By Dave Wright Towards the end of 2023, I was involved in an initiative to better understand the impact of formal coach education, with a particular focus on coaches at a C licence level. This led to a great roundtable discussion with a group of actively engaged coaches at my club who shared their perspective on the value of formal courses, their expectations, experiences and reflections.
One of the major talking points was the importance of learning how to structure a session, work in a coherent way and better understand the importance of realistic task design.
Conversely, one of the common threads around the challenges is how coaches then integrate lessons from formal courses into their “real world” environments given that every club and context is different.
In my own experience, I have always enjoyed courses. One of the most valuable parts of the experience has been the connection between coaches, the informal conversations, rigorous debate and support of others around you. There is a balance between the importance of formal education, and the hard graft and physical hours on the grass which allows coaches to experiment, test ideas and manage groups.
In 2016, I was fortunate to interview former New Zealand men’s and US men’s coach, Anthony Hudson on his remarkable journey. When I asked Anthony about pursuing my own A Licence and whether to do it in England or Asia, he said: “Do both! It’s important to get as much information as you can, enjoy the courses and take from them what you need — it’s about the content and making your package as a coach better.”
This message has always stuck with me. It’s crucial that coaches are curious, open to learning, humble and constantly refining their craft whether you are a beginner or have decades of experience behind you. These are key attributes of effective coaches.
Three things to consider
- Extract value from any formal course you take – there is always something to learn, whether it’s from the coach educators, or your coaching colleagues around you.
- Don’t be afraid to question, challenge and discuss openly. Coaching is a subjective beast and we shouldn’t lose our ability to respectfully debate and disagree, while trying to take other people’s opinions on board.
- When exploring informal coach education content, apply a critical lens, don’t just copy and paste.
One thing for you to try this week
If you are part of a coaching group at your club, can you establish a community of learning where you meet up perhaps weekly, monthly or quarterly to debrief as a group, collaborate on ideas, reflect on what’s working and what isn’t and adapt your programme from there.
One critical resource on the topic
Check out our collection of online coaching courses available through the PDP Academy. There really is something for everyone.
More of our columns
READ MORE: Here are more stories from Player Development Project on the Friends of Football site >>>>
Dave Wright is a UEFA A-licensed football coach and co-founder of Player Development Project. Currently completing his OFC Pro Licence, he has been coaching since 2002 in England, Australia and New Zealand with players at all levels. During five years in the United Kingdom, Wright worked for Fulham and Brentford and in Australia, he coached the U-20s at A-League club Melbourne Victory. He is a high performance consultant for Oceania Football Confederation, director of coaching at Northern League club Birkenhead United and head coach of the Westlake Boys first team.
As part of their commitment to help coaches, PDP will share content with Friends of Football in this regular column. We will re-publish one of the PDP newsletters from their library of content.
This story was first published on Tuesday October 2, 2024.
More football stories
