#032 Off the Pitch with Active: Interview with Mark O’Sullivan, UEFA A licensed coach at AIK in Stockholm, Sweden

Mark O’Sullivan is a UEFA A licensed coach and is head of youth
development for 8-12 at AIK in Stockholm, Sweden and is part of
their Research and Development department. Mark is currently
doing PhD Research Sheffield Hallam University, UK, which centers
around designing learning environments in youth football. Mark
has also worked as a consultant for the Canadian FA (2017)
helping them to develop their new coach education program. He
regularly holds lectures, talks and practical sessions around the
world. Not just confined to soccer Mark has collaborated with
coaches in Basketball, handball, floorball, figure skating and
ice hockey.


If you want to read Mark’s own personal insights then just go to
his Blog: https://footblogball.wordpress.com


Overview:


107:23 Min episode


3:20     Introduction


5:38     Referring to a previous question to
Richard Bailey, if there is a conflict between how children learn
and how modern youth sports elite programs are carried out that
is causing an imbalance?


19:20   How can we preserve unique playing styles
emerging from environments outside sport if using a linear model?
Mark talks about an interview Pavel Datsyuk, the Russian NHL
player called the “Magic Man”


25:08   A key factor in the research at AIK, is looking
how they create motivational climates when it is the children’s
inner motivational factors as a key for participation,
performance and personal development over time.


31:55   AIK’s 3 principles 1. Wellbeing of children 2.
Following United Nations & rights for children and Gov
documents about children in sport & 3. Having more players,
play U16, U17, U19 and into their senior team. They also have a
clear pedagogical model and principals within the club.


41:12   SDT and how it relates to development


45:40   Programs are becoming based on economic models
rather than learning models, which shifts the focus more towards
the economics


52:50   Fascinating that coaches from
different sports from all around the world say NO to the
following question “If we restart youth sports from zero and
rebuild it based on children’s physical and emotional needs,
would it look like it does today?”


59:55   Afordances landscape of training: isolated
individual skills on one end and free play on the other. The
optimum opportunity of interactions of which the training is
design is likely somewhere in between. The question to ask
ourselves as coaches; Does the design invite, permit or inhibit
young players to interact and learn?


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