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These are tips that I developed from my playing days. These techniques worked well for me and I hope they can help others become the player they want to be.

1. Run every day

Running 3 miles every day is a great cardiovascular workout and will help keep you at your peak fitness. Run uphill as much as possible. At around 2 miles, find a steep hill and sprint up it for about 20-30 meters then turn round and walk back down. Repeat this 5 to ten times before finishing the run. If you do this every day you will find you can play at your best for longer because you’ll be stronger and fitter.

2. Do exercises to increase your speed

Find a drop of around 150cm or stand on a barrel or safe object of a similar height. Jump off, landing on both feet in a squatting position and stand up straight as quickly as possible. Make sure you are well warmed up and stretched before doing this exercise to avoid injury. This exercise will strengthen quick reflex muscles in the legs, improving speed.

3. Learn to play with both feet

Most footballers play far better with one foot than the other, it’s difficult to improve your touch with your stronger foot. Concentrating on your weaker foot is a quick win as bigger improvements can be made with less work. Kick a ball against a wall using only your weaker foot. Have a scratch game in training where everyone plays only with their weaker foot. It doesn’t take much effort and you will notice results within a short space of time.

4. Learn a new trick

When you see a new trick by a professional, watch it closely, over and over again before attempting it. Online video is good for this purpose. Spend 10 minutes every day learning and perfecting the trick. Don’t try it in a game until you can do it perfectly every time and don’t overuse it or your opponents will figure you out.

5. Learn from the professionals

Watch professional footballers play and copy them. Sounds obvious but you’d be amazed how few players do this. Pick a player who plays in the same position as you and watch him closely, learn his tricks and pay attention to his positions when not on the ball. The player you choose should be someone you look up to and aspire to. The player I liked to learn from was Franck Sauzee, the ex-France, Marseilles and Hibernian midfield player. An excellent all round player who was always at the peak of his game.

Finally, don’t be put off if you don’t become Maradona over night. It takes time to become a great player and improving every part of your game gradually is the important thing. Sticking to a good routine and training properly are the key things to remember.

To bring out the potential in junior and youth football players, you need to use a variety of coaching techniques. Here we look at the five stages in development that can be used in training sessions to help your squad grow as players.

Stage One

Unopposed Practice

When working on building the technical skills of your players, this basic coaching technique can be used. Important tasks for the players to master are body shape, body alignment, movement related to the football and mastering the ball, i.e. feel, touch and controlling it.

Give clear instructions and use frequent demonstrations. Use language the players will understand such as laces as opposed to instep.

Use this solely to develop skill, do not introduce opposition. If players are presented with opposition too soon, they will not have developed the basics of a procedure and will be focusing on the opponent, hindering their skill development.

During this stage, the only decision making required from the player is which part of the foot needed for ball control, how they need to move and the path and speed of the ball.

Stage Two

Passive Opposition

Once your players have learned to master the ball, you can move on to introducing passive opposition, increasing the pressure slightly on the players by giving them something else to focus on.

After a player passes the ball to the receiver, he must follow it, as if he is going to close off his partner. The receiver must show ball control, letting it move no further than a foot from his body.

As an alternative, set out two cones at a distance of three yards away on either side of both players. The instruction is to ensure the pass keeps within the cones. This helps develop accuracy in passing but also works on the control element. The receiver controls the ball, manoeuvres it round a cone and passes the ball accurately to their partner, ensuring the ball keeps inside their partner’s cones.

Stage Three

Positive Opposition

To build up the players learning experience, it’s vital to increase the opposition. More opposition means the possessing player will need to think, make decisions and react, therefore developing techniques into honed skills.

At this stage, you are trying to place the player in situations they will face during a game. Reduce space and the amount of time spent on the ball in this stage to allow the player to make decisions quickly whilst keeping possession.

Stage Four

Small-Sided Games

Small-sided games are great for football development.

Act out some situations and utilise more free playing areas as this will really build the players football skills and sharpen their decision-making. Practical play will have a big effect on the players’ development during these small-sided sessions.

Stage Five

Team Play and Full Game Practice

This is a bigger version of a small-sided game. This is the real deal, in a real playing environment, using real opponents and real game situations. Responsibilities, positional play, tactics, moves, formations, support, defence, attack, all blend together here, and make the players work together as a team.

Developing players in specific areas or responsibility can be achieved in small-sided games but with full game practice sessions, everything integrates into a real match situation.

Summary

Preparing a coaching program using these five stages will really improve the techniques and skills of your players.