Five English youth coaches filmed and reviewed their training sessions over three seasons. By season three, they gave fewer instructions and less feedback, and they spent more time watching quietly. Four of the five asked more questions. Researchers compared video from seasons one and three and asked the coaches why they made each choice. ¹

The coaches watched their own sessions and thought again about how they coached. The study had no group of coaches who went without film review. The researchers also did not measure player learning or match play. The study shows that the five coaches changed how they coached. The study cannot show that film review caused those changes or that the players learned more.

Pick one football problem. Film it. Record what the coach did and what the players did next. Plan one different coaching choice. Then film the same problem again.

Less talk can mean several different changes. A coach may watch the players more closely, miss a chance to help, give shorter explanations, or stop play less often. Each change can affect the players in a different way. Film helps a coach see when the coach spoke, which players heard the message, and what the players did next.

Watch what happens after the coach speaks

The Coach Analysis and Intervention System is a research tool for studying coaches. The tool records 23 kinds of coach behavior. These behaviors include instructions, feedback about a player’s work, questions, practice management, and body movements. The tool also records when each behavior happened, who received the message, what the coach said, and what was happening in the practice. ²

An instruction before practice begins is different from an instruction that stops a live play. A quiet correction for one player is different from a talk that stops the whole team. The players’ next actions can show whether the players understood the message, ignored the message, or could not use the message.

A coach and a reviewer can watch the film together. They can talk about what the coach wanted to happen and what the players did next. Cope and colleagues suggest repeating that review process over time so coaches can think more carefully about their work. ³

Raya-Castellano and colleagues watched 22 team film reviews led by four coaches of high-level youth players. The coaches mostly told players what to do. Each coach’s own account of his coaching differed from the behavior recorded on film, but the size of the gap varied by coach. Film can show the coach what happened, but film cannot choose a better coaching approach. ⁴

Count how often the coach stops play, waits, leads players toward a preferred answer, or speaks mainly to the loudest players. A coach who talks all the time needs a different change from a coach who watches for long periods but gives little help to each player.

Choose what the coach should do next

Pause the film just before the coach speaks. Ask three questions. Does the player need one clear instruction right now? Could several choices solve the football problem? Would stopping play remove the chance for the player to read the game and learn from another try?

The table below is a suggested tool for reviewing film. The table draws on research about coach observation and questions. Researchers have not tested the four rows as a scoring system. Coaches should use the table with the goal of the session and the needs of the players in mind.

For example, a coach might tell a full-back to turn sideways before receiving the ball. During live play, the coach might ask which teammate is unmarked. During a break, the coach might ask the players for different ways to draw the other team’s winger forward and then move the ball into the open space.

Match each question to the right moment

Six Spanish academy coaches joined a six-week coach learning program. Researchers followed the coaches for 24 months. Four coaches completed a workshop, practice tasks, and film reviews. After the program, those four coaches asked more questions with one correct answer while play was moving. They asked more questions with several possible answers between activities or after stopping play. ⁵

Two coaches did not finish the second guided task, which asked them to review clips and answer questions about their coaching. Carlos did not answer any of the review questions. Daniel answered only one set. After the program, both coaches asked fewer questions in total. The four coaches who finished every task asked more questions in total. Their film showed the planned pattern: questions with one correct answer rose during live play, and questions with several answers rose during breaks. Carlos and Daniel did not increase the two question types at those times. All six coaches said they understood questioning better, but only the four who finished the film reviews put their new knowledge about question types and timing into their recorded coaching.

The study included only six coaches and had no group that went without the program. The study therefore cannot prove that the program caused the changes. The pattern suggests that coaches may need to practice questions in real sessions and review the filmed questions later before their plans show up in their coaching.

Nineteen Australian youth coaches asked an average of 71 questions per session across 35 filmed sessions. O’Connor and colleagues found that about 52 per cent of the questions had a limited number of correct answers. The other questions, about 48 per cent, allowed several possible answers. Only 7 per cent of the questions that allowed several answers required players to solve a problem. ⁶

A question count cannot show who formed the answer. A coach may ask a question that sounds open to many answers but use tone of voice, repeated phrases, or follow-up questions to push players toward the coach’s preferred answer.

Cope and colleagues studied the questions asked by five academy coaches. The coaches often demanded quick replies, asked questions that led to one answer, and did most of the talking. Players often received the coach’s information instead of working out their own answers, even when the coach seemed to invite the players into the talk. ⁷

After a coach asks a question, let the film keep playing. Count how long the coach waits and how many players speak. Listen for players to explain different choices. Then watch whether the players use one of their own ideas on the next try. A question gives players time to think only when the coach lets the players form and use an answer.

Give quiet time a clear purpose

During a quiet period, watch one player, one group, or one game clue that appears again and again. A coach who wants the team to move the ball past defenders might watch a midfielder who receives the ball. Across several tries, the coach can watch where the midfielder looks, how the midfielder turns, and what the midfielder does first.

England Football Learning suggests watching the first mistake, allowing a second mistake, and treating a third similar mistake as a possible pattern. Researchers have not tested this “rule of three.” The rule can still give a coach and reviewer a clear way to discuss why the coach waited or spoke. ⁸

Three similar tries may show that the practice is too hard, one player keeps missing the same game clue, or the group is fixing the problem without help. The coach can then speak to one player, take a small group aside, stop everyone, or change the practice. A careful choice can give players help without taking away more playing time than needed.

Quiet watching should end when a player needs a correction, support, or praise. A study included 95 players from ages 14 to 18. The players reported feeling more skilled, more motivated, and more noticed by the coach during sessions in which the coach gave feedback. ⁹

The same coach led sessions with feedback and sessions without feedback. The players filled out forms right after each session. The study did not test what the players remembered later or used in a match. The findings still warn coaches that long quiet periods can leave players feeling unseen.

Film one coaching change twice

Start with one football problem that appears often, such as finding the unmarked player behind the first line of defenders. Film the session. Mark every instruction, question with one correct answer, question with several possible answers, and quiet period related to that football problem. For every marked moment, record when the coach acted, which player or group received the message, and what the player did next.

Choose three moments that show the same football problem. Do not group unrelated coaching moments together.

Plan one different coaching choice for each moment. Prepare a short instruction when the player must make one move right away. Prepare a question with one correct answer when the player needs to notice one clue during live play. Prepare a question with several possible answers for a break. When another try can teach the players, name the player and game clue that the coach will watch while staying quiet.

Say each planned instruction or question out loud before the next session. The instruction or question must fit the available time. A question with several possible answers also needs enough quiet time for players to discuss more than the first answer.

Film the same football problem again in a similar practice. Check whether the coach used the planned coaching choice. Check whether the practice still made the players face the same choice. Then check whether the player noticed the game clue on the next try.

A 2025 review searched 1,149 records and found only six studies that measured results with numbers and met the review rules. The six studies used different practice games, feedback methods, and measures of player decisions. Because the study methods varied so much, the reviewers could not combine the findings into one answer.

One study compared quiet encouragement with “strongly pushed feedback.” During strongly pushed feedback, the coach spoke loudly and constantly. The coach told players when to press, when to run back on defense, and whether each move was good or bad. Every game-play measure fell during strongly pushed feedback. The researchers counted how often players won, received, lost, or kept the ball without attacking. They also counted passes and successful shots on goal. However, the differences were not large enough to rule out chance. Another study showed players film after small-sided games, which use fewer players than a full match. The players’ decision scores did not clearly improve. These studies do not prove that strong feedback harmed play or that film review cannot help. ¹⁰

Researchers still need to connect each coach’s behavior with what players remember and use in later sessions and matches.

Pause each clip just before the coach acts. Ask: Does the player need one clear instruction now? Could another try help the player learn? What did the player do after the coach spoke or stayed quiet?