79: Grow Coach Newsletter
Football Coaches: Develop your Coaching Craft.
Welcome from JustCoachMD. We are happy to have you on board and look forward to providing you with helpful content.
Here is What to Expect:
Coaching Craft: Coaching players to think for themselves.
Full 60-Minute Practice: Decision making of when to stay on the ball and when to share it.
Players must feel ownership. You cannot shout confidence into someone. – Xabi Alonso
🧠Building Player Autonomy: Coaching Players to Think for Themselves
⚠️ Introduction: Letting Go to Let Players Grow
Have you ever stood on the sidelines, shouting constant instructions, only to watch your players freeze or panic under pressure? 🗣️
It’s a common trap. In our desire to help, we can inadvertently deprive players of the opportunity to learn.
The real goal of coaching isn’t control—it’s developing independent thinkers who make smart decisions under pressure. That means stepping back so players can step up.
This issue is at the heart of modern coaching:
How can we guide players to own their learning, read the game, and make confident decisions—without being told every step?
This newsletter gives you the framework, tools, and questions to start building player autonomy from today’s session onward. Let’s dive in. ⚽🔥
🧭 The Autonomy Framework: 3 Pillars of Player Ownership
🧠 Awareness – Players must see, hear, and feel the game for themselves.
🔄 Responsibility – Players take ownership of choices, not just outcomes.
🎯 Decision-Making – Players are trusted to solve problems in real time.
When these are built into your environment, players grow beyond technique—they become game-smart, self-driven, and mentally strong.
🪜 5 Steps to Build Autonomy in Your Players
1️⃣ Create Problem-Solvers, Not Robots
Framework: Train players to solve, not copy.
Principle: Don’t give answers—guide questions.
🧠 Players learn faster when they engage in solving real problems, not just repeating patterns.
Coach Actions:
Use guided discovery and open-ended questions
Set up tactical scenarios with more than one solution
Avoid over-coaching in the moment—let mistakes happen 🛑
Ask Players:
“What did you see?”
“What were your options?”
“What could you try next time?”
What you do without the ball defines you more than what you do with it. – Marcelo Bielsa
2️⃣ Design Decision-Rich Practices
Framework: Build training around choices, not just technique
Principle: Repetition without decision is repetition without learning.
🔁 More decisions = more learning opportunities.
Coach Actions:
Use small-sided games with constraints (e.g. one-touch in the final third)
Include transition moments where players must reset quickly
Rotate roles so all players lead and adapt
Ask Players:
“Why did you choose that pass?”
“What was the risk vs reward?”
“What did you learn from that moment?”
3️⃣ Use Constraints to Unlock Creativity
Framework: Don’t micromanage—manipulate the environment
Principle: Smart constraints force smart decisions.
🎮 Tweak the game, not the player.
Coach Actions:
Adjust pitch size, overloads, or time limits
Design games where the solution is embedded in the setup
Let players adapt and invent solutions
Ask Players:
“What changed when the space got smaller?”
“How did that shape affect your choices?”
“What worked well—and why?”
4️⃣ Encourage Reflection & Feedback Loops
Framework: Build time to think
Principle: Reflection is where learning sticks.
🪞 A player who reflects improves faster than a player who repeats.
Coach Actions:
Pause practice to ask “What’s working?”
Let players coach each other or give team talks
Use voice notes or player journals 📓
Ask Players:
“What’s one thing you did better today?”
“How are you working on mastery?”
“Why might you do it differently tomorrow?”
5️⃣ Share Ownership of Learning
Framework: Empower players to co-own the process
Principle: Ownership builds commitment.
🤝 When players feel heard, they invest more.
Coach Actions:
Let players help design parts of practice
Assign leadership roles: warm-up leaders, peer mentors
Involve players in goal setting and review
Ask Players:
“What do you want to improve this week?”
“How would you like us to practice this?”
“What did we learn as a team today?”
✅ Coach’s Autonomy Checklist
Before every session, ask yourself:
🔲 Am I building awareness, not just technique?
🔲 Will players need to make real decisions today?
🔲 Have I used constraints instead of commands?
🔲 Is there time and space for reflection?
🔲 Are players actively involved in their learning journey?
🏁Final Thoughts
🏁 Step Back to Build Up
Autonomy doesn’t mean walking away. It means shifting your role—from commander to guide, from fixer to facilitator.
The best coaches don’t control players—they create environments where players can thrive without them.
🎯 Your challenge this week: Say less, watch more and ask better questions. The more ownership your players have, the more they’ll grow on and off the pitch ⚽🧠.
I never teach my players. I only provide the conditions in which they can learn. – Pep Guardiola
The Practices: Connect, Combine, Score
1v2 | Escape the Pressure
⚽️ Created On: @SSP
Aim:
Develop your dribbling skills and learn to escape high-pressure spaces.
Set-Up:
18 by 18 space, a pair of mini goals placed diagonally opposite each other, a pair of escape gates (orange shaded zones) on the left and right sides of the pitch.
👕Teams: 🔴’s vs ⚫️’s
How to Play:
A pair of defenders 🔴’s start between the gates and the mini goal on each side of the pitch.
The attacker ⚫️ begins at the bottom of the pitch, while the coach (C) starts at the top of the pitch with a supply of footballs.
The coach (C) serves the ball to the attacker ⚫️, who must score in one of the mini goals.
The defenders 🔴’s must regain the ball and dribble through a gate to end the 1v2 duel.
🚧 Constraints:
🏆 Reward: A second ball for the attacker if they score with ball one.
👨🏫 Review: The receiving skills of the attacker to take their touch into space. The attackers’ use of disguise, changes of direction and changes of speed.
🚫 Restriction: The attacker has to stay on the ball for 5 seconds before trying to score.
3v2 | Combining to Score
⚽️ Created On: @SSP
Aim:
Use two and three-player connections to create scoring opportunities.
Set-Up:
30 by 20 playing space with a pair of mini goals at each end of the pitch. Add in a 5-yard scoring zone in front of one pair of goals (Orange line).
👕Teams: 🔴’s vs ⚫️’s play 2v2 centrally in each zone, 🟡 acts as a support player behind the orange line (limited to 2 touches).
How to Play:
⚫️ Start the practice; there are two ways to score.
1: ⚫️ passes into 🟡, who sets the ball to ⚫️ to finish into one of the mini goals on either side of the 🟡.
2: ⚫️ dribble beyond the orange line into the scoring zone and score into any mini goal.
If the 🔴 wins the ball, they can score into the wide goals from anywhere on the pitch.
🚧 Constraints:
🏆Reward: Double goals for 3 one-touch connections that lead to a goal.
👨🏫 Review: Decision to pass forward and support the ball.
🚫 Restriction: The attacking team has 10 touches to score, or the defenders are served a ball to attack with.
5v3 | Connect & Combine vs Regain and Score
⚽️ Created On: @SSP
Aim:
Use controlled possession to circulate the ball.
Set-Up:
18 by 18 playing area. 4 x mini goals (1 goal in each corner of the pitch). 2 x 3 by 3 yard shaded zones (orange).
👕Teams: ⚫️’s vs 🔴’s
How to Play:
The possession team ⚫️’s must have a player in the orange zones at all times. Each time the ⚫️’s work the ball from the orange zone to the opposite orange zone, they get a goal.
When a ⚫️ in the centre of the pitch passes to a ⚫️ in the orange zone, they swap places with them.
The 🔴’s regain the ball and score in any mini-goal.
🚧 Constraints:
🏆Reward: The defending team 🔴’s get served another ball each time they score with a regained ball.
👨🏫 Review: The ball carrier’s decision to run with the ball and release it.
🚫 Restriction: The possession team cannot pass back to a target player in the orange support zone until it has been received at the opposite end.
The coach’s job is to make themselves unnecessary. – Johan Cruyff
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