How Important is Unmediated Learning in Coaching Education in Soccer?
“Why Coaches Build Knowledge Beyond the Classroom — and How to Bridge Formal and Informal Learning”
⚽ Introduction
When we think of soccer coaching education, images of classrooms, PowerPoints, practice sessions, and assessments come to mind. These are essential building blocks, delivered by educators to help aspiring or current coaches learn, develop, and become more effective.
But there is another critical side to this process, unmediated learning, the kind of learning that happens without direct instruction, formal oversight, or structured facilitation.
In this newsletter, we’ll explore why unmediated learning is so vital in soccer coaching education, how it differs from mediated learning, and why balancing both is essential for developing truly competent, adaptive coaches.
We’ll also explore Moon’s famous “bricks” metaphor for learning, the tension between coach-centered delivery vs learning-centered development, and why many formal coach education programs still lean heavily on mediated delivery, despite evidence of the enormous benefits of unmediated exploration.
Mediated vs Unmediated Learning — What’s the Difference?
Mediated learning
Mediated learning is what most coaching courses traditionally do. It involves:
Formal, structured delivery of content by a coach educator, instructor, or facilitator.
Set curriculum, assessments, and learning outcomes.
Usually occurs in courses, workshops, seminars, webinars, or mentoring sessions.
In soccer coach education, examples include:
A C-License course session on pressing triggers, delivered by an instructor using slides and field exercises.
A module on periodization explained by a high-performance director.
Watching curated video clips during a workshop on defending principles.
The instructor mediates the knowledge. They filter, package, and transmit it to the learners. Coaches are largely receivers, following guidance and engaging in structured practice.
Unmediated learning
Unmediated learning happens without a direct instructor or structured lesson. It is:
Self-initiated, self-directed, or informally acquired.
Learning from doing, reflecting, observing, experimenting, failing, discussing with peers.
Happens outside courses, on the training pitch, at games, or through informal study.
Examples include:
A grassroots coach experimenting with a new session design because he noticed his players switch off during traditional warm-ups.
Watching another local coach’s session and picking up ideas, without formal instruction.
Reading books or researching video analysis out of personal curiosity.
Recording your own team’s matches and dissecting them at home.
In unmediated learning, the coach is the active seeker and constructor of knowledge, not just a recipient.
Moon’s “bricks” metaphor: How we actually learn
Education theorist Jennifer Moon uses a powerful metaphor to highlight what happens in learning.
Teaching provides the learner with bricks. But it is the learner who must build the wall.
In soccer coach education:
Mediated learning often gives coaches bricks (concepts, drills, frameworks, examples).
But without unmediated learning (reflection, experimentation, adaptation, contextual problem-solving), these bricks sit in a pile.
A pile of bricks is not a house. Similarly, a pile of ideas, session plans, or tactical models is not practical coaching expertise.
Only when the coach constructs, connects, tests, tears down, and rebuilds these bricks into meaningful structures do they become skillful, adaptive, competent practitioners.
Coach-centered education vs learning-centered development
This brings us to a key tension in coach education:
Many courses are coach educator-centered.
The instructor is the expert. Knowledge flows one way. The learning environment is controlled. Success is measured by short-term recall and compliance.
True learning is coach-centered, or better yet, learning-centered.
It focuses on what the coach can do with the knowledge, how they problem-solve, and how they grow their understanding through curiosity and reflection.
The modern philosophy of coach development encourages learning-centered approaches:
More questioning, less telling.
More problem-solving tasks, fewer demonstrations to copy.
More room for curiosity-driven exploration.
But these require a deliberate shift in delivery, and the courage to trust the coach-learner to take ownership of their development.
Coach competencies & why unmediated learning matters
Modern coaching is not just about having drills in your pocket. Competent coaches are expected to:
Understand players holistically (technical, tactical, physical, psychological, social).
Analyze and adapt in dynamic environments.
Communicate effectively with individuals and groups.
Reflect on and continuously improve their practice.
These competencies cannot be fully transmitted via mediated learning alone.
Imagine trying to develop:
Creativity in session design,
Empathy in player communication,
Or real-time problem-solving in chaotic game scenarios
… purely through lectures or structured demonstrations.
Unmediated learning, where coaches try, fail, notice, adjust, and reflect in their unique contexts, is where these competencies are forged.
The gap between mediated and unmediated learning
1. Coach education structures the “bricks”
Most formal licenses and workshops provide the bricks:
Frameworks like defending in zones vs man-to-man.
Principles like width, depth, compactness.
Physical periodization models.
Communication tips.
These are critical; they shape foundational knowledge.
2. The day-to-day environment builds the “wall”
But the messy, contextual, ongoing environment of each coach’s team, their players, their resources, and their culture is where these bricks are actually tested and assembled.
How does a coach adjust a pressing scheme when half their players are slow to recover?
How does a coach motivate a team that just lost 8-0 and is at risk of quitting?
How does a coach’s training shift in rainy season when fields are waterlogged?
This is largely unmediated learning. It can’t be packaged. It emerges from repeated cycles of experience, reflection, and experimentation.
3. Coaches may not recognize unmediated learning
Many coaches under-value their informal learning. They see formal courses as the “real learning.” Yet, decades of educational research show that most lasting, meaningful learning happens through informal, self-directed processes.
Coaches’ preference in delivery — where the tension lies
Despite this, surveys of coaches in soccer education often reveal:
Many coaches prefer structured, mediated delivery.
They like clear “recipes” for sessions, concrete examples, and direct answers.
Why?
It feels more efficient.
It gives certainty (“tell me what works”).
It’s less risky and vulnerable than admitting “I don’t know, let me explore.”
But ironically, these preferences can stunt deeper development.
Unmediated learning is uncomfortable; it demands:
Wrestling with ambiguity,
Testing ideas that may fail,
Accepting that you are never done learning.
As coach developers or federations, the challenge is balancing:
Providing enough mediated structure and scaffolding,
While encouraging unmediated exploration, reflection, and ownership.
Practical ideas to integrate unmediated learning in coach education
So, how do we bridge the gap?
1. Use mediated learning as a launch pad
Courses and workshops should give frameworks and principles, not rigid scripts.
Explicitly encourage coaches to adapt, not copy.
2. Build reflection into courses
After a practice or module, ask:
“How would this look with your team? What challenges might come up? How could you modify it?”
3. Encourage self-analysis
Have coaches film their training, then watch and critique themselves.
This self-driven analysis is unmediated but incredibly powerful.
4. Foster communities of practice
Create peer learning groups where coaches share experiences and ideas, outside formal delivery.
5. Normalize uncertainty
Tell stories of elite coaches who continually experiment and adjust.
Let developing coaches see that growth never stops, and mistakes are part of mastery.
6. Offer guided but open-ended tasks
Instead of “Here is the warm-up, do it exactly,” use tasks like:
“Design a warm-up to improve awareness under pressure. Share your design and why you chose it.”
A note on assessments & licensing
Another structural problem is how we assess coaching knowledge.
Many license programs test short-term recall or demonstration of set exercises.
This reinforces mediated learning; coaches focus on memorizing what the instructor wants.
Imagine if assessments also included:
Coaches presenting reflections on their failed experiments.
Discussing a video of their team and how they adjusted their approach.
Sharing how they plan to address context-specific problems.
This would elevate unmediated learning as a legitimate, valued part of becoming a coach.
Key takeaways for coach educators & federations
Unmediated learning is essential.
Formal courses lay the bricks, but coaches build the house through self-driven experimentation, observation, and reflection.
Mediated learning should serve unmediated growth.
Licenses and workshops are most powerful when they give coaches tools to explore, not rigid templates to follow blindly.
Support lifelong learning.
Great coaches are curious. They read, watch, discuss, and try new things continually. Coach education should nurture this spirit, not dampen it.
Value mistakes.
Nothing develops adaptive expertise like trying something, getting it wrong, and figuring out why. This is the raw material of unmediated learning.
Final thoughts
In soccer, like in any complex performance environment, most of the richest, deepest learning happens away from the classroom or course. It happens on muddy pitches, in frustrating games, in hours spent re-watching match video, or quietly sketching new session ideas.
As coach educators, mentors, and federations, we must respect, encourage, and legitimize these unmediated pathways. Because ultimately, no matter how good our slides are, or how well we explain a tactical model, it is the coach who must construct their understanding, brick by brick, wall by wall.
Download our free self-check worksheet for coaches: Includes:
How much of your last month’s learning was unmediated?
What new idea did you test in your last training?
What failure taught you the most?
Who did you observe or talk to recently that gave you a new perspective?
What’s one area you’ll explore on your own this month?
Don’t miss our next post, where we’ll explore how mediated and unmediated learning shape the way you lead, develop, and inspire your team.
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