Our coaching philosophy: unleashing potential

What truly sets PJ's Coaching Lab apart is my firsthand professional experience. I bring a unique perspective to coaching, allowing me to identify and address the 'little things' that other coaches might miss. These are the nuances I've experienced myself in games or witnessed top professionals execute – invaluable insights I can directly impart to my players. This bespoke knowledge gives our players a distinct advantage.

Purpose driven

I believe every single session should provide situations that the game demands. It's easy to make a drill look pretty and easy on the eye, but this isn't the realism of the game. 

Whenever I coach, I always ask myself, would the player see this picture in a game or in a training session? Would they be in this situation? I ask myself, am I giving the information required to have necessary and proactive solutions and tools to navigate such scenarios?

This is where we can begin breaking down singular details. This could be a first touch. This could be a body position or distance from the ball or a player.

I often dive into details only found from experiencing and playing football at a high level. These nuggets of information and details I believe really set me apart from others. Knowledge and wisdom to coach can be learnt, but certain details can only be found through lived experience. 

Ball speed and tempo

Now we are diving into a specifics, I'm a big believer and intensity and tempo of the work done during a session. Equally I believe on the ball, things should not be done all at one pace, a change in intensity or tempo whilst on the ball can throw defenders off. Being a defender myself I love to give insights into this especially to attacking players to really help them understand the game from a defenders point of view. I have seen this help many players massively.

The tempo of a pass is something I demand, also the knowledge of when a firm passes necessary and when a soft pass might be the better option. 

Ball speed links into this so well, the ability to move the ball off 1 and 2 touch efficiently, I believe it's something that is overlooked by many coaches, we can talk about pretty feet. We can put pretty drills on, make players do loads of skills, but can they move the ball efficiently in a football game? You pass the ball more than you dribble at players, so why isn't being able to circulate the ball of both feet effectively taught as more of a priority?

With that said it is a fine line,  There has to be a balance of what I player needs. We have to take into consideration a players age. Uncomfortable understanding of where the player is at you can't coach too many principles at once so there has To be an understanding of what is important for the player in this moment?  I am a big believer in mastering the basics and then advancing them.