Chelsea U18’s coach on winning mentality and mental strength at Cobham

Player mentality came up several times in part two of Chelsea U18’s coach James Simmonds’ Q&A with The Coaches’ Voice Academy. Chelsea develops the whole player, and teaches them to win.

Chelsea’s academy at Cobham is so good that even the players who are let go along the way can go on to significant top flight careers. Cobham is also a developing ground for young coaches. James Simmonds played his entire youth career at Chelsea before a short professional career in the lower leagues of England and Spain, and is now back with the Blues as the U18’s assistant coach. With him in academy’s coaching staff are Ashley Cole and Joe Cole, while two of his predecessors at Cobham are now alongside Frank Lampard with the first team.

One player who Chelsea released from the academy is Declan Rice. Simmonds pointed to Rice as an example of how important the mental side of the game is for a young player. A teenager may have incredible technical abilities for his age, but if he does not have the necessary mentality he may not be able to progress to the next level.

Resilience is as necessary as focus or mental strength. Speaking about Rice, Simmonds said:

"Anyone who knows Declan knows he’s a great character, brilliant in the changing room and everyone loved him. He was relentless in his hard work and his passion for the game. He got let go, but his resilience to come back and bounce back is second to none. – The Coaches’ Voice Academy"

Simmonds went on to talk about two of Rice’s Cobham teammates, Mason Mount and Reece James. Mount was “non-stop left foot, right foot, practicing free kicks after training. Hard work, mastering his craft.” James would do “sessions before the sessions” to build his physical strength and practice the crosses that have become his signature.

Part of the mental desire the academy coaches impart to their young players is that most Chelsea of all values: a love of winning.

Simmonds does not see the desire to win at all ages and levels to be at odds in any way with the players’ football education. The teams stick to their game plans and the players follow their individual action plans for each game, but the goal is always to do those things in service of a win.

Tournaments, in particular, are where the youth players and their coaches have the opportunity to really build a desire for victory. The coaches want to win as much as the players, so they have to choose the right team, which means the players have to compete for a place in the XI just as hard as they will fight on the pitch during the game. This instills in them the sense that every day is about doing your best and always wanting that next achievement.

"Winning is part of development, and at our club its ingrained at a young age but done it such a way that it doesn’t take away from the development of the game.In training and games, winning mentality is ingrained in everything you do. I’m a firm believer that at 15, 16, 17, 18, you can’t just go ‘we’re going to win now lads.’"

Chelsea are finally benefitting directly from the level of players and coaches they have in the academy by bringing those players and coaches into the first team. Simmonds highlights how important culture is to the club when the youth teams connect to the first teams.

The Blues have everything in place for a generation of homegrown excellence, of which the current Cobham alum in the first team are just the beginning.