"It's a huge challenge, and it's one that we face every single day"
From a player's and family perspective, if others are protecting their own position, then you have no choice but to do the same. Where is your evidence that you are good enough?
Football career knowledge base
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What happens when clubs get releases wrong?
A release is a moment in time. One point in a long process. A chance to be honest and reflect. A chance to critique feedback and re-prioritise.
Extreme Ownership
In ownership comes a level of freedom we can't accomplish without some hard work.
Trust in professional football
Trust, in aspect of elite sport, is hard to manage. But it isn't in a space away from a club. This is something I have increasingly focussed on in my work.
30-1 Shot
We might look at the high number of under-21 players used by Sunderland and think, this is a good place for a career. BUT, a further move or loan has been necessary for these players.
Moving the needle
The confidence of being on the pitch, present, in the moment, unshackled, unburdened, all because you have a plan, that is where performance peaks. That is how you shift the needle.
The first cut is the deepest
Biological age in a football academy refers to how physically developed a player is compared to their actual chronological age. What does the research say about the impact of this?
Getting an Agent: How to...
If you read these blogs, you will know I love the conceptual idea of Simon Sinek's "always start with why?" and that it is worth asking about an agent.
"But they may as well take the extra training"
Research often flies in the face of "common sense". For example, we've all been told that practice makes perfect, so it stands to reason that the more we practice becoming a footballer, the more chance we have of "making it". Unfortunately, that is a very simple way of looking at things.
Do clubs have plans for their players?
It remains the case that in most academies, career planning is absent, leaving young players and their families vulnerable to clubs that, in many cases, also have not planned a player's career.
Do we medicate the fish or clean the tank?
I hear a lot of discussion about culture in clubs - clubs love to find "culture carriers" for their teams, but how often do they reflect on the environments that have given rise to certain cultures?
The gift of Brené Brown
We, as family members, can continue to pretend that running out in front of 40,000 people is a pleasure, or we can be realistic about the challenges that confront our kids in this brutal world.
Survivorship bias and why you need to know about it
"But we have the data, why wouldn't we use it?". You can only use data if you know how to handle it.