The Grassroots Football Podcast

Many grassroots coaches cite parents as one of their biggest bugbears around running their team, but why should this be the case? Skye Eddy Bruce, of the Soccer Parenting Association, tells us how we can better approach the coach-parent relationship and create a more enjoyable atmosphere for everyone involved in grassroots sport.

The Soccer Parenting Association's main aim is to "Inspire Players by Empowering Parents" and believe, amongst other things, that a more collaborative environment between coach, parent, club, and player is in the best interest of player development.

One thing I'm sure everyone involved in grassroots football can agree on, is that they want to provide the best possible experience to those taking part. However, like many other things in life, we can lose track of what exactly that entails. In this wide ranging episode, Skye gives coaches and parents various techniques and processes they can employ to help get the best out of their children's time in grassroots sport. A must listen for ALL parents involved in their child's sporting experience.

Talking all things Strength & Conditioning with Rob Anderson from Athletic Evolution.

Rob created Athletic Evolution to provide the best practice in the athletic development and coaching of young athletes. He is dedicated to improving the quality of athletic development training delivered to young athletes. Rob currently leads the Youth Athletic Development for the Scottish Rugby Academy in the Caledonia Region. He has previously worked for numerous organisations including NYFA Sweden, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Team Palmer-Grimson Beach Volleyball, London Thunder Basketball, British Gymnastics and Leaf Studio School.

He holds numerous qualifications, including:

• MSc in Applied Sport and Exercise Physiology
• BSc (Hons) in Strength and Conditioning Science
• World Rugby Coach Educator – Strength and Conditioning
• UKSCA Accredited Strength and Conditioning Coach
• ISAK Level 1 Anthropometrist
• Precision Nutrition Level 1
• Level 2, Level 3 and Level 3 Advanced NASM qualifications

The Athletic Evolution Mission:

To positively impact the long term development of youth athletes, at the grassroots level around the world

Their Vision:

To utilise 4 strategies to achieve their mission:

1. Provide high quality information online for free
2. Provide economical and scalable training programs for coaches to use with athletes
3. Provide high quality in-person education for coaches
4. Consult for schools, clubs and organisations to provide specific solutions to their challenges

Dan Abrahams is a sport psychologist working alongside individuals, teams, coaches and organisations globally. He is known for his passion to de-mystify sport psychology and for creating simple to use performance techniques. He is the author of four best-selling sport psychology books and is the founder of both the Dan Abrahams Soccer Academy and The Sport Psych Show podcast.   Dan helps people of all ages and at all levels achieve their performance goals. Working predominantly in sport, and specialising in soccer and golf, Dan also helps people in areas as diverse as business, the performing arts, and the military. He does this by breaking down the complex theories of sport and performance psychology and helping his clients to easily implement them into their everyday lives. 

His interests and specialities are numerous including individual development, high-performance environments, performing under pressure, leadership, team building, skill acquisition, well-being, organisational culture, and coaching practice. Whatever your performance goals are, whether professional or recreational, at grassroots or the elite level, Dan can help you achieve them.  

Resources discussed during the podcast... 

Soccer Tough: Simple Football Psychology Techniques to Improve Your Game (Dan Abrahams) 

Soccer Tough 2: Advanced Psychology Techniques for Footballers (Dan Abrahams) 

Soccer Brain: The 4C Coaching Model for Developing World Class Player Mindsets and a Winning Football Team (Dan Abrahams)