The 10 Pound Challenge: Why the Best Coaches Say the Least

If You Try to See Everything, You See Nothing

Most coaches believe the most important thing they should do in training is 'teach': explain, demonstrate, correct, give feedback. A player does something wrong, stop them and correct it right away. A player does something right, offer a word of praise right away. It feels as if, unless the coach is talking, training isn't really happening.

Emily Senior doesn't see it that way.

Senior is the Regional Coach Developer for the North at The FA, responsible for coach recruitment, training and support from Yorkshire up to the northernmost parts of the North East of England. Before that she coached in grassroots football, at private football centres, and across all levels of the women's game, from 18 month old multi-skills classes to the adult Women's National League.

On The FA Coach Cast podcast she talked about a topic many coaches overlook: observation.

She said something that stuck with me:

'I really do think observation is one of the most important coaching skills. If we're not observing our players, if we're not finding the right moments to observe, then none of our other coaching skills can be used.'

Then she added something even more pointed:

'If you try to see everything, you see nothing.'

What Are You Looking At?

Senior says the first step in observing isn't 'looking harder', it's knowing what you're looking for before you even step onto the pitch.

'You have to know what you're looking for. Once you're clear on that, you can look through a positive lens, intervene at the right moment, and praise at the right moment. All of these coaching skills are built on observation.'

That sounds obvious, but think carefully about the last session you ran. Did you really step onto the pitch with a clear observation goal? Or did you just look at whatever seemed to be going wrong?

Many coaches' session plans spell out the technical topic for the day, the activities, the pitch layout. But they don't write down 'what I am going to observe today'.

Senior's suggestion: when you plan your session, write your observation goals into the plan.

Say today's topic is turning. Your three coaching points might be: body shape before receiving, the surface of the foot used to turn, and the acceleration after the turn. Then when you're watching from the side, you only look at those three things. Not everything. Just those three.

'Write it in your notebook. You might get pulled away by other things: a bad pass, two kids messing around. But remind yourself: today I'm only focused on turning.'

The 10 Pound Challenge

This is the most practical tool in the whole interview, as far as I'm concerned.

Senior says she used to struggle to talk less herself. She was the kind of coach full of energy, wanting to give players feedback non-stop. Until she started using this method:

'Imagine you have 10 one pound coins in your pocket. Every time you speak, whether it's a correction, a piece of praise, or just shouting something out, you spend one. Once the 10 are gone, you can only observe for the rest of the session.'

'If you spend all 10 in the first 20 minutes, then for the next 40 minutes all you can do is watch. But the interesting thing is, you'll find that during that pure observation time, you actually notice more.'

Why does this method work? Because it trains two abilities at the same time:

First, your observation skills get stronger, because you're forced to spend more time looking instead of talking.

Second, every time you do open your mouth becomes higher quality, because you only have 10 chances, so before each one you think: is this worth a coin.

Senior says this method completely changed her coaching behaviour. She used to feel that if she wasn't talking, she wasn't coaching. Now she knows that when she isn't talking, that's when she is truly learning. Learning the players' state, learning their decision making patterns, learning when the right moment to intervene actually is.

The Rule of Three: Don't Jump In the First Time

Senior also mentioned a principle that works alongside the 10 pound challenge: don't correct a player the moment you see them make a mistake once.

'The first time might be an accident. The second time might be a coincidence. The third time, it's a pattern, and now you can step in.'

The logic of this 'rule of three' is simple: if you see a player take a heavy touch on the turn, your instinct is to rush over and correct it. But maybe next time, they'll adjust it themselves. If you rush in and fix something they would have solved on their own, you haven't only wasted a 'coin', you've also robbed them of the chance to self correct.

Wait for the third time. If they've had the same issue three times in a row, they genuinely need help. Stepping in then is when it actually has value.

Where You Stand Decides What You Can See

Senior touched on something very practical that few coaches really think about: where do you stand during training?

'There is no one position that is always right. You should decide where to stand based on what you want to observe.'

She gave a few examples:

If you're working on a centre forward holding the ball up with their back to goal and teammates' runs, you should stand in the middle of the pitch so you can see how much space is in front of the forward and the timing of the runs.

If you're working with younger age groups and what you need to observe is engagement across the whole group, you should step back to the sideline or behind the pitch so you can see everyone.

On match day you're limited by the technical area, but you can think: is there someone who can watch from a higher vantage point for you? Is there someone who can see the angles you can't?

'If you're not clear on what you want to see and from which angle, your observation will be inefficient.'

Match Day: Shut Your Mouth, Get Your Notebook Out

When talking about observation on match day, Senior said something very down to earth:

'On match day we can't just shout at a player the moment we see something. We have to hold it in our heads, maybe jot a note down, and then talk to the player at half time or after the game.'

'There are so many distractions on match day, so many other things pulling you away from what you should be focused on. So it's even more important to plan ahead what you're going to observe during the match.'

One of her key points: what you observe on match day should be directly linked to what you've worked on that week in training.

'Don't introduce any new coaching points on match day. Everything you say on match day should already have been practised in training. What you're observing in the match is whether the players are using what they worked on in training.'

If training worked on body shape while pressing, then on match day you observe body shape. Not passing quality, not runs off the ball. Just body shape.

Observation Isn't About Catching Mistakes, It's About Finding the Right Moment to Step In

Senior shared a real example of her own. When she was coaching at Bradford City Women, she noticed a very talented midfielder who was highly creative and decisive on the ball, but whose recovery runs off the ball weren't aggressive enough.

She didn't shout 'get back and defend' during the match. She waited until the next training session, found the player before the session, had a quiet conversation for a few minutes, explained why recovery runs matter, and gave her two small tips to make recovery runs easier.

'In the second half of the season, her recovery runs became some of the best in the team. She later told me she couldn't believe one conversation made such a difference.'

The key to this story isn't what was said in that conversation. It's that Senior observed for long enough, waited for the right moment, and spoke to the right person in the right way about the right thing.

If she had jumped in and shouted the first time she saw a recovery run lacking intensity, would the effect have been the same? Almost certainly not.

The Hardest Thing a Coach Has to Do Isn't Teaching, It's Holding Back from Teaching

We've written plenty of articles on coaching behaviour before. 'Talk less, watch more' has been said countless times, but most coaches still can't help themselves once they get on the pitch.

Senior's 10 pound challenge gives you a very concrete tool you can start using today. Not the abstract 'talk less', but the specific 'you can only speak 10 times today'.

Next session, give it a try. 10 coins. Each time you open your mouth, spend one.

You'll notice two things:

First, your 10 coins run out faster than you think.

Second, during the time after the coins are gone, the time of pure observation, you'll notice things you've never noticed before.

Maybe a child in the corner who has already lost interest, while you've been busy correcting another child's technique. Maybe a child who made a really smart decision, while you were looking at the other side.

These things are only visible when you keep quiet.

This article is based on The FA Coach Cast podcast interview. Emily Senior is the Regional Coach Developer for the North at The FA, with coaching experience from grassroots through to the Women's National League.