How football inspires my teaching (part 1)

“I learned all about life with a ball at my feet” — Ronaldinho

My first “teaching” and leadership role was as a football coach. It was tough, managing a team whose only victory in 3 years was because the team didn’t turn up; on top of the fact that the first match I watched of them before I took over, they lost 21–0.

But it was also an excellent canvas for me to learn a lot of practical tips that I have adapted for the classroom.

Have a philosophy

“Sprezzatura” is the level of skill which I aim for all my teams and students to achieve. That they will be equipped with the skills to both learn and educate others, in a seemingly graceful way but a result of diligence and purpose. Cryuff said, “Soccer is simple, but it is difficult to play simple.” The same could be said of the abstract, nuanced and complex content within Citizenship and Religious Studies; that while being a human is supposedly fundamentally simple, it is difficult to do simply.

Having a philosophy, a way of teaching is paramount to developing strategies, routines and tactics that help to make what is difficult about simply learning, simple.

My philosophy is about helping my team or students win at life; to be equipped to deal with the highs and lows that come from within ourselves and our interactions with the world. I call it ‘AC3’ and it includes things like ‘Stoic-based lesson objectives’, routine tasks for specific subjects and better yet, it’s continuously developing to improve my ability to communicate complex techniques or content, in a simple way that enables my students’ progress and attainment.

Formations = Seating Plans

Great coaches have a philosophy, a way of playing. Having a philosophy of how you want to teach or play, needs to be supported by a strong sense of routine and identity; often found in the set-up and formation of your team or classroom. You have to know your players to get the best out of them; do they have visual impairments, how are your routines and expectations supported by your formation? You also need to get them to buy into your philosophy, to see that it is the best way for them to express themselves, grow and achieve their goals.

(Before COVID) I have an “E” seating plan, conference-style that lends itself towards debate, teamwork and support. I know which students will flourish at the back, which students have visual requirements to either sit closer or further from the board; I know which students require support from me and which students are better stimulated towards progress by others. Putting people in the right places to prosper is an essential part of any formation, and the same goes for seating plans.

Working with mixed abilities

“You don’t teach Ronaldo how to shoot; you teach him to be part of a team.” — Jose Mourinho

The research on ‘setting/streaming’ has argued that it is ineffective at best and damaging at worst. Which I get, if knowledge is power, it must be teamed with the wisdom to wield it’s power responsibly in service to others. I have KS3 students who will never have to re-learn how to use PEEL as a structure for their writing for as long as they live. They will, however, have to learn how to use that structure to communicate and advocate for others, or even support others in the classroom get up to speed. There is some truth in students, sometimes, finding it easier to learn from other students; allow the students who don’t need to be taught the skills, to learn how to be responsible, to share, to work together and overall, help the team and the class to prosper; not at their own expense, but to achieve our goals.

Ubuntu — I am because we are: Trust

As an Arsenal fan, watching Martin Keown explain how there were times he felt safe as a defender to not concede a foul because he trusted David Seaman to make a save (the Goalkeeper), lets me know how much they had learned to trust each other.

I have a set of values that don’t change for either my teams or my classrooms: Trust, Support, Growth, Integrity and Unconditional Love & Respect. Of those, ‘trust’ is the hardest to instil and maintain, but once it is achieved, it is a glorious practice to observe. Trust is key to the goal of any absent leader, any teacher who has needed cover and every parent as their children grow older; that you can lead, teach or be present without actually having to say anything or be there.

Trust comes from an understanding between your team or class that they need each other to succeed, to excel, to fulfil their potential and to believe in the individual and unified goals they have.

Trust was the first thing I learned to instil and battle with as a coach. It was trust that, in my first 3 matches as their manager, earned a team that never had won — 3 wins in a row.

It was ironically an inability to trust that led to a dip in performances: micromanagement removed all self-belief in me as a coach. I trusted my mentor enough to speak to her about it, and she said something I have never forgotten, “trusting them is trusting yourself.” It echoes of Patrick Lencioni’s quote that every teacher and leader has to ask themselves first in pursuit of progress and the heart of any storm/crisis “do you trust your team/students with your job?”

I work to make sure that I can trust my classes when I’m not there, that they know the routines and expectations we have in place to ensure their success.

Maximise their potential — not yours

There we were training one weekend, doing simple kick-ups, and I found myself getting frustrated at the lack of technique — my technique. After a conversation with my mentor, I realised that I had been trying to train 22 boys to be me, rather than me trying to train 22 boys to be the best version of themselves.

I now take that same principle into my classroom, when students come up with novel or innovative ways to achieve the desired goal, I encourage and applaud it; I will even share it if it helps my students to complete tasks expeditiously. My job as a coach and a teacher isn’t to create insecure clones of myself; but to encourage the confidence, techniques and authenticity within my students and players who will rely on these when they are inevitably challenged by life.

*Inspired by a recent conversation on Twitter about ‘Last Chance U’ on Netflix.