Long Term Player Development
4 Corner Model
Technical – Physical – Psychological - Social
Historically, soccer has developed its players, concentrating on Technical and
tactical aspects of the game.
Basic physical literacy skills have always been encouraged in soccer and they
make up the Physical corner.
The FA believe that if we want to develop the whole player, the coach needs
to encourage development in the Social corner and Psychological corner.
The LTPD 4 corner Model applies to all players, regardless of age or ability.
The focus for this article is predominately for Primary School age children.
Long Term Player Development
Technical:
Use your coaching activity to challenge and develop your players technically.
Encourage them to try new skills in the activities.
Think about how you can make the activities harder or easier, to meet the
needs of the player and set appropriate practices.
Encourage your players to reflect on the activities and come up with ideas for
the sessions.
Remember, cut down on the ‘stop, stand still, and encourage and set
challenges and let the game be the teacher.
Long Term Player Development
Physical:
All the coaching activities will include physical outcomes.
Make use of the movement exercises in your coaching; remember, to be a player,
there are basic physical movement skills we need to have developed.
As a coach, you have a role to play, by encouraging this development in your
coaching sessions.
Remember, we will find a whole differential in the role of growth, physical
development and movement with children, particularly in the grass-roots
programme.
Long Term Player Development
Psychological:
Through soccer, we develop many skills, For example:
Communication, Teamwork, Dealing with conflict and Learning from mistakes.
We should ensure that the game and training should be fun and fill the players with
enthusiasm.
The players should be able to practice in a safe environment that promotes learning, at
the right level for the player.
Coaches should try make information easy to understand and not treat the players as
mini adults.
Long Term Player Development
Psychological: (continued)
Try to keep the players focused by frequently changing the practice, this will also stop
the boredom creeping in.
Try to get the players to use their imagination, what would it feel like to score the
winning goal in a cup final and what type of goal was it, can they replicate it.
Players will learn in different ways and it is therefore important to present
information in a variety of ways.
Always be supportive and give praise and your players will grow in confidence.
When players make mistakes, can we help them learn from them, give the players the
technical information to help them.
Long Term Player Development
Social:
The social environment is the foundation of grass-roots programmes, look at
the following questions
What sort of role model are you ?
Do you behave the same way at 2-0 up as you do at 2-0 down ?
Are you consistent ?
How do you react ?
Are your sessions welcoming ?
How do you treat your players ?
What sort of environment do you create at training or during games ?
Do you use mistakes as a tool for learning ?
How do you develop relationships through football and how do your players
learn this ?
Do you show respect to others ?
Do others respect you ?