The Coach Diary "let the kids play"

Irelands loss to Czechia

Repetition, repetition, repetition. Training isn’t about perfectly recreating the game — it’s about preparing the brain & body for moments within it.

Why even train for the game if we can never replicate it.

All 4 phase & set-pieces should always be trained.

Have they heard of Ronald!!!

Why repetition matters
🧠 Muscle memory: Repeating the same movement wires it into the body so under pressure you don’t have to think — you just execute.
❤️‍🩹 Consistency under stress: In a match, heart rate is up, crowd noise, pressure… repetition makes the action automatic.
✅ Confidence: If you’ve hit 100 balls in training, stepping up in a game feels familiar, not foreign.

Why training doesn’t need to fully replicate a match.

Training breaks the game into pieces:
✅ Technique (striking the ball cleanly)
🧠 Decision-making (where to place it)
🔁 Scenario work (wall, keeper positioning)

Then the match puts all those pieces together in chaos.

The key idea

Training builds:

“I’ve done this before.”

So when the moment comes, instead of panic, the player thinks:

“Same strike, same routine… I know this.”

Why bother if success rates are low?

Because:
• The difference between winning and losing can be one moment
• The player who has practiced is the one most likely to take that chance.

Same principle in coaching kids:
⚽️You repeat behaviours not because they always happen…But so when they do, the right response is already there.

Holders Portugal face record champions Spain 🤤

final 🏆

Two of the best Futsal countries in the world go ahead to head tonight. A must watch game. Crazy how a country with the weather we have we haven't developed this game as a national sport!

Don't move the season but instead find solutions. Futsal and more multi sport facilities!!!!

Why futsal in Jan–Feb actually makes sense:
⚽ Touches, touches, touches – more ball contact in one session than two outdoor matches.
🧩 Technique under pressure – tight spaces, quick decisions, proper football IQ.

🏃‍♂️ Conditioning without smashing bodies – sharp, intense, but safer than churned-up grass.
🧠 Better players long-term – awareness, angles, receiving on the half-turn… all transferable.
😌 Parents & coaches happier – warm, dry, consistent sessions.Less cancellations, less stress.

Ideal setup (in a perfect world):
❌ No outdoor league games in January
🏟️ Futsal leagues / festivals Jan–Feb
🧠 Focus on technique, creativity, confidence
🌱 Return to grass in March with better players and healthier pitches.

Countries that produce technical players didn’t stumble into it by accident — they protect winter development. We just keep pretending January football is “character building” when really it’s football erosion.

As we step into a new year, we wish everyone luck, health, and happiness 🍀✨

Let’s be a little kinder, more patient, and more tolerant — especially on the sidelines 🤍

Children never forget how adults made them feel 👶⚽

Be a positive influence in every space you enter 🌱

From FAI: "Introducing the 15 founding clubs that will form the new FAI National League, set to kick off in autumn 2026 🤩

This historic new third tier of Irish football will be the top tier of grassroots football and create a direct pathway between the grassroots game and the League of Ireland for the first time. An exciting new era for Irish Football 🇮🇪⚽️"

Unbelievable 🇮🇪

Parrot is some baller!!!! 💛

1 - Troy Parrott is the first player in Republic of Ireland's history to score a hat-trick away from home. Astonishing!!!

The world’s gone completely mad. Every sideline in every sport is overrun with idiots who think they’re experts. Shouting at refs, coaches, players — even kids. Most of them never played at any decent level, never coached, never took responsibility for anything… but suddenly they’re a Pro coach the second a ball is kicked. It’s exhausting, it ruins the atmosphere, and it sets the worst example for kids watching. And now it’s not just football — even golf has them. Golf! A sport where you’re meant to clap politely and whisper. How did we end up producing so many ignorant morons who feel entitled to poison every game?

A very Young teenager tragically died last night from inhaling nitrous oxide (“doing balloons”). 💔 These so-called “laughing gas” balloons may seem harmless to some, but they can cause suffocation, brain damage, or even death.

👉 Tell your children: stay away from these balloons.
👉 The government still hasn’t acted on this growing danger.

Please warn your kids, talk to them, and share this message — it could save a life.

Cesare Prandelli on the Italian youth system: "The truth? If 10 years ago we had been lucky enough to have a talent like Lamine Yamal on the youth camps, we would have let him slip away.
"Our coaches would have taken away the joy of playing and having fun by getting drunk with patterns, diagonals, occupation of space, second balls and attack on the deployed defense.
"In our football schools we have been going in the wrong direction for years.... We need to change. Instilling in 8, 9 or 10 year olds the fundamentals that must belong to a professional footballer is madness. I'll try in my small way, it won't be easy, but something has to be done.
"With President Gravina we are working on a FIGC project that concerns football schools." @ SOCCER WORLD NEWS HQ

📊 2025/26 UEFA Champions League – Player Representation

👥 Total players: 983
🇮🇪 Irish players: 0 ❌

🌍 Smaller UEFA nations with players in the UCL:
🇱🇺 Luxembourg • 🇲🇪 Montenegro • 🇬🇪 Georgia • 🇮🇱 Israel • 🇧🇦 Bosnia • 🇧🇾 Belarus • 🇫🇮 Finland • 🇦🇱 Albania • 🇸🇮 Slovenia • 🇸🇰 Slovakia • 🇭🇺 Hungary • 🇦🇲 Armenia • 🇽🇰 Kosovo • 🏴 Scotland • 🇲🇰 N. Macedonia • 🏴 Wales • 🇬🇧 N. Ireland

🚫 UEFA nations with NO players in the UCL:
🇮🇪 Ireland • 🇧🇬 Bulgaria • 🇪🇪 Estonia • 🇦🇩 Andorra • 🇫🇴 Faroe Islands • 🇬🇮 Gibraltar • 🇱🇻 Latvia • 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein • 🇱🇹 Lithuania • 🇲🇹 Malta • 🇲🇩 Moldova • 🇸🇲 San Marino

Don’t blame the manager. When kids are travelling the length of the country and barely getting a chance to kick a ball, the system is broken. Our most successful senior player? A goalkeeper!!

Latest: 🇦🇲 2-1 🇮🇪