Our philosophy

Our club philosophy was first developed for and by our U11s team; it has now been adopted by the entire club.

CCYFC aims to deliver a positive learning environment for all young footballers through coaching, practice and matches. The club fully supports the FA initiatives of ‘non-competitive’ leagues.

At Chipperfield Corinthians YFC we believe in providing a positive & safe learning environment where players are challenged and are allowed to develop technically, tactically, physically and psychologically in a supportive environment allowing them to learn from their mistakes without undue pressure & anxiety

Our goal & objective is to not only educate players, but to also let the players have fun, fostering a life-long love of the game.

We believe the balance of fun and learning is essential to the development of a player. We understand that our players are not ‘mini-adults’ & that developing football players is a long term process

Our identity as a team is not only expressed through the way we play football, but also through our coaching methodology and the relationships we have with our players and their parents.

At Chipperfield Corinthians YFC we don’t believe that a session full of instructions and orders from a coach has a positive effect on a player’s development, as they are being commanded rather than coached.

Instead we try to allow the players themselves to facilitate and contribute to their own learning. This is achieved through the use of questions and answers before, during & following a session or match, this allows the players to think for themselves and expedite their own learning process, as this is a form of guided discovery.

In training we encourage failure and mistakes, as it is a great form of learning, but also to give the players the confidence and belief to try everything without the feel of unnecessary pressure. We encourage the players to express their opinions and ideas and as coaches we try to work with them and create a more collaborative learning environment. We believe coaching is a two-way process, and that the player-coach relationship is vital in a player’s progression.

At Corinthians YFC we try to promote and embed key areas of football into our teams’ style of play:

Passing and Possession play

We want each player to be comfortable on the ball and play a style of football where the tempo and flow of the game is directed by ourselves, in order to create goal-scoring opportunities.

Playing from the back

We want every player (regardless of position) to have the confidence to play the ball out of the defensive third, through a series of passes where we are always in control of the ball and therefore the game.

Ball Control

We encourage players to use their creative side through ball manipulation, this also allows each player to be comfortable with the ball even in high pressure situations.

Body Positioning when receiving and passing

Body positioning can make a vital difference when it comes to receiving and passing the ball, a correct stance will allow the player to see a large number of options and also the opposition in order to retain possession or create chances.

Two touches and awareness

As we like to keep possession and control the play, it is vital that the players are comfortable and can always see more than one option which will allow them to let the play develop. Therefore we encourage our players to take two touches (when possible) and relax on the ball in order to pick out the best option.

Communication & life skills

It is important for a team to communicate so that players are made aware of things they can’t see and therefore help each other out. We encourage our players to be vocal and offer assistance to their teammate through various ways of communication. We also want to teach the players life skills ( Co-operation, Teamwork, Communication & Friendship )

Decision making

As mentioned earlier, we want our players to be confident in their abilities, therefore we encourage our players to take responsibility during games and be bold when making decisions without undue pressure & anxiety if mistakes happen

Understanding of tactics & game situations

We want our players to understand their positional responsibility - this means giving the players an idea of how positions or team shape works in the framework of the team, also allowing our more technically gifted players the freedom to play.

At Corinthians YFC we play a style of football which aims to control the match through positive & possession based passing football.

Conventionally people believe that goalkeepers and defenders have less technical ability than other positions . We believe that it is vital for every player on the team, in despite of their role, to have a level of technique which enables them to be confident of keeping the ball and playing.

The main rationale behind this style of football is that if you have the ball, the other team can’t score. We want our players to be confident on the ball and to always have a positive, forward thinking mentality when playing football.

Although we fully understand superior possession doesn’t always lead to a win, it is a style which is more attractive and less objective of a player’s physical attributes, so a player’s build is irrelevant to our style of play. In the formative years of playing football this is a vital component to understand when developing a team at this age group.

It also allows each individual to develop their technique and understanding so that they play as a team and not as a group of individuals. Therefore we encourage our players to build the play from the back and play a passing game in order to create scoring opportunities.

We believe that all our players should be given equal playing time on match-day wherever & whenever possible.

We also encourage the development of their game understanding by rotating positions during practice and matches & ensure that a ‘free play game’ is part of any practice session.

Corinthians are extremely focused on providing quality football experiences for all involved – be that coaches, players or parents. Therefore we do not aim for high volume numbers but focus rather on providing a high level learning experience. We will not start a new team unless all the factors are in place to ensure excellence can be achieved. We enter each match playing competitively with an ‘Always Compete’ philosophy & approach.

As a parent you need to know that we do not have a “Win at all Cost” mentality. We aim to ensure each child develops to become into the very best they can be and that this sport contributes to their emotional, psychological and intellectual growth.

As Coaches we insist that the kids are polite with each other, their coaches, opposition teams and referees. We cannot stress how much seriously we take this. There is a zero tolerance for roughness, rudeness and impolite children or parents.

As volunteer coaches it is our objective to support the continual development of our players and developing ourselves to help our players is an essential component of achieving this.

Therefore it is essential that as a minimum, each team has at least one coach with the minimum set of FA Qualifications:

• The FA Level 1 Award in Coaching Football

• FA Emergency Aid

• FA Safeguarding Children Workshop

All of our Coaches have enhanced FA CRC checks.