Youth Development Phase DNA
Getting started
The future player
Coach decision-making model
- The Boot Room
- 15 May 2020
The FA is committed to inspire, empower and support coaches to make better decisions.
To help with this, we’ve created our ‘Coach Decision-Making Model’ (see below). This model highlights the core elements that we believe underpin the thinking of effective coaches.
Breaking it down
The four central hexagons each relate to a section of our England DNA, with The FA 4 Corner Model sitting behind them.
Surrounding all of that sits:
- your own individual philosophy
- your club’s philosophy
- your club’s environment.
None of these elements act in isolation and your decision-making will be influenced by factors from across the model, which will vary also depending on the kind of decision you’re making. For example: how to deal immediately with a player’s poor behaviour versus deciding your team’s long-term style of play.
As a coach, you're continuously required to make decisions in order to best support the development of your players. Below are some key considerations to help you understand your ‘self’ as a coach and make sense of 'who’ and ‘what’, linked to ‘how’ and ‘where’ you’re coaching.
Take time to reflect on the questions posed in the different areas:
All of these things affect the players’ experiences of football. There might be some things you can easily amend to positively impact your coaching and maybe other factors that are out of your control. What’s important is that you reflect on your coaching and the decisions you make, to make sure that the needs of the players always come first.
To find out more, explore our Youth Development Phase DNA playlist.
