People who believe coaches know it all and never stop learning are so far from the truth! Coach Chris attends as many course and events as possible, and part of that is reading anything and everything he can on football related subjects.

On a recent psychology CPD event in York, he was advised to read ‘Coaching Psychological Skills in Youth Football’.  The five C’s are control, confidence, commitment, communication and concentration and the book sets out ways in which, you as a coach, can help to develop all these in the sessions you put on.  Coach Chris has not finished it yet, but so far he thinks it is brilliantly written and has some fantastic ideas – just a pity the season has finished, so he can’t put them into practice!

Th other book is ‘Training, Techniques and Tactics of Futsal’ written  by Pete Sturgess.  People who know futsal, know that Pete Sturgess has been one of the main driving forces in promoting and pushing the FA down the futsal route, especially for foundation years players.  The book is brilliantly presented, with simple and very effective session plans.  What we like is each session has a section on adaptions and progression – where to go next if it is working well or not working.  This really helps the coach think about what to do next.  We can’t wait to see some of these session at Manor Futsal club.

Pro Coaching Academy would highly recommend both books to any aspiring football/futsal coach, especially those who want to pursue coaching as a career or who are serious about developing themselves.