Transcript on England Football Community (https://community.thefa.com/coaching/podcasts/coachcast/w/coachcast-transcripts/1531/episode-ten-the-art-of-defending-with-warren-hackett) Becoming a defender might not be as popular with new players compared to being a striker. But there is a real art to defending. In this episode, Warren Hackett gives his insight on that and how we can help players develop their defending skills. Warren, now an FA youth coach developer for the South East, takes us through his career as a professional footballer, and we learn about his transition into a coaching career that has led to coaching roles in Canada and India. We ask Warren how defending has changed over the years. We dive deep into the skills that players need to become effective defenders and Warren offers advice to coaches on how they can develop these skills in players. Warren gives advice on how coaches can observe games differently, to give them a better understanding of defending. We cover the six themes for the out-of-possession game with an overview of what they are, why they’re important and how to improve them. We also speak about how The FA’s six core capabilities can be applied to defending. Plus, Warren offers his tips for working on defending with younger players and at grassroots level and he leaves us with his swift session idea. Covered in this episode: The journey Warren Hackett took from professional football to coaching. How has defending changed over the years? How coaches can develop the communication skills of defenders. Top tips for working on defending with younger players and at grassroots level. How coaches can help players develop their defending skills within The FA’s six core capabilities. The importance of the ‘before, during and after’ framework. Warren’s top coaching tips and session idea. ————— Do you have any coaching questions you’d like answers to? Or perhaps you’re facing a coaching challenge that you’d like help with? Simply head over to our England Football Community forum (https://community.thefa.com/coaching/f/youth-club-football-forum) and post them there. We can then put them to our guests in future episodes to get their advice! Already listened to this episode or the previous seasons of Coachcast? We’d love to hear from you! Pass on your feedback by contacting us via [email protected]. LEARN MORE England Football Learning - https://learn.englandfootball.com/ England Football Community - https://community.thefa.com/ England Football Learning on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCisPO86aEIhWRTnTS1vrSVw England Football Learning Twitter - https://twitter.com/EnglandLearning Email - [email protected] LISTEN Anchor - https://anchor.fm/coachcast-thefa Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4sA9fHoldaH1x5Wn3vdmsB Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/coachcast/id1591804808 Editing and show notes by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Claricast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (https://www.clarioncast.com/)