🎧 The 50:22 Podcast — coaching in under 9 minutes.

Short, sharp, and straight to the point.

Dan Cottrell, RCW editor and Stuart James, award-winning coach and coach developer discuss key training topics in short-order.

✅ How You Start Changes Everything
✅ Make Games Work Harder
✅ The Assistant Coach You’re Ignoring
✅ Prepare Yourself, Not Just the Plan
✅ The Right Kind of Pressure
✅ Stop Chasing Skill

Practical ideas you can use tonight.
Coaching made simple, intentional, and human.

Starting sessions

In this 8-minute episode, Dan Cottrell and Stu James dive into the power of the first five minutes of a session. From early wins to playful warm-ups without a ball, discover how to boost energy, build connection and benchmark your plan. Quick, practical and purposeful: start better, coach smarter.

Make Games Work Harder

Small-sided games aren’t just chaos—they’re your sharpest coaching tool. In this episode, Dan Cottrell and Stu James explore how to make games more purposeful by designing clear objectives, coaching one behaviour at a time, and helping players make better decisions under pressure. Clear rules. Smart design. Intentional outcomes.

The Assistant Coach You’re Ignoring

What if your most impactful assistant coach is already on the sideline, holding a coffee and watching their child? 

In this episode, Dan Cottrell and Stu James reframe how coaches can engage parents with purpose. From team emails to ‘parent wranglers’, discover how to create connection, reduce friction and build a shared culture that goes beyond the touchline.

Stop Chasing Skill: Build Game Sense That Sticks

In this episode of The 50:22 Podcast, Dan Cottrell and Stu James explore why focusing on perfect technique can hold players back. 

Instead of trying to tick off isolated skills, they discuss how layering, context, and repetition help players understand what to do and when to do it. 

The aim is to move from drills to decisions, from repetition to recognition. 

Learn how to guide players toward real game sense and long-term progress in every session.

The Right Kind of Pressure

In this episode of the 50:22 Podcast, Dan Cottrell and Stuart James explore how to use stress as a coaching tool, not through shouting but through smart, purposeful challenge. Discover how the right kind of pressure helps players build resilience, sharpen decision-making, and raise their own standards. Learn simple ways to add competition, intensity, and mindset training into your sessions without losing calm, connection, or control.

Prepare Yourself, Not Just the Plan

In this episode of the 50:22 Podcast, Dan Cottrell and Stu James explore why great coaching starts with preparing yourself, not just your session plan. 

Stu leads the discussion, drawing on his expertise in different workplace environments to inform his thinking on training day scenarios.

From setting the right mindset to creating simple reset tools when things go off track, learn how to arrive confident, stay adaptable, and lead with intention.