​The Circle of Fun, Challenge, Success, and Confidence

A simple, repeatable, and reliable coaching philosophy

As a coach you pick up so many different quotes and ideas from different areas. The ones

that stick are nearly always based on simple truth and fact. “Simple things don’t break

down”, “Head , Hands, Feet”, B.A.D. Ball- Attacker – Defender, the list goes on.

The FCSC coaching philosophy was developed as an approach to improving

performance and hence improving ones results. The FCSC model is easily measured,

easily repeated, and very reliable. It aims to develop confident players and teams, and if

followed, will afford coaches the opportunity to make real improvements in the players

and teams they work with.

Lou Holts is not a household name in the GAA, but Lou Holts is one of the most

successful American football coaches of all time. He has written several very informative

books regarding his coaching philosophies and ideas. One of his most useful Formulas,

for success in both sport and life, was the WIN Formula. WIN stands for What’s

Important Now. At times of difficulty and uncertainty if you know what the WIN is,

then you should be getting on the right direction. Perhaps the FCSC philosophy works

well because it focuses on What’s Important Now.

So how does this FCSC philosophy work. FCSC is a cyclical model and is shown below.

Club/County Identity 

Fun/Enjoyment

Challenge

Success

Confidence

FUN= ENJOYMENT

People play GAA sports for various reasons. Some like the physical challenge, some like

the competitiveness, some like the “feeling part of something”, some feel that this is how

they are judged by others, some play to keep tradition alive, or at a push from their

parents. No matter what reason people play our games, it is our job as coaches to ensure

that they are keep playing, at what ever level that may be. A natural tendency for us as

humans, is to continue to do things that we enjoy. Normally when we don’t enjoy things

anymore we will stop. Various factors will be at play when players do decide to stop

sport, but the coach should not be one of them. The challenge as a coach is to ensure this

never happens.

So enjoyment for players must be the starting point. This does not mean shying away

from hard work, or having no edge at training. Constantly varying your drills, adding in

competition, small sided games, are just three ways of making training fun and enjoyable.

As Coaches, you will have lots ideas on this. We all need as many players in our clubs as

possible, and it is a shame to let talented players slip out of our hands. It is your job to

find what players like and enjoy, and adapt our training to their needs. This first step is

key for player retention and is important at all grades. There is nothing more pleasing as a

coach than hearing players say “ That was great session” , more often than not it is great

when they enjoy it.

CHALLENGE

In order for a player or team to grow, they must be challenged. Providing the right

challenge produces a motivational response at an individual level. The right challenge at

training would be classified in the Sports Psychology world, as a performance goal.

Setting a target for performance, whilst the target can be met. For example, simple drill of

catching and striking/kicking at a set distance (20m) with your partner can invoke serious

effort if the players have a set time and target number of passes. Then once they have

achieved this, ask them to set a slightly higher but realistic goal of maybe one or two

more passes. The effort they put in will be fierce. But importantly, when they set the goal,

they have ownership of achieving it, and have responsibility. Lack of personal control is

one of the most de-motivating things in life, and therefore giving players personal control

motivates them immensely.

Simple things that can be manipulated to increase the challenge are time, number of

passes, number of tackles, space, numbers, intensity, weak side, etc….Your imagination

will be your biggest obstacle, but you should not challenge just for the sake of it, there

must be a reason, and it challenge must be attainable. Top coaches and players are always

challenging themselves; top coaches often challenge their teams and players to improve

in a positive way.

SUCCESS

By setting appropriate challenges, coaches can ensure that their team and players are

achieving success at all times. So it is important that coaches get players used to

challenging themselves, not only in training but also in games. Success is guaranteed by

the challenge set. Too high or low and this will back fire. Success can in some ways be

simply measured by improvement. If we improve as players and teams, then we can

claim some success, no matter how results go. A lot of the time in GAA, success is

measured by results, and rightly so. But, the sign of a great coach is that he has every

player wanting to improve at an individual level, and every team wanting to improve at a

collective level. So success can be determined at different levels, and will be determined

by the challenges we as coaches and players set.

CONFIDENCE

Achieving success increases confidence. Life is full of these stories. Repeated bouts of

success will produce great confidence, a vital ingredient in developing teams and players.

It is easy to convince yourself that you can do something when you have done it before.

We have often heard the saying “ Success breeds success”, but should this be “success

breeds success because success breeds confidence”. When players and individuals

achieve success, it should be acknowledged, to instill confidence. But the Cycle must

continue.

An improvement in performance is often associated with higher levels of confidence,

both at team level and individual level.

An improvement in performance is an important factor associated with improved

results, if the not the most important.

The importance of the CIRCLE

It is important to keep going back to the start

of the model, too often we follow it through to

the end and as soon as we see championship

victory coming we begin to focus on the result

first. Pressure increases, the enjoyment goes

out the window, and want to play, becomes

have to play. People wonder where it broke

down. It sometimes breaks down because the

basic fundamental aspect of fun and

enjoyment has been forgotten..

This simple philosophy should allow coaches

to strip their coaching right back to basics. Get

the players to enjoy the experience first and foremost. Although there will always be

other factors at play in determining results, alot the factors we can control are all included

above, and this is important.

Thinking back to the start of this article, WIN and simple things don’t break seam very

true in this coaching philosophy.

One underlying principle that should run through this philosophy is the importance of

ones club or county, which is club or county identity. This can be introduced at various

levels and intensities, determined by the age of the players, and the importance of the

matches being prepared for. The importance of identity flows through the Circle because

Pressure increases, the enjoyment

goes out the window and want to

play becomes have to play. People

wonder where it broke down. It

sometimes breaks down because

the basic fundamental aspect of

fun and enjoyment has been

forgotten.

It promotes ownership and responsibility, it rewards small gains, and aims to create

players who strive for that extra inch for their cause. The strength of the Identity is

viewed as the player’s attitude to the club or county.

To summarise- Make training enjoyable, challenge your players and teams, allow them

to achieve success by the challenges you set, and instil confidence as you go, whilst at all

times emphasising the identity and importance of the club or county