Ep. 30 | Assistant Head of Coaching (U8s-U12s) at Premier League club - Paul Barry

Today we welcome ex-Arsenal & Watford Youth Foundation Phase coach and current Assistant Head of Coaching (U8s-U12s) at Crystal Palace, Paul Barry to the podcast. We begin the podcast by talking about Paul's journey up to now, having coached for over 20 years at various levels. We then talk about our different experiences we've all had as coaches and the challenges of coaching younger football players. Paul shares with us that becoming a parent has hugely impacted the way he coaches and to better understand how young people think and behave when in certain situations. Paul then talks about the importance of helping young players to develop a growth mindset through his coaching as this can help them with the way they respond to setbacks on and off the pitch and even outside of football. We then go onto talk about Paul’s coaching philosophy and some values he strongly adheres to which have made him the football coach he is today. We then go onto to talk about the important role parents have on their talented young footballers development as players and individuals and Paul provides tips for what parents should and should not do / say or not say after a game if they are to support their child the best they can. We then go onto to talk about the deselection process and how successful Arsenal deal with players who do not get offered a contract by supporting them to find trials and offer psychological support. We then go onto to talk about Paul’s personal experience of seeing a sport psychologist and how valuable it has been for him during his career, even as a coach. We finish the podcast by talking about Paul's projects outside of coaching at Watford being a content creator for Football DNA as well as a children’s picture book author. Paul then answers the questions you had for him.