I watched a sixty-minute masterclass on pressing and thought I understood it completely.
Clear concepts. Great examples. The presenter made it seem obvious. I felt like I had learned so much in just an hour.
The next week at training, I tried to explain pressing triggers to my assistant coach. I could not remember the framework. I could not recall the specific examples. The concepts that seemed so clear on video were fuzzy in my mind.
That is when I realised I had not learned anything. I had consumed content. Those are different things.
The Problem With Passive Consumption
Coaches today have access to thousands of YouTube videos, hundreds of courses, countless podcasts, and infinite articles. More coaching content is available than ever before.
But more available does not mean more learning.
Watching without thinking. Listening without applying. Reading without implementing. This is entertainment disguised as education.
I was consuming coaching content the way I consumed Netflix. Passively. Expecting information to transfer into my brain through exposure alone.
That is not how learning works.
What I Did Differently
I went back to that pressing masterclass. But this time I approached it differently.
First watch: understanding. I focused on the big picture. Identified key concepts. Noted what resonated with my current challenges. Recognised what challenged my existing thinking. I did not try to capture everything. I just absorbed.
Second watch: note-taking. I paused constantly. Wrote key points. Captured specific phrases and frameworks. Recorded questions that arose. Planned how I might apply each concept. The notes transformed passive watching into active engagement.
Third watch: integration. I connected what I was learning to knowledge I already had. I filled gaps in my notes. I solidified my understanding of the complete framework. I prepared specifically for implementation.
Three watches of the same content produced more learning than three different pieces of content consumed once each.
Making It Stick
The day after my third watch, I tried one pressing trigger concept in training.
Just one. Not the whole framework. One specific idea applied immediately.
It worked partially. Some players got it, others did not. But I learned more in that twenty-minute training exercise than I had in three hours of video watching.
Application creates memory. Until you have tried something, you have not learned it. You have just been exposed to it.
After training, I explained the concept to another coach. Teaching forced me to organise my understanding. The gaps in my knowledge became obvious when I tried to explain them. Teaching others revealed what I actually knew versus what I thought I knew.
The System I Built
I started a content calendar. What I would learn this week. What priority it addressed this month. What theme defined this season.
Intentional learning replaced random consumption.
I created a notes repository. One place where all learning lived. Easy to access. Easy to search. Easy to review. Notes I could not find might as well not exist.
I built an application tracker. What content inspired each change I made. What I specifically implemented. What results occurred. What I would do next based on what happened.
I established a review rhythm. Weekly: What did I learn? Monthly: What have I applied? Seasonally: What has actually changed in my coaching?
The Time Problem
Grassroots coaches have limited time. Full-time jobs. Family responsibilities. Coaching commitments. Other life demands.
Content that respects time gets consumed. Content that wastes time gets abandoned.
Ninety minutes of rambling teaches less than fifteen minutes of focused explanation. Shorter, denser content often produces more learning because you can engage with it multiple times.
I learned to choose quality over quantity. Five great resources deeply consumed produced more change in my coaching than fifty mediocre resources skimmed.
What Changed
The masterclass on pressing eventually transformed my team’s out-of-possession approach. But not because I watched it. Because I engaged with it systematically.
Notes I could reference during session planning. Application that revealed what worked and what did not. Teaching that solidified my understanding. Review that reminded me of principles I had started to forget.
Content is everywhere now. Learning remains rare.
The difference is not access to information. It is how you engage with it.
Consume less. Engage more. Apply immediately. Review regularly.
That is how learning sticks.
Want content worth engaging with deeply?
The Football Coaching Academy provides structured learning designed for multiple engagements. Not content volume. Learning depth. Join 1,600+ coaches who have discovered that less consumed well produces more than more consumed poorly. $1/month to start.