Initial thoughts....
May 24th 2014
The next step on the FA's coaching pathway is to undertake the Level 2 Outfield badge, I find this a little frustrating as someone who's rarely played outfield and has little interest in coaching outfield players. The cost and amount of weekdays (and therefore days of work) to undertake the course is also a bit of a sore point at a costly £325 and 4 days off work.The FA would argue that this pathway would give me a solid base to progress and understand the game ahead of the goalkeepers, and whilst I can see that point of view, I think for those who aren't necessary looking to have a career in the game and only want an understanding of the goalkeeping position this course plus the added expense of undertaking the Level 2 Goalkeeping Course is a little unnecessary.
At the time of writing this section, Greg Dyke has recently announced his and the FA commission blueprint for the future game, unfortunately the commission don't seem to have taken into account that the cost of coaching badges in England is seemingly more expensive than in other countries and data produced shows that we are lagging behind other European nations in terms of numbers. It maybe my simplistic way of looking at things, but more qualified coaches, should mean a better standard of coaching and hopefully that'll lead to better players, and hopefully a more successful batch of future English players. I'm fairly confident there are many like myself who do not have oodles of spare cash who want to give something back to the game at any level, but are put off by the expense of the badges and having to do an outfield course ahead of doing the specialist GK course.
In Wales for example, to undertake a Goalkeeping pathway, The FAW allow coaches to specialise in GK'ing up to the FA equivalent of Level 2 before having to take an outfield course. Cost effective and allows those who want to coach GK's to a certain level can, before moving to a more serious level of coaching.
Rant over...
This is the path I have chosen and several hundred pounds lighter, I am about to embark on the course this coming week, part of me is excited at looking at other aspects of the game, but another part is apprehensive having a). never coached outfield players and b). dealt with large groups whilst coaching. I am taking the course through the Gloucestershire FA and below are my thoughts on the course as I've gone through it, hopefully by the end of this blog I've passed !
Training Days 1, 2 & 3
After a terrible nights sleep I overslept, and then found out I had no fuel to travel. Bad times. I arrived just in time for the start of the course which is to be led by Ivor Gumm (great name !). At my seat I found a fairly hefty looking ring binder which covers the course syllabus and some DVDs to help me on my way. Flicking through the ring binder there was a course handbook and a technical handbook with the various areas which the course covered and lots of blank areas for note taking and 15 tasks which need to be completed by course end.After the introduction was completed, the day was broken up into a morning class room session, a practical training session, lunch, classroom, outdoor practical, review of the day in the class room and finish !
The class room session was to make a start on some of the early tasks contained within the folder, it also appears to me this is a way of talking to those on your table and getting to know your fellow course members
We set our own ambitions and goals for the course, and go about defining the skills and qualities of a coach.
Mid morning we got out on the pitch and shown what was expected of a level 2 warm up, and Ivor ran through a couple of drills. It became apparently obvious to me that I was going to find this tough, the amount of information being handed out was way beyond what I was expecting and as the practical sessions continued I became more overwhelmed with it.
The afternoon saw Ivor introduce defending 1v1 2v2 and 3v3 defending drills and a follow through into a small sided game to show how the development of the session was structured.
The rest of the weekend followed on in a similar fashion with class room activities and Ivor demonstrating a range of drills with ball control, running with the ball, forward runs without the ball, dribbling, finishing and plenty of defending.
I'd have liked to write more, but my head is spinning with information and im physically beat ! Got a few more bits and pieces to fill in within the folder and then start preparing Task 8 a). Creating space as an individual (without the ball).
Training Days 4,5,& 6
Most of a very hot weekend was spent doing the Task 8 part a). assessments. I was third up on the first morning and after setting up my grids and getting my 8 willing volunteers, we set about creating space as an individual. After a brief introduction I paired off the groups into the areas and we got the skill side going. First thing noted was that the 10 x 10 grids were simply not big enough for adults. The tempo I felt was good and I started walking around the two groups hoping that my coaching position would be ok. The groups were working well so I started to drop in the key coaching points that I'd identified and stepping in where I could - key for me was to allow the 2nd group to continue working whilst addressing the first group.
The technique based session appeared to work well, but I felt uneasy about the session as a whole and was mightily relieved once I got the nod that time was almost up. The debrief was a Q & A with the players and then the dissection with Ivor.
Feedback, by and large was ok - a few tweaks to the skill based area to make it more individual and a mention on the tempo needed to be slowed down as it was a very hot day. Ivor has asked how I felt the session had gone, and I explained that I felt uneasy about the topic and that having only ever coached Goalkeepers that this had been my first outfield session. This was very apparent according to Ivor who explained that whilst I dropped in relevant key factors, and had a nice friendly manner, my delivery of the session was not great and that my lack of confidence was really apparent. I certainly found it very hard to come across as confident when I was totally lacking faith in the drill I'd set up or the topic as a whole.
As the weekend went on you could see the rest of the group picking up on the debriefs from Ivor and certainly on the second day, the sessions were far more polished than the early one's on Day 4.
Day 6 was thankfully spent in the Class room and we had a leisurely morning after a long hot couple of days running around on the assessments. We covered more tasks within the folder and looked at the linked sessions and nutrition and football fitness areas. The afternoon was my favourite bit of all where Ivor let myself and a colleague run the goalkeeping part of the module - we ran through some of the basic handling drills and also did a crossing drill as well. The lads on the course seemed to enjoy our session and for me it was nice to actually display my knowledge.
The day finished with Ivor giving us a topic for the skill to small sided game practice mine is Defending forcing the play and I have to say I am happier with this than I was with the previous effort.
Task 14 In the mean time....
During the summer I have had to run 12 sessions as part of the 4 linked sessions and 8 topic sessions as part of Task 14.
I decided to have a bash at spreading these out and so used my sons u8's team, a friends u15's side and a grassroots senior side to do the linked sessions with.
I decided for the u8's I'd go for something they'd take on board so tried to use short passing and ball control with them, on reflection after the two sessions I needed to make these even more simple for them as what I had prepared was too hard and boring for them.
The u15's was a different prospect - I felt I could challenge them a little more and did more attacking principles with them, such as support play, finishing, running off the ball etc. The results after each session was mixed but the sessions were largely enjoyable, and from them I took a great deal away from them.
4 Linked sessions - for this I used my club side. I purposely choose defending because frankly after their previous season this was definitely an area for improvement. Like the u15's side I got a lot from this and although players didn't like the 'basic' skill part once they saw how the sessions were being progressed they started to buy into it a little more. Again I took a lot from this, as I started to realise how much I'd taken on board and could pass on. Was lovely to see some of the techniques used by my players in the early season matches.
There were many highs and lows during these sessions, but I certainly gained a lot from doing them and can see how they prepare you for the finals and life after the course.
Training Day 7
The problem day !
After a very late cancellation with no explanation by GFA, Day 7 was rearranged for 2 weeks later. Ivor had apparently left the country and taken a job in India coaching, and so we had a new mentor / course leader in Ritchie Carter who had gotten the call late himself and turned up totally out of sorts himself. He of course was going to follow the course program, however we were expecting to do our Part 8 b). Skill / SSG's that we'd been given by Ivor previously - so after working out what we'd done and were expecting to do, the day finally got going.
However, the change of date had disrupted the attendance and with only 8 attendees present, any plans we'd made for the sessions were quickly thrown into disarray. I was first up on the morning, and having been given the session title of Defending - Forcing the Play - I'd set up my session for 10, and now had to try under examination try to deliver my topic. With myself coaching, and one attendee unable to take part I was left with 6 participants. The skill part was more adaptable and thankfully I was able to deliver this part without too much trouble, the SSG however was a complete disaster as the game relied on having a defensive line set up with holding midfielders lining up against a midfield and front line. With only 3 participants on each team this structure went out the window and it essentially just became a very poor 3 a side game.
Deflated and utterly fed up, I received my feedback from Ritchie, which I felt didn't quite take into account the facts that I had far less than the session had planned for and therefore made the SSG almost impossible to deliver properly. On reflection this is the life of a coach, and life isn't perfect - sometimes you just have to make do and there were ways I could have improved the delivery of the SSG even though the scenario was imperfect. Being first up and my own inflexibility and being caught on the hop did for me really. Lesson learnt.
The day was pretty much the same for everyone who's plans were pretty much rendered useless and sessions were rapidly adapted and delivered with mixed results. We finished off in the classroom checking through our files filling in feedback sheets for the session. We were given our final assessment topic by Ritchie and were told to prepare a SSG on it for training day 8. We left not knowing who was leading the remainder of the course, as Ritchie himself hadn't been told.
Training Day 8
What will day 8 hold ?
Well it became apparent due to the humungous cock up of Day 7, we had now lost a chunk of our group and again session plans for anything more than 10 were pretty much rendered useless as we only had 12 with 2 members of the group were unable to take part + the one participant coaching, things were less than ideal. On the plus side Ritchie was back and at this stage looks to be set to stay for the remainder.
Throughout the day we all manfully took part in everyone else SSG's but as the afternoon wore on, the legs had started to go and the session tempos dropped - a shame for those who took their session after lunch, but we all tried to do the best we could.
My final topic is To Improve Long Passing - I found this difficult to create a SSG where this area would be prevalent and certainly during my 15 minute session, I found it hard to deliver key aspects as many of them would have been incorporated within the technique and skill parts of the session. Ritchie had advised us to coach one team and manage one - but offer up praise for good practice to the latter side. Within my feedback he said that I need to be able to see the game unfold and coach on other aspects such as support play, off the ball running etc, which slightly contradicted what Ivor had said, who had told us to remain purely on topic, but be aware of other areas but not to get distracted.
We've also been advised to go for the bare minimum of 8 players for the final assessment due to the lack of numbers and to give ourselves a fighting chance of playing within the drills on Final Assessment Days 9 & 10.
Following on from my assessment of the SSG, I am now rehashing my final assessment session plan so that I can find other ways of incorporating key points into the SSG.
Assessment Days 9 & 10
So here we are, I'm up early (nervousness won't allow me to sleep) the frost across the lawn outside my house is in stark contrast to my first day on this course were we toiled in 30 deg C heat. Looking back over this journey of the past 6 months I can see I've come a long way, I've experienced highs and lows during the course and the sessions outside and away from it.
The course itself I found difficult as it took me away from all I think I know, and offered me a lot more, once I'd settled into it, I found the course really enlightening and enjoyable. Coming from a goalkeeping background, learning the dark arts of the 10 players in front of me has been insightful and made me question whether I am limiting myself as a goalkeeper coach. I've learnt how to defend properly as an individual and within a unit, how to make runs with and without the ball, how to receive the ball and what to do with it afterwards. The big thing also for me on this course is thinking about how to identify flaws and improve a players performance and that is something I hope to take forward with me.
The days assessments were brilliant - due to the lack of numbers I've had to participate in every drill bar one today, and the lads on the course have delivered some excellent sessions. I took my assessment straight after lunch on Day 9 - nerves got the better of me, and some of the areas I promised myself, I forgot to do. Thankfully the session flowed and seemed to go ok. I felt I worked on individuals and a group as a whole but whether there was enough meaningful interventions, I'm not sure. I won't find out until tomorrow how I've done, but in comparison to others....I maybe 50/50 to pass. Once my session had finished I put it to the back of my mind, and submersed myself in the others sessions.
Day 10 - After 4 more sessions to get through, and then that was it - it was all over bar the shouting. After lunch, one by one we were called in and found out whether we had made it over the finish line. I pleased to tell you reader that I made it ! I'm absolutely made up that I managed to get through first time, as unfortunately for some they didn't make it on this occasion.
I started this course as a means to an end so I could progress onto GK2, but having done this, I'm now contemplating taking a year off GK'ing and putting some of this course into practice. There will be no rush decisions though, and certainly none will be taken until next spring. The completion of the course the tutors ask you the question of where you see yourself going afterwards. My obvious next step is the goalkeeping, but Ritchie said it would be very worthwhile looking at doing the FA youth modules as well, so this is something I'll look into in the new year.
In summary - would I recommend this course for anyone thinking of doing it, absolutely - I met some great people on it and I've learnt a lot from the content of the course which I hope to put to good use, after a well earned rest !
Thanks for reading.
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