CoachCraft with Alf Gracombe
CoachCraft explores the art and impact of coaching youth sports through in-depth conversations with renowned coaches from grassroots to professional levels, revealing how exceptional mentors use athletics to shape character, build confidence, and positively impact young lives.
CoachCraft with Alf Gracombe
Paul Barry on Coaching the Decision, Not the Outcome
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Paul Barry is a UEFA A licensed coach developer and the current Head of Coaching for the Foundation Phase at Crystal Palace FC — and in this conversation, he brings the principles that shape one of England's top academy programmes directly to grassroots coaches.
We talk about one of the most common mistakes coaches make: judging players on outcomes rather than decisions. Paul explains why praising a young player's intention — even when the execution falls short — is the foundation of developing real game intelligence. We also get into what "winning" actually looks like at the foundation phase, how to create the conditions where young players feel safe to try things and fail, and what Paul has learned from writing children's books about growth mindset and emotional resilience.
If you coach young players at any level and want to think differently about how you give feedback and measure progress, this episode is for you.
Hit play and enjoy the conversation.
For more information about CoachCraft, visit https://coachcraft.info.
Paul Barry
If you see the decision being a positive one, even if the outcome was maybe not quite executed right, it might be that there's a physical limitation there or the timing wasn't quite right with a misplaced pass or a touch, for example, but you saw the intention being positive. You know that there's something there to work with. So encourage it, praise it, Then the kid knows what they tried was right. And over time, as they develop physically, it might be then that they can execute that long pass.
Alf Gracombe
Yeah.
Paul Barry
example but the decision is key with their game insight developing in the long term.
Alf Gracombe
Welcome to Today's guest is Paul Barry is a UEFA A licensed coach developer who currently works as head of coaching for the foundation phase at Crystal Palace FC. He's also a children's book author who writes about growth mindset and emotional resilience. And despite working at the elite level, he still makes time to coach in grassroots programs as well.
That combination of experiences makes him exactly the kind of guest that I love having on the show. The foundation phase, those years up to age 12, is where kids can either develop a lifelong love of the game or they can lose interest entirely. It's where technical skills get wired in and it's where emotional resilience and a growth mindset start taking shape. In this conversation, Paul and I talk about what makes this age group unique.
how he thinks about feedback and praise, the connection between his children's books and his coaching, and what grassroots coaches can learn from elite academy environments and what they should ignore. And now, my conversation with Paul Berry.
Alf Gracombe
Paul Barry welcome to the CoachCraft Podcast. Great to have you here.
Paul Barry
Alf, many thanks for the invite and yeah, really looking forward to the conversation. So yeah, thanks for having me.
Alf Gracombe
Great, well it's great to have you here. ⁓ For those of you who watching on video, Paul showed up in a New York Yankees cap and I had to tell him, you know, coming onto a podcast, it's done by a Bostonian, you really gotta be careful about that kind of thing. So we're still gonna have this, despite this little faux pas, I guess, at the beginning here, but ⁓ anyway.
Paul Barry
Yeah, I've gone for fashion over prior knowledge of American sports.
So yeah, big apologies if I've offended you.
Alf Gracombe
Now you did assure me that it was not out of a love of the New York Yankees, but it was more the fashion.
Paul Barry
just just for a love of the NY caps.
Alf Gracombe
All
right, well, I'll move beyond it. Anyway, in all seriousness, great to have you here. And let's get started. I'd love to just, we were talking just before we hit record here and I asked you what club you supported and that actually kind of led into you talking about the beginnings of your coaching journey. So tell me a little bit about that club you supported and how you got into coaching.
Paul Barry
Yeah, so where I live in Essex, which is about an hour, hour and a half out of London, my nearest club is a club called South End United. They're about 20 minutes down the road. And as mentioned before we hit record, it's probably my closest link as a kid into the professional game. They've sort of been up and down the leagues over the last 30 years or so, promotions into higher leagues.
relegations into the lower leagues, maybe the odd FA Cup win and run here and there. But yeah, as far as my experience, really, it was during work experience when I was in what year eight at school, which is when I'm about 13, 14 years of age, 14 years of age.
and I organised a week at the club as a YTS apprentice. So YTS meaning sort of youth trainee scheme. And that involved, you know, all the things that trainees at that time would do, such as cleaning the boots of the first team players, sweeping the changing rooms, know, organising the footballs and the bibs and the cones on a training morning, spending some time. All the glamorous stuff that...
Alf Gracombe
All the glamorous work, yeah. ⁓
Paul Barry
as I'll probably get to later, has really put me in a position to have gratitude and appreciation for the clubs that I've worked at since I've got involved in football coaching as a profession. But at Southend, yeah, loved it, spent a week there, real eye opener into what a professional environment looked like. Got a part-time role on the back of that when I was, think it was a year later when I was 15, used to go in there on a match day.
and control their electronic scoreboard. So type all the scores in on a prehistoric little computer, flash it up on the screen. It was the worst scoreboard in the world. was I think when they took from the town center with half the bulbs missing and it wasn't great, but a brilliant little job. And I got to know some of the people at cameraman, the Tanoy announcer. My cousin used to run a sort of a bacon roll stand up in the stand somewhere. He's going see him. So it was very much a family club.
and one that I grew up always sort of being close to, yeah.
Alf Gracombe
Yeah, that's, it's such these stories of these English clubs are so interesting, especially as an American, because we don't have that, that, uh, you know, kind of DNA in our.
football system here, you know, it's, kind of been built more top down. And I think in the UK, you know, the whole football system, I think was more of a bottom up, you know, going back over a hundred years is, as we talked about. So anyway, great story. So that was your introduction into, club football into professional football. And then, yeah, talk if you can about your journey into coaching from there.
Paul Barry
Yeah, so from that sort of time being in my mid teens wondering what to do as far as sort of leaving school, what education pathway to go down. I was always very keen on PE, the GCSE PE, progressing to A level PE.
sports science was always very interesting as well. My first sort of venture into coaching was a little bit of chance, if anything, it was just something that in the local newspaper there was an advert for a coach education course and my mum spotted it and it was the Essex Chronicle which was a county-based newspaper that we used to get, even sure if it's in publication anymore and I think I was 17 at the time and she said it was only a couple of hundred quid, it's obviously way more expensive now.
And it's changed as far as the way it's sort of constructed as a coach education sort of CPD and as a course. And I thought I'd give it a go. Didn't have anything to lose. I thought it would tie in nicely with my school academics.
loved it. It was essentially like a level two course. I had to then go and do some work experience at a local grassroots club. It was called Writtle Miners. They're still going now. It's based in Chelmsford about 20 minutes down the road. So I used to volunteer on a Saturday morning, come back from university and do bits and pieces at the weekend. was with them for five years and worked with all the age groups. Again, always as a volunteer. There was no sort of financial, wasn't earning any money hourly rate, like that. And that's what really
I got the bug for helping young people and got to sort of observe those that were more established at the club, got to sort of trial a little bit with session design and try some ideas out. So that was my real first taster into it. So it was a little bit of an opportunity that I was sort of guided into by my mum and my dad and then sort of forged my own little sort of way into it as far as volunteering for a number of years.
Alf Gracombe
So you got your start in the grassroots and through, these coach education courses, they were offered through the FA, is that right? Or, yeah.
Paul Barry
Yes, ⁓
it was a county-based course through the Essex FA. It was called the FA Coaching Certificate. I think from start to finish it was probably about six months worth. So we'd go back and do some sort two or three day work around the different topics, that sort of thing, theoretical in the classroom, practical out on the grass.
And a large part of it was going away to complete all the topics within your log book. I think that's going to log like 30 hours worth of coaching before we could be signed off. And there were some other qualifications around laws of the game.
safeguarding, first aid, that sort of thing. But yeah, was a county-based qualification and it just put me in the first rung of looking at what the FA qualification pathway might look like. Obviously since then I've been really fortunate through the clubs I've worked at and through the FA, my role at the FA that I've worked.
up to 2010 from 2007, going through some brilliant CPD and I've managed to sort of attain the vast majority of the available qualifications in the country.
Alf Gracombe
Okay. And so, I'm just curious, cause I always look for these points of comparison between the U S system and systems in the UK. So you're coaching in the grassroots, right? So was the expectation as a coach and you were volunteering, you said for what, four or five years. So you're not getting paid. Okay. And so, but is the expectation that every coach in a grassroots program has these coaching credentials have taken coach education courses.
Paul Barry
Yeah, about five minutes. No.
Yeah, so it's a prerequisite that when you start working as a volunteer within a grassroots club, normally it's the mum or the dad of a player that's interested or represents one of the teams. So first and foremost, you'll be ⁓ advised to go down the FA level one route, which is an online course, I believe now. It wasn't previously, it was one you had to attend in a similar way to my qualification back when I was a teenager.
And again, that will have all the really important parts of safeguarding, emergency aid, laws of the game. And that's like your starter qualification, which, know, charter standard clubs across the country should have individuals that complete those qualifications. So it's a recognized, yeah, sort of recognized county FA based club.
Alf Gracombe
Mm-hmm. so when did you get onto a professional track of coaching?
Paul Barry
Yeah,
so from those early years of grassroots volunteering, I was at university at the time, so I graduated with a bachelor's, honours degree in sport and exercise science. looking at my early 20s now, and then I'm starting to sort of...
you know, move on to working in a part-time role. I worked in health clubs as a personal trainer, group fitness training, was always sort of, sort of had a bit of a sliding doors. Do I go down the football coaching route or do I go down the personal training sport science route? And they both, for me, for my sort of first, maybe 10 years of employment, worked together and I've done roles within both industries. So it was really, I think you're looking at my early to mid twenties now, I was,
right into football clubs, because this was even in an era before you could email football clubs. used to actually type letters and go and post them.
never got much joy with it, would always get lots of letters back, sometimes later saying no opportunities or sometimes didn't even get a reply. So then I went down a route of thinking, okay, football and the community schemes, which are essentially the arm of the club that deals with and manages community based programs and managed to do some work at some local clubs, again, albeit very cheap hourly rate, working with mixed abilities, boys and girls.
different types of development centres, that sort of thing, evenings, half terms, summer holidays, all with in my mind thinking, you know, if I'm working hard now and I'm learning my craft and I'm observing more established experienced coaches, all this is going to help me. And I know I'm going to receive loads of rejections and loads of redirections and no's. But yeah, it's a case of just sticking at it and progressing through those years and just learning your craft with lots of patience.
Alf Gracombe
Yeah. And so at a certain point you, for, for a number of years, you've been working in what's called the foundation phase in, the UK. so these are eight to 12 year olds, roughly is that, would you describe the foundation phase?
Paul Barry
Yeah, so it's generally under
eights to under 12s, but if you think about going right down to the youngest players, you're at five and six year olds, essentially. moving on into my mid-20s, the late 20s was my first role working full time in football, and that was working in a newly established initiative through the Football Association. It's called the FA Skills Programme.
So that was in 2007. So there was a cohort of 66 coaches selected from across the country, four or five coaches within each county. I was one of six selected for the role in the Essex based team. And we would go and do what's called PPA time in primary schools. So that's delivering, you know, in school PE lessons, of sports based sort of football programs when the teachers obviously need to bring in.
Alf Gracombe
Hmm.
Paul Barry
so-called specialists to do the roles or deliver the lessons that they might have not as much knowledge in. Used to do evening work, FA skill centres they called them, which were like a pay and play thing.
only like a pound or two for a young person to turn up and play some football. Did some fantastic CPD, working at the Football Association. And yeah, that was my first real full-time movement into a, into what? Wasn't even professional football. It was a comprehensive sort of grassroots program at the time.
Alf Gracombe
grassroots
program, but sponsored by the government.
Paul Barry
It was
run through the Football Association. So there was funding coming in from different streams. But as far as a programme, was a national, nationwide FA programme. So it was well recognised across the country.
We had FA tutors come and deliver all our CPD, some that I still talk to and work alongside now all these years later. So, yeah, if you couple the opportunity, which was great with the education and training that we were fortunate enough to undertake, was a brilliant sort three and a half, four years that I spent there.
Alf Gracombe
Yeah, it's interesting. mean, this is a bit of a side note, but what's, what's interesting is, is I think, you know, in some ways like football is one of England's it's one of it. I don't know if you'd it's an export. know there's always a debate about the origins of football, but
That there's, there is so much sort of top-down, you know, government or FA support for coaches and for whether it's coach education or whether it's getting this into schools. And even so I have an experience growing up in Northern Virginia, outside of Washington, DC. And there's a gentleman who ran a bunch of camps and clinics, football camps and clinics in the, the U S his name was John Ellis and he was English. his daughter is actually Jill Ellis, who was the women's national team coach here in the.
US for a time. But he was his job was he was hired by
the British government to essentially go and be like an ambassador of football in the U S. And so he would run these camps and he was sort of known in Northern Virginia as being, you know, the soccer guru. And, ⁓ and I just thought that was so fascinating that, you know, there was this, this government effort to essentially, you know, export the game to, other parts of the world. so that's, that's a bit of my connection to that. I know it's not exactly what your experience was, but I think we don't do that here in the U S you know, we're not.
Maybe we do it with baseball or something, but certainly with football, we don't.
Paul Barry
Yeah, I actually spent some time in the US prior to what just after leaving university. So prior to getting involved in any sort of part-time paid role. So going back to what 2001, it was that summer spent 12 weeks around Ohio, Michigan, working for a company called Challenger Sports British Soccer, bring British coaches out to the US and put them in different states.
Alf Gracombe
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Paul Barry
Yeah, absolutely amazing experience. Again, mixed abilities, boys and girls. We'd spend a week at each camp, whether it was morning and afternoon or an all-day camp. We'd stay with host families.
who then their child would get a free place on the course. So they put us up for a week. Yeah, sometimes you're on your own. You seem like miles away from anyone. Other times you were on a camp that was really, really big with four or five of your colleagues. So socially it was really fun.
Alf Gracombe
Mm-hmm.
Paul Barry
managed to travel around the country a little bit. We had a week off that we spent in Detroit with another host family. They'd take us out for dinner. There'd be cookouts, those sorts of things. We'd watch MLS and baseball, sorts of different sports. So yeah, was a really fun experience. And again, one that I still refer back to, that I learned so much, that I've applied since I've full time in the game.
Alf Gracombe
Yeah. So, so you've had this, some points of comparison, you've experienced the grassroots in the UK and then a version of it here in the U S as well. How did you kind of size up or assess U.S. youth football at the time? And at least the part of it that you were exposed to.
Paul Barry
Yeah, it's a good question because you're at what's best part 25 years ago and obviously it's a very established league now that as imports across the world from from British players going across South American etc. When I went to the US as I say 2001
It seemed really popular then a lot of young people playing playing soccer playing football I'd say camps that I did were more aimed towards the younger players Albeit there perhaps was one or two of the camps with you know mid to late teenagers But the feeling I've got was it was the younger ones. So you're at six seven eight year olds up to maybe 11 or 12 They're the ones that the courses were mainly comprised of and I probably understand or understood at the time that the older children may
Alf Gracombe
Absolutely,
Paul Barry
because there's so much competition obviously in America with obviously NFL, NBA, etc. Hockey. So maybe those older ones were more established playing in those sports, whereas the younger ones found soccer more accessible, easier to play as far as equipment and area that you need, you just need a ball and a couple of mates. That was my impression that, yeah, it was really popular amongst the youngest children.
Alf Gracombe
Did you, I
don't know if you were, you know, coming up against your scene, American soccer coaches at the time, in terms of the coaching methodologies, like for instance, I mean, I'm old, you know, I, I was started playing in the 1970s, right? So, but when I was seven and started playing the game, they just threw us onto an 11 V 11 field, right? Like,
Just, you know, now we all know like, no, no, no, no, no. Like, you know, it's four V four, seven V seven, smaller field formats. But, uh, did you see was happening in the U S at that time? Like were, were they, what was the U S kind of up to speed on, on kind of the international standards around coaching? Or did you feel like you were kind of importing some of that knowledge when you were here?
Paul Barry
Yeah.
I'd say more bringing across some age-specific and age-appropriate knowledge that maybe we're bit more versed in perhaps compared to some of the American coaches. Not that we sort of interacted a lot with coaches as such, it mainly us as Brits delivering the training camps, but speaking to some of the mums and the dads that were keen to find that more and get involved, you got the perception that maybe, like you say, the game itself was only, and it looks like 11 aside, the conduct from the
side of the pitch was quite direct, quite authoritative, lots of telling and instructing what to do and how to do it. What we'd probably call joystick coaching now when the adult at the side basically control what the children are doing as far as their decisions and their technical execution is concerned. part of our mentoring responsibilities were based on allowing the children to explore, you know, be expressive, make mistakes. That took a little bit of
took a bit of time because speaking to and dads over there that weren't aware of that as a coaching approach, it took some time to educate that this over the long term may help them more than, or will help them more than just telling them what to do and trying to control their output all the time.
Alf Gracombe
Yeah.
Yeah. Did you find the American audience was receptive to that, to that input and that change of approach?
Paul Barry
Yeah,
I really would say so. The times I've been to America before and since, there seems to be lot of, particularly when they find out that you're a football coach or a professional coming across from England, there's a lot of respect.
because they think of the game itself originating to some extent in this country where it's probably most well known as far as TV and players and clubs with the history attached to that. So from memory, don't ever recall it being a challenge trying to have these conversations that people were very open-minded, very keen to see it in practice and to try it themselves as far as this sort new way of coaching compared to perhaps the older
Alf Gracombe
We are.
Mm-hmm.
Paul Barry
sort of more traditional way that they were more used to which was to say more instructional and directive.
Alf Gracombe
Right,
right.
Yeah, I mean, it's, coaching football is different than coaching baseball or coaching football. You know, the sports tend to be more situational. And, football's a flowing game. I mean, it's actually like hockey. I'd say it's more similar to that. anyway, a little bit of a side tangent. I was just curious to get some of your impressions since you spent some time coaching here. you know, it was a while ago, 25 or so years ago. But I'd love to talk a little bit about the foundation stage, the age group, eight to 12.
because you've done so much work there. know some of your training and education is around child psychology and working with kids at that age. So what is it about that age that you like and also what are some of the unique characteristics of coaching kids at those ages?
Paul Barry
Yeah, I've always been fascinated by young people. Thinking about, for example, when we recruit coaches into clubs and I've been responsible for interview processes, that sort of thing. One of the things that I make quite well known is that you've got to enjoy the company of young people. You've got to enjoy being around them and you've got to feel motivated and energized by their company. I'm...
I love the way that young people interact with each other. I'm fascinated by how they act and behave. And again, it's the real highs and lows of being a young person. You can see, you know, passion and drive and enthusiasm one second, and you can see the deepest depths of emotion the next and tears and upset and trauma within the space of a minute. I find that really interesting to be around and the psychology that's attached to it. Young people for me,
I resonate with their energy and their enthusiasm. And for me, it's really important when you're working with young people because they continuously remind you why they love football and their passion for the game, which...
for the odd season or two that I've ventured out into older age groups, which could be maybe a conversation for another episode, something changes along the way. And whether that's just through growth and maturation or peer and parental influences and perception, the game is at its core.
when the kids are very, very young. And that was really the main reason why I wanted to really forge a career and pursue a pathway into foundation-faced football. And I wanted to become, and I still want to strive to become more knowledgeable, to become a specialist and an expert and carve out a bit of a niche as far as this type of coaching and everything associated with it to try and find as much knowledge and...
Alf Gracombe
Mm-hmm.
Paul Barry
and glean as much information from people as possible. So really that's what attracted me to these types of roles and has kept me in it for best part of 30 years.
Alf Gracombe
Yeah. I, so I've done some work, you know, at these age levels as well and still, still do. And, you know, so in terms of some practical, I guess, perspective or wisdom even for coaches who are coaching kids at this age. And you mentioned like just the emotional.
nuances of the experience of an eight to 12 year old and kind of the highs and the lows. And you can see it, you know, appear within very short periods of time. So that obviously there's a different mindset as a coach to be working with kids of this age. What's some advice you have for coaches as you, as they're working with kids, you know, at these ages, also where there's so much football development happening, right? Just core skillset, you know, the hard wiring of the nervous system and these, you you see kids,
can one season show up looking like this and then six months later it's like, wow, this kid has clearly progressed at a rate that's surprising. But how do you orient around these kids and what's some advice you have for coaches?
Paul Barry
Yeah,
so I'd attach this age range of eights to 12s, or if you wanna go even younger, fives to 12s, as like this golden age of learning when kids generally, you'd hope so for the most part, are like sponges, are gonna absorb a lot of the experiences that they're involved in. So I think.
We have this huge obligation and responsibility to develop this lifelong love of the game in our young people. And I'd always try and refer to them as young people, children, kids, as opposed to players. We all know that there's a huge sort of a improbability that they're gonna pursue and forge out a career in professional football. So there's loads of responsibilities around.
the sorts of experiences and life skills, if anything, that you're going to try and advocate and develop in these young people. It's just a massive privilege working with these kids and at the same time to be at the forefront and then trusted with this passion that you're trying to help them develop within the game. But one of the biggest pieces of advice I would offer to whether it was a grassroots coach or indeed someone that was perhaps more ⁓ intentional as far as a career, with the youngest players,
Alf Gracombe
Hmm.
Paul Barry
It's that learning to win and lose in the same way. And both are really, really important. And I always think both should be treated with the same growth mindset and psychological responses. So I'd always say we need to try and win with humility and lose with respect. And some people say, it winning? Is it development? How do we differentiate between the two? It's just both. Just embrace both.
Alf Gracombe
Hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Paul Barry
you're going to develop yourself as a practitioner and the kids going to develop through winning, through losing, through facing adversity, through having success, through experiencing failure. I read Eddie Jones' autobiography some time ago, the rugby coach, and he said, one of his quotes from the book that I wrote down was, don't let success go to your head or failure go to your heart. And I really liked it because it for me resonated with me in that.
Alf Gracombe
Hmm.
Paul Barry
we work with young people you might have the most fantastic training week win at the weekend you think you've cracked it the best coach of the new Pep Guardiola of under eights and in the next week it's completely different the kids all over the place behavior could be an issue you lose your game at the weekend and then you think you're the worst coach in the world and the previous week is just is a long long forgotten memory both are great both are really valuable experiences
Alf Gracombe
I'm
of the experience. Yeah.
Paul Barry
And it's
part of the journey of being a youth football coach of these age groups that you've got to experience and go through these big highs and lows, but treat them both with enthusiasm and treat them both with patience and tolerance, knowing that all these experiences are going to help you develop and in turn help the kids experience what it's like to be a young sort of young sports player. And hopefully it's a sport they're going to play until adulthood.
So give them all these opportunities to experience these different things when they're young.
Alf Gracombe
Yeah. I, one observation I have from coaching this age group, I'm curious if you would agree with this is that progress and development is not a linear process. And you know, you said that kind of you're up one week, you're down the next week, but, but do you agree with that? That, that, you know, you, sometimes it maybe feels like you're even going sideways with these kids. and kind of how do you think about that? And you know, is there sort of a short-term viewpoint? Is there a long-term viewpoint?
of looking at developing players at this age.
Paul Barry
Yeah, I think it all comes down to what you deem success to look like and feel like as a youth football coach and in turn what the kids perceive that to look and feel like as well. If you only box off success and winning as winning your game at the weekend, then you're going to struggle.
you're going to find education difficult, you're going to find coaching difficult, you're going to find the way that you interact and try and lead sessions and training programs challenging because you're only, you know, boxing off the outcome at the weekend as a gauge of success from what it is you've worked on in the week, for example. So I always thinking about how we reframe what winning looks like.
Alf Gracombe
Mm-hmm.
Paul Barry
and winning for me might be a young player that has an opportunity to train and play across in an older age group because you think physically or maybe psychologically that's the best stretch point for them. That's a win for me. And if that player at the weekend is involved in a game that they've struggling or they lose or whatever it might be, okay, the outcome was a loss. But the grand scheme of things was a win because that young player has been stretched as an individual in the most positive sense. So I think it's,
Yeah, it's fun. There's little mini wins along the way, learning from a session. Maybe that didn't go particularly well. Why didn't it go well? Okay. Maybe the kids were waiting too long before their next go at a particular action. Maybe I spoke too much. Maybe there wasn't as much variety or it could have been more playful. Right. Let's go back and reflect. Let's look at those things and let's work on them for the following week. That's a win as far as being a coach.
So it's using those terms of success and winning and trying to intersperse them with different things away from just an outcome of a game. And if we can treat development in that way, we're to be winning all the time because we're learning, we're making mistakes, we're reflecting, we're refining our craft and we're improving and developing as a result of it.
Alf Gracombe
You touched on something a little bit earlier in what you said around growth mindset. And, I'm doing some work in this space around how coaches communicate and connect with young players and very much in this, this age range as well.
What are some of the ways that you communicate or provide feedback to kids? How you frame, you know, what does success look like? Even how you, I guess, orient kids around their own sense of developing as players. Yeah, I'd love to kind of peel back another layer just on your thoughts around kind of growth mindset and player communication.
Paul Barry
Yeah, so when I think of this type of topic, I think around the areas of feedback, of discussion, how to review and reflect performance. So for me, it comes down to if I'm in session and the ball's rolling, I'm thinking of different types of feedback that can be offered in the moment. So I'll call it a noticing statement. So that could be a well done, keep going, good stuff.
And some coaches might think that to be a little bit of background noise, but it definitely has a place because the kids then know that, you you're there, you're observing, and you're seeing good practice and you're observing it and you're making sort of positive reinforcement of it. There's that versus more specific and intentional feedback. So I've developed a little acronym and a little model that helps with this called, ⁓ called USP. So the U standing for in an interaction using the player's name.
And that's powerful as far as you think of an eight or nine year old that hears their name in a positive sense and then what comes thereafter. So the U stands for using the player's name, build that connection immediately. The S stands for providing specific feedback based on maybe a decision or the execution of an action. So it's not too broad or generic. You've zoomed in on something that was great. And then the P stands for praising verbally and then non-verbally.
Alf Gracombe
Mm-hmm.
Paul Barry
powerful use of eye contact, smiling, facial expressions, thumbs up, high fives, fist pumps with maybe something along the way verbally as well and that could only last maybe five or six seconds worth of a verbal interaction but it's really really powerful. You're catching kids in rather than catching them out and that's something that we don't haven't always seen maybe on coach education courses and that we'd only intervene and interact when something went wrong.
but how about catching the kids in and making them feel really powerful in that moment, give them some empowerment. I think that the biggest thing within this framework for me is that.
If you see the decision being a positive one, even if the outcome was maybe not quite executed right, it might be that there's a physical limitation there or the timing wasn't quite right with a misplaced pass or a touch, for example, but you saw the intention being positive. You know that there's something there to work with. So encourage it, praise it, use that USP model in that interaction. Then the kid knows what they tried was right. And over time, as they develop physically, it might be then that they can execute that long pass.
Alf Gracombe
Yeah.
Paul Barry
example but the decision is key with their game insight developing in the long term.
Alf Gracombe
Yeah. USP. I love that. I'll be sure to use that one myself. So, but why is that so important? Right. This, this idea of even if the outcome isn't a success in, you know, footballing terms, why is that, that praise that specificity, so important for a young person is there out there playing the game and I mean, you know, you want to encourage presumably, you know, experimental mindset, sense of, you know, bravery, willing to try new things, but is that,
Yeah, I don't want to answer the question for you. But like is that what's behind that that praise and that specificity?
Paul Barry
Yeah,
it really is because you know that when you're involved in these types of age groups, playing sport, particularly a game like football, which is so random and is a very much a transitional game, it's an invasion game. So there's going to be loads of turnover of possession, particularly with the youngest players.
Alf Gracombe
What does that mean, invasion
game?
Paul Barry
An invasion game would be
a football, a basketball, a rugby, a hockey type game that has territory involved in it. So you're trying to invade or attack a direction or a goal or a target or an end zone. And you're trying to defend and control your own end zone goal or target.
Alf Gracombe
Cut.
Paul Barry
that's for me that the link between a football, rugby, a basketball. But these games are so random that for the youngest players, you know there's going to be so, so many mistakes. There's going to be misplaced passes or heavy touches giving the ball away. So for me, we have to link in and have to latch on to whatever we see that's positive and reinforcing intention.
over for example natural ability or outcome just has really really strong development in the long term. If we're encouraging you know hard work, effort, reinforcing positive decision making then we know that we're trying to help that young person and their parent develop that growth mindset over the long term rather than
you know, fixed mindset. We're only going to praise success when we see it visually. We're not going to challenge ourselves. We're only going to go with things that we know we can win. We're only going to go up against teams and players that we know we can beat. Okay, that might feel great in the short term, but it has no real long term gain because you know at some stage you're going to play against someone that's better than you, physically more dominant than you, quicker than you. How are you going to cope with that if you've at no time in your younger years experienced it?
Alf Gracombe
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. And when you look at parents watching from the sideline, watching their kids, and obviously, you know, any parent has tremendous investment in their own child and they want nothing more than for their child to be successful.
some of these things you're talking about are really taking a much longer term view. You might not see immediate success on the field, whether it's a game result or whether it's, you know, you've, you've tried a cross field pass, but you know, it's just not something the kid has, but you know, the parent might look at that as, that's a, that's a failure. Or, you know, my child is not, is not, ⁓ kind of performing out there, right? How do you have that conversation with parents when sometimes those impulses they might have as well intentioned as they
might run against some of these longer term kind of developmental goals that you have as a coach.
Paul Barry
think that the biggest conversation piece with the parent in this instance is that you should never ever underestimate as a parent your reaction in a moment when your child or your son or your daughter has struggled and they look across to the side and see mum or dad with their head in their hands or looking away or visually looking frustrated. The impact upon the young person in that instance can be really sort of difficult.
And over the long term, that's the reaction they see and the response they see when they're struggling, that's gonna be a difficult dynamic as they grow older. So we speak to the parents about, again, they're almost similar to us in a way that visually they have to look positive, smiles, thumbs up, good try, encouraging, try and encourage the parents to not be on their phones or to be looking down at screen, dealing with an email or off on a phone call through work. Be there, be present.
Alf Gracombe
Hmm.
Paul Barry
you know, whether it's a 60 minute, 90 minute session, two hours, you're to watch training, like support and don't underestimate that any response from you does have an impact upon your child, even though what we're trying to help kids with is not become too reliant upon mom or dad. And when you score a goal or miss a goal or whatever it might be, if you're always looking across the mom and dad for that reassurance that that's all well and good when you're young, but there'll be a time.
Alf Gracombe
Yeah.
Paul Barry
when they're not there anymore. You know, we think about the older age groups that we work with, 15, 16, the parents, they're not watching training anymore. They're sat in the restaurant having a cup of tea. You know, they're out shopping or they're having a coffee somewhere. They've seen it all before. So that will be something that the kids experience or a change in their experience as they progress through the age groups. So yeah, try not to be too reliant upon mom and dad, but if you're mom or dad, but be there, be present.
Alf Gracombe
Yeah.
Paul Barry
for your son or your daughter.
Alf Gracombe
Yeah, be present. That's great advice for parents. know, we see it. I run a program with U10s here in Boston and...
You know, it's, the parents have to be present. Like we don't, it's not a drop off program. You can't just bring your kid and then go off and do something else. But at the same time, you know, these are busy parents. It's the end of a long work day for them. They come, it's, in some ways it's a time for them to have a little bit of a break, many of them. But I have to say like it, it,
It concerns me, it drives me a little bit crazy. lot of the parents just along the sideline and they're just, you know, they're in their phones and you know, I don't, we don't want them on the edge of the field, you know, trying to weigh in or certainly, know, shout instructions, you know, whenever I see parents doing that, I'm like, Hey, you're interested in volunteering? You might be a coach. But that's the kind of other end of it is that lack of engagement. and as a parent, there's a sweet spot in there between
tuning out entirely versus leaning in too far into the experience for the kids. And so I think you said it quite well, be there, be present, be watching, be positive. But yeah, the extremes can be kind of toxic or negative for the experience of a child. So a little bit of a pivot away from football.
You're also an author. You've written some children's books. So you're the first author I think I've had on the podcast. So tell me a little bit about how you came to writing children's books and then, and how that maybe even ties back to your work on the pitch with young players.
Paul Barry
Yeah,
I'd say that my passion for...
for being an author stems from being a kid myself. I loved picture stories when I was young and my parents always read to me when I was very little. Always loved rhyming, loved words, loved language, loved the colorful pictures. And for me, when I had kids, and my children are a little bit more grown up now, but I'm trying to cling onto my youngest as best I can. I still read to her every night that I'm able to. But for me, the passion came from...
wanting to hold a book in my hands and read a book to my own daughter that I'd written. So for some years I'd sort of toyed with the idea and wasn't quite sure how to go about doing it. Obviously working in the game, working full-time, was struggling full-time to commit to something as a side project. So it really sort of came about during COVID. So, you know, looking at back end of 2019, 2020 when we were all
working from home or we had more time than we'd often have when we were working full time. And I thought, okay, this could be an opportunity now to have a real good look at it. Spoke to some people that I knew had also written books. So started to think about a way of being, you know, becoming self-published and creating picture stories in that way. Started writing down some storylines, some little rhyming couplets, know, names of characters, that sort of thing.
started a diploma in children's writing through an online education provider called Center of Excellence. So was doing both at the same time. And I wanted to really explore themes and emotions that young people experience, particularly those involved in sport and football, because it can be very challenging, particularly at the levels that I've been working at, when there's lots of disappointment at times, as well as, you know, success also. And I wanted to try and, you know,
write some books and some stories that were snappy, colourful, animal characters that children could resonate with, but ultimately there was a moral at the end of it that linked into some type of life emotion. So yeah, that's the route I went down and fast forward five, six years, I've written four books, all available on Amazon, all very similar but have different characters and different themes. I've got an illustrator that's based out in Latvia.
I've got a formatter that's based in Pakistan. So whenever I write my books, I work with these two guys and they help me create the ebook and the paperback version. And yeah, now they're all available on Amazon.
Alf Gracombe
Great, how many books have you written?
Paul Barry
Yes, I've written four. I've written ⁓ books based on themes, really exploring sort of a topic such as respecting people for who they are, facing your fears, acceptance and moving on from challenge and trauma and staying true to yourself. But yeah, they're all here in my room at the moment. My kids love them.
managed to sell a few copies along the way which never really was the main objective but is a little added bonus that they sold quite well generally and yeah I've loved writing them it's been really sort of difficult at times and it's opened my eyes into what it's like to try and produce content as far as story books are concerned but yeah definitely an enjoyable side venture that I've experienced.
Alf Gracombe
Well, a little plug for your books. Folks can find them on Amazon. Is that right? all right. All right. We'll check out check out Paul's books. Yeah, I think that's just, you know, fascinating, you know, little side note to your coaching that you also do this this writing. And then you do some other work as well with Football DNA. Is that right? Maybe tell us a little bit about that group of folks and the types of
Paul Barry
Yes, yeah, that's right. All four available on the Amazon shelf. Yeah.
Alf Gracombe
work that you're doing there.
Paul Barry
Yeah, so I've been working with Stuart, who's the founder of Football DNA for about five years now. So similar sort of time to around me writing or starting to write my kids books. So Football DNA has been going on for a bit longer than I've been with them. I think they're into their maybe eighth or ninth, maybe even 10th year of development now. But essentially it's ⁓ an online coach education and player development platform that you can also download as an app.
You've got thousands of live recorded and animated practices and full sessions. You've got season long curriculums for each of the different age ranges that are specific to those types of age groups. Analysis articles, monthly blogs. There's also ⁓ webinars and coach education Q &A workshops that you can gain access to.
In the last two years, I now host their monthly podcast as well. So I've had some brilliant guests on that every month. So yeah, fully involved with the platform, really, really enjoy it. It's global. We've got subscribers throughout Europe, into America, Australia. Yeah, it's a fantastic, detailed and comprehensive platform that coaches of all levels, ages and stages would certainly benefit from.
Alf Gracombe
What, what, give me just an example of you say you, you're writing for them occasionally blog posts and center. Like what's an example of something that you, that you would write for football DNA.
Paul Barry
Yes,
so really the blogs from month to month, they differ in accordance to whatever the search engine really suggests that people are interested in. So as I said, I've been writing blogs for pretty much my whole time with them, five years. Everything from 11 to 11 formation analysis to the use of storytelling in coaching, using metaphors and analogies for young players to resonate their learning in non-football contexts.
technical development, defensive specific articles, everything that you'd imagine a youth football coach working not with grass-roots players but academy level and beyond would benefit from. Loads of variety, there's probably maybe 50 blogs on there, maybe more. So come out every month and there's going to be something on there that would resonate with a coach of any age and stage and level.
Alf Gracombe
Great. Well, check out FootballDNA. It's a great resource. I subscribe to it, read it myself. So it's an excellent resource for coaches. Last sort of theme here to touch on with you is you've been working at really the highest levels of Academy football, primarily clubs, but you've also experienced and seen the game at the grassroots level. And really the majority of...
players and coaches, really the experience is there's more grassroots football than there is elite professional academy. So I'm just always curious to kind of explore these connections between the two and what the grassroots can learn from what these elite clubs are doing, how they're coaching kids, what applies at the grassroots level, what might not.
but you've seen both and you work particularly at these younger ages. What are some of those connection points between the two?
Paul Barry
think firstly, to remain involved in grassroots football within my academy roles has always been really, really important to me. As we've said at the beginning of this conversation, that was my first experience working in grassroots football in the local communities as a volunteer. So for me, it's really, important to give back.
to the younger coaches now that are becoming established and trying to develop their passion for the game and forge a career potentially in football coaching, as well as work with the next wave of young kids as well. I think it keeps you humble, you stay grounded, you never ever lose perspective and gratitude of the roles that you're in from an academy profession perspective.
It reminds me also of how much young people love playing the game for just playing the game with no eye on it with being a potential professional career. They love playing with their friends, the social interactions, that sort of thing, physical activity and keeping fit. And yeah, it just takes me back to when I was a volunteer, giving up my weekend mornings for so many years. And if I can give something back from a coach development perspective,
Alf Gracombe
Mm-hmm.
Paul Barry
people development, I can help the kids in some way. It just keeps me linked back to what I believe is the most important part of football in this country, which is grassroots football. Whether you're a professional player or a senior coach working in the highest echelons of the football pyramid, we've all come from grassroots football.
whether that was as a coach or as a player, or most likely both. So we should never forget how important it is. So that's really why I love to remain involved within the local communities.
Alf Gracombe
Is there anything that you feel grassroots coaches can learn from Academy football?
Paul Barry
Thank you.
Yeah, I think in grassroots football, even with the youngest age groups, there can still be, and I've got a park, a stone's throw away from my house, when I'm available too, and I can on an evening or a weekend morning at any stage, I'll wander over and watch some of the coaches deliver, watch the kids play, and you still get this sense that winning is overly important.
So for me, the experiences I've had in Academy football are really beneficial to link back into grassroots in the, okay, winnings that we've spoken about this obviously within the conversation, winnings really, really important, but it should never ever be at the sacrifice and detriment of development and growth. So in Academy football is a real lens and we're really zooming on individuals, knowing that you might have one under nine every 10 years, for instance, that might progress through to your first team.
Alf Gracombe
Hmm.
Paul Barry
So in that instance, individual development is really, really key. So it's training your eye in a technical and a tactical way to zoom in on individuals with that lens, rather than try and think about developing teams. That for me is one of the biggest sort of lessons to try and educate grassroots coaches with, and that there's more to it than just putting out a team and trying to win a game of football. How can you make player X, Y and Z better? How can you stress your striving player to get even better?
Alf Gracombe
Hmm.
Paul Barry
How can you help and challenge your perceived lowest ability player so that they're still loving playing the game? That differentiation is really, important. And that takes time. That's really skillful coaching and not necessarily something that a grassroots coach is going to know straight away. So for me, going back into that world, that's pretty part of my responsibility, I'd say.
Alf Gracombe
Yeah, that's really interesting. mean, obviously football is a team sport. Every weekend you get a result, right? In terms of, did you win the game? Did you lose the game? Was it a draw? And it's easy to focus on that result. And it's also, I think naturally as a coach, it does lead you to this like team success idea and even measuring yourself by your record at the end of the season or whatever it might be. But I've heard this as well before from other coaches, this idea of you're really
you know, the individual is so important, particularly at these younger ages, and that you have to, you're really coaching a collection of individuals. You know, there is, there is an "I" in team in that sense. And as a coach,
observation, I think you touched on it in your last comment is so important, right? Is to really understand what you're observing when you watch these kids play and then being able to speak to their own specific, unique individual development pathway that every child is, is invariably on. ⁓ so anyway, that's, that's a great insight. ⁓ and thank you for sharing it. Great. Well, ⁓ Paul, I amazing conversation. I really just appreciate your perspective. And obviously you've got this fantastic.
a pathway through coaching yourself, as you mentioned, from the grassroots, ⁓ up into the professional academy level and, and, you know, congrats on your success, at Crystal Palace and, the, academy there, which I spent some time on their website, just beautiful facility. And it just must be a really interesting place to work at. right now, I think they're, you know, I caught, was telling you before, ⁓ the call got to see a game last year at Selhurst Park and, kind of connected a bit with the club in a way that I hadn't before.
And yeah, I think they're just a really interesting club. I don't know what it's like to work there, but anyway, it's great to see the work in their academy because they're producing some excellent young players, clearly. So great. let's a little bit something fun here at the end of our conversation.
Paul Barry
It's really kind.
Alf Gracombe
the lightning round so I've got a couple questions I won't have any follow-ups for you but I just want to get get your quick quick take on on these questions so all right let me pull this up are you ready all right okay if you could coach any player in the history of the game as an eight-year-old this is a very hypothetical question who would that player be
Paul Barry
I am ready, yeah. Let's go for it.
as an eight year old, wow, okay. I'd say the first player that comes to mind for me, just because when I was a kid watching this player grow up and represent England and different clubs throughout Europe was Paul Gascoigne. ⁓ So, Gasso for me, probably the English football's biggest character.
Alf Gracombe
doesn't hate your own.
Mmm, Gaza.
Paul Barry
I would have loved to have seen him as a young kid, what he was like. And I've read his autobiography and you see and hear interviews from people that perhaps coached him when he was young. I'm fascinated by what he was like and perhaps he was in what was then his foundation phase of eight, nine, 10 years of age, how he trained, how he played, what his personality and character would have been like and then what age relative wise his football ability looked like.
because he was a fantastic dribbler, strong, powerful, creative, brave. Would have loved to have worked with him as a kid. just as I'm saying Gaza, I've got another name in my head. So I'm going to cheat and say another one if that's all right. My favorite ever footballer was Zinedine Zidane. And similar to Gaza as far as that maverick sort of status of a player. Again, fascinated by him as a person. Had his flaws as Gaza did, you know.
Alf Gracombe
You can say two
Paul Barry
Zidane with the famous red card in the World Cup for instance but yeah would be really interested into what his drivers and motivations would have been like when he was really really young and how that developed into you know into his teenage and into his adult years.
Alf Gracombe
Now these are players that are long since retired, but do you know, is there any footage of these guys as young players? Any video footage that you can actually see what they look like? Like now, it's like Lamine Yamal, we can see high definition video of him from five years ago and see what he looked like as a player. But yeah, is there any footage out there that you're aware of? Have you seen these guys at younger ages?
Paul Barry
No,
if there was it's probably going to be found in some grainy footage on YouTube somewhere. Yeah, very doubtful, but I'm sure if you look hard enough or ask the right people there would be clips of these lads when they were young players. But yeah, they're the two that would spring to mind more than.
Alf Gracombe
VHS tape or something. Yeah.
Yeah, I
mean, I thought I wouldn't have any follow up, but you mentioned two great players and I can, it is interesting to imagine what they were like playing as younger and how they developed these, these skills that showed up on the pitch as professionals. and certainly Gaza like.
personality wise, but you have to imagine he was like a pretty, know, brash kind of Maverick style player who just was fearless and would, you can't develop the skillset that he had without having a certain fearlessness and willingness to just to try new things and to not care, right? If you didn't pull it off. So great answers. All right. Next one. Your next children's book topic. What's the story you're itching to write or what are you working on?
Paul Barry
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah,
so I've got a, again, this idea was written, the same sort of idea as the ones that I've since brought out, but this was one that I found a bit more difficult to try and put together. And it's essentially a story about a boy in his classroom at school, ⁓ Monday morning, is asking the kids what they did over the weekend. And this particular young boy,
it appears to makes up these elaborate stories that he's over the weekend he's flown to the moon he's fought a dragon as a knight he's played for England at Wembley and scored a winning goal and the teacher's getting frustrated telling him to stop lying stop being so silly and the boy's like Adamant yeah but I did I did do these things that's what did over the weekend no one believes him the other kids are taking the mickey out of him and then one by one these characters start
coming into the classroom. So an astronaut walks in, a dragon flies in through the window, the referee from the football match comes in and congratulates him on his goal. And the kids and the teacher are standing there with their mouth wide open. Yeah, so for me, this particular theme of the story was about experiencing different things in life, trying new things, thinking creatively, and expressing yourself through your own storytelling.
Alf Gracombe
Yeah. ⁓
That's great. I look forward to reading that one. ⁓ so good luck. Good luck with that. Great, great, great, great idea. All right. So we've got a World Cup coming to North America this summer. we think, we think it's still happening despite the chaos. I hate to even laugh about it. It's a little bit embarrassing that we're a country about to host the most important sporting event in the world. and, I'm not
Paul Barry
Thank
Hopefully.
Alf Gracombe
sure folks who are going to be visiting quite know what they might be stepping into. So just to say that at the outset, but at the same time, this is an incredible tournament. It's a privilege to get to host it and we're very excited. It was 94 the last time the US hosted it and here we've got it here in the US, Canada and Mexico. So let's just cut to the chase, Paul. Who's going to win this thing?
Paul Barry
Blimey. I've got to England, haven't I? We've been saying England for the last 60 years since they previously won it. And every time these tournaments come round, Euros, Cup, we go in with these really, really high expectations. The flags come out, the bunting comes out, the little flags on your cars. So I've got to say England. I'd say as far as a group of players, we haven't perhaps had this.
Alf Gracombe
You're not.
Okay. Okay.
Paul Barry
high level of players since maybe like the 2006 sort of time when it was what you know Rooney, Owen, Terry, Ferdinand these types of players so we've got a really strong group it's just the case of can they make it work over the course of those four weeks of the tournament and you know acclimatize to the climate you know being on foreign soil but then you look at the competition you look at France, Spain, Brazil, Argentina the home nations will want to impress
Alf Gracombe
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, it's going to be hot.
Paul Barry
you know, they're home fans. So whether they progress as far as perhaps they want to, there'll still be tough games. There's so much competition, but, yeah, hopefully this is our moment this time around.
Alf Gracombe
I mean, it could be they've been, you know, they've been going deep in tournaments in recent years. It's obviously a really strong generation of players. you know, what's interesting is some of the players on the English team are
finding a lot of success, you know, playing in Spain, Bellingham, Rashford's kind of re-emergence at Barcelona has been really nice to see. Does he have a place, you know, in the, in the squad? My wife is a big England national team fan. This is going back to the, what was it? The 96 Euro. We were, we're watching those games. remember. So anyway, so I think they could do it. They could, but to your point, you know, you've got Spain, you've got France, you know, who knows?
Paul Barry
Yeah, fingers crossed.
Alf Gracombe
Brazil, right? Ancelotti is coaching there. I've been really interested in Norway. They've had this great run through the qualifications and we're getting Norway-France game here in Boston in the group stage, which will be a cracker, I think. ⁓
Paul Barry
Let's hop in.
Alf Gracombe
Yeah. And England plays Ghana here in Boston. So that'll, that'll be a good one to see as well. All right. So, just staying with the world cup for a second. So there's always, you know, these kind of the young players that maybe you didn't know about, that show up in the world cup and they have these great performances, like I think Cody Gakpo for, you know, for the Netherlands, ⁓ in the last cup just kind of emerged out of nowhere, seemingly out of nowhere. Like who do you see as some young players that you expect to make an impact in the tournament? ⁓
Paul Barry
Yeah, good.
Yeah,
so again, like you said a moment ago, what with YouTube being as it is and accessing clips from players, we're seeing more clips of younger players than perhaps we ever have done. perhaps in this particular tournament, the young players might not be as much of a surprise because we would have perhaps heard of them previously and they're in their first teams in whichever country and league that they're in. For me, you've probably got Pau Cubarsi of Barcelona, you know.
Alf Gracombe
Hmm.
Paul Barry
19 years old, center half, strong, outstanding on the ball, really high level game insight and tactical understanding established in the Barcelona first team. For me, he'd be one to really to watch out for. And then you've got Lennart Karl at Germany, plays for Bayern Munich.
Alf Gracombe
Hmm.
Paul Barry
Still only 17, I think he'll be 18 by the time the World Cup begins. Small, quick feet, tenacious, dynamic, can play central wide. He's got an eye for goal, know, scored in the Champions League this year for Bayern. So they're the two for me that will be worth keeping an eye on.
Alf Gracombe
yes, right.
Yeah, cool. All right. On to the pitch with the young players. What's one of your favorite training exercises to do with eight to 12 year olds and why?
Paul Barry
Yeah, so the session that springs to mind for me mostly is a session that's on Football DNA and it's called Rapid Fire. One of my most favourite games in that it is essentially just a game. Of course, there are some constraints based around the dimensions of the pitch, the territory and the constraints and objectives. So, it's called Rapid Fire. It's an attacking based practice that can be used as a
a development for long range shooting, close range finishing, but really easy to set up. Goal at each end, so it's directional, keepers in goal, halfway line, which is really, really key as a reference point. You might have a ⁓ 3v1 or a 4v2 in either half in favor of the possession team. So we say initially in this particular practice that the players are locked into their halves. So there's no sort of movement between halves.
to begin with just to establish some sort of a some easy learning at the beginning to keep it more simple. But yeah, then we give bonus points for maybe if it is long range shooting, that's the key or the thing to work on. might give what you score from your own defensive half. The goals are worth two. You score in the attacking half. The goals are worth one. You might flip that in that goals are worth more in the attacking half because you're under loaded. You might be one V three or two V four against the opposition.
then you can start to progress it into movement between halves, pass forward, run forwards, go and join in, play a rotation, one moves forward, one drops back. But because it's directional, because there's finishing, there's transition between attack and defence, the keepers are making sort saves and having to stop shots all over the place from different distances and angles. Yeah, you can tighten the pitch up, so you've got sort of quicker shots that are more sort of frequent. Yeah, rapid fire.
Alf Gracombe
Hmm.
Paul Barry
my favourite game related stuff.
Alf Gracombe
Rapid fire. I'll put it in the show notes. Yeah. No, I love, I love these ones
where you can change the rules, tweak the conditions a bit to get different, incentives in place for the players. And you find kids at that age are able to, make those adjustments to, know, with the rule changes and.
Paul Barry
Yeah, absolutely. And I think I've delivered this particular practice to under eights. I've done it with under 18s. You just obviously manipulate and adapt the size of the pitch, the numbers, the objectives, the types of coaching points that you deliver. With the older players, it might be stopping and freezing, giving something more direct. With the younger ones, it might be a little drive by, keep the ball rolling, issue a little individual constraint or a challenge. So the best practices for me are the ones that you can adapt.
simply enough to cater for the age group.
Alf Gracombe
All right, last question. If you weren't coaching football, what would you be doing?
Paul Barry
Yeah, I think as I grew up and we spoke earlier in the conversation about being at school and GCSE PE, A level PE. So at one point I was considering going down that route and looking to train as a PE teacher. You know, the passion and love I've got for working with young people at one stage it was do I sort of venture down the primary school teacher routes.
When I got a bit older, I actually went through the training to become a firefighter as well. Went through all the training, all the physical tests, all the psychological tests. Yeah. Passed all that. This was obviously some years ago now. And yeah, I wasn't able to pursue it as a career just because there were no local vacancies at that time. So I would have had to wait 12 months, do all the assessment again, and then reapply. So it wasn't something that just quite fitted in at that time, but that was an option. Yeah. And I suppose.
Alf Gracombe
Hmm. Really?
Paul Barry
The other one would be obviously to go down the author route and become a full-time children's picture book author. So I've given it a little go of it on a part-time basis. So maybe that would be a full-time occupation to pursue.
Alf Gracombe
Great.
Well, Paul, ⁓ this has been just a fantastic conversation. really, really appreciate your time. I think, you know, it's kind of that last question is I think highlights for me. I think just how we think about coaching, we think about the game of football, right. Is it sometimes is this this like, it's a, it's an encapsulated thing, but it's, so connected to so many other parts of life and particularly for kids, right? Like obviously you want to have good training exercises when you're working with kids have the.
sessions, be engaging, have them be fun, have them be development oriented. But the other piece of it, particularly working with the younger kids is what they bring to the pitch, the emotional side. And just, I think you said it earlier, just, you know, if you're coaching these ages, you want to enjoy that and you want that to show up on the outside of what you're doing. Because the kids do pick up on that and they tune into it. And at those younger ages in particular, it's so important. So I just appreciate those insights that you've had and that you've
brought to the conversation. yeah, just a big thank you. Thanks for your time today and really appreciate it.
Paul Barry
Yeah, likewise, Alf, really appreciate the invite. Love the conversation with you and yeah, it's been a pleasure talking with you today.
Alf Gracombe
Awesome. Well, we will talk again for sure. And really appreciate your time and enjoy the rest of your day.
Paul Barry
Yeah, you too. Thanks Alf.
Alf Gracombe
That was Paul Berry, a UEFA A licensed coach developer, children's book author, and the current head of coaching for the foundation phase at Crystal Palace FC. A few things that stand out to me from this conversation. First, Paul's point about catching kids in rather than catching them out. That USP model that he shared, using the players names, giving specific feedback, and praising both verbally and non-verbally. It's simple, but powerful.
and it shifts the focus from outcome to intention, which matters enormously at this age. Second is insight about individual development versus team performance. Even in grassroots football, where winning can feel like the only measure of success, Paul reminded us that we're coaching a collection of individuals. Each kid is on their own development pathway, and our job as coaches is to observe them closely enough to speak to that.
And third, appreciate how he bridges elite academy football and grassroots coaching. He's clear that staying connected to grassroots keeps him grounded and reminds him why kids love the game in the first place. It's not about preparation for a professional career. It's about the joy of playing with friends and developing new skills. If you want to check out Paul's children's books, you can find them on Amazon. We'll also link to his work with Football DNA in the show notes.
where Paul writes and creates content for coaches. And if this episode resonated with you, share it with another coach who works with young players. And as always, thanks for tuning into the Coachcraft Podcast. Until next time.
