Clínica CrocoFlag 2025 - Coach Kenny Bello

yeah so yeah welcome coach welcome

everyone uh for those who are watching

this later um this is our first Q&A

session of this year we had the first um

session that was not a Q&A was going

through the IFAF rules with the referee

uh Andreos Pisering and uh it it lasts

four hours so I know that we talk a lot

i have this this very clear idea that I

have to manage my time better so don't

worry don't you worry coach i'll be uh

watching the clock and making sure that

we can make this within one hour all

right so um if you want to introduce

yourself to those to to the people here

I'm going to later get the recording

translate them and put the subtitles for

those because we have a lot of players

and not all of them speak English so

yeah feel free to introduce yourself and

speak as you as you like so I can

translate later perfect thank you very

much and thank you for inviting me um to

join you it's it's a a very big honor

for me to be asked and to join you today

um I'm Kenny Bellow as I said hopefully

I don't have to apologize for my English

because it will be translated later um

but I am Oh I I've been involved with

American football for uh 20 over 20

years now um and absolutely love the

sport i both tackle I played tackle

first and coached then I moved to flag

um I've been I've worked hard but I've

been fortunate and blessed to represent

uh Great Britain in both tackle and flag

both as a player and a coach um and then

in my normal life I'm a teacher a

primary school teacher like an

elementary school teacher um so really

coaching um allows me to combine my love

of teaching and education with my love

of American football um and

uh before flag was a big thing I used to

wonder what would be the benefit of all

the hours spent studying and learning FL

and then somebody somewhere had a big

idea to put it in the Olympics and now

you know flag is a big deal though I

think flag was growing anyway and flag

has always been the best way I think to

introduce American football to the world

so I'm just very happy to be in a very

good position um now that you know flag

football is a thing um I am founder of

the it was the UK Jukes now it's just

the Jukes or the Jukes worldwide um we

started off

doing videos about seven years ago six

or seven years ago with one-handed

catches and just fun things to get

people excited about playing football in

any way shape or form and now the brand

is um one of the biggest brands here in

Europe at least um that is not it's not

specifically a team it's not a

tournament but it's a brand to do with

you know just promoting the game

promoting people that play the game the

right way um and people who are

ambassadors for the sport as we try to

grow the sport um I'm also sorry to

interrupt you but uh I will have some

slides in the end to promote the the

institute and your podcast so you can

talk now but you can talk more about

that in the later so I I will so we we

do I will just for now I will say we are

able to do a great many things um with

the brand which includes as you will see

later the podcast a school for flag

football like an online school for flag

football um we work with many nations

you know and I'm I'm super excited to

add add Brazil to that list uh today um

but I consult with the Swiss national

team I'm offensive Ive coordinator for

the Spanish women's team um who had some

very sad news we had well I'm not going

to we're going to leave that to one side

for for this

um uh there's a great many things and I

I don't mean to as as humbly as I can I

I think it's just amazing to be able

to live what I love you know and I think

that's a lot of us in here are are you

know are working in the realms of what

we love to do because uh there still

aren't very many people in the world

that get paid to do you know American

football and flag football specifically

um so for a lot of us it's it's doing it

out of the love and and that's why I am

again very honored to be here with you

today so sorry if I've missed anything

but

that's that was perfect yeah and and for

those who still don't know but I'm one

of the students from the the Dukes

Institute and Coach Kenny is I would say

my mentor in international flag football

because I've been a lot of things in

Brazil but now living my country makes

me understand how much things are still

to be learned and to uh get in touch and

yeah incorporate in my in my coaching

skills so uh coach we got uh 12

questions from our our community it

includes coaches includes the players

and um basically I try to pick from

different groups so different aspects of

the game uh feel free to answer them um

as you want want them but

um I know that it's a very short amount

of time to get cover all the main topics

and I try to get some like glimpses of

what you can bring to the table where

they can learn more later and what's

important for a team like ours that is

very competitive in a very big country

with a lot of teams but at the same time

in a very not ideal level of flag so we

have a lot of teams but we have a lot of

bad teams and we are trying to be like

the best team in this select this very

specific group of the teams who are

trying to do the things in the right way

so not not bad teams developing teams

developing teams yeah some of them are

bad like I think they refuse to improve

yeah oh dear you should later I'll talk

to you about a team called Tapeara

Dragons they are just like they they

their set hood is like dragons fire and

they get snapped you know like it's so

it's so yeah you know from our classes I

just wanted to say quickly you know from

our sessions whenever coaches meet

nothing takes an hour so if we go over I

I I don't mind you know it's I'm happy

to be here and to talk with you guys so

all right so uh let's go first

question this is something uh that was

requested from a player who is living

his prime he wants to go to the national

team or he was called for the national

team right now but we have a lot of

people in our roster with the potential

to go so this is something very

important because it's sometimes it's

hard to manage the expectations from

people who are trying to compete

internally but they're seeking a greater

uh opportunity uh in the national team

so what is essential for a high level

athlete um especially in this is all

flexible for us so yeah um one of the

things I always preach first and

foremost is that I think I I mentioned

when I was in doing my introduction that

a lot of us aren't paid to do um the to

play flag whether coach or or play so I

think understanding what it is to be a

professional athlete or at least a

semi-professional athlete is absolutely

um important and if you look at any of

the I always use Olympic athletes as an

example i think people sometimes think

every single Olympic athlete gets funded

to go or they get paid and it's their

there are many Olympic level athletes so

the best athletes in the world who also

have day jobs who also have families who

also have you know

responsibilities outside of the the

sport that they do as an athlete so I

think one of the main things is

understanding what it takes to be a high

level athlete both from

a for us on the field and off the field

um I'll give a personal example i eat to

this day i'm 40 years old now to this

day sleep is one of the things I find

most difficult but the thing there's a

mindset that comes when you're trying to

be a high level athlete an understanding

of the demands uh on you as an

individual the sacrifices you have to

make and as I said the things you have

to

understand around so not just I I know

how to be a receiver or a quarterback on

the field or I understand the game you

have to live it you you have to every

every moment not just even every waking

moment but every moment how much sleep

you get if you're not getting at least

at the very least 8 hours it should be

more it should be more like 9 or 10

hours of sleep every day nutrition

understanding what to eat when to eat

how your own body works uh

hydration your your your stretches rehab

etc it's a lot of work and it's a lot of

knowledge that we have to have and again

for where we are as a

sport that knowledge isn't really

available so I think everyone right now

especially in flag is still doing a lot

of searching and and trying to find this

information so I don't think there is

any

uh individual or any group that will

have everything that you need but it's

about for me knowing where to go to get

the right information for yourself to

know how you work best and you operate

the best ultimately being an athlete is

about um biomechanics your movement your

ability to move quickly with in a number

of different planes and so on and so

forth i won't again I don't think

today's a session for the science behind

it but if you

were trying to optimize a car right and

having to know where's the engine

where's the I know nothing about cars i

don't know why I chose that one but like

the carburetor the what all the all the

different parts it takes a car to fully

function the body is an even bigger

machine you know where we if we talk if

we take the psychology the physicality

all of it so I really think it's

important to understand every facet of

what it takes to optimize performance at

the right time um in the right

environment and Then my favorite to

still be a nice person on top of all of

it because no one likes uh athletes that

are uh not very nice i won't use another

word so sorry I I feel like I'm just you

know spouting a lot um but to be a a

high level athlete you have to

understand what it is to be professional

to treat the the the game like it is

your job and in the same way that you

have uh your performance reviews at work

in the same way that you get bonuses if

you do well or you get fired if you

don't do well to treat flag in the same

way um and having said that I I very I

truly believe you have to also

find a way to keep the love for you have

to love what you do whatever it is if

you don't then you'll find it very very

difficult sorry yeah you know this Leo

my way if if if there's any questions or

you know if there's any follow-up

questions to this question please ask it

because otherwise I feel like I just say

everything and then No it's it's okay

it's okay i think this is a very basic

question but it talks a lot about what

we're trying to to create here and how

difficult for us is to to create this

mindset of how you treat your body how

you you prepare yourself how you you

live the flag outside of the flag

football field as well all right so um

the second one is is a little bit

related to that uh what do you think

would be the ideal weekly routine for a

high performance athlete focused on flag

football uh I I guess here now like you

have a lot of experience with um very

good athletes from the national team

that you coach or the players that

you're around and people who you've been

around for a while i think it's not only

just like understanding what it takes to

be an athlete but like this routine what

do you think it was the common thing

that you found on those athletes that

you've met during your life i I I think

this is a great question all of the very

best athletes players that I've had the

opportunity to work with who I think

manage their routines well i think the

most important thing is that they find a

way to work around their their own

schedule right and what I mean by that

is so some of the girls I'll take the

Spanish national women's team some of

the girls are nurses who work crazy

shifts at different times you know

sometimes it's night shift sometimes

it's you cannot be you have to be um I

say fluid robust you know agile in your

ability to fit

your flag football

routine around your

lives again emphasis on you cannot I

think I've seen people I I have I do

know people unfortunately who sacrifice

important parts of their life because of

the sport it's not healthy and always

every example I can find it always in

eventually it falls down because

everything is is on the one in the one

all the eggs are in one basket um and

there there's nothing else outside of

that that that helps them keep some

structure in their lives and some some

sense of the bigger picture

um having said all of

that I jump to the other end of the

scale where I say you cannot you will

not succeed as an elite athlete in flag

if you only practice once a week or if

your mind is only on it once a week or

twice a

week ideally you have to find a way to

engage with the with the game and I I'll

explain that in a second i believe you

have to find a way to engage with the

sport at least five or six times in the

week now when I say engage with it you

don't necessarily have to be the one you

don't have to be in practice running

around necessarily throwing a football

catching pulling flags but whether the

focus is today's my gym day for you know

and you should really have at least

three of those a week and whether

today's my gym day or whether today's

the classroom day where it's going to be

a mental day for rather than it be a

physical one a day

for whether it's yoga or stretches or

mobility so it's not necessarily

strength it's not explosive work but

it's looking after the body um and then

repeating one or two of those several

times over the week if as a player if

you're not whatever your position

whatever role you play if you're not

throwing catching pulling flags running

around at least three times a week I

think you will at least three times a

week it needs to be more honestly um to

get to the elite level and you'll find

all the top players whether in America

whether in you know whichever country

you want to choose Germany uh Mexico

you'll find that they're all playing

around that three times a week mark you

know when when whenever possible i have

a follow-up question for that because I

didn't include here but some people ask

about watching film watching tape and

that's something important that we try

to do as much as we can here in

Crocodiles i think

like sometime and we had this discussion

me and you in our 101 sessions about

like if the the game is played by the

players or by the coach so how much do

you think that the responsibility of

watching tape of watching like the

opponents or watching like practice

tapes because we try to record

everything that we do here in our

practice how much do you think it's the

coach who should bring to the players

and like hey guys this is this is what

we need to focus or the players should

do by themselves and and here I'm

talking about the high performance

athletes because in the end of the day

like if we have a lot of development

athletes which is the case of our team

uh they have a different way of learning

the sport before thinking about

competing in a high level but I'm

talking here about those who have been

taught well already so and that that was

I was going to take the easy way out but

I won't so because the the the easy

answer is it depends how much they know

so some players if they don't know

enough about the game as much as they

want to give the time to watching

film it has to

be with purpose so they have to

understand what they are looking for

what are they watching and watching film

is not easy i think some people think if

I just put the hours in if I just will

see it and see it you have to I I I'm a

big believer like uh Bill Bichc makes

all the all his coaches do every single

play you watch you draw it out whether

it's offense or defense every single

time you draw out all of the all of the

different routes all of the different

movements that you can identify um in

the play and it's difficult work and it

takes a lot of time to do it properly so

the easy answer to your question is it

depends how much the players know but

the more the players know the more the

players should want to watch film so

your most experienced players your most

knowledgeable players should continue

that growth of their knowledge because

they are actively seeking out

opportunities to watch film learn from

what they're watching

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um and if you if you have the resources

to do it that extends to watching your

next opponents watching for tendencies

looking at who they're going to be

playing um so there because there there

are many different ways to learn from

film um

ultimately the

responsibility lies with the coaches in

my opinion at the very when you get to

the end of the road the responsibility

lies with the coaches because as a coach

you you cannot rely

on having players who want to watch film

so whether players want to watch film or

they don't want to watch film or they're

understanding what they're watching or

not understanding what they're watching

the coach's job is to is to raise that

level for everybody in the organization

within the team however your players who

will want to get to the high performance

level who want to be the very

best they might hate it i I as a player

I hated watching film and you know I I

will I will admit to that i I I enjoy it

more now as a coach because I understand

but I say that as a player I didn't

understand what I was looking at if I'm

honest I was a very good athlete i could

run around i could catch footballs with

the best of them but I didn't understand

the big picture as a player and you know

I think I would have been much better as

a player if I did so um ultimate

responsibilities with the coaches but

the high performance athletes the higher

players should understand that they need

to be watching film even though they

don't they might not like it if they

love it that's good that's easy you know

problems this this is my my cue to say

to this team that we have here uh the 6

a.m club so some players they do uh not

official practice 6:00 a.m uh I think

twice a week or something like that and

I would love to see this type of

spontaneous uh initiative of people like

creating like a film club or something

that they can watch together without the

coaches needing them to to do as they

are doing with the 6 a.m club as well

playing playing is more fun coach you

know that yeah yeah i know i know all

right number three what do you enjoy

seeing the most in your athletes if

possible mention both technical and

intangible

characteristics so basically we we are

not trying to pick your brain here or

how do you select your players for the

Spanish national team for the other team

that you've coached but the idea here is

to understand like okay I like in one

athlete when they are able to do this

and in a more like mental way or and

when they are able to do this in a more

technical way so I know that is a little

bit o too open for that but feel free to

answer whatever you want i will so again

I will start my qu my answer might seem

again like the easy way out

i we've had the discussion where is is

flag is it a science is it art you know

which is which we where do we go i'm

every bit artist i'm like in the art

arts is my camp i believe it's a I think

you have to be creative i think being on

the on the field is a chance to express

yourself so and I I also know that there

are some coaches who are you know if I'm

all the way art on this side they are

all the way science and you know data

numbers on on that side and you know and

somewhere in the middle um so for me

personally there

is I will tell I'll tell a small story

so hopefully to understand I worked with

a coach who does um gymn he's a

gymnastics coach who's now in Australia

but he was working with

um I think it's either China or Russia

when they were doing the their

gymnastics prep before the Olympics

and the way the coaches So the coaches

are either Chinese or Russian doing gym

teaching gymnastics and the you know the

the the athletes are doing all these

crazy somersaults and you know on the

bar

and the question that the the only

question that the coaches would ask the

athletes was did you feel it you know so

they might be learning to do some sort

of flip or twist or whatever and it's

you know the the question they they only

question because if they if the if the

athlete didn't know they would just say

it was "Did you feel it?" And then they

would say again like repeat so they

would the athlete would try whatever

skill it was and the question would be

"Did you feel it again?" and the

athletes would just repeat it until they

felt you know now I don't know how you

know how accurate that is you know but

for me the thing I look for

is athletes

who have such a high understanding of

the game that they then

play it's it's a feeling it's not it's

not it's not forced it's not hour it's

not it's actually very fluid

very relaxed you know so and it's the

same it's getting into a flow state so

like sprinters you sprinters when if the

sprinters are super tense you cannot

perform you have to be able to be at

your optimal output to be relaxed and

you know fluid within it um so yeah and

you'll if you ever if you ever if you

watch any of the film from if you see me

on a sideline or whatever the times I

get excited the most are

when I know that someone's done

something but not because they've

thought about it or not because they've

planned it but because they could just

feel you know and I sorry that if this

is not a clear explanation um but it's

it's players that but but because as I

said the feeling comes from a

heightened understanding of that

particular situation so that's

understanding the game it's knowing

yourself it's knowing your opponent it's

understanding what your because as a as

a as a quarterback I know you're a

quarterback coach so like as a

quarterback my skill set might be

different from your skill set so the way

we react to the same situation might be

very different both still successful but

you know at different levels of it

so I'm sorry I hope I'm not so it's not

necessar I'm not looking for yes I love

receivers that can catch yes I love

quarterbacks that but more than that I'm

looking for people who are able to have

such a mastery of their skills and

themselves that they play and it's all

felt it's not really we're not thinking

anymore we're feeling our way through

the game because that's that's the you

know highest level it's almost like

telepathic understanding within a

defense or an offense you know and a

connection with a QB and a receiver who

just just knows the right place to put

the ball because I'm going to turn

around and it's going to be there and

it's perfect and it's beautiful and it's

art you know sorry i get no I I I I

think that's a very cool answer because

here in Brazil we lack reference from

other coaches and right now the current

coaching tree existent in Brazil is from

the men's national team coach and he's a

very science guy so he's on the opposite

opposite road opposite side of the road

hearing you that someone with a lot of

experience in international level with

different uh teams in different

countries like talking about the art

aspect of this is like it's like seeing

the the sport from a different

perspective like watching this mug from

only this side and then learning that

there's another that we never saw it

before so yeah I think it's super cool

and what if I may one more it's the

difference I can use both of them

because none of them's Brazilian so it's

for me it's the difference between

Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi i think

Cristiano is very much more status stats

i'm going to use machines and Messi just

if you watch Messi play I I I believe he

feels his way through games and

everything's reactive it's never planned

and that's why it's always so amazing

and so beautiful to watch you know but

so you are a Messi supporter absolutely

yeah that that's not a problem i think a

lot of Brazilians prefer Messi than

Cristiano Ronaldo even though he is

Argentinian i don't know if you know but

the the rivalry you have with Portugal

and Spain we have here with Argentina

yes yes yes absolutely okay so question

number four what behavioral strategies

can I adopt to strength my leadership as

a quarterback and optimize the offense

dynamics how can I lead effectively

effectively distribute responsibilities

and turn the offense into competitive

unit so this is from our quarterback

from the women's team um the quarterback

position is a very lonely position so

all the time they are lacking for

reference they want to learn how they

should do something that only them are

in charge of doing and that's very hard

so I got a lot of I think the

quarterbacks made the most of the

questions I got and I had to select them

and try to combine some of them but the

idea here is like it's hard for a

quarterback to find their way of leading

and here is not about tech technique or

like tactics because that's kind going

to come in the fifth question but the

the the leadership role of being a

quarterback how do you do you see that

and how do you answer this gigantic

question so I'm going to just gently you

know I like some controversial

statements sometimes i'm going to push

back gently and you because you said the

quarterback position is lonely uh

and while I understand what you're

saying I don't think it should be or I

don't think it needs to be

and for me

two two two quotes um that I I lean on

especially from a quarterback position

is the first one is very simple i think

both of them are from the Bible actually

i'm not sure the f I'm not sure about

the first one i know I know the second

one is but the first one is to know

thyself you have to know yourself as an

individual not as a player you have to

know who you are because before you can

strengthen something especially

leadership you have to know what your

strengths are right you can't just if

you try and just be better right what

are you trying to be better at

um the second things I try to encourage

for my quarterbacks is um is to I think

in the Bible it says to be all things to

all men

so being able

to you know if I have my four I have my

center and my three receivers I have

to to be able to be whatever they need

in any situation I need to know I need

to know them i need to understand who

they are so a and by trying to trying to

follow that quote you then have to do

the things almost you work backwards you

reverse engineer it backwards to

understanding do I know my guys do as a

quarterback I have to know my receivers

do they know me and am I able to be

um whoever they need me to be in the

different situations and times i think

the very best quarterbacks as they might

they might not look like it but if you

take I go to the NFL we take Jayen Herz

or um I'm trying to think of the Bengals

quarterback's name Joe B joe Burrow

thank you i think if we were if we could

be with them in their huddles they will

know the guys that need the noise and

the excitement and the and they can do

that when they need to and they will

know the guys that will need to be calm

and more chilled and and they will know

the guys the receivers that want to do

all the handshakes and the celebrations

and they will know when to do that as

well so

but to the top of the list the most

important

thing you have to be yourself because I

think anyone who is trying to play a

role anyone who is trying to be

something they are not is not authentic

and I think that's the easiest way for

someone trying to be a leader to lose

the trust and the faith of those they

are trying to

lead with that's in the UK we say uh

warts included like so you don't hide

your spots you have to like this is who

you are you know so if you have um

blemishes or whatever you don't hide it

this is who I am and the commitment I

bring as a leader is saying I'm not

perfect I know that but the commitment I

make to you my team and those I'm trying

to lead is that I will always give my

very best it won't be perfect i will

fall down from time to time but knowing

that if I do fall down I can put my

hands up and I can own that and say

"Guys I have not been my best for you

i've not been my best for myself."

Um because I think people e I I would

rather and I think this is the same for

most people i would rather take uh a 70%

quarterback who I know is genuine and

sincere and you know for all their good

and bad they are themselves you know

than the 90% QB who

is sometimes fake or forcing like this

is not you this is not who you are you

know because there it makes it harder to

build then as I said to have that trust

and to build that relationship where you

have to follow the last thing I will say

is I believe very very strongly

that before you can lead you must you

have to know how to follow like I know

that's a bit uh Instagram quote that but

it's true if you don't know if you

cannot understand what it is to follow

there's no way you can lead because you

cannot empathize with those you are

leading and so you're you're you're

leading blindly

yeah number five still in the

quarterback area what aspects should I

pre prioritize to maximize my efficiency

on the field what areas should I focus

on in my studies and training and to

improve my performance so basically all

quarterbacks from this team they sent me

a lot of messages all the time saying

"Hey coach what I should do to be

better?" That's hard because there so

many things under the quarterback uh

umbrella and they need to throw the ball

they need to think about the play they

need to lead them they need to do a lot

of different things or or they don't or

they don't or they don't or they don't i

know that you are the controversial guy

on that but uh my my point here is like

uh what do you believe i don't know if

you know that uh I think it's called

Parto's law that you put 80% on your

effort uh

20 you put the most effort on the 80% of

on the I can I cannot remember but yeah

it's basically like you should put your

your effort on the thing that will bring

the most result so you should not think

a lot about the details that will make

little difference and what is the thing

that they should prioritize to get like

the most of the position like okay I

cannot be the best quarterback but if I

focus on this I can be a above average

quarterback that is good enough for me

to go pursue the other 20% that's the

the question

um the two answers I could give but both

of them will be hiding first of all it's

easy to say everything improve

everything that's that's not realistic

um this question is difficult because I

I believe it really depends on the

individual quarterback

um but it's it's first of all

understanding what are all the parts

that make a good quarterback uh is it

vision is it reading the defense is it

um understanding concepts understanding

what the defense is trying to do is it

the physical trait of having a good arm

being able to throw on platform off

platform um on the run when you're is it

being evasive in the pocket is it being

able to buy time um all of those things

really depend on who you are as a um as

a physical as a as a person as a

quarterback but if I had to pick one

thing um because I think this is the

this is the most helpful

thing i have known I I said just then we

have to know all the attributes i have

known quarterbacks who cannot throw the

ball more than 30 yards who are very

successful who are very

successful because actually they have a

very deep understanding

of and I will say flag please like of

the game right they they understand the

game in a lot of depth so that

everything they do is

uh they play to their strength then dink

and dunk understanding where the spaces

are going to be what the timing will be

in in very minute detail

um because the the the

uh the unicorn is and it's not a unicorn

but the highest level is having that

kind of player a player that could if I

I said to my QB hey you cannot throw the

ball more than 30 yards right can they

still function within those limited

parameters because if they can then

adding a 40 45 yard 50 yard 60 yard arm

come to that is

then it just makes life easy after that

so as a QB I would prioritize yeah you

could go in the gym and and try and

throw the ball further you could try and

get fat if you understand the

game if you really understand the game

that's the thing I would go after you

know because then whatever your physical

traits are you can always perform and

just so I'm clear I'll give you an

example

um with the quarterback I installed with

the Spanish women's team the I think

maybe it's the third line in the

playbook in the offensive playbook is

that our quarterback does not move she

doesn't move left or right she never

scrambles unless we design the play for

her to

scramble for that to happen she must

understand every play the timing of the

play all of them timed to uh She stands

at 14 yards and all of our plays work in

the time it takes the blitzer to get 14

yards to her the plays um where she has

to make the blitz and miss or tries to

we mark with a red cross because we have

to go and

um analyze what went wrong in the play

and it's always someone was somewhere

where they weren't you know so to that

level of detail understanding the so

when I say understanding the game you

have to understand your own playbook as

well that you're trying to run so if we

have any if you ever see the Spanish

women's

QB rolling it's because that was the

design of the play if she's scrambling

around something's gone wrong you know

somewhere and we will we will fix that

so that's what I mean by understanding

the game understanding your plays

understanding what the defense is doing

understanding every situation within the

game

cool um what is the best strategy for

conducting a technical and tactical

analysis of opponents is there a method

or protocol that can make this process

more efficient and structure so

basically this is about watching film um

I know that like this came from a

quarterback as well but I think in the

end of the day is like what players

should look when they watch film and uh

is there like because I know you I know

what you you said in our class but this

is a new uh group of people uh how can

we be more intentional on watching films

not just watching or should we like okay

let's watch one for fun and then the

second one is for finding these tendency

like confirmation i don't know like what

do you have like a structured way of

watching films so you can get the most

out of so yes um and again I'm not

trying to it's just what is necessary I

think I said earlier to watch film

properly takes time it takes a lot and

the reason it takes time is because um

the best strategy for conducting

technical tactical analysis is the long

strategy it is um as I the way we teach

it you watch the first time as a fan or

a supporter and then the next six to

eight times you watch it you are

watching for every player you every time

you watch the play what does uh if if

I'm as defensive coach for example what

does the X receiver do or what does the

wide receiver do what does the center do

what does the Z receiver do what did the

quarterback do and then I watch all of

them again to look for

any tendencies any clues any

um hints in poker they say any tells any

you know does someone does someone fix

their gloves does someone does someone

come out of the huddle a bit more bouncy

when they're you know going deep or

running a double move or whatever

um but quick question do you watch this

as well like not the play itself but

what they do in between plays as well

absolutely absolutely and that's that's

even more important maybe than what

happened in the play it's look for if

you can get film with sound it's

annoying but try and listen for

communication from the from the from the

sideline um to certain teams um it's not

it's not always what is said but it's

how it sounds and I don't know I hope

that makes sense it's not sometimes

there's a bit more energy or not energy

you know like there was I had to I told

So the Spanish girls one of my favorite

players of all time as an offensive

coordinator is all

hitches it it's just it's like a run

play in in tackle it's just five six

yards every time easy um but there was a

point where we ran it so much that you

could see the girls in the huddle they

would

physically like deflate because it's

it's you know for offensive players as

for receivers especially it's boring to

run you know hitches

hitches 10 12 15 times a game easily we

would run all hitches

um watch for tendencies but I I the the

other thing I really encourage

especially coaches or those that are

going to watch film and that look for if

you can find any

um games is sudoku you sudoku is a yeah

sudoku cross word puzzles any any

activity where you look for patterns you

look for repetitive things over and over

do that and train the mind to look

for patterns um I'll say this hopefully

it doesn't get back to them but I'm good

friends with their coaches we did this

and this was we were really successful

with this with the French women's

team if you watch it and maybe it's an

that's an idea for someone to go and

watch to try and identify is to see if

you can find tendencies in there were

points where we could call what play

they were going to run on offense

because it's particular formations they

only ran a you know a limited number of

plays out of and those plays were only

at specific um downs and distances from

the halfway line

ultimately every every

coach just because we are human every

single coach has tendencies or they have

things they fall back on um to the point

where on my call sheet if I and I maybe

I'll send a picture sometimes I write do

not run this play in this situation

there was a time where I I you know

every every single time we were second

and short to half or third and short to

the halfway line there was a particular

play I would call cuz we were shooting

for the end zone and we would run the

same play every time um and it got to

where teams started intercepting this

play that never used to get intercepted

ever um and I realized it was because

the tendency was too obvious or had

become obvious for people to see so

sorry I've gone around but you the the

best strategy is you watch it and you

watch it again and you watch it again

well it's a lot of work for one

person

ideally you can develop

a process okay a way that you do it

where you know is it that first of all

you as I said every time you watch film

you should draw all the plays anyway

okay um and this is maybe when you're

scouting offense more so than defense i

think it's challenging to scout a

defense because defense is

Exactly exactly right so um but if you

draw every play every time then you

group the plays that are similar or the

same and then you look for the patterns

in what was the down and distance what

was the time on the clock what was um

what were the alignments what were the

formations the same with the same

receivers in the same place or did they

move them around because all of these

could give you the clues and then the

last thing I was that we have a shop

here i don't know if we have a shop in

the UK called TK

Maxx um it's a big store like a clothing

store where

um they get a lot of rubbish brands but

every so often they'll get something

nice like an Armani jacket or you know a

nice Nike but it's always they have like

literally thousands the racks are like

massive and long and if you're going to

find the clue if you're going to find

the treasure you have to be willing to

go through no no no no no no almost for

hours so I I say that to say when you're

looking for these clues when you're

looking for these tells it

is hard work and you just have to keep

going through and going through but the

more you do it the more you get a feel

for it and the more you start to realize

oh snap I knew what that play was before

they ran it you know and then the

challenge comes

in being able to communicate that you

know during a game while everything is

happening so it's not easy and it takes

time but it's one of those things that

you just have to do there is no shortcut

there is no easy way around it the

efficiency comes from repetition because

you get quicker you start to realize you

know to see things better and I

challenge our coaches if you can watch

an offensive play and see all four

routes from watching the play

once that's a real I think you can you

can train the mind and the eyes to do

that but it takes a lot of practice so

to to to take a widescreen view of the

play and try and recall where everyone

went on the round it would be my

challenge in making it more efficient

yeah because the the film can make us

lazy because when we have to coach in

real life we're going to watch that play

once so we need to train our our brain

our mind to to do that and to be sharp

for this type of situation i don't know

what you've done i don't know if you put

a some type of camera here but I'm on a

streak of 45 days of Sudoku so it's good

to know that I should have it's good for

you yes and it's keeping the mind active

you know it's a It's a great thing it's

a great thing all right now for the

defensive side

defense sorry

this is from our laziest defender which

is a good thing because he always finds

the shortest way to intercept the ball

you know like he's always trying to not

move unnecessarily so he can attack the

ball without wasting energy uh but but

he has a lot of things to work on his

game as well so I'm not going to going

to appraise him too much so as defenders

we often hear that we shouldn't look at

the QB until we are 100% locked in with

the wide receiver to what extent is it

beneficial to focus solely on the wide

receiver instead of trying to read the

QB and understand the overall play so

like I said he likes to intercept the

ball he's a ball hulk and what he's

trying to ask here is okay um the

feedback that he got is like okay I need

to lock in my receiver before trying to

figure out the play but a lot of times

he would waste the opportunity to read

the play and make and make one

interception so what is the balance for

this how much do you do you think like

no matter if it's man coverage or zone

coverage like if you got someone you

need to stick with that person till the

end of the play or do you have some

freedom because the the field is not

that that large to read a little bit

more and try to play the ball um

so it's okay if you don't have a good

answer for that i I I do I well I think

I have a good answer but I I do want to

I want to make it I I haven't seen I

I've seen probably more Brazilian flag

football in recent months than um you

might think but I I don't know the

standard my immediate answer and I say

this without knowing the standard that

you're playing at is if a DB says to me

um do I need to be locked in with a with

a receiver before I look for the

UB I would say the only reason they can

ask that question is because they are

not playing with or against elite

quarterbacks at the highest level and I

I take it we're talking with high

performance guys here so basically if as

a as a DB if you can not be locked in

with your wide receiver and you can look

for the ball it's probably because the

quarterback cannot get the ball to where

they need to get to and you are playing

down to their level you know which is it

can be difficult to play you know up to

a standard

if you play against some of the top

receivers in the world and you are not

locked in with them they will score like

every time they will or or they will

catch the ball on you every time

especially if the quarterback can get

the ball there now I I'll take the

opportunity to talk about um something

the way I try to teach a particular

style of defense so first of all I think

all of us know especially when you're in

man defense um or zone zone match or

whatever I'll ask you coach do we know

if we talk about inphase and out of

phase do we know what that is or should

I explain it quickly I think you should

explain because I have okay okay so as

for me as a rule so this

is explaining my answer to this question

as a

DB you are in phase with your receiver

if you and uh shoulder to shoulder and

you can place your hand on their hip you

are in phase with your hand on their hip

that is the only time I allow my DBs to

turn around and look for the ball

because when you turn around and look

for the ball you cannot see the

receiver but the only way to know where

the receiver is is because you can feel

them the second you cannot feel them you

are out of phase

when you are out of phase there is only

one rule and you have to treat it like

your life depends on it and that rule is

to get back in phase with that receiver

right that's if you're playing man

um if you so you might see again this is

things that have happened i've had

players catch interceptions but because

they've broken that rule I you know I

don't I won't shout at anyone but I'm

not that impressed by it because if that

was a better QB or that was a better you

know if the you know receiver ran it the

way they were supposed to or the ball

got to where it was supposed to go

you're not getting there and what I need

I don't need you to catch interceptions

against people that are bad i need you

to stop passes against teams that are

good right and that's the reality of the

DB the DB role is one of the toughest to

play because it's flag let's face it

they're supposed to catch the ball you

know like that that's that's the the

name of the game is it favors the

offense more than it does the defense

naturally so at the highest level

interceptions should be very rare like

they should happen very infrequently but

what I need to happen for my defense is

that we back um we we we break up passes

because we are in phase we're locked in

and as a rule again when we're in man

you have to be close enough when the

when the receiver does this for the ball

or this we teach like you have to be

close enough to put your hand in between

theirs because nobody I don't care who

you are if you're like this trying to

catch the ball and someone puts their

hand in between you cannot catch the

ball

that's with man defense so in man we do

not look for the quarterback at all

unless we are in phase and we know that

we are um and there's there's bits I

said there's bits I can add to that in

terms of taking the space away squeezing

them to the sideline that's for another

session um later

on in zones depending on the style of

zone you

teach um the the way again I try to

teach it very simply for us here

is your eyes are on the quarterback okay

so you have your your focus your focus

vision is on the quarterback but your

wide vision is on the colors of the

opposing team okay on their receivers so

I'm looking at the quarterback but I can

still see the movement around because

the quarterback will tell me where I

need to

go okay because of their shape and

obviously I know what zone I'm covering

i know what my area is depending on the

type of zone defense that you're

teaching if my zone is a and this is

more for a it's a a spot drop zone so

I'm going to drop to the back of my zone

and I'm going to then read and look to

match up or take someone away um more

than a

um zone match defense where I'm it's it

starts off at zone but really it's man

it's like a late man um defense um eyes

on the QB so focused vision on the QB

peripheral vision on the receivers and

then that is where most interceptions

come because depending on the level of

um of risk we're willing to take which

depends on where we are in the game if

the game is secure we're very low risk

if we need to if we need the ball back

we're go we go high risk because we need

to make a play go all out give me the

ball back um

so the level of risk of which you attack

the ball take risk you try and jump

routes depends on the situation in the

game but again that goes all the way

back to you know and I believe tactical

awareness and understanding is super

important but understanding where we are

in the game understanding the situation

and therefore how we need to play we

have to get if I may I'm not I don't

know who this player is but I think we

have to get out of an

individualistic that's not a real word

but an individual mindset in Portuguese

it is so

oh perfect the the mindset that is I

catch interceptions i if you get a pick

it's because everyone on the team on the

defense has hopefully done what they

need to do at the highest level okay um

the day the the days and the times of

getting picks because you made a great

play should be fewer and far between if

we get picks at the highest level is

because we've taken everything away the

QBs had to force a pass to somewhere

that they didn't want to throw it and

then we take that ball away from them so

interceptions are as much as it's one

player that gets the stat they belong to

the whole team starting with the blitzer

but again that's another that's another

conversation but but I think your your

answer is very good because I I know the

player know how he thinks and yeah the

way that you framed it is that uh we

cannot fall to bad fundamentals bad

habits against bad teams because that's

something that it happens in the

Brazilian community like we play a lot

of bad teams a lot of times and when we

got like one opportunity to play one

good team we are like not in the right

mode to perform what we need to perform

when we're facing good quarterback or

something like that that's exactly why

you have to play every game like you're

playing against the best team in the

country because then you will have had I

don't know how many like 8 10 12 games

of practicing against that top team even

though the guys you're facing might not

run like that or whatever you you have

to have played those games at that level

and that's why I you know to take it you

know sideways I don't Do you have issues

with people running up the score or

people saying people are running up the

score is that a problem no it's not a

problem perfect okay so run up the score

like but not because you're being

disrespectful because you are playing at

the standard you need to play at when

you're playing the best teams you know

yeah in the country no yeah it it makes

perfect sense and we we as crocodiles we

we had a lot of this problem of having

to level down our game because of the

teams that we are facing so when I face

good teams we are not prepared as we

want to but yeah that that's very good

and actually like this player was one of

the most controversial names not called

for the national team in my opinion in

Brazil but maybe like the number of

interceptions don't talk about the

technique and maybe the coaching staff

saw something that we are trying to

discuss here and hopefully improve on

his game for the for the future you know

and and maybe he's more of an artist

than a than a Yeah yeah

all right number eight what is the best

technique for onetoone coverage i I

think you kind of explained that i think

I would have I would I'm happy with what

you explained about the inphase and out

phase answer but this is important how

can we disrupt the wide receivers's

route without committing a penalty

that's like it's supposed to be an

offensive game and my DBs are all the

times like okay it's too easy for them

how can I be more physical more like

aggressive and that I know that there's

a lot of different ways of how the

referees uh they they they mark the

penalties because in in the

international level it's way more um at

least what I saw in Finland was

more they had more freedom to use their

body and here in Brazil every single

contact is going to be a a flag so um Oh

so it's harsher in Brazil

yeah the refers don't allow anything oh

wow okay okay um this is a great

question

you were you were as receiver in your uh

playground like what you like to do as

the most i do I do everything i do

everything coach i do everything yeah I

I know that i know that but like you

like to play wide you like to play this

slot receiver and you have to run your

routes to all parts of the field with a

lot of defenders on your on your way

what is the the hardest for you to to

you know the the the the best the best

so I have a twin brother i have a I'm

I'm a twin i have a twin brother he's

I'm No no no not um I'm the better

athlete i'm the better player but he

because he understands me he's the one I

have the most trouble playing against

and I say that to say you have to to be

a one-on-one

um especially as a DB you have to

understand what the player opposite you

is trying to do right what they want to

do um that's the first thing now I don't

know how often you guys face the same or

similar opponents but I think the more

you face someone the easier it should

become because again like the co like I

said for the coaches earlier players

also have tendencies they have ways they

like to move they like things they like

to do and they have things they don't

like to do

um the other thing I I say

is because the game is tilted to the

offense i don't think it's unfair i

think it's that's just the nature of the

game i teach again it's about there's

there's a difference between taking a

risk and taking a gamble a risk is

calculated a gamble is betting on the

Chinese you know Premier League football

because you don't know anything about it

you're just trying something or whatever

right so

uh as a as a it's and the I like wide

because I think I had more space to work

but let's just take if you're guarding a

wide receiver X or Z someone on the

sideline

okay first thing I teach any DB that has

to play 101 is take something

away okay take something away from a

wide receiver standpoint we line up

normally inside shade because we want to

take the inside away right if you just

play the numbers play the averages play

the statistics which is something you

never hear me say if your a receivers is

lined up wide a majority a high number

of their routes has to go into the field

you know just if you look at the route

tree if they can't run to you know if

they run outside they run out of bounds

so you have a goal you have a comeback

you have a

hitch every everything else has to go

into the field and that's why so a lot

of people a lot of people it it it made

me it was really interesting and it was

when we were doing the institute stuff a

lot of people know that as a DB you line

up inside especially in one in man

coverage um and especially on a wide

receiver but they couldn't really say

why

um take something away try and

learn the traits the the the the

movement But also try and read learn to

read people okay it could be the

slightest thing it could be where they

look just before the snap it could be

you know you can sense a a shift in the

weight they're more the length more on

the outside than the inside there are

the the body is just a a festival of um

of of clues for what someone's

especially because anyone that's about

to run around is processing what they're

going to do and they can't help it i

don't care who it is even at the highest

level in the NFL you can always you

there are there are clues all the

because they're thinking it so they're

moving in a certain way they behave in a

certain way whatever

um you also the best 101 DBs are also I

don't know what you translate this for

just a pain in the ass you know like

just be annoying want to be as annoying

and disruptive and destructive as you

can be and like take joy from that like

be excited about it so that you want to

be in the way you want to stop them

doing what they're doing because the

then your energy your movements your

you're more reactive you're more eager

to get there not aggressive because you

don't want to be you don't want to

overcommit or over pursue but you just

you know have to have a real joy for

getting in the way you know and I don't

know that's the I'm I'm relying on the

art side of it there where I say just

just it's like charging a special uh

attack on a fight game like you

accumulate uh you accumulate wins little

wins and then you use the special

Exactly when the time needs Yeah exactly

exactly so um it's tough one ones

especially man coverage is is is

difficult

but just be annoying and and again sorry

just one final thing if you understand

receivers don't really like to be

touched i don't know how else to say

that they they like to run like they're

running on air like they have a free

range you know so just little little

little just let them know that you're

there all the time constantly be close

enough to touch them just don't push

don't but just tap gentle you know just

be annoying be disruptive you know and

and because they know you're there then

anything can happen yeah yeah cool all

right number nine and I know that we we

passed our one hour but uh everyone is

is is uh is um is aware that I'm not the

person who is talking a lot for the

first time in our internal session so

that's that's a first in four years of

life yeah no no problem i I love that

but it's just like if they thought that

I talk a lot like they should see our

onetoone that lasts over three hours

yeah okay what is your favorite play

call for a short distance situation on

defense such as an XP conversion i think

it was not included here from for

defense because that's the hardest like

you cannot it's not like the tushbush

from the eagles you know like you you

have to to find a way to stop the the

offense this for the defense like what

what is the okay okay what what is the

should what's your favorite play call

for a short distance uh situation like

XP conversion one point like okay should

we go man should we go like covert four

or Yeah so personally the plays are

plays and plays you there are a million

players you could do but um the I think

it's more the psychology I I will talk

to here in in we call it red zone

defense um

and for

me because I so I I spent a lot of time

on offense but I love I love coaching

defense i absolutely love it because

quick quick question uh inside that do

you think if the offense is in the red

zone it's like they're supposed to score

like there's very little issue i was

going to get to that yeah yeah i I will

get to that in a second um so because I

know the offense um I I absolutely love

coaching defense to that

point it's still flag we cannot just we

we can't jam them at the line so you've

got four good players running around in

you know if they're on the XP conversion

say if they're on the 5 yard line that's

15 yards deep 25 yards wide it's

impossible to cover with four okay so

it's impossible to cover all of it with

four so I spoke earlier about uh gamble

and risk red zone defense is where we

gamble and because the psychology is

that if they're that close they're

supposed to score like it it's so rather

than spread ourselves thin and try and

cover everything and then end up not

covering very much of everything we

leave something if you ever and you know

I don't mind saying it because if you

ever if I'm the defensive coach or I'm

pulling defense for any of my if you get

into the red zone against us there will

be one area of the end zone wide open

you know

um but the other four are so I we count

the areas as six really front corners

back corners and then deep middle front

middle we count them as six and we take

four we try to take five of those away

with the blitzer as well and we leave

one now the one we leave you never know

sometimes we leave the front pylon on

the strong side open sometimes it's the

front on the weak side it's very rarely

the middle shallow that we leave open um

it could be any of the three deep zones

as I call as I describe it that we leave

you know we just leave it because

they're like and again it's a gamble

there's a one in six chance maybe one in

five that that's where their play is

designed to go if the play goes there

and they score well done i don't know

what the what the actual percentage is

one in six like 18% 20% 17.5 maybe

something like that um I'm a journalist

i have no idea

but if they pull a play to go to the

zone that we left cool but the very

important thing in running that defense

is the players have to understand that

if the de if the offense scores in the

zone that we left then they do not come

off the field feeling down or like they

got scored on no we left that open and

if they scored there well done you've

done your job now if we leave a zone

open and they score in a zone that's

meant to be closed I I have questions to

ask because you know we that you we

we've we've taken responsibilities away

to make you stronger in the positions

that you're defending

um but I I I sorry I haven't got it i

I'm not going to throw up any place but

I'll give you an example so if we line

up we might line up four flat across the

goal line with the blitzer um and one of

the things we do as an example of this

is

um we'll send the blitzer and the two

outside DBs

will stand for one and a half we uh one

and a half seconds one Mississippi two

and then they're running to the back

corners so the two at the front um of

the end zones they'll start that you see

them they'll take like a a proper

linebacker read step in in the NFL you

know say it's one 10 1,00 two and then

they will run to the back corners

because too many times we see plays

where it's you know receivers running

the deep crosses or whatever the ones at

the in the in the in the middle 1,002

and then they will run like they are

receivers to the front

pylons so we have the two on the outside

we call this Lego Lego Lego okay okay so

it's 11 one2 they'll go back and when I

say they go back but they kind of drop

back into the middle to take away those

corners and hopefully undercut like a

ball that the QB thinks has gone to the

corner or whatever and the two from the

outside and they you run those the way I

tell them to run it is like they are the

receiver running an out route in front

of the end zone okay as a quarterback if

you see a

DB running like a receiver like with no

care for so that we don't we don't it's

very weird we almost we don't look for

receivers when we play defense in red

zone we don't look for receivers we

become receivers and we just run like

we're running as receivers and and then

we get to

where it doesn't get us many

interceptions but it confused because

then we have other versions where it's

like actually they come in and they go

back and you know there's many different

options or they do it on one side or

whatever and then the last thing we do

sometimes maybe I would say two and 10

we cancel the blitz um I'm giving away

my tricks here but if you ever see me do

this on the sideline I'm telling the

blitzer not to go and to fill the middle

zone or to roll with the QB but almost

like a like you have spy I sorry I

Yeah spy yeah exactly you spy the QB and

then you you you go we call it a go slow

like you you go but it's not we're not

running we're we're going

um but the other thing that's very

important that I will say here is we try

not to ever run the same defensive play

twice in a

row because you you have to

keep the offense guessing you can never

let them settle very good very you

should never you should never let them

settle so Um yeah that's that's that's

cool thank you so much for for the

answer yeah I think it makes perfect

sense and yeah

um number 10 what strategy now now it's

from the coaching perspective i know

that some players are going to find this

boring but we need to ask well what

strategies can be used to plan athlete

development without a predefined

competition calendar this is because

right now we don't have the calendar we

don't have the schedule we don't know

when we're going to play against who

we're trying to just prepare the team

for the season but we don't have like

okay we have four weeks until the the

the game or have six week you know like

it's it's in this weird zone and how do

you structure your season and training

sessions to measure long-term success

this is also from a coach who is going

to take over a youth development team so

he's trying to understand a little bit

of everything of how I plan my season

how I can prepare for the unknown and

yeah so you're you're cheating here

coach this is two questions but you've

grouped them as one so sorry no it's not

a part so I I will treat them as two

because I think they are very I think

they are very different questions in how

we go about it so the for the first part

of the question um we've had similar

situations with our it's here in the UK

our youth

[Music]

um systems organization is almost like

secondary to the adult one so the focus

is

adults they get their schedules they get

their and then youth it's exactly the

same story now right now the league was

supposed to start in at the end of March

it's been pushed back to the end of

April but at least we have some idea but

what I encourage coaches to do in this

situation is to turn it upside down

um if you don't know when the season's

going to start you have to be ready for

the season to start now and you almost

have to practice like you are in

season plus install because in the

season you will have times when you have

to install new plays or change you know

certain ways that you do things so

practice that way now although I

understand that you will have perhaps

more to install depending on the level

of your players or if new players have

gone in or people have moved around you

know or whatever

um I think if you the the we have to be

careful as coaches and I please take

this I mean this in the most respectful

way we have to be careful not to let

outside situations influence what we're

doing within the program so

um

uh the best example of that is Spain's

women have been pulled out of the World

Games right which is something we were

planning for that's happened outside the

team but within the

team the message still has to be we're

practicing like we're going for that if

not for that then whatever competition

comes after that you know

um and then taking taking and again I

sound like an Instagram quote but taking

adversity and making it into a positive

so we don't have a defined predefined

calendar we don't know when we're

starting let's be ready to go now so if

we if we if we stay ready we don't have

to get ready um for to play and that's

the that's the best advice I would give

so all your athlete development is I I

would almost switch to

um the way you would plan your athlete

development in season obviously have a

bit of of of um space a bit of time a

bit of grace um while while the season

before the season actually starts so

maybe you would push you can set a bit

of a higher intensity to their

development until the uh competition

calendar is is uh released but what you

don't want to do is wait for it to be

released to then start working because

now you know how long you have so

pretend like it's now and and get ready

to go

um the second part of the question how

do you structure your season and

training sessions to measure long-term

success uh I believe very much in a

pyramid of building blocks so I

always you know I always talk about like

it's almost like a pyramid where you

know we we we take our you have to

decide what your what is long-term

success right you have to decide what

that

is very specifically it it is

detrimental it's a bad thing if it's

kind of we want to be good we want to be

a good team what does that mean what

does that look like what is you know if

if if and the way we teach the the

visualizing is okay in

in you know if if you take the end of a

season for example it's the end of the

season today and it has been a

successful

season and then we ask the question what

has happened you know so that you you

put yourself in the mind of at the end

of the track and then you you know you

tell the story of of what has happened

beforehand because that will give you

from that main block of what makes it

what made it a successful season then

you have to work out the six to eight I

wouldn't really have any more than eight

medium term blocks i don't know how how

long is your season if I or the youth

season uh yeah the the season starts now

in March around March and or April and

goes to November so

that's five six months at least let's

say yeah give or take if my maths is

good no more than that 8 months it's

more it's like eight yeah eight months

eight eight is perfect okay so basically

you have your override you have your big

goal and you break it down into six to

eight smaller goals which is kind of and

the way I again teach people to approach

it is almost you have a smaller goal for

each month that you can because you have

to refer back to the too often I see

people set big goals and then they have

no way to check in with those goals they

don't check against it they don't refer

back to it and then it gets to the end

of the time and they're like "Oh no we

didn't we didn't you know achieve our

goals why did we not?" But they've not

checked in as as they go through

um the goals don't have to follow in

time order so it's not necessarily like

it's one and two but it's more like this

month we're going to focus on this thing

that gets us closer to our goal next

month or for the next two weeks we're

going to focus on this thing that's

going to get us closer and if you can do

that kind of consistently all the way

through all of those things are moving

you closer to your goal to your goal to

your goal um to where ultimately because

you're checking in because you're re

rejigging

um tweaking and you're changing and

you're reworking your your medium-term

goals you have to you know there's no

way you can't miss the the whatever the

overarching goal and then even those six

to eight medium-term goals you can break

down again depending on how often you

guys meet into so one of those eight you

can break that down into another you

know four to six parts so that you have

smaller goals so that actually if I do

these four things I know that I achieved

this medium-term goal and then that's

achieved towards the towards the

long-term goal then I do the next four

things in the second block of eight four

things in the third block of eight or we

might do one in uh I wish I had diagrams

so maybe I'll do that for next time but

if we do like if we have one thing that

we focus on in block one and we do that

and then we go to one two and three in

block five because they're all broken

down it's easier to see the big picture

and that's what we have to make sure

that we have as you know especially as

head coaches or leaders of of areas of

the program or of the whole

program we must be able to step back and

see the whole picture and see measure

progress in relation to that big goal

and it's by having smaller steps one

final thing sorry coach I can see I can

see the green mic uh is please don't

ever I had a coach last year of our

youth under 17 GB girls team who thought

he was doing a good thing and sat down

with the players and they set goals um

that they wanted to achieve and one of

those or the biggest of those goals was

that they wanted to get a gold

medal it is the I think that that is not

a that is not a good when I talk about

certain what makes success it's not

winning gold at the it's or that's not

it's something like um we will have a

team that is able to perform at a very

high level in um suboptimal conditions

you know or or against yeah that's a

that's a more that's a better goal to

set because the trophies the accolades

those should all

be they happen as a result of doing the

things and the targets that you've

you've set and that's not the goal yeah

that that was the comment that I I would

like to add because I I heard this

opinion from you during our sessions and

uh it's hard to like set the goal as

winning the gold because that's not

something that we can entirely control

so it's more about like who we want to

be so we can have a good chance of

winning the goal instead of like what

we're going to achieve even if it's not

under 100% of our control so yeah and so

for just again someone someone in when

you get to the final and I say when you

get to the final someone has to win

someone has to lose that's the nature of

the game but that should not change or

have any bearing on how successful a

season you've had and you know sometimes

as a as an organization we have to

change the mindset where hey success for

us we're not looking for if we if we do

what we're supposed to do the golds you

know gold medals the trophies the they

will come but sometimes again everyone

has to be on that same track because it

will not work if some people aren't

focused on medals and other people are

that's a it causes a lot of friction

yeah number 11 what can be considered

the main pillar for maintaining a strong

team culture that's a very important

thing in our organization in our program

we try to keep our culture as strong as

we can and now we have just added new 20

players so like our team has another

team inside of our team you know like

it's 80 people 81 people right now in

our flag organization so it's hard to

keep everyone in on the same page and

what the

culture should serve to so we are trying

to like keep the culture strong at the

same time that we are adding more and

more and more ingredients to the to the

recipe so yeah what what's your take on

that three points i had to write them

down so I remember all of them

um the first key thing to maintain a

strong team culture is to define the

team culture you have to be able to say

either and and ideally write it down and

share it with everyone you have to be

able to say what the team culture is

what is accepted what is not accepted

what we do what we don't do who we are

who we are not however you want to

package it and frame it it must be

defined because we have to know what it

is we're saying is the team culture team

culture does not ever ever ever ever

ever happen by chance it's always

deliberate someone has to drive it

someone has to manage it someone has

to protect it and actually we all have

to protect it you know whatever that

that culture is um the second thing is

once it's

defined and it's funny we just I said

that last point on the last question

everybody has to buy in to that culture

so everyone has to say I understand what

the culture is and I'm willing to commit

to being a part of that um and then the

third part is to live then that culture

so once you've committed to it you have

to live it so you have to defy it uh

defy it define it sorry define it um

everyone has to buy in and then in

buying in everyone has to live it it

just doesn't work some one of my coaches

you know used to call it like we have to

have people on the right seats on the

bus you know and everyone that doesn't

want to be on the bus that isn't willing

to buy into this journey that we're

trying to take they have to come off the

bus you take that you know inter

interpret that however it makes sense

for your team um but on this bus this is

how we interact this is how we you know

carry ourselves this is what we do you

know and so on and so forth so be

deliberate in setting a culture live

that culture and protect that culture i

I love that you say that because in the

the first practice that we have every

year is basically everyone go into the

field and we read the the Bible we read

the thing and they go through the

physical protocol and it's always like

oh we want to play we want to catch some

balls and throw some balls you know

everyone wants to to play the game and

we go there just to reinforce the

culture set the tone for the end the

starting of the season and do the the

physical protocol to to set the standard

for the the physical as well so it's

it's just like funny to see someone from

outside our organization saying those

things because it resonates a lot of

what we're trying to do all these years

yeah all right number 12 i know that

maybe this is not your your area of

expertise because you've been a lot

involved a lot with the European

countries but as a coach from a

wellestablished flag football country

how do you view Brazil flag football

what needs improvement then you can be

very generic like okay based on what

I've saw from the national teams I see

this and that or what I hear or even

like maybe all your impressions about

Brazil is based on my answers when we

have our session so yeah feel free to

but can I ask a question back i don't

know whose question this is but I'm

going to ask you to answer it

um what's what what makes a

wellestablished flag football country

i don't remember who asked this question

but I I'm going to try to to answer for

the person i would say that it's a a

community that can play flag on the

highest level of fundamentals and and

tactics and

techniques not necessarily having like

in the case that I know the teams around

here i know like Sweden now more than I

ever thought I would know but um the

thing is you don't have the quantity as

we have we have 109 teams but I don't

know if the best team of Brazil can go

well against the best teams from Europe

because we don't have the level of

competition that it requires to you know

to Polish to sharp the iron the the the

Yeah so that's the the the the question

so I I I asked that question because um

the from the So I saw I saw some film

from I think you shared some film from I

think I want to say it's the national

finals um in Brazil I think maybe I

don't there was some film I watched but

I also see a lot of stuff on on

Instagram as well um and

actually

our game days here in the UK are

domestic you know so not international

level look very similar to yours if not

worse honestly so but I think that's the

difference and and this is where I'm

going with it i think what we have here

not just in the UK probably more in the

UK but France Germany Spain definitely

um

is we have some very good

teams then there's a gap like a big a

big hole and then a lot of as we said as

you said at the start very very bad

teams okay um but historically if we

think about where flag football came

from flag was just basically

um NFL fans who wanted to play football

without hurting themselves and without

having to spend so much money on so if

you think about your average NFL fan

they're not exactly super athletes or or

anything like that things are changing

now

um I say all of that to

say you will need I if if

if things are going to improve on a

domestic

level you will need to have and I think

you have it already which is why it's

very interesting you will need to

have teams that are willing

to go above and beyond to be the

best okay and I from what our

conversations I know that there

are I would say two three four teams who

are you know there or thereabouts i I

think that the the picture is very

similar to what we have in all the

different countries here in Europe the

only difference though is those three or

four

countries sorry those three or four

teams do then travel and in Europe we're

fortunate to have you know everything is

very close i think maybe all of Europe

is the size of Brazil you know you have

such a big country yes it is right you

know so but imagine if if each each of

the states had its own fully functioning

league where there were really good

teams you know and then those teams were

able to travel to play on

a fairly regular basis so here in Europe

we have and it's growing all the time

but I would say we

have 12 15 maybe close to 20

international tournaments that people

can just join and go to you know

and that's where we have our sharp you

know that's where we make our iron that

sharpens the the iron you know and then

you keep recruiting then you find one

super athlete or someone young comes

through and then they add to it

um but I think ultimately the level of

football can only improve by your top

teams traveling outside of Brazil and

competing because the things they learn

the things they experience and that's

what's the most important I think is

what comes back into Brazil and then is

it it it the waterfall it it it cascades

down across the teams um I I I I you

know coach Ellen in Switzerland everyone

in Switzerland right now plays a 2-2

staggered defense because they went out

to a tournament in Germany saw the best

team out there play that defense and now

everyone learns it and that's what they

play then an offense will find a way to

beat that 22D and then they'll have to

change again and they might go to a one

but it's that

um ecosystem of flag football knowledge

and expertise that you have to find a

way to accelerate in Brazil and the only

way to do that is so the reason I said

the reason I said the best teams have to

be willing to go above and beyond to win

and to be the best is ultimately what

comes with that is they cannot play the

same way all the time they will have to

learn new ways and better ways you know

and it's that oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh

oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh they

did that then we're going to now we're

going to do this because we have to do

this otherwise we and then they see that

you've done this and then you know the

third team oh we you know and they find

another way and it's people finding

solutions

to the problems of you know um teams

improving but there I asked a question

and you I hope you forgive me I asked a

question about What makes a

wellestablished flag football country i

would argue that if for a

season you can I know the country is big

but if you can field

109 flag football teams that is a

wellestablished flag football country

you have more people that's a larger

pool of people to pick from and play in

however I understand that it might be

quite new so the level might be you know

one that needs to be raised but with

conversations like this one with the

fact that I know that you know more than

just yourself Leo are working to go and

find knowledge and learn

um so I say so many things but I'm just

I'm so passionate about it guys uh no

one there is no one on this planet that

knows everything and it's so important

that we are as coaches especially

actually but players too are are willing

to really try and learn from every

possible

situation i might have come on here i

hope I hope I haven't but it's been what

an hour and a half I'm going

but even if I've only said if if there's

only one thing in everything that I said

that you can take away take that thing

you know and add it to your your tool

belt to to everything that you have and

then when coach Leo's talking and it's

been 3 hours and you're like "Oh let me

just find something that I'm going to

take away from this that's going to make

me better." But it's it's so important

to be humble and to be willing

to go and learn and love learning and

love getting better you know i'm going

to stop I'm going to stop ranting yeah

no problem uh it's very hard for us to

go international to play in another

country because going to the finals of

Brazil it's always like a big trip for

some teams it's like more expensive to

go to the Brazilian finals than going to

Europe oh wow okay because of the the

price but these type of sessions this

type of initiatives that I'm trying to

bring is like my way of trying to open

our channel with other communities and

trying to learn from them so hopefully

if you can't go to them bring them find

ways of inviting teams to if you have

competitions where because people the

other thing is people around the world

want to travel it's it's oh carnival

carnival weekend this weekend it was

last week it was I missed it damn but

that's the kind of like having we can go

next year together because I'll be here

in and let's let's put on a flag

tournament at the same time because I I

promise well you know what I mean

later in the same week but later but

it's exactly that if people if we can

package a holiday where people get to

experience you know the fantastic

carnival but also get to play football

as well in a new country and meet new

people sign me up i and honestly I think

easily whether it's America whether it's

from Europe teams will sign up for that

you don't need lots and lots of teams

but it's about having other people to

face and people that do things in maybe

a different way to what you're used to

seeing you know it's it's an amazing

opportunity for everybody can I count

with the London Rebels for for the next

one

the Juke team we'll bring the Juke team

perfect perfect yeah

all right coach that was the last

question i going to give you the

opportunity to learn to talk about a

little bit about the Dukes Institute as

well the courses i know that like if you

guys like the free sample of 1 hour and

38 minutes of Coach Bellow you can buy

more of that time more opportunities of

learning with him and yeah no I I thank

you for doing this i didn't I didn't

know but yes um basically so the the

Jukes is as I said at the start it's

just a brand that we've you know put

together and you can see that we've

worked with a lot of different

organizations

um all of it to try and grow the game

grow the sport and make sure that

the education in and around it isn't

just limited to those who because of the

geography have access to it right these

days we have uh Zoom Google Meets Google

Teams Microsoft whatever like there's

now so much more opportunity

to share information and learn from each

other um so I I there's a bunch of uh

courses there the one that coach Leo and

I do who and you're going to carry on

right coach yeah yeah i'm joking i'm

joking

but the one we meet once a week um

because I think on top of the the my

thinking was if I want to learn to play

the piano or I want to learn a new

language you cannot just do it at you

know once a week or twice a week the

more opportunities you have to engage

with it you know the better so we have a

a program that lasts basically for 3

months but we go

from ideally we try and meet you where

you are in terms of your understanding

and your knowledge but um we cover a

range of topics to do with um just

making coach whether we have uh for

coaches we have for players who are 16

years old and above we have for under

15s as well and it's giving information

that

Um I discovered that people don't

actually know you know I think there's a

lot of uh American football where the

nature of the game so many people feel

like they should know things i gave the

example of as a DB most DBs if they play

man on a wide receiver they line up

inside but why why do we do things do

you really understand what you're doing

do you really have a a deep knowledge of

how the game works and your role within

it and you know all of that so um yeah

the course is we will we we I don't know

what the time difference cuz it's about

5 hours 6 hours difference maybe

depending on where you are from UK is 3

hours 3 yeah so it's 8:00 for you 8:30

for them would be

7:30 5:30

okay okay i thought it was more than

that oh this is good so maybe it's not

so bad but um we are UTC minus 3 and you

are UTC zero right

oh okay that's that's learning for me

see everyday is a learning day i learned

something new no now you have one take

away from this and

exactly precisely um so but we find a

time that hopefully works for everyone

we record we record all the sessions and

then share them um and actually coach

I'm looking for coaches to deliver some

sessions so I might be calling you to to

do that if if if it's possible but

everyone's welcome uh coach we'll maybe

share my email address I'm sure if

anyone wants to ask any questions um

don't worry if you there's some also

some free uh resources on on the site as

well uh if you know we have a a quick

start guide a rules guide we're building

a building a a glossery of words and

what they mean um that are free to

download so have a look we'd happy to

have everyone along i'm actually working

with I have one of my one of my um girls

on my team Sabrina is from Brazil and

she's I think she's there now she came

for Carnival um but I I'm actually

working with her on a um

I'm going to say Brazilian language what

do you call the language do you call it

Portuguese portuguese portuguese okay

okay so yes we're working on a

Portuguese version of some of the

content that we have to make it just

more accessible for everyone we're doing

the same for Spanish French a lot of

different languages so yes it'll be

great to see everyone there if you want

to ever join

and also if you want to hear Coach Bell

for free there's a new podcast i I I

must confess that I haven't heard the

last episode only the first two but yeah

okay okay

this is this is with Phoebe Shector who

is um she's an NFL flag NFL ambassador

for Flag uh and then one of the girls

here in the UK but uh again this is all

about just the world kind of we're

trying to open up the world of Flag for

maybe those that don't know so much

about it but a part of that will be um

trying

to help coaches and players raise their

profiles within the sport because I

believe the way to get more people

playing is to let them know about who is

involved and who's in the community and

and why it's a great community to be a

part of so um yes that's on it's on

YouTube it's on Spotify it's on I'm

supposed to know all these things that I

just don't know because I just like

talking so

yeah so if you want to follow Coach

Bella this is the professional Instagram

not the personal one you have the Dukes

Worldwide as well coach thank you so

much for your time uh there's um we

cannot pay a lot for our guests but we

can definitely uh give give to them a

jersey from the crocodiles with your

name and your number so I'll be in touch

to get your your size your number and

how you want to to get your Thank you so

much i really last time you got a jersey

from us from uh from another country was

Venita Crouch from the United States so

maybe maybe that that jersey can give

you the luck needed to go and win yes

hopefully fingers crossed the Olympics

we're working on it we're working on it

no guys thank you so much and I like I

really appreciate you guys because you

know being here to listen is is is it's

such an honor i I can't say it anymore i

I appreciate that so thank you thank you

for giving me the time yeah um so yeah

if that's it I'm gonna call it a day

because we we pass 45 minutes but that

was expected so if I aim for one hour I

should know that it's two hours in the

end uh yeah if you guys want to say

something otherwise I will stop the call

and I'm also if anyone has any questions

I don't you know Oh yeah I'm happy i'm

honestly I'm I'm here so I don't know if

people need to go that's fine but if

anyone has any like real big questions

I'm more than

happy in English though please

it can be in Portuguese and I will

translate it i know yes yes

but I I guess most people will watch the

recording they are shy especially with

English like we we have been uh our

whole life concerned and shy about our

English level so we are not like very we

are very friendly people okay silk let's

go

hi hi Coach Bellow i don't I can't lose

the opportunity i was talking with coach

Le before and I was the one asking about

the question uh about the planning and

programming because I'm already a coach

on basketball and I see a lot of coaches

and no coaches running away from this

kind of questions it's a really tough on

the sports that try to plan something we

not sure so the scheduling and

the adversity like you put we need to

adjust but we go so I I really try to to

ask every coach I can how you guys plan

yourself how I know each mind is

different but how you can work yourself

and I think CL

uh told you only work with adults I

don't have experience with the youth

okay okay yes so you can translate

something in my perspective as a coach

on basketball everybody should pass

through the kids before I go to the

adults because the process is the same i

don't know if you have this this process

and how you see that you you work with a

lot of uh new adults or only the pros uh

so I I think no I I work with a lot of

so I I said I'm a I I'm a teacher so and

I I believe first and foremost that um

to that point I I think you you learn to

be the best coach when you learn to

teach children first because in teaching

children you have to make things as

simple as as possible so that they

understand um and in being able to do

that that skill as a coach of breaking

down information into its most simple

parts is one of the most important

skills because if I can get the

information to its simplest parts then I

can give that information back in a

number of different ways because you

know

um one player that I say it to another

player might have to physically do it

another one might have to see it on

video but I understand that it's this

particular thing um that I want to teach

i think unfortunately because of where a

lot of us are finding flag football so I

didn't start playing football till I was

19 i didn't start flag till I was

20 8 maybe 29

um but and with the when I came into

flag there weren't there were no coaches

it was just people that played on little

fiverside teams so I think because the

sport in itself is still very young

globally

um we will be in a position for a while

longer

where even

at I give it GB under 21s for example

all those coaches are were players last

year who don't have very much experience

in poaching but coaches are needed so

they just have to take the position so I

I think it's a it's a part of the

situation that we are in however you

know the way we are any situation you're

in you have to try and make the best of

that situation so

um if if if it's possible yes I I I do

agree that coaches should like should

work with the kids first and then you

don't have to go like every step but at

least having that experience helps you

understand more what you are doing when

you're working and even at the elite

level and also you learn to keep things

you learn how to keep things fun and

engaging um but it's I think it's just

the situation that we're in so we do the

best with with with where we are i hope

that kind of answered your question yeah

yeah in s introduction I think Lonardo

is make a case for me to try to one time

at least or find opportunity to do your

course at the Duke because he we talk a

lot try to chat and try to to bring a

little insight of what you guys do and I

really like how how it works so one day

maybe I try to schedule it in and do the

course also it's nice to have this first

introduction here so thank you i

appreciate that yes we're we're ready

for you whenever

all right anyone else i don't have just

a few people now

going

once going

twice solved okay there you go yeah

coach thank you so much for everything

thank you thank you and yeah I'll be

I'll be in touch about the other

subjects but yeah that was great and for

those who were watching the recording

thank you so much for watching almost

two hours of conversation but I hope you

can take away something from this

opportunity amazing thank you all have a

lovely evening and a great weekend you

too bye-bye bye-bye bye-bye