Peter Sturgess: The power of play is disregarded at your peril...

Peter Sturgess is a foundation stage coaching guru in football having spent 17 years working at the FA. Based in Wigan, supports Walsall, set up the Derby County FC Centre of Excellence, and has worked in lots of other football environments.

He has studied how best to accelerate the learning and development of young footballers, by modifying practices, and encouraging learning free from structure and organisation so often imposed by coaching systems.