Take off the bum'

Tears fill in their eyes,

It's no longer fun.

If you're ever tempted

To shout or to moan

Remember, it's a CHILD

Who stands out there alone?

So open your heart

And give them a break,

It's moments like this

A player you make.

Keep this in mind

When others forget

They're only YOUNG CHILDREN.

East Cornwall Under 9 Fixtures- Sunday 12th Feb

Looe Town	v	Tregorrick
Newquay Cheetahs	v	Wadebridge Town
Bodmin Youth	v	Padstow United Youth
Liskeard	v	Charlestown Tigers

New Signing ?

Our new signing ? not sure if he would get in the team!

Respect

Hopefully not something to be seen at our matches!

Bodmin v Newquay - Sunday 5th February

Todays friendly at home to Newquay was a chance for the boys who are not normally involved at the moment in league matches. Due to unavailability Newquay had 7 players so to keep everyone playing we loaned 2 to them, swopping the 2 loanees regularly, it was obvious from the start that we would be up against it, against a Newquay side containing most of the team that we played and drew with last week.
Playing 3 x 20min periods goals were a regular feature of the game unfortunately all for Newquay!
The final score ending - Bodmin 0 Newquay 8 , although the games was enjoyed by both sets of players and especially the Bodmin lads who have not had a chance to play regularly.

4 v 4

 At the start of our training sessions each Monday we now play 3v3, 4v4, the reasons behind this are detailed below it was also something that i picked up from watching the Coaching at the Dragon Centre, that was and still is attended by some of our players on a Saturday. This was when the coaching was taken by Dave Cann and Lee Hodge who is now coaching in Ireland for TWSports and after a spell coaching in America and at the Plymouth Argyle Centre of Excellence, he has given me permission to use his articles and videos on this blog for anyone who is interested.

This is one of the many articles that can be found detailing the benefits of 4v4 mini soccer games.

Why Play It ?

Small pictures are clearer for children; space and options are more compatible with their abilities. 4v4 is the smallest sided game you can have that has all the elements of a real soccer match without any of the confusions that surround learning to play soccer (football).

In a real soccer match children have the option of passing the ball forwards, square or backwards. Three children cannot do this because one of the directions will be missing. With five children the extra one duplicates one of the elements. He becomes “also wide, also deep or also back.” This “also” position clutters the picture.

4v4 also provides the minimum numbers needed for all of the parts that make up a soccer game. One player is up top for penetration. Two are needed for width and one holds back to supply depth. In 4v4 the responsibilities are very clear. All tasks are covered and none are shared, which keeps things simple during soccer drills and match situations.

What do the players learn?

You are improving young players’ technique and skills by giving them a far greater number of ball contacts. The emphasis on control, passing and shooting skills gives the fundamental building blocks of (soccer) football. And it's fun for all the players, they are all involved, they attack and defend. The number of passes is increased and therefore the one-touch control, one-touch pass, sequence is used all the time.

It also gives a good indicator of players’ fitness because they are constantly running and playing the game. It is soccer-learning at its best, fun, creating match situations, fun soccer (football) drills and, therefore, a learning environment.

When I first started out as a soccer coach, as a team we grew sick to death of the best teams having big boys at the back who could kick hard and a fast player up front who could score goals. Wham bang thanks for the three points.

That was when I turned to the 4v4 system. AC Milan, Ajax and Barcelona were using it, so why not me? Now all my teams use soccer drills that focus on this. They not only enjoy themselves but by the age of 13 they have become successful on a team and individual basis. And boy have we produced some good players!

Evidence it works

You don’t have to look far to find the countries that use small-sided games. It’s a list of world champions: Brazil, Holland, France, Spain, Germany, Italy all play small sided games at young ages. You can see it in your players who visibly grow up during these games and you can feel the sense of achievement for yourself when players respond to the freedom.

Cut it out

Never mind the points system, the winning comes later. If you teach kick and rush football at the expense of technical development you’re not doing anyone any favours. You may win more matches with the younger age groups but you’re taking all the fun out of it. And you will find you’re pushing the stronger, faster players at the expense of some of the more gifted.

article reproduced from bettersoccercoaching.com

Bodmin v Newquay - Sunday 29th January

On a cold Sunday morning we welcomed a strong Newquay side to Coldharbour. We began the game really well and on a couple of occasions were unlucky not to score through shots from Siam and Fin. Then halfway through the first half Newquay took the lead when a shot that was heading wide of the post deflected off Thomas into the opposite corner leaving Ciaran in goal with no chance of saving the deflected shot. We kept going despite the setback and got our reward when right on half time the ball was put into the net following a corner by Jack, for his first ever goal.
The second half began with both teams creating and missing chances until Siam broke away and scored with a shot from the edge of the Newquay area. For the remainder of the game there continued to be chances to score for either side but no further goals were scored. Then with virtually the last kick of the game after the Bodmin defence had failed to clear, the ball rebounded off the crossbar for a Newquay forward to tap into an empty net. FINAL SCORE 2-2.
The game was a credit to both teams who tried to pass the ball and played the game in the correct manner considering the difficult conditions, it was probably one of our best performances of the season in footballing terms.
This Sunday we play Newquay again at Home in a friendly, which will give a chance to the boys that train every Monday night almost without fail but at the moment have not played much or at all in the league team.