Win The Ultimate Grassroots Coaching Boost

Want your grassroots team to play with clarity, confidence, and joy? We sit down with Stuart, the founder of Football DNA, to unpack how a coach-built platform is helping thousands of volunteers and community clubs transform guesswork into great sessions. From Brisbane to your training ground, this conversation maps the real path from chaotic drills to age-appropriate learning, engaged players, and calmer sidelines.

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Chapters

• 0:00 New Year Banter And Big Giveaway
• 0:20 Announcing The Football DNA Partnership
• 1:16 Meet Stuart In Brisbane
• 2:14 What Football DNA Does
• 3:28 Performance Analysis Explained
• 4:40 Serving Grassroots Coaches’ Real Needs
• 5:36 Why Planning And The “Why” Matter
• 6:28 Confidence, Structure, And Player Engagement
• 8:00 Social Media Distraction And Engagement
• 9:36 Age-Appropriate Sessions Over Pro Imitation
• 11:12 Building The Platform And App
• 12:28 Three Actions Coaches Can Take Now
• 13:36 Competition Prizes And VEO Use
• 15:10 Closing And How To Enter

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to the first episode of In the Club in 2026. I hope we all had a fantastic 2025. I'm not going to wish you a happy new year because that is so annoying when people do that even like a week after New Year. This is a lot more than a week after New Year. We are coming to you today to talk to you about our new campaign called Football DNA and who are we partnering with? Well, funnily enough, they're called Football DNA. Football DNA is a platform that enables coaches to go through all different types of coaching online, and we're partnering with them to give a lucky football club, and you will be very lucky to win this. Football DNA licenses for every coach in their squad. We're giving a full fun football um festival. That's really hard to say. Full fun football festival delivered by pitch parade, but we're going to bring down to the winning football club's actual academy, and also we're giving away a VOCAM so that all that all the clubs can do all the things that come with a VOCAM, they can analyse all the player moves and they can also live stream the all their games, which is quite cool. You could be a parent that's just getting sent a link so you don't need to go out in the cold on a on a Sunday morning. Um yeah, we're doing all this in conjunction with um football DNA. I was going to say VioCam there, but I got that wrong. And from football DNA, we've got the owner, the founder, and the developer of the whole platform with us today. We're going to jump into this interview now. And this interview's coming all the way from Brisbane, Australia. This is Stuart from Football DNA. I'm here today with Stuart from Football DNA. Um, how are you doing, Stuart?

SPEAKER_01: 1:30

Yeah, I'm great, Stephen. How are you?

SPEAKER_00: 1:32

I'm good. I only learned about five minutes ago that you're actually coming to us from Brisbane. Is that right?

SPEAKER_01: 1:38

Yeah, that's right. I'm located in Australia, so about 10 hours ahead of you. But that so what time is it there?

SPEAKER_00: 1:45

8 o'clock?

SPEAKER_01: 1:46

8 p.m. at night, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 1:47

8 p.m. Well, thank you for taking the evening. I mean, I also think this is we've been doing this now for four years, and this is definitely the furthest reaching um interview we've ever done. So you you get you if there was a trophy for that, you'd get that straight away. So well done. You've you've expanded our podcast reach immediately. So I'm just gonna start like for anybody who doesn't know the moment, what what's the story of football DE? Um, how did how did it begin?

SPEAKER_01: 2:14

So Football DNA is what we call the ultimate platform for coach development. So we started in 2018. Um, literally our birthday yesterday on the first day. Yeah, so in eight years now, that we've been supporting coaches around the world. We've got coaches in all continents and places you can think of um using the platform every day to maximize their coaching, saving them time, stress of planning coaching sessions to deliver with our players. Um, so originally I started it when I was working in professional football as a performance analyst. Um previously, before then, I've been coaching since I was 16 years old. So combining the two experiences and the knowledge I started to pick to pick up in performance analysis and kind of the tech side of the game, I managed to kind of start merging my skill set and start creating uh an idea of how we can support coaches in the game. Something that I would would have loved to have had when I started coaching at the age of 16. Yeah, so performance analysis.

SPEAKER_00: 3:25

That sounds that's like a big mouthful. What what does that entail? Is that a lot? Is that where the tech sign comes into football?

SPEAKER_01: 3:31

Yes, yeah. So pretty much everyone now has analysis, it's huge in the game. Um back then it wasn't as much, but it's grown ever since. Um, and basically it's and it's what it says it is analysing performance. So that could be your own team, that could be the opposition. Um and it's a lot of the work is done through laptop, uh clipping, cutting footage, yeah, um, key strengths and weaknesses of performance. Um, and that kind of led me into to coaching and how it all links together to create the platform.

SPEAKER_00: 4:08

Amazing. So obviously, did you did you just see this gap in the market here for this? Because it does sound quite like you're saying yourself, it wasn't around when you were younger, you don't look that old. So is it is it um you seen a gap in this market then that you went for?

SPEAKER_01: 4:24

Yeah, there was obviously a few people around at the time, but um, I thought it was a really gap for specific grassroots coaching. Okay, and it's very different to what you see professional coaching. Uh it can be a bit of a challenge. So lots of grassroots coaches are actually parents who might not have played the game before, or they have limited experience and need that extra help and guidance of how to actually run a coaching session, what to do and why to do it. Um and we've seen that it's it's in huge demand um coaches who want that extra support and actually who need it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 5:05

Well, I mean, we we see that and we see that as well. What since you've started it then, has your view on actual coach development changed at all?

SPEAKER_01: 5:14

Yeah, I think um as coaches, we can get too focused on just adding different practices and sessions all the time. Yep. And it's great we've had variety and different practices and sessions and um trying to copy professionals, but actually what players and coaches need is the confidence and clarity of what to actually deliver and how. Um lots of people can replicate the how, um, but it's also the why um and how you actually translate that to players, uh, engage players.

SPEAKER_00: 5:52

Um so what in your experience, what would be the biggest difference between a coach who invests in the development and one that doesn't?

SPEAKER_01: 6:03

So I think a coach who invests is willing to learn, willing to try new things, um, open to new ideas, um, and it gives them a structure and a plan rather than just guessing uh and making it up as they go along. It's very easy to spot a session that's been well planned and well structured compared to a session that's just being put together five minutes before they turn up. Um you'll see that by the way the players interact with the coach and the outcomes of the session. Um having a plan and a structure really does engage engage the players, and that translates to to more improvement on the player's side.

SPEAKER_00: 6:45

Sorry, anyway. Right, okay. So that I mean that's it's a bit confidence as well. The people that go through the coaching um their confidence would develop and what what shifts when a coach starts to intentionally develop themselves? Is it that confidence? Is it that I mean the the ability to deliver everything, all the above?

SPEAKER_01: 7:06

Absolutely, the confidence is key. Um running your first coaching session or your first few is a very daunting experience. Um, and the more you coach, the better you will get because you'll learn how to interact with the players and the and usually young children who can be challenging. Um, and one who invests getting that confidence basically and the experience, knowing how to deliver a session and um and why it's so important, um and dealing with all the different challenges that they face with behaviour, engagement, um, and also managing parents and and expectations of the group.

SPEAKER_00: 7:48

Just all that, just all the juggle. Every place is winning.

SPEAKER_01: 7:52

Yeah, it's not it's not easy being a grassroots coach.

SPEAKER_00: 7:55

No, I know we've we've dealt um and interacted right across, um albeit not in not in Australia. I'd like to come to Australia to do a few trips across there, but we've been involved with say like the Glasgow Cup and the Blackpool Cup, and we've been right in amongst the grassroots community here for a number of years, and yeah, I it's um it's it's quite amazing what goes into it all. Um, and this is just obviously like such a new good layer on top of that to actually help them develop themselves. There'll be there'll be ones that that want to develop more than others, presumably there's more some people in it for the money, there's some people in it for the development and the the kind of betterment of the kids. Um do do you think that coaches become more creative and within themselves and the lessons when they're learning like this, it opens up their eyes to a lot more things that they can actually do on the pitch with the kids?

SPEAKER_01: 8:41

Yeah, yeah, definitely. It's in different ways to deliver the coaching. Um obviously you get the the courses that will give you a different structure. Um, but there's so many ways to deliver a session. Um you can get it.

SPEAKER_00: 8:56

Do you have any do you have any like um and you don't need to name names, I suppose, but any kind of prize pupils, I suppose, as it would be like anybody that you have worked with um through DNE and that's kind of really, really excelled, and you would that would be your poster person?

SPEAKER_01: 9:12

Um we've got loads of coaches who have used the platform and progressed, and but really a lot of our coaches that contribute as well to the platform, seeing their career carise. Coaches like Gavin Strecken, who now coaches at Celtic, he's a contributor to the platform. So you can see his sessions. Um, and he started off. I work with Gavin at Peterborough. So from one, so now coaching in the Scottish Premier League, in the Champions League, amazing national players. So it kind of encompasses everyone, really. So different levels of coaches all getting success from working with the platform.

SPEAKER_00: 9:51

So that's football, Deanny. What about you then? You said you you started um coaching at 16, is that right?

SPEAKER_01: 9:57

That's correct, yeah. So 16, 17 years now.

SPEAKER_00: 10:01

17 years, right? So, how did your football journey start? Like even going back beyond that, were you just always into football?

SPEAKER_01: 10:07

I love football as a kid. I played since I was six. My dad was the coach, um, and that's probably kind of how I got into coaching. Um learning from him, um, the same club I coached at, and then from 16 to maybe about 20, I was coaching, and then I gradually got into performance analysis in the professional game and kind of been in and out of coaching since then, throughout that time, until building the platform. Uh, and I still coach, I coach here in Brisbane at an academy three times a week. Um, so it's great to still be involved and and see what challenges coaches are actually facing uh in this modern modern world we live in.

SPEAKER_00: 10:52

The modern world where social media just distracts them from everything. Um that I mean that must play a part in this and try to get them to engage these days. I mean, I've got two I've got two boys, um, I'm just back from a weekend with them where they drove me absolutely insane, probably because I'd let them spend too long on a laptop yesterday, one of them. But that must like these modern things that are put in the way of all this must really um hamper the actual coaches' ability to try and get people to focus.

SPEAKER_01: 11:18

Yeah, I think it kind of works in the opposite way as well. So they're actually glad to be outside interacting with different people and playing and look for him. Um because grassroots football is very social, it's all about playing with your friends, um, making friends for life, really. Um, but definitely it does have an impact on engagement with the players. And um, if you can have an engaged player, that means the players learning and having fun. Uh, if you can't engage with your players, it becomes a very difficult coaching session.

SPEAKER_00: 11:50

No, that's it. And it goes right up and down the kind of age range. We've got um a number of clubs we've worked with that do really young lessons, it's just kids literally kicking the ball and running after it, they're not actually learning anything, but they they they all dress up as like Toy Story characters and things like that, where it's just getting them engaged at that early level to keep coming back, you know, um to being quite creative that way. So, with with football DNA, then what do you want? This is a this is a kind of marketing question, I suppose. What what do you want um coaches to feel when they are using the platform?

SPEAKER_01: 12:23

We want coaches to feel they've got support uh and they're not on their own. Um, as I said before, coaching is it's hard to start with where you don't know where to start and how to begin. Um, and the platform helps giving them a structured coaching plan that they can follow from week to week. So we have full season curriculums that coaches can follow. So everything is in one place, it's easy to use, and coaches can just follow it from week to week. Um a lot of coaches find it hard to find content on other free content platforms because there's drills here, there, and everywhere. With Football DA, it's all into a full session and it's all structured. And the hardest thing is making sure that it's age appropriate and level appropriate. Okay. And that goes back to my previous point about anyone can copy another coach's session that they've seen on social media that PSG or Chelsea have used, but it doesn't actually suit the players they're working with because one, it's too hard. Um and two, players can't actually deliver the skill complete the session because they don't have the required skills to do that. Um yeah. We like to think that we've got uh age appropriate for different levels of the game as you're beginning, or if you're a little bit more advanced.

SPEAKER_00: 13:56

So it covers everything that's I mean, it's quite something you've managed to build about the builder of the techie side, me being a geek. How did how did that come about? Are you are you um techie? Have you got developers that were involved? As um, did you build a platform yourself?

SPEAKER_01: 14:12

So originally when we started, my brother is a web developer.

SPEAKER_00: 14:18

Always good to have a brother that's a web developer.

SPEAKER_01: 14:21

The initial build, um, so we had that for about the first three to four years. Um, and then since then, the last four years, we've turned it into a mobile app as well, which we have a developer that does all that side of the stuff.

SPEAKER_00: 14:38

Amazing. This is I'm always very impressed. It's kind of how this place um started. Our founder of Class for Kids, Nikki, was a tennis coach, um, and he started the platform because he couldn't find anywhere to book classes. This was like 12 years ago. Um, and he well, he didn't have any technical know-how at all, but he just managed to have the idea and get the right developers involved, and it just kind of started from there. I I love that kind of entrepreneurial spirit involved in kind of building platforms. Okay, so last kind of round of questions about some advice for coaches, right? What are the three things coaches could do like right now, this week, that that could help develop themselves? Probably one of them would be signing up for you guys.

SPEAKER_01: 15:21

I'd highly recommend.

SPEAKER_00: 15:23

Yep.

SPEAKER_01: 15:24

Um, it's probably more um making sure they've got a plan in place for their coaching session. Be the first thing. Um, and then once they've planned that session and delivered that session, can they reflect on the session and how it went? Um, I think as coaches, we very are very quick to move on to the next session without actually seeing what went well, what didn't go so well, and also why. Uh, as coaches, we can be quite um reflective that the it's the players' fault all the time when it actually it might be that our session wasn't designed correctly for the players we're working with. Um maybe it was too hard for them, or it might have been too easy and it wasn't challenging enough for them so that players weren't interested and engaged. So that's what I would I would definitely say is plan and reflect. Um the next thing would be kind of be open to learning from other coaches as well. Yep. Might be watching on on the football DNA platform, but there's also loads of great content available everywhere. And like I say, always use what you think your group of players can do rather than just copying and pasting um what you see. There's always different ways of learning from different coaches.

SPEAKER_00: 16:45

Fantastic. Well, listen, it's been great managing to catch up with you. We launched the competition today with you. Um, the prize for the competition is going to be the winning club. I think that the every coach in that will get a football DE license for all the coaches. We've also got a football fundie that we're going to bring down to the winning team, and we're giving away a VOCAM, which really relates back into the kind of performance thing. I think that's the really hot ticket just now, isn't it, for all for all these when ones really want to analyse everything?

SPEAKER_01: 17:13

Yeah, yeah, I've used V it's great, great bit of software, um, and really also allows you to reflect on on the games you've played, and you can also use it for filming your sessions as well.

SPEAKER_00: 17:25

I think I've seen somebody use it their thing we're looking into, they're just live streaming their games so that the parents at home can be sitting on it, it's going to stop parents lining up on the side shouting, they'll be sitting in their living rooms.

SPEAKER_01: 17:35

That'd be good, wouldn't it?

SPEAKER_00: 17:37

I know. Oh, I know. That can that over the years that has become something that we discussed a lot as well, is the kind of appearance on the sidelines and behavioural. You can you can get good and you can get bad. Thank you so much for catching up with us um and thank you for coming. As I say, the furthest, the furthest distance we've ever had the podcast. Um, I can't wait to launch the competition later today, and I can't wait to see what we can do with you moving forward and into the future. So thanks very much, Stuart.

SPEAKER_01: 18:04

My pleasure. Thanks for having us on.

SPEAKER_00: 18:10

It was great catching up with Stuart from Football DNA there, all the way from Brisbane, Australia. The furthest, as I said on it, the furthest reaching podcast that we've actually ever done. I feel like we're actually conquering the globe. So the DNA, football DNA competition launches today. If you listen to this in a week's time, then it will have launched a week ago. If you listen in a year's time, it'll launch last year and you've missed it. You've missed it, you've still listened earlier. The prizes are football DNA licenses for every coach on your team, which is fantastic and will help with the development of all the coaches. We're giving away a fun football festival from pitch parade, which was really tricky to say. And we're also giving away a VOCAM. So one all that goes to one lucky club. Uh, I don't know why you wouldn't enter. You must be crazy nud to want to enter. Please enter, and we will speak to you next time on in the club. I don't have a co-presenter today, so I can't really do the bye thing. Um I'll do it in a really sad way, I suppose, because uh it's just me on mode. So bye.