At Brooklands Dragons we pride ourselves on our coaching philosophy. We have a unique approach to coaching more in tune with the continental approach of ball control, technique, space awareness, self-learning and fun.
Brooklands Dragons are a F.A. Charter Standard Football Club based in Sale, Manchester. The Club have boys, girls and mixed teams playing in the Timperley & District League, the Manchester League and the Salford Leagues.
We have over 25 teams, ranging from reception year children through to adult teams.
Our Coaches
The club as part of the affiliation commits to as part of the guidelines, to ensure that any manager/coach will be trained to a minimum of F.A. Level 1. The level 1 certification not only improves training techniques but also ensures that all coaches have basic first aid training, child welfare and protection training.
All coaches are also CRC checked (Criminal Records Check).
Brooklands Dragons pay all costs for Managers to obtain their Level 1 which also includes the Safeguarding Children and First Aid in sport qualifications along with a full CRC check.
We are very proud that we have maintained this process as we have now been a Charter Standard Club for 6 years and we continually pass our annual Health Check to keep this accredited kite mark from The F.A.
All of the committee, managers and coaches do their roles completely voluntarily and work extremely hard every season to give boys and girls a safe and fun environment to enjoy grassroots football.
Technique
Everything we do at Brooklands Dragons is on the floor. If you ask any Brooklands Dragons player where football is played, they will all answer ‘on the floor’. We start at the keeper and work our way up the pitch from the back, on the floor.
Our players are taught from the earliest age how to correctly shoot, pass and control a ball. Starting at a very basic level, we assume no-one knows the correct technique and show them regardless of ability. This provides the fundamental building block to progress in the game.
All forms of passing are encouraged with any side of the foot – making the right pass at the right time is how we help the players.
Our players aren’t limited to one or two touches – if they need three, they take three if they need four… …what we encourage is to keep the ball moving, to play at a tempo and to keep the ball with the team.
Games are small sided which gives the players more time and space on the ball. This is central to BDJFC philosophy. Small sided games allow players time to: be involved in the game throughout; make their own decisions; have time and space to control and pass/shoot the ball.
This approach to football is much different from the traditional English way of Village v Village, where the ball gets hoofed into the air and the bigger, stronger players dictate games. At Brooklands Dragons, technique is king.
Ball Control
We concentrate heavily on ball manipulation and close control. We try to give the children as much time with the ball at their feet as possible – both in training and in small sided games.
Every training session starts with Ball Manipulation, where all parts of the foot are used to control and move the ball. The knee/thigh is used for close control. Skills are developed to get the ball on the floor, to keep it close and to keep it moving. Everything we do with the right foot, we do with the left – helping balance as well as improving both sides of the player.
Space Awareness
In training and in games, Space Awareness is crucial to the way Brooklands Dragons coaching.
In training, players are coached in sessions encouraging movement into space to receive the ball and passing to a player who is in space. Time and space on the ball give a player that extra time to make the right decision and execute correctly. Ball Control and Technique now benefit the players further.
Movement off-the-ball is shown to be as important (if not more) than movement on-the-ball.
In games, the players are shown how to create space when in possession of the ball, and how to close space when not. They are shown how to create space for other players on their team, not just for themselves – and reduce space for the opposition.
When older, this leads to increased movement of players’ positions around the pitch so players are not discouraged from changing positions. This is in line with a continental approach of fluidity on the pitch as opposed to having fixed positions they ‘must’ cover, which we feel pigeon holes and restricts a players’ game.
Self learning
We promote best examples of ball control, technique and space awareness – we don’t tell the children how to play their game. All of our coaches encourage and praise the players, but importantly never tell them what to do on the pitch. This approach is central to our philosophy. We ask our players “What else could you have done?”, “Show me something different”, “Is there a better pass you could have made?”. We never tell the children to make a pass or to shoot. Equally, we discourage parents from ‘coaching’ from the side so the players aren’t hearing two sides.
Through self-learning, the players learn their game. They can express themselves on the pitch and learn from their own mistakes, rather than having someone telling them what to do every time. This also promotes confidence in children – as opposed to the dented confidence from being shouted at.
Coaching
All of our coaches are qualified – qualifications ranging from FA Level 1 up to UEFA B.
We maintain a manageable number of children within each age group, allowing them to benefit from a high level of coaching attention, by keeping the ratio of children to coaches as low as possible.
Streaming
At Brooklands Dragons, we stream the players from an early age. It is important to recognize that this decision was not based on producing a ‘best’ team and an ‘other’ team. We have thoughtfully taken this approach as we strongly feel that players will develop more when competing for/training with players of like ability. A more developed player will not learn from
playing with lesser developed players – and vice versa. By streaming, every player will grow together and not be ‘out of their depth’ or ‘held back’. They will be challenged at their level and encouraged to progress.
Fun
We try to have fun in everything we do. We’re a family club – not an Academy or “win at all” costs club. For the coaches, results are not important in the early years – but the development of the player and child is. By having fun at every training session, we hope that the player feels most relaxed and happy to play and are free to express themselves on the pitch.
There is more fun for the reception children with favorite warm-up games such as Cowboys and Indians. As the players move through the age groups, the training does become more serious – we are serious about our football – but the fun element is maintained.
