Harry Maguire on Changing Youth Football with Feedz

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Manchester United and England defender Harry Maguire, a co-founder of Feedz, explains why written feedback matters for young players, what is missing from feedback in academies and grassroots football, and why he got involved with Feedz.

You’ve worked with some of the best coaches in the world, what role has feedback played in your development?

I feel like feedback is so important. I've worked with many coaches in my life, some great coaches, and always the best coaches give me the best feedback, especially when I was a younger age, and I wanted to develop. I think feedback is so important for clarification of what you want to work on and what you want to improve on because the long-term goal is to improve your game, and make it as simple as possible, and giving feedback and going away from football and working on things is so important if you want to improve your game and become a successful footballer.

What do you think is usually missing in feedback for young players coming through academies or grassroots football?

Feedback is often verbal, and I think when it's verbal, it's quickly forgotten, especially when the players go home, and the young lads go home and don't really remember what the coaches have said. I think if it gets wrote down or spoken in a report, it's a lot easier to follow, it's a lot easier to learn from. Also with the parents as well at a young age, they're such an important part of the development and supporting, I think it's so important that the parents get good clarification of what they want their child to improve on and work on, and I think by it coming down as a report, it's so important that the parents can see this, and, I think feedback's so important to build the players' confidence, it's not criticism, it should be normality in terms of being used to improve the confidence of players and it becomes normal that they go home and work on things and I think that'd be vitally important to improve as a player.

When you first saw Feedz, what stood out to you about how it helps coaches give feedback?

The first thing that stood out was that it's so simple and easy to use for coaches. I think every coach has so much on their mind, and so much that they need to do for it to be so simple to make a report for the player is so important. I feel like for the player as well, it's so easy to access and to read and to take home to the parents, which is such an important part of any player development, using the parents who understand what the player's trying to work on and what they need to improve on. The main thing that stood out for me is how simple and easy it is to use.

Why do you think a platform like Feedz is valuable for coaches working with lots of players every week?

I think it's valuable for coaches working with lots of players to use because, first and foremost, it saves time. Coaches have so much on their mind and they need to focus on coaching rather than the admin side of daily reports, writing it all down, and speaking to each individual. I think it's so quick and easy to use. It's massive for coaches from that aspect. I think that the clarification it gives to the player, to the parent, and the support. It all aligns together, and makes it so simple for the coaches to use, obviously saving time and making the coach's life a lot easier in that aspect and whilst saving time, but making the development a lot better, that's the most important thing.

If you’d had something like Feedz when you were younger, how do you think it would’ve helped you?

I think it would really help develop my game if I had this when I was younger. The most important thing is reflection of the session, going home with clear ideas and clarification of where I need to improve, and having the enjoyment of going home, improving on those type of things, and coming back to the session and showing my coach how much I have improved at those type of things. Also, I think it gives great clarification to the parents or the support of the player. When I was younger, my parents gave me so much advice, but it probably wasn't aligned with the coach, and I think if you have Feedz who who can send reports after the sessions and the parents can read these reports, it's so important that they can work together in terms of developing the child and make the child feel comfortable. I think that's so important that the coach, the parent, and the player are all aligned, especially when you're a bit younger, and you need that support growing up.

Why is it important that feedback to young players is constructive, positive, and age-appropriate?

It's so important for young players to receive constructive, positive feedback because, for me, growing up and playing football, the most important thing is to enjoy it. When you enjoy playing football, you want to learn, you want to listen to your coaches, and you want to improve. So of course being constructive, positive, and age appropriate is so important. I feel like Feedz can can help do this with the reports, and like I said, it can align with your parents, it can align with the support of the player, and you can all be on the same page and help that together and make sure, like I said, the most important thing of for any footballer, even at my age now, but especially when you're growing up and you're wanting to develop, is making sure you enjoy the training, enjoy working, enjoy improving, and it brings so much energy to the game and love for the game, and that will make you improve. Be a better player, better environment, and bring much more improvement.

What would you say to a club or coach who’s thinking about using Feedz?

I think using Feedz brings better communication across the club; it brings everyone aligned, the coach, the player, the parent. And I think it helps develop players. I think it's really important that you receive positive feedback, not just positive but constructive and ways that you can improve and work, but of course, I feel like Feedz is the most important thing, the communication and the alignment from the player, the coach, and the parents all the support, is really important to all be on the same page. I think that's massive, and why it's so important to bring something like Feedz into the game.

Why did you personally want to be involved with Feedz?

I personally wanted to get involved with Feedz, because I feel like feedback is such an important part of the game, it's something that I do now, every game, I go back and analyse my game, and when you're experienced and been in the game as long as I have, you're still wanting to improve and you're still wanting to learn. So if you could get this sort of feedback and daily reports from your coaches at a young age, the improvement would be massive. I think that's the main reason why I believed in Feedz. I think that feedback on the game and the way that you train, and the way that you play, you can always improve, no matter the age.

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