Biso Nkosi - A Coaching Journey from South Africa to Japan

In this engaging conversation with Biso Nkosi, we explored the journey of a coach whose football education spans multiple continents. From his childhood playing on the dusty streets of South Africa to coaching youth players across various cultures, Biso offers a unique cross-cultural perspective on youth development in football. He shares insights about the structural differences between nations like Japan, Spain, Brazil, and South Africa, explaining how early exposure to ball mastery and technical skills creates competitive advantages for young players. Biso details his possession-based coaching philosophy while emphasizing the importance of nurturing creative dribblers who can add that little something extra to help break through stubborn defenses. Our conversation also covers practical approaches to coaching diverse populations, from organizing themed training sessions to adapting communication styles for individual players, providing listeners with valuable strategies they can implement immediately with their own teams.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction and Background
• 4:51 Early Football Experiences in South Africa
• 7:53 Coaching Journey Begins
• 10:56 The Impact of the 1998 World Cup
• 13:49 Hosting the 2010 World Cup in South Africa
• 16:54 Youth Development Challenges in South Africa
• 19:54 Coaching Philosophy and Education
• 22:58 International Coaching Experiences
• 26:15 Cultural Differences in Youth Football Development
• 29:19 Current Role in Japan and Future Aspirations
• 31:41 Cultural Influences on Football Coaching
• 34:34 Youth Development: Balancing Structure and Creativity
• 37:18 Japan's Evolving Football Style
• 41:30 Emerging Trends in Youth Football Development
• 42:50 Coaching Diverse Populations
• 54:37 Resources for Coaches
• 57:36 Global Perspectives on Youth Development
• 57:59 Practical Coaching Strategies for Diverse Players

Transcript

Alf Gracombe 
Biso Nkosi welcome to the podcast.

Biso Nkosi
Thank you very much, Alf. Thank you very much for inviting me. Looking forward to the podcast.

Alf Gracombe
Great, it's so great to have you here

and we should let our listeners know here that we are on opposite sides of the world, pretty much. You're in Japan, I'm here in the United States. So it's late afternoon, evening time for me. It's very early in the morning for you. So I really appreciate you getting up early to have this conversation with me today.

Biso Nkosi
no problem no problem at all welcome listeners

Alf Gracombe
And so Biso, we're going to get into this. Part of what is so fascinating to me about your journey through football is your international orientation. You're originally from South Africa. You're living and working in Japan now. We're going to get to that. We're going to connect the dots from where it began and how you got to where you are today. But if you can, maybe take us back to your childhood and growing up and how you came to football and talk a little bit about just what the youth sports and specifically youth soccer football environment was like where you grew up.

Biso Nkosi
Okay, so I grew up in a place called Mamalodi in South Africa.

And I'm a first generation born free. So I was born pretty much in and around the time when there was a transition in South African government from apartheid policies to new age. So I went to a school called Brooklyn Montessori and I started playing football on the dusty streets of Mamalodi in the township. So we played a lot of 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 games with a lot of my friends in the township.

is also another word for favela if you would refer to it as that. At Brooklyn Montessori when I was five years old I then met Donovan Bosman who is still today is my best friend and I was fortunate enough because Donovan Bosman's father was linked with football and he provided my first early exposures of playing football at club level. He was involved with a club called Berea Park

and we played football at Berea Park from when I was six years old. the coaching wasn't the best in the world because there's still early days of coaching, but it gave us an opportunity to go to play league games on a small sided field. It was actually on half a field, small sided games. We would...

of 7v7 would go to different tournaments like Riverside Sun and provincial tournaments and that's my early exposure of football.

Alf Gracombe
And so you were, you said when you were six, you began playing organized football. And so prior to that, what do you remember playing? Like where you, you mentioned you were sort of playing, was it like out in the streets or were there fields that you could play on?

Biso Nkosi
Yes, yes, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yes, yes, yes. So my

first exposure to football was through my dad. He loved watching a soccer team called Morocco Swallows. So he took me to soccer games and he put me on his shoulders to watch the game when I was four or five years old. But when I was five, six, I started playing some soccer on the streets informally with my friends. And that was the first time I got in touch and in contact with the ball.

You know, so it was on the dusty streets.

Alf Gracombe
And so, and then when you started playing organized, it, was it through school or club? think you mentioned through a club. Okay. And so is that kind of the setup for organized youth football in South Africa at the time, was primarily through clubs was there. Okay. And so there was no organized football through schools or. Okay.

Biso Nkosi
It's a studio club, it's a studio club, it's a studio club. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, it was probably through. There was there was also to the

school program, so later on after Brooklyn Montessori, because Brooklyn Montessori was a preschool, we then went to Leonard Ridge Primary and at Leonard Ridge Primary from grade one till grade three, we started playing mini soccer. So on a Saturday, mini soccer games. But because we were already involved with club soccer at that age.

you know, with PE soccer, we were playing club soccer instead of the school soccer. But there was a school soccer also element at that age group.

Alf Gracombe
Gotcha. So talk a little bit if you can about the coaching. So you mentioned you didn't feel the coaching was particularly advanced. And maybe if you could just place us kind of in a, what year are we talking about here roughly?

Biso Nkosi
Yes.

Okay,

so this is pretty much in 1992 and 1993. And the coaching wasn't great. We were in a straight line and then what possible to the coach had laid off and then we shoot unopposed, game situation.

Alf Gracombe
Thank

Biso Nkosi
The matches we played against is 7 vs 7 on half a field, 8 under 9, under 8, under 6. So it was lot of like beehive football, a lot of, there wasn't organized drills like the Coerver methodology that we find today of ball mastery skills. There wasn't a focus on mastering the ball before mastering shooting or passing elements.

was

pretty much the focus of the coaching then.

Alf Gracombe
Well, at least you were playing seven aside, was, you know, cause when I

started playing as a seven year old around the same age as you, you know, they threw us onto an 11 v 11 field. So at least you were playing a smaller version of the game at those younger ages. But in terms of the technical training, the ball mastery skills, there really wasn't any part of that.

Biso Nkosi
Wow. Wow. It's a rolling sated day. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

No, there wasn't anything that

was available. Neil was a volunteer coach, fantastic administrator, the late Neil Bosman, fantastic football administrator. He had gone on to become the president of the University of Football Academy program. But, you know, I think the general knowledge of football coaching was very limited in his time.

Alf Gracombe
So you've, you're now in a career, you're an educator, you're a coach. At what point did this idea that you might want to coach or teach young people, when did that factor into your thinking, into your life?

Biso Nkosi
You know, I've been fortunate that I've had football my whole life, you know, from a young age playing. I then went on to France in 98 with the school team, Neil Bosman organized a tour to France for the FIFA World Cup. So we shared it, BaFana BaFana, at the France World Cup. And one of the things...

Alf Gracombe
So you were traveling

with a group of other students to the 98 World Cup. Wow, what an opportunity.

Biso Nkosi
Yeah, with our school team, yeah. So we did fundraising

for two years from 1996. South Africa won the African Cup of Nations in 1996, Neil said, look, with Peter Sothoakis, they said, look, we're going to organize a trip to the World Cup to see Bafana Bafana. And it was unprecedented at that time, fundraising to go to an international tournament for South Africans. So we got a chance to watch Bafana Bafana.

training and in the qualifiers pre before the World Cup and then we went to go watch them in France and we also went to play in the Paris Cup so we watched them in Marseille against France when we lost Rinald

Wezirano was amazing. We watched them against Saudi Arabia. We also watched them against Denmark. So I got a chance to see the Loudrup brothers in a competitive game also. And then the final game we watched was England and Tunisia. So we got a chance to see Beckham, Scholes, Gary Neville and the boys playing, you know. But post that, it was just always just that involvement and being around football, starting with my father and the influence from my father with Morocco Swallows.

then with Neil Boseman and playing all the way through high school. And in grade 10, I just said, you know what, I want to coach and give young people an opportunity to receive good coaching, a type of coaching that I didn't get when I was young.

Alf Gracombe
So we'll come back to the coaching. know I just asked you a question, but you mentioned the world cup. mentioned traveling to France. was this really like your first exposure to kind of world football to watching international games? Yeah. And how old were you at the time? 12 years old. Unbelievable experience. Yeah.

Biso Nkosi
Yes. Yes, yes, yeah. I was 12 years old, 12 years old. Yeah. It was

an incredible experience. Till this day, I really live the memory and every World Cup, I always share photos on Facebook with all the guys that we went on tour with and to the rest of the world, know, be like, you know, I've been to two World Cups and really bragging about it.

Alf Gracombe
Yeah.

Well, so, okay, so fast forward.

12 years from that World Cup and well you can maybe see the poster on my wall here if you're watching the video for the folks just tuning into the audio you won't see this but behind me on the wall I keep this poster and it's a poster of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. We've talked a little bit and I know that you love Spanish football as I do so that was the year Spain won but it was the first World Cup to be hosted in

on the African continent. in South Africa was the host of this tournament. talk about that a little bit. I mean, this was just the milestone event for world football, of course, but just curious, like on the ground in South Africa, what was that like in the buildup to this tournament and then hosting this?

Biso Nkosi
It was

absolutely incredible. I'll actually start because it was twofold because the one experience was watching the games and the other experience was volunteering as an accreditation volunteer. So I volunteered firstly for the 2009 Confederations Cup and I was stationed at Loftus and Loftus Stadium in Victoria.

and I was doing the accreditation card for all the media personnel, the press people, know, the support staff of the various national teams that were qualified for the tournament. And I met one or two American reporters and we ended up covering a story with them regarding where Argentina was going to be based. So Argentina was going to be based at the High Performance Center.

which is the university I studied at at the University of Pretoria for the duration of the tournament of the FIFA World Cup. So fast forward to the World Cup itself, we got a chance to see Argentina training at the high performance center. I got a chance to watch eight games over and above me working as a volunteer. I watched Spain versus Chile, Spain versus Paraguay.

Alf Gracombe
Well.

Biso Nkosi
and even the World Cup final itself because my sister was an executive at MTN and MTN was Telecommunications' local sponsor of the FIFA World Cup. yeah, it's incredible memories. It's memories that live in my heart. You know, the cell phones at that time weren't like the iPhones that we had now. You know, it was a Blackberry so that the picture resolutions weren't the best in the world.

But I've got one or two photos of matches where it's a high resolution camera and that I'll save with me for a very long time.

Alf Gracombe
Yeah, amazing. Say what you want about FIFA and the organization and everything that comes along with it, the good, the bad and the ugly. There is nothing quite like a World Cup. And when it came to the US in 94...

Biso Nkosi
Nothing. Nothing.

Alf Gracombe
you know, I got to see Spain actually play Switzerland, in an elimination round game in Washington, DC. just, yeah, unbelievable memories. And that was a big deal for the U S of course, at the time as well. So just hosting the world cup for the first time. And so what did you see in South African football culture, just the nation more broadly. Kind of after the world cup came and went.

Did you see any lingering effects, either positive or negative, from hosting the tournament?

Biso Nkosi
Look, to be honest, think we lost a little bit of an edge. We had so much preparation that we did in South Africa. We got eliminated in the first round, which was unfortunate. It was the first post-country to ever get eliminated in the first round of a FIFA World Cup tournament.

But it also told us about the shortcomings of the South African game like lack of proper development structures in the country, you know In the South African league, there's only a handful of clubs professionally which I can count with one hand that have actual development programs from the age of six So a lot of the development programs are starting at academies are starting at under 14 This is mainly due because of the safety

of young people and bringing them younger than the age of 14 with maturity into an academy set up, know, nationally or at a club level. So a lot of the clubs only start having their academies at 14 years old. And what is actually taking place between the ages of 6 till 12 with a lot of these players in development programs. And that is showing our shortcomings, you know.

You know, we had a lot of fans that we got from the legacy fans from the World Cup, but questions have been asked what happened to the legacy fans. were supposed to have lost South Africa for many, many years after the World Cup, and now these fans have been depleted, you know?

Alf Gracombe
Yeah. And I think that's maybe a good chance here to just pivot back to, back to coaching. Because you've seen, you just had an observation there about youth development and the lack of infrastructure and opportunity for structured football development for kids at the younger ages. Cause they're starting these academies late. It sounds like. So as you started to think about coaching and teaching, maybe

Biso Nkosi
Right.

Alf Gracombe
If you could talk a little bit about your journey into coaching and then a little bit more of these observations that you are seeing as you start coaching yourself and then these different age groups and how they're developing or not as the case may be in South Africa.

Biso Nkosi
So in South Africa my journey of coaching began when I enrolled at the University of Pretoria for the Sports Science program. you know University of Pretoria I'd say is within the top three universities in South Africa for studying sports science. So the program started in 2002.

and already in my in 2003 in my matric year which is my final year of school I was preparing myself with getting the required grades to to to coach. The beauty about the sports science program is that it is designed for athletes so in the morning would have classes till about 12 30 or latest till two o'clock.

in a wide variety of modules and then in the afternoon we would do practical hours in our specialised sports sports encode. So I would get involved with the youth development program at the University of Pretoria and the University of Pretoria was one of the few programs because they also had a professional club. It's one of the few programs in South Africa that had a program from under six till under 19 in terms of the juniors and then it will have the senior programs.

So we had plus minus 23 teams within the University of Victoria. The University of Victoria was fortunate because at the university there's about nine to 12 soccer fields. It's actually beautiful to see the fields at the university that are designated for soccer. So we got...

in-service training and experiential training and learning within the University of Pitoria's soccer facility. And I worked at the university for seven years, coaching various age groups from under 11, know, under 11, under 15, under 17. And yeah, so we had a very good program.

It was led by a man called Mr. Steve Barker and Juan Marquez, a Spaniard, who taught me a lot about the game from a young age.

Alf Gracombe
And so you just mentioned these two gentlemen sort of serving in a sort of mentor role, it sounds like for you. How else were you educating yourself about coaching football? It's one thing to play. You played a lot of football as a kid, but now coaching. Yeah. How did you go about educating yourself as a coach?

Biso Nkosi
Right.

Yes.

You know, I would follow a lot of the, you know, with Juan, especially as a Spaniard, he brought a lot of Spanish influence into the youth development program. He showed me discipline and respecting time. But I would watch a lot of videos, especially later on with the Coerver methodology. I would follow that methodology quite a bit. Steve Barker had just come back from the UK with the UEFA A License

So what we would do is we would have every five or six weeks we would have coach development and coach enrichment sessions where he would prepare sessions on various themes and he would have FA coaching methodology articles that he would read and the coaches would gather around and go through and have coach development sessions during the course of our time there.

Alf Gracombe
So you were still at this point, still in South Africa, but your lens had widened quite a bit in terms of these coaching practices and frameworks and just people who were working in South Africa coming from Europe. At what point did you start to get interested or think about going abroad to further your own education and experience in football?

Biso Nkosi
So what happened is, in South Africa we've got what we call an honours degree. that's, it's a pre-master's programme. So you'll do your undergrad degree for three years, then you'll do honours for a year. In my honours degree, I got an opportunity to work at a school called Courtney House. They were doing the Cambridge education system. And...

I was following that system and I was working there and that was really awesome. It great experience teaching an international syllabus focusing on anatomy and physiology, contemporary studies in sports and motor skill and skill acquisition. what we did at Cambridge is that it taught me a lot about video editing and analyzing a wide variety of sports. But I got an opportunity to go to Spain in 2014.

and that exposed me to more coaching programs. And at that time, whilst I was still working at the international school, I had become the technical director of my own program called Kaila Football Club, where we had over 100 kids in the program from under nine till under 19. And that really planted the seed of, you know,

getting a coaching philosophy, a coaching methodology, a coaching framework and a blueprint of how we would do things.

Alf Gracombe
So you spent time, Spain was the first place you did some work in football there. And where else did you travel from there and spend some time?

Biso Nkosi
So I spent time in Spain and then I also spent, a master's degree program with the University of Johannesburg and University of Utrecht and University of Scuba in Netherlands and Japan respectively. So I spent a study abroad program a month in the Netherlands and I also spent a month in Japan.

Alf Gracombe
So you've seen football and youth development now across a few different countries and you're working in Japan and we'll get to how you got there in just a second. talk a little bit if you can about seeing kids across these different cultures. They're all playing the same game, but you're seeing different.

I imagine you're seeing a lot of differences in terms of how kids are showing up, how these programs are structured. And I imagine you're seeing some similarities. So maybe if you can speak to both of those, what do you see, you know, working in Africa, working in Europe, working in Asia? Talk a little bit about some of those differences in development of young players.

Biso Nkosi
So I think the biggest problem about the African diaspora is that a lot of the kids enter organized football too late. so, yeah, yeah, the infrastructure is not available. There's an element of safety. Do you leave your kid at eight?

Alf Gracombe
late. Yeah. Just because the opportunities, the infrastructure, the systems are just not available.

Biso Nkosi
And so, and that's where the serious ball mastery work needs to be happening at six, seven, eight years old, know, the ball mastery skills, developing two-footed players. And that's where I see the competitive advantage of Japan and countries like Spain already takes place, you know. In Spain, you've got...

little canteras or little centers where kids can do extramurals at four or five years old and they're getting that early exposure to football or they do football starts at home. And that's the same scenario as Japan. In Japan, see futsal arenas, I see indoor facilities where kids as young as six years old are doing badminton. They're starting with elementary school basketball in the school system.

they're getting exposed to these facilities and opportunities. In South Africa, there's 26,000 schools. Only a fraction of the 26,000 schools have sports facilities. A third of the schools in South Africa have sports facilities. So a kid grows up being physically illiterate, for lack of a better word. Whereas in countries like Brazil,

They get exposed to foot-solid at a young age, compressed space, compressed environments, there's early exposure to football. And the governments of those countries take these sports very seriously, which is something that needs to be worked on in the African spectrum.

Alf Gracombe
Interesting. Well, so if you can maybe step back and how did you, where you currently are, I'd love to hear a little bit of the story of how you got to this opportunity in Japan and even specifically, what is the environment there? Where are you working and what are you doing exactly?

Biso Nkosi
Okay, how the Japan environment actually took place is we're doing a study abroad program in the Global Masters program where we had students from Netherlands and Japan and South Africa. was 11 of us. And we're doing our final presentations at the University of Scuba. And our assignment was on the ASICS program and how ASICS can be used as a sports for development program.

at two local schools. So we're giving them a presentation about the research we've done and they'd invited the people from the Netherlands Embassy in Tokyo and also the South African Embassy to come and listen to our presentations. And one of the gentlemen in our presentations was Mr. Kuzwayo and he invited me back to Tokyo to the embassy to just have a chat.

And he asked me, how do I find this country? How do I find Japan? And told him it's safe, it's really nice. And then he told me that there's a program called the JET program where you can teach English for up to five years. You know, so that was like I, I left the embassy and it kind of lingered in the back of my mind. And I was like, I need to finish my masters. And then in my final week of Japan, as I was about to board,

The train at Weno station a South African walked past when I was speaking to the lady and he said to me, what are you doing here? I'm like, no, I'm doing a master's program and I asked him what he's doing. He's like, no, he teaches English on the jet program. I'm like, I've just heard about that program. He's like, wow, well, it's the easiest work you'll ever do. It's really competitive. But it's really nice and it's the easiest work you'll ever do. And I went back to South Africa, did some research about the jet program.

Actually, interestingly enough, there's actually three programs in the JET program. There's Council for International Relations, which is more like a diplomatic role, and you need to be able to be fluent in Japanese. So a lot of the Americans, the people from the UK, Scotland, France do a CIR program. Then there's the Sports Exchange Advisors program, where you can teach sports in Japan for up to five years. And then there's the Assistant Language Teachers, which is a program that I'm on.

Unfortunately, South Africa doesn't have a bilateral agreement with Japan for the sports exchange advisors, so I can't teach as a sports coach, which is something I would have loved to do in Japan on the jet program.

Alf Gracombe
Great. So Biso, you're working in Japan now and you've experienced these cultures and you've experienced and seen and got taken in lot of influences from the Netherlands, from Spain, Brazil, Japan.

Let's talk about your own personal coaching philosophy and values. How would you describe your coaching philosophy after experiencing so many different approaches? Clearly these have informed how you think about the game, but where are you and how do you describe your own coaching approach and philosophy?

Biso Nkosi
I would say that I'm a coach that believes in a team that plays a lot of ball possession football, that makes calculated entries into the opposition's final third, who are patient on the ball. We try and retain possession, try and maintain ball circulation.

I'm also a fan of playing, you know, it's part of my whole coaching philosophy 4-2-3-1 as a formation because it creates a lot of triangles on the field whenever any player is in possession of the ball. So...

That's the kind of game that I like to play. I like to play with wingers that can can express themselves that, you know, inverted wingers. So the left wing is on the right side of the field and the right wing is on the left side of the field that look to cut in, that look to dribble, that look to have creativity and improvisation. So that's the kind of philosophy I like to play with with all the teams that I work with whenever I get an opportunity to coach.

Alf Gracombe
spoken like somebody who's clearly studied the Dutch and the Spanish traditions, the Total Football or the possession-based Guardiola approach, just to use some of the shorthand. Okay, but you've also seen, you look at Brazil, you've watched Messi play these like.

Biso Nkosi
Yes, yes, but he I love fresh, yeah.

Alf Gracombe
The idea of these sort of creative players and these very systems oriented structures and maybe people see that a little bit at odds, but when you're again, working with youth, working with young players, how do you talk to them about, these structures, know, these formations, the style of play, but also individual expression? Is there room for that in your coaching?

Biso Nkosi
Yes, think with,

when I was the technical director of Kaila Football Club, we would have 11 themes that we would cover throughout the year. And, you know, we'd do ball-orientated conditioning, playing through the thirds, technical circle, wall pass, pressing. One of the themes was dribbling. So we would have dribbling for three weeks in a season, and we'd train three times a week, and we'd have variety and...

but we would actually practice the skill of dribbling like we would have in the KUWA methodology. But one of the key elements I would try and teach the players is the when and how, you know?

You don't want be dribbling out from the back with your team. You want to be dribbling further on out the field and you need to look at the moments to have individual creativity because if you restrict that you might be taking away the one element of a player's game that can take him to professional football if he's got the ability to do that. it's important, know, sometimes growing up, especially in my early years of coaching, the parents and children on the field,

pass, Whereas, you know, I'd be quiet or allow the player to express themselves. If they lose position on the ball, it's okay. But over four five years, if he keeps practicing that skill acquisition and building neural pathways, he will learn how to do it effectively with pressure because in the engrams, in the mind's eye, he's seen those situations so many times and he has mastered that skill.

Alf Gracombe
So if you can, let's look at Japan specifically. That's where you are now. Culturally speaking, I think it's safe to say Japan is maybe, it's different, let's say, than say Brazil, right? Where I'm sure a little bit more personal expression, flair is valued. These are, of course, cultural stereotypes, but I think you see them show up in the games.

Japan you see as a bit more, or I guess thought of as a bit more of a discipline, maybe structured type of learning environment. I've never been to Japan. I'm just presuming a bit here. So, you know, tell me if I'm wrong, but do you see kids less, like maybe more risk averse in how they play in Japan? Or do you have to encourage them more for individual expression?

Biso Nkosi
Look, think what has happened in the last couple of years, and I'll go back to Brazil. Brazil, because of the favelas and because of the kids are learning in the futsal environment. Futsal is a big component of Brazilian football. So a lot of the skills they're learning through trial and error on the futsal pitch. So it's a game sense based training, especially at 6 till 15, without adult supervision.

So through trial and error they try to do the skills and they master them for example. In Japan it's more you know they've gotten the influence of the Brazilians. Zico came to Japan in 1993 when the J-League was started. He came and coached the Kashima and Klaas and over the last 30 years Japan has gotten influence from the Spanish, it's got an influence from the Dutch mainly. There's a lot of partnerships within

Spain and Japan where kids go to Spain for a couple of months to go play in different tournaments and they've really adopted the game-based possession game stats from the Spanish country. I would say that Japan it's more you learn how to dribble, you learn how to do ball mastery, you get taught you know from a young age.

So I wouldn't say it's more, it's not more natural and not as creative, but they are taught these specific skills from a young age. And that's really where the differences emerge.

In Brazil it's more pleasure and participation. In Japan it's more power and performance in terms of how you get learned or how you get taught how to do these skills.

Alf Gracombe
Hmm.

Interesting. and so if you look at Japan and their national team, both the men's and the women's side, and of course the women won a world cup, so they've, they've reached the highest level, at least at that, in that moment. the men, not as much in some ways, a little bit like the U S kind of still.

developing and trying to catch up with the larger European and South American clubs. But how would you characterize the Japanese style of play at the highest levels, at the national team levels?

Biso Nkosi
At the highest

levels, it depends on the opposition that they play. For example, when Japan play in the Asian qualifiers, it's ball circulation, ball possession, and then...

when they get in the final thirds of the pitch in the wide areas, Kubo, Mitoma, they will hurt you. They will hurt opposition defenses with the one-on-one ability to eliminate opposition, to create space, to penetrate into the opposition areas. So it's a lot of possession-based football. Yes, yeah, they have another ball. Yes, more on the time of the ball.

Alf Gracombe
because they have more of the ball, they're able to dominate time on the ball more.

Biso Nkosi
But it's quick ball circulation. the Japanese, there's not much difference between the physiological structures of the Japanese and the South Africans. So it's a lot of short players. So speed of execution is very important in the game environment for them. So ball circulation is very quick. The dribbling is very quick. And in Asia, they've mastered that game model.

And then when they're playing against European countries like Spain, where they know that they're not going to get as much of the ball, when they do retrieve the ball, it's quick transitions. Try to get it to the white players further on up the pitch. Try to get it to the strike as quick as possible, on the ground preferably. And then we support and combine in the final third very quickly. So it's a different...

Different mentality, it's absorb pressure, absorb pressure, absorb pressure, and then it's a quick, fast breaks.

Alf Gracombe
Yeah. And famously they beat Spain in the world cup. Yeah. So that, yeah, that was quite a run.

Biso Nkosi
Yeah, And Germany also, you know. And yeah,

so that that I think beating Spain and Germany in the FIFA World Cup that has given them the emotional and the psychological edge to say, OK, now we don't fear anyone. We can play any country in the world and going into future World Cups. know, Japan has got a 100 year plan to to win the FIFA World Cup. So.

Alf Gracombe
Mm-hmm.

Biso Nkosi
They, you know, it's very disciplined, very structured. They're not far away. Maybe 25 years time they might win a FIFA World Cup.

Alf Gracombe
Yeah, we keep in the United States, it's frustrating to be an American on the world football stage because we always talk about, we're 10 years away from winning a World Cup. We're always 10 years away from winning the World Cup. And if we're honest with ourselves, I think Japan is doing something that the US is not doing. They, I think, are legitimately building a style of play.

Biso Nkosi
Good night.

Alf Gracombe
and they have the discipline and the ability to play with it. Sure, they're gonna make adjustments game to game depending on who they're playing, as you mentioned. But when I look at the US, I don't see the same thing happening as I see in Japan. So if you ask me today, who's gonna win the World Cup first? I mean, I'm not sure if either one will, at least in my lifetime, but you have to say Japan maybe has a better shot at it. So.

Biso Nkosi
Right.

Alf Gracombe
Uh, you know, looking at the world is getting smaller, right? People are able to travel more communication. Of course, you know, I'm able to watch European matches, uh, know, just before we got on this podcast, you know, I'm watching the La Liga match between Barcelona and Osasuna. Who's delighted to see you show up on screen with your Barcelona shirt as well. Um, so, you know, people are all over the world now are seeing the same players at the highest level. And so.

Biso Nkosi
Thank you.

Alf Gracombe
If you kind of look at youth development and the youth game and where it's headed globally, globally speaking, and then maybe one can't make a claim so much about one global trend, but you've seen it now from a few different angles in different countries. What are some of the emerging trends that you see in youth sports development or youth football specifically?

Biso Nkosi
I think one of the major realities is that you can't get to the highest levels without technical ability. You need a lot of solid technical foundation. In England, it's more the athlete these days, first the athlete, then the footballer. countries like Spain and Japan, they've maintained their tradition. The technical skills is your passport to the highest levels.

and technical skills involves being able to move the ball, the ball mastery, being able to eliminate opposition in 1v1 situation, being able to switch the ball. If you can't drive the ball like Tony Cruz, different methodologies of different countries, if you can't drive the ball like Tony Cruz,

reaching that high level or Paul Scholes reaching that high level as a central midfield player is not possible. If you can't, if you're not comfortable on the ball like Yui Hasegawa, if you're not scanning, you know, so these are all technical components and you know when you talk about scanning we're talking about visual processing. So if you can't do these skills the chances of you reaching the highest level are minimal.

So one of the key features that are emerging in youth football or in senior football is it's a street player. It's a player that can improvise the Messis of this world. They're few and far between but we need to encourage these players instead of saying no don't dribble. in leading nations...

Alf Gracombe
Well, Mitoma is a

great example, right? On the men's side in Japan.

Biso Nkosi
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

He actually went to school in university, which is the university I went to visit. He went to go study dribbling as his thesis for his undergraduate degree.

Alf Gracombe
Yeah, I've

heard that. So his thesis, he has a thesis on dribbling. That's, yeah, fantastic.

Biso Nkosi
Yeah, I'm dribbling. Yeah. So,

yeah, we have to encourage those creative players. You know, we have to train it. You know, Yamal his program at Barcelona.

Twice a week he's individualized specialized training where where he focuses on dribbling and penetration and skill and that type of skill So it's not I it's natural. Yes for some players. It's natural and it's in it and They've got that ability from a young age like Ronaldinho But for some players we need to train it and the more they train it the better off these players are going to be So the creative dribbler is an emerging theme with with with youth football

Alf Gracombe
I agree with you. think that, you know, we've been through an era of, you know, what I'd call systems football, probably most embodied by Guardiola, but he's certainly not the only one, but these systems, they become almost less reliant on the creative players. Not to say these players aren't technically amazing or that they can't, you know, pull off working in these systems and do it with, you know, with beauty and creativity, but

It seems like the systems have really been the trend over the last, I don't know, let's just say 20, 20 years or so. Are we now on the brink of an era where the dribbler will be coming back that player that can, you know, create, provide the, the, the unpredictable moment can break through the lines with the ball instead of.

Biso Nkosi
Right.

I think so, I think so because you when

you're playing against stubborn defences like a team like Italy you know for example Spain also they over the last couple of years they won the World Cup with Iniesta and Xavi and you know Iniesta could penetrate from the 8 position

But over the last couple of years, they've struggled against teams that are playing, especially the low block. And what we saw at the Euros is that Spain now have got the street players. So if they're playing against a team and for some reason this team is having a low block and they're struggling to penetrate through the middle, through the side or over on top, now they've got Yamal and Nico Williams to eliminate.

that zonal marking defense systems that ensures that they can penetrate going forward. So I think it's coming back and teams are really investing, especially in South America, to find Vinicius Jr. Or, you know, as Ancelotti will say, you know, when Vinny's got the ball, I don't tell him go left, go right, pass. Let him do what he feels is...

Alf Gracombe
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Biso Nkosi
is right at that moment for the benefit of the team.

Alf Gracombe
Yeah. No, you're right. And I think if you just look at Barcelona, maybe they're often, you know, the, the kind of bellwether for Spanish football. You know, you mentioned Lamine Yamal Barcelona has a Rafinha, the Brazilian on the left side. Like these are attacking creative. They want the ball at their feet. They're going to, Barcelona plays very differently now than they did, you know, under Guardiola as an example. And I would, I would say they're really fun to watch right now. They're, you know, yeah.

Biso Nkosi
Yes.

Yes, yes.

Chondrofyssin, Chondrofyssin, our

fluid-grilled ethereum.

Alf Gracombe
Fantastic. all right, well, let's come back. I want to just ground us now in a little bit of the questions around or thoughts around.

coaching youth again, and specifically the grassroots. And so here in the United States, know, our grassroots football are typically these community programs are often volunteer run. So we've got coaches who are coming to the game. Maybe they've played some soccer, they've got some experience coaching, but they're oftentimes, you know, parents who just want to help out the program and get on the field and help these kids have a good experience. So there's that. And then, you know, I live in the city of Boston. It's a diverse city. You've got, I think it's

Biso Nkosi
Right.

Alf Gracombe
20, over 20 % of people that live in the city of Boston are foreign born. So it's a very diverse city, a diverse environment. My local program reflects that in many ways, both racially, socioeconomically. You yourself, you mentioned being born post-apartheid South Africa. So.

Biso Nkosi
Okay.

Alf Gracombe
You came into, obviously you learned the history there, but you're coming into a more multiracial environment. And you're playing with and friends with more, you know, white kids.

and then you're coaching in these environments. So these are diverse. Well, I imagine you tell me, I'm, projecting a bit, but was the football environment, the youth football environment, a more, was it a diverse one in South Africa yourself?

Biso Nkosi
Bye.

Yeah, yeah.

In my program at CAELA, we had over 100 kids from various socioeconomic backgrounds. And what we did was, part of the integration was we ensured that everyone comes with training kit. we, 30 % of the program were kids from less socioeconomic backgrounds, kids that didn't pay.

But we knew that they could give us a competitive edge on the field of play whenever we were playing against the opposition. So what we did was we got a training kit that standardized everyone.

So you know so that Tom doesn't come with a brand new Manchester United shirt and then Jerry comes with a shirt that's got holes in it. You know we eliminated the the social economies in terms of that regard and we ensured that everyone spoke English so that also the the kids from the township who

didn't know how to speak the language, English got an opportunity to learn how to express themselves in a medium of instruction of English, you know.

Alf Gracombe
So as a coach, how do you think about coaching diverse populations? mean, on one level, you have to recognize that people are coming from different places, they're showing up at the field.

Biso Nkosi
Yes.

Alf Gracombe
coming from different places. And one of the beautiful things about sport, about football, is that there's a common language that's spoken on the field and it's at its best, right? These differences, they sort of fade into the background. It's not the thing that people are thinking about when they're making a pass to their teammate, regardless of where they're coming from and where you're coming from. But as a coach, what are some...

Biso Nkosi
Right.

Alf Gracombe
or ways of sort of approaching coaching kids coming from these different backgrounds, what would you, what's some advice or some recommendations that you might have?

Biso Nkosi
So one of the recommendations I would give to an aspiring or up-and-coming coach is to create themes that you want to cover throughout the year. That will avoid running monotonous sessions, you know. So if you have 10 themes, as I mentioned before, building up on the back, playing through the lines, pressing, and all of these themes need to have small-sided games related, switch-off play.

And if you do themes for three times a week or three weeks and then change themes every three weeks, you're a wide spectrum of a young players development component. so you'll realize, OK, this player is lacking in this area.

they need this support. I would also suggest having a report, a player report and in the player report it's really simple. It's a player's name at the bottom. It can be final remarks and it can be four squares, technical, tactical, physical, social and you write in the one column challenges in the other column strengths and you can have these technical reports quarterly. So every

six twelve weeks in the season or every eight weeks if you want write technical reports so it will give a coach an idea of what is happening with the player at an individual level. Furthermore what I'd also do is I would within the themes you get an idea where players are lacking where they need more time do ball mastery exercises

Possession games. I'm a big fan of possession games 4v2 Rondos 5v5 possession games because that provides a technical foundation for passing and receiving exercises in game situation and also small sided games

Alf Gracombe
So.

Yeah, and I'm with you 100 % on that approach. Of course, you mentioned the technical ball mastery piece to complement the small side of game work. So important. Just to summarize what you said, though, because I think it's important, especially for developing coaches or any coach working with kids, this idea of some structure, right? Organizing principles, you mentioned themes and.

Biso Nkosi
Yes, yes, organizing transport, yeah.

Alf Gracombe
It's great as a coach to have that, then the next piece is communication, right? How do you share those themes with the players? then communication, and I've been doing a lot of thinking myself about this recently, is how do you talk to the players? How do you, first of all, get to know them, right, as individuals and understand where they are in their own development? And then...

How do you have that conversation with a player? How do you communicate to them where they are, what they've done, what's next for them, where they need to continue to develop, what are their strengths? How do you think about communication with your players?

Biso Nkosi
Look Alf, I think it's a good question and I think not all players respond the same way, even with kids. Some kids I might be speaking to Alf and when I'm trying to get the best out of Alf, I'm like, Alf come on! I can shout at Alf. Alf needs that because that's how Alf responds. Whereas Tom I know that I need to be bit more conservative at half time I need to speak to him on the side.

Alf Gracombe
Yeah, Alf needs that. He definitely needs that.

Biso Nkosi
I need to pull him on the side whilst the session is still running to say this is what you're doing wrong outside of the spectrum of the whole group because he's a kid that doesn't respond to being shouted at. So you need to know your players. Are they introverts? Are they extroverts? you need to take some time to make them where they are. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Alf Gracombe
And meet them where they are, right? Meet them where they are.

Great. Biso, this has been just a fantastic conversation. I'm just thrilled to have you on the show, and I really appreciate your time. But you're not done yet. You're not done yet. So I have to ask. I ask everybody this at the end.

Biso Nkosi
Okay, okay, no problem. No problem.

Alf Gracombe
I would love to hear or learn about or something you can share with our audience, a resource that is either something that you're really, you you use a lot right now or just maybe a touchstone, something that you come back to, but something you can share with other coaches that you found to be a valuable resource.

Biso Nkosi
So I've got several valuable resources. The first one is I'm using a book that I'm reading right now. I don't know if you can see it. It's called Developing Youth Football Players. This is a legendary book. The author unfortunately passed away. His name is Horst Wein

So it's a fantastic resource. comes with DVDs on the small sided games you can use for developing the young player from a young age. It's got a lot of scientific principles on small sided games. Instead of playing 7v7, why it's important to play 3v3, then 5v5, then 7v7, then 9v9, then the full game. So it's got a systematic approach for developing players

the 3v3 scenario. Other material is used, Coerver Coaching has got over 40 years of developing young players so it's a fantastic resource for youth development coaching and also

A fellow coach in South Africa, foreign coach, he's also late now. His name is Ted Dumitru He's got some awesome material on South African specific physiological profile of players and that's the material that I'm using.

Alf Gracombe
Great, well thank you for sharing those and I will of course put all of this into the show notes so folks can get links to these resources. thank you, Biso for sharing those. Great conversation. I really appreciate you getting up early on a Friday morning to have the conversation with me. It's been wonderful having you on. I look forward to getting this published for folks to hear. yeah, thanks so much for your time. It's been great.

Biso Nkosi
my pleasure of my pleasure thank you very much