#59 Red Flags, Green Flags & The Truth About Kids' Football Coaching
From Shouting From The Sidelines by Luke Towning
April 20, 2026 · 1h 20m
About this episode
The episode discusses key aspects of youth football coaching, including red and green flags for parents to consider.
This month, we were invited onto Robert Ursell's podcast Raising Footballers Unfiltered - and the conversation was too good not to share with with out listeners! Rob is a former professional footballer and England Futsal international, now based in Dubai where he runs The Futsal Academy. We have been going back and forth on Instagram for a couple of years - agreeing on some things, pushing back on others and this episode is that conversation in full plus loads more. We cover: What is the constraint-led approach and does it actually work?We break down how Foot-Tech structures sessions from the moment kids arrive, why 100% opposed training is non-negotiable and how we get even complete beginners learning through the game. "They're not ready for opposed training yet" — the biggest myth in youth football?Both coaches address the most common pushback they receive head-on, and share why the research tells a very different story. Red flags every parent should know about From sessions that look more like dance rehearsals than football, to coaches using kids as extras in their own highlight reels, to the "we'll get your child scouted" promise - we break down the…
People in this episode
Host: Luke Towning
Guest: Robert Ursell
Topics covered
- youth football coaching
- constraint-led approach
- red flags in coaching
- green flags in coaching
- parenting in sports
Keywords
- youth football
- coaching
- red flags
- green flags
- constraint-led approach
- football training
- parenting
- Futsal
- Raising Footballers Unfiltered
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: The Futsal Academy
Places: Dubai
More episodes of Shouting From The Sidelines
- #60 7 in 10 Kids Quit Football Before They're 13 - Here's Why · May 11, 2026 · 34 min
- #58 We’ve Coached 1,000+ 1-to-1 Football Sessions…Here’s What We Learned · March 18, 2026 · 1h 2m
- #57 Accepting Where Your Child Is in Football (Why Pushing Too Soon Can Backfire) · February 26, 2026 · 31 min
- #56 Why Kids Keep Making The Same Mistakes (It's NOT Skill) · January 21, 2026 · 44 min
- #55 Q&A - How much training? Mixed Teams? Behaviour Issues? · December 5, 2025 · 34 min
- #54 The Physical Side of Kids’ Football: What Parents Really Need to Know · November 24, 2025 · 31 min
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