I thought I would write this short post to coincide with all the Easter messages going around and the death of a hero of mine. Contrary to popular culture, Easter is not solely about chocolate eggs and holidays. Most people know it is a Christian celebration where Jesus came back to life after being crucified. This weekend we have no football as the leagues are shut down so maybe a time for some serious reflection. This contemplation is done with the backdrop of Cruyff, Brussels and the Easter festival.

I have been blogging now for 1 year. What started off as a bit of fun and a tool to get my thoughts out, has now become a real source of inspiration. I have had loads of fantastic people getting in touch, making comments and being absolutely supportive of the messages that are going out. I think the people who have followed me have seen where I stand in terms of learning and developing our young players. Some people will feel uncomfortable with some of the posts and that is fine too. It would be a boring world if we all agreed. What is clear is that some of the key posts have received resounding support. Particularly the post ‘Action Takes Courage’ This blew all my stats out of the water by a country mile. Reflecting on it now, it was the most authentic and clearly jarred a few people into action. I would therefore like to give my position at a time of ‘rebirth’ and use this medium to start changing the environment we operate in:

• Move from traditional coaching where we tell/instruct. Engage the player and Ask!
• The new world relies on the player to take the responsibility
• Players should always come first
• We need to create ‘learners’
• Parents need to support and not do it for them
• Let’s remove rules and replace them with standards
• Let’s get our young players playing for playing sake and not having to worry about winning
• Teach them life lessons through the game
• Change the thinking and the actions will change
• Don’t be constrained, think outside the box
• Make it simple for players to understand
• Make it fun and enjoyable

For many of us Johan Cruyff was a God. At this religious time, we need to be re-born in his image. He couldn’t care less about winning but developing players to play the beautiful game. There are many quotes attributed to Cruyff but this one works best for me:

Was it a coincidence the two had the same initials!!

In this tech savvy world, his ideals are definitely worth ‘following’