FA Coaching Courses - an insight
Wed 21st June 2017 | General | By Gary Langley
Introduction
Last season, the League ran two coaching workshops, one at the Liverpool County FA and one at the Manchester FA as part of our commitment to improving Coach Development under the FA Development Plan structure.
The sessions, hosted by League Management Committee member, Andy Nelson, a UEFA A Licence Tutor were well received and attended not just by Hallmark Security League Clubs but also by representatives from clubs between Steps 1-7 in the pyramid.
League Development Officer Gary Langley, who devised the concept for last season’s sessions, was so impressed that he has signed up for the FA Level One and the FA Level Two Coaching qualifications. Part of the reasons for doing so is to back up existing coaching knowledge that he has picked up over the last 15 -20 years on both sides of the England/Scotland Border, but also to see if it is something that we can bring in to the 2017-18 Development Plan to offer member clubs.
Whether it goes in or not is still to be decided, however Gary has logged his progress doing the Level One course for a series of two articles for the League Website, to give an idea on how the process works.
Gary’s report – part one
Being League Development Officer, I was conscious of the position held so I had previously done my Safeguarding, First Aid and Welfare Officer Courses at a County FA. I was conscious that the first two are requirements of the FA Level One Coaching Course, so having them boxed off early if a course came up that fitted in with my working hours I would be ready to go.
A couple of seasons back the FA overhauled their coaching qualifications, so a lot of the previous level one structure is still there although it has been updated and amended quite a bit. I’m told as such that many participants are current holders, but are updating their qualification.
Hallmark Security League Club Litherland REMYCA had just announced that they were holding a Club Level 1 that was taking place on Sundays, which was ideal. It’s a good idea for clubs with multiple teams of varying ages to speak with County FA’s over courses, as they can sometimes offer group discounts subject to availability, as a result REMYCA will end up with 14+ qualified coaches on their books.
After a couple of phone calls to Neil Antrobus at REMYCA, my place was secured and I turned up for the first of three sessions ready to give it a go.
The course tutor made the group welcome and outlined the course and how it would work. The FA Level 1 in Couching Football qualification provides an introduction to coaching the game and working with players from age seven to open age.
It gives a coach an insight into the structure of the English game and how to coach and support the development of players. You get given a course logbook with examples of procedure and information on the game itself, and there is a 35/65% split on theory and practical session time.
The Theory in the first sessions focussed on creating a game as well as the formats of the game itself. I found it interesting hearing about the differences within the various age groups on game structure, and the problems therein of keeping them interested and receptive to playing. There is a large focus on the FA’s England DNA and the structure of it, it provoked some decent debate within the group of coaches/managers and club admins over development of players and coaching techniques.
A massive part of the FA Coaching programme is the Four Corner Structure of Coaching - these are Technical – Psychological – Physical and Social and these feature heavily in coaching plans and team development and are applicable across all of the FA Coaching Qualifications.
So having done a fair amount of Theory we started our outside sessions which gave me a chance to dust off my boots - although by the time I had walked the 100ft from the Classroom to the pitches I was ready for some rest, although it was clear early on that it was not an option.
The tutor goes through a number of warm up exercises, explaining that for some players, the interest can wane early on if the coaching staff need time to setup the session, so simple warm up games can keep the player’s minds focussed as well as warm them up. We as a group were encouraged to participate in these exercises as well as set them up.
The sessions also focus on training needs, so for example, there are discussions on how sessions would work for defensive and attacking players, keeping both stimulated on the park with purpose and understanding across the various playing positions. A fundamental feature of the coaching is keeping the ball in play for 70% of the coaching time.
The tutor set-up is quite clever too. Whilst it feels that you are being coached on the park and you try to get your head around why you have been running around for a couple of hours on and off, it makes you think about the importance of setting up a session plan and how to allocate various roles between the coaches.
This marked the half way point in the actual Coaching sessions, but as previously mentioned I had done the next part of the course, which were the Safeguarding and Emergency Aid sessions.
Many of our Managers/Coaches in the Hallmark Security League will have done the Safeguarding as standard, but for those who have not, the three hour evening meeting focusses on the safeguarding awareness that coaching staff should have. There is guidance on how to approach people and on the various reporting channels.
The Emergency Aid is not just a standard first aid course, its specifically tailored to FA standards and realistic situations that club medics or coaching staff could face on the pitch which is why a standard first aid qualification doesn’t cover you at the FA.
Both the Safeguarding and Emergency Aid sessions are individual blocks on your FAN No and are worth doing even if you don’t want to go down the coaching qualification road.
Again, your County FA has a number of excellent courses for anyone involved at a football club, not just coaches, and if a club wants to look at a specific session at a club then the Development Officers and Football Service Officers at the various FA’s across the region are approachable and ready to offer advice and help.
At this juncture I’m at the half way point of the course, and I will focus on the next half in a follow up article next week.
FA Coaching Courses - an insight
Wed 21st June 2017 | General
By Gary Langley
Introduction
Last season, the League ran two coaching workshops, one at the Liverpool County FA and one at the Manchester FA as part of our commitment to improving Coach Development under the FA Development Plan structure.
The sessions, hosted by League Management Committee member, Andy Nelson, a UEFA A Licence Tutor were well received and attended not just by Hallmark Security League Clubs but also by representatives from clubs between Steps 1-7 in the pyramid.
League Development Officer Gary Langley, who devised the concept for last season’s sessions, was so impressed that he has signed up for the FA Level One and the FA Level Two Coaching qualifications. Part of the reasons for doing so is to back up existing coaching knowledge that he has picked up over the last 15 -20 years on both sides of the England/Scotland Border, but also to see if it is something that we can bring in to the 2017-18 Development Plan to offer member clubs.
Whether it goes in or not is still to be decided, however Gary has logged his progress doing the Level One course for a series of two articles for the League Website, to give an idea on how the process works.
Gary’s report – part one
Being League Development Officer, I was conscious of the position held so I had previously done my Safeguarding, First Aid and Welfare Officer Courses at a County FA. I was conscious that the first two are requirements of the FA Level One Coaching Course, so having them boxed off early if a course came up that fitted in with my working hours I would be ready to go.
A couple of seasons back the FA overhauled their coaching qualifications, so a lot of the previous level one structure is still there although it has been updated and amended quite a bit. I’m told as such that many participants are current holders, but are updating their qualification.
Hallmark Security League Club Litherland REMYCA had just announced that they were holding a Club Level 1 that was taking place on Sundays, which was ideal. It’s a good idea for clubs with multiple teams of varying ages to speak with County FA’s over courses, as they can sometimes offer group discounts subject to availability, as a result REMYCA will end up with 14+ qualified coaches on their books.
After a couple of phone calls to Neil Antrobus at REMYCA, my place was secured and I turned up for the first of three sessions ready to give it a go.
The course tutor made the group welcome and outlined the course and how it would work. The FA Level 1 in Couching Football qualification provides an introduction to coaching the game and working with players from age seven to open age.
It gives a coach an insight into the structure of the English game and how to coach and support the development of players. You get given a course logbook with examples of procedure and information on the game itself, and there is a 35/65% split on theory and practical session time.
The Theory in the first sessions focussed on creating a game as well as the formats of the game itself. I found it interesting hearing about the differences within the various age groups on game structure, and the problems therein of keeping them interested and receptive to playing. There is a large focus on the FA’s England DNA and the structure of it, it provoked some decent debate within the group of coaches/managers and club admins over development of players and coaching techniques.
A massive part of the FA Coaching programme is the Four Corner Structure of Coaching - these are Technical – Psychological – Physical and Social and these feature heavily in coaching plans and team development and are applicable across all of the FA Coaching Qualifications.
So having done a fair amount of Theory we started our outside sessions which gave me a chance to dust off my boots - although by the time I had walked the 100ft from the Classroom to the pitches I was ready for some rest, although it was clear early on that it was not an option.
The tutor goes through a number of warm up exercises, explaining that for some players, the interest can wane early on if the coaching staff need time to setup the session, so simple warm up games can keep the player’s minds focussed as well as warm them up. We as a group were encouraged to participate in these exercises as well as set them up.
The sessions also focus on training needs, so for example, there are discussions on how sessions would work for defensive and attacking players, keeping both stimulated on the park with purpose and understanding across the various playing positions. A fundamental feature of the coaching is keeping the ball in play for 70% of the coaching time.
The tutor set-up is quite clever too. Whilst it feels that you are being coached on the park and you try to get your head around why you have been running around for a couple of hours on and off, it makes you think about the importance of setting up a session plan and how to allocate various roles between the coaches.
This marked the half way point in the actual Coaching sessions, but as previously mentioned I had done the next part of the course, which were the Safeguarding and Emergency Aid sessions.
Many of our Managers/Coaches in the Hallmark Security League will have done the Safeguarding as standard, but for those who have not, the three hour evening meeting focusses on the safeguarding awareness that coaching staff should have. There is guidance on how to approach people and on the various reporting channels.
The Emergency Aid is not just a standard first aid course, its specifically tailored to FA standards and realistic situations that club medics or coaching staff could face on the pitch which is why a standard first aid qualification doesn’t cover you at the FA.
Both the Safeguarding and Emergency Aid sessions are individual blocks on your FAN No and are worth doing even if you don’t want to go down the coaching qualification road.
Again, your County FA has a number of excellent courses for anyone involved at a football club, not just coaches, and if a club wants to look at a specific session at a club then the Development Officers and Football Service Officers at the various FA’s across the region are approachable and ready to offer advice and help.
At this juncture I’m at the half way point of the course, and I will focus on the next half in a follow up article next week.
