Diversity in coaching...

So it's now been 2 weeks since I started with the FA to deliver there 'Mash Up' programme at a local secondary school and I have just got in from my third session. Slightly different to my usual work with 5-11 year olds, and what an enjoyable experience it is turning out to be. The whole culture of the programme really allows the guys and girls to play freely in a fun environment.

As an example of this, the provision for music to be on whilst they play a football match with a focus and challenge is fantastic. Another great way to get the youngsters interacting socially during the sessions is to allow them to decide which challenge out of a selection they will do each week. Finishing off with a keepy-up challenge every other week has also allowed me to see just how supportive these young people are to one and other. With year 9's actively encouraging and supporting year 7 and 8 children to have a go and improve week on week. 

The challenges go from scenarios of league champs V relegation all to way to 'is it on' where you can only pass forward, fantastic for developing the decision making and movement skills of the young people. One of my favourites is '5 goals, 5 ways' in which there is 4 set goals and one of their choosing, if the team score all 5 before the alloted time is up they win the game, a great way to encourage team work and practice of all different types of finishing including weaker foot, volleys and headers.

I am finding that being able to work at a community level in the foundation phase, now with the older children and the young adults at U18 level, as well as my work at the Academy with the U8's and 11's, I am really starting to become a more well rounded coach that is able to deal with more scenarios and draw on my experiences of all the different age groups to be more effective in each of them when dealing with the children and helping them to problem solve within the sessions.

My advice to all coaches at all levels would be to get out and coach as many different teams at as many different ages and as many different levels as possible. Especially early on in your coaching career. Then when you settle on an age that your are best suited it will be an educated decision and you will ultimately be a better coach and be able to deal with the different spectrum of maturity within your group or team.

Until next time.....

Starting a new job and moving home in the same week is never easy...

So this past week was a particularly busy one with the start of a new term, getting back into the swing of things at the Academy, starting a new programme with the County FA and moving home.

Monday was a bit of strange one with teacher training days playing havoc with the schedule and no sessions happening for Inclusion. The weather also meant that training for the U18's was cancelled.

Tuesday was a much more productive day with 2 sessions happening for Inclusion and my first day back at the Academy following the new year. 'B' Licence assessments and YM3 assessments meant a bit of a shuffle around and I ended up working with the U8(pre-academy) children which is always a delight. We mixed them in with the U7 children and had a tournament with 4 teams and the 5th team was off for skills school with Raph.

Raph can be seen back left next to....

Raph Burke is a top coach and even better person that I have worked with extensively over the last year. Starting at Manchester United in the youth ranks under the stewardship of Eric Harrison and playing alongside such great players as Paul Scholes and David Beckham. Raph now finds himself loving life try to help the next generation achieve success in the game. 

The session worked well with all having the opportunity to work with Raph in his skills school and put it into practice in games.

Wednesday meant a full day back in school doing PE which we base loosely around the youth award games and look to develop the fundamental skills of the children and use the 4-Corner model.

Thursday was an exciting day personally for myself, delivering my first Mash-Up session for the County FA. With an amazing attendance of 34 children I can see that this is going to be an interesting 26 week programme with each session being game based with a different focus and task to complete. Heavily based on fun, social interaction and contact time with the sport a starting number of 34 is absolutely brilliant. We played a game of panna. 4 teams, roll on roll off, if you get a nutmeg your team scores a goal, if you score a goal that counts also and the team winning at the end of 5 mins stays on. 

Friday was moving day, but before all the fun and games started it was time to visit Inclusions newest school for our first session of the year with them. It turned out that the gym club guys had let them down so we ended up taking both the football and gym clubs together inside and played handball. We used a whole-part-whole method, playing a game, breaking it down into 'piggy in the middle' in 3's and then going back into the game. We finished with a game of football for the last 10 mins and following the sessions an interesting conversation with the school will hopefully mean a bit more work coming our way in the next couple of months.

Bit of a manic week and following a weekend of moving and putting furniture together, IKEA is a wonderful place, I am ready to go again and see what the wonderful world of a football coach can throw at me this week.

See you all next week for more 'Tales of a Football Coach'....

Welcome to 'Tales of a Football Coach'

Welcome to my brand new weekly blog 'Tales of a Football Coach'. Each week i will be writing a post detailing the fun and games of the last 7 days. My tales take me from local schools, to grass roots clubs, to soccer schools, to 1:1 sessions, to county FA sessions and to elite level academy sessions in a category 2 academy.

I have been coaching at local grass roots level for the past 8 years, working with 2 very strong local clubs working with ages from Under 9's upto first team Helenic Premier Division standard. I am currently a Level 2 qualified coach that has completed Module 1 and 2 of the FA Youth Award and am completing Module 3 this coming February.

18 Months ago i applied for a new trainee coaches scheme at a local Championship clubs academy and after successfully completing the interview process and 7 months as part of the trainee scheme was offered the opportunity to work with the U8's within the Academy. The boys in this group are all competing to be signed by the Academy officially at the end of the season as the following season U9's. This experience was a real eye opener for me as to how vast the difference is between local level football and Elite level. Since then i have developed in the environment and after successfully applying for the position as U11 assistant i find myself in the position i am now, working with some of the best 10/11 year olds in the south west of England.

I hope you enjoy my tales and feel free to comment on what you read, with your thoughts on how things should be done and how you do things as learning from each other is the best way to develop.

See you in 7 days.