Long journey

So it's been a while since I last blogged and thought it was about time I got back to it. Seeing as it's coming to the end of 2014 it seems fitting that a reflection of the year is done in this blog. 

However before that I just want to mention an experience that I've had recently! I was given a brilliant opportunity to be a head coach with a FA Schools team recently. After a trail and a couple of training session, the team had their first game, a five hour away trip to start them off. For me from a coaches point of view it is the first team I've been head coach with and this meant that I had to think about things that I never have before llike picking a team and positions. For me this is a massive step and insight into coaching 11 a side teams and county side games. A massive thank you to the county fa for giving me the opportunity and also to the girls who played and trained with a fantastic attitude throughout and made me job as easy as possible and helped me when I needed it. 

The long journey we had to make reminds me of the journey I have taken to be the person and coach I am today. It has been long but I am only a very small percentage of the way and am thoroughly excited for the rest of it. This year I feel I have taken massive steps on my pathway through the many amazing experiences I have had and also the people I have met. 

It's hard to sum up everything that has happened this year and the effect each one has had on me and also the amount I have learnt. This is the reason I am struggling to write this blog and also write about the county fa schools team because of how new the situation was and how it opened my eyes to a lot of things. (This blog could be quite long if I state everything so will try and cut it down as much as possible). This blog has taken me about a week to write.

This year started with my level 2 fa coaching course which I passed in February this year and from this gained many new opportunities not open to me previously , such as jobs at both the girls and disability ACC's in my county and ofcourse the county schools FA team. As well as this I also visited St George's park for the first time thank to the FANYC  and the football futures programme which I have blogged about before so will just skip past although it was a brilliant, once in a lifetime experience 

However something I haven't blogged about and should have was our trip to Portugal on a youth exchange focused on sports participation in different countries. This was huge for me, showing me how different countries deal with participation issues and some of the fantastic projects and ideas that other people use to help others around them. Working with in sports inclusion as well as sport coaching elite it really helped with defining the differences between the two and gaining ideas on how to develop our own project and how to best to be inclusive and engaging which is a very important feature with in coaching. 

To conclude this year I have also started my sports coaching degree and all the time management techniques I used at college are coming back and I am really enjoying it and finding it very interesting. As well as this I also completed a level 3 teachers qualification which enables me to tutor on courses run by our company with a focus of sports coaching. The relation between coaching and teaching is huge and methods should be inter grated from both and experimented with because both professions could learn a lot from each other.

I also mention two achievements I am very proud of, this year I won 2 awards, both for my coaching. At the FA community awards I won young volunteers of the year having put 300 hours into the football futures programme in two years. Also at the CSP awards I won young coach of the year award for my job at the FA and 2nd Chance. I am extremely grateful, for anyone that nominated me and chose me for the awards. They sit with pride on my desk.

Well that's more or less my year summed up, I just want to say a thank you to anyone that has made this year as good as it has been. I can only see 2015 being bigger and better and I am very much looking forward to it and what's to come. 

Thank you for taking he time to read me babble on about my year and a merry Christmas and a happy new year.....the journey continues.

Mini Soccer Centre week 1

So yes I am back....I've been missed I'm sure! or maybe not haha, but this blog again is a reflection blog on a session run this weekend. I've left it late to do my self assessment but have only now remembered I could blog, so here goes....

So every Saturday morning I work at a mini soccer centre, working with the year 2 age group which is a mixed group of girls and boys. Every year as they go up in school I get a new group and this was the first time I had got to work with this certain group of players.

So as normal my first session was focused on dribbling as a topic. I always start with dribbling as it helps to players become more aware of the space they have or what is around them and also because no kid likes passing. In the session I wanted to take a session where I could see individual ability to help with future session planning and challenges. I used this session really just to get to know individuals and how they worked and how I'm going to be able to help them while they are with me.

I should probably give you a quick run through of my session. I got the group on the ball straight away allowing them to do individual dribbling with added challenges to test knowledge and ability, such as different parts of the foot, both feet, skills etc. From there I went into a 1v1 and trying to use dribbling to keep the ball and get passed their partner, then gave the game direction with end zones. Took a big jump after this and went in to an 4v4 end zone game which I thought might be too much for them but they handled it well. To finish the session off I then played a game. A really simple session I know but just wanted to get used to the group and them get used to me.

One obvious thing that I noticed and hadn't thought about while I planning the session, all the players have moved up from the year 1 group which session lasts 1 hour, mine lasts and hour and a half. Because of the huge jump in the length of session players found sustaining their concentration more difficult and more physically demanding as well. Having realised this I will be able to take this into consideration in future planning and allow time for breaks and less physically demanding games. I've been thinking about it and currently have 2 solutions to try. 1, playing a game right at the beginning with the aim of grabbing their attention straight away and getting them concentrated and in the right mind set to carry on with the session. My 2nd idea being to make it more related to kids, by that I mean relatable game names 'Finding nemo' etc and also using the 6 methods of motivation to keep their concentration and engagement.

 I think I mentioned this in my last self assessment and I think it's still true now that a big part of my coaching that needs to be worked on is challenging individual players based on ability and really meeting all their needs. Whether that be the observation of which group each players fits in to or just not thinking about it in my sessions. In this group I have quite a mixed group with regards to ability and I need to make sure that all players gain something from it by using individual challenges and adaptions which is something i need to use in all sessions not just with this group. I will definitely make a conscious effort to try and add this to my coaching style for the sake of the players. By doing this I may also have a solution to keeping the concentration and engagement of the group by getting their brains working and setting challenges (1 of the 6 methods of motivation). Just another thought as well as individual challenges when questioning and challenging the group as a whole I want to try and use even more Q+A and guided discovery.

At the beginning of the session I had a quick chat with the kids and asked them their expectation of themselves while they were there and also their expectations of me, by doing this this way I wanted to set ground rules that they were more likely to stick to having set them themselves. (that sentence was far too long). These ground rules helped through the session I was able to refer back to the rules they set when they weren't sticking to them. There weren't many but they were to the point and looked like this..

I hope you can read that and I apologise for my hand writing I do know it's appalling but I figure there are more important things in life haha.

As well as this I felt I helped to set a good first impression and environment for the players. One player at the beginning of the session was very nervous about joining a new group with a new coach and was hesitant to join in with the rest of the group especially as she was the only girl. I didn't push her to join in but did give occasional reminders that she was free to join in whenever she wanted. By the end of the session she was taking part in everything and was laughing and talking to everyone, I like to think this was because the boys were doing the same thing and that I wasn't telling them off for making mistakes or trying things, just allowing them to experiment. I kept a happy light feel to the session to help players feel comfortable. All players joined in well and I hope this was because of the environment set right from the beginning (whether it was or not is a different story, you'd have to ask the kids haha)

So that's about it for my self assessment I think, after going back through it it seems that the kids enjoyed it although maybe it could be more related to them. When planning sessions I really need to think of the outcomes and what I want out of it so that i can challenge them, both on a group and individual level. As well as using different coaching methods again to get them thinking more and really get their brains working as a team and as a player. I am really looking forward to the next 7 week block with this group.

Again I hope anyone that reads this blog finds it either helpful or thought provoking and any comments or help that could be given will be gratefully received so don't hesitate to say and give me a message :)

Before I go I have also got a picture of the coaching scheme I am going to try with them over the next block and would really like peoples thoughts on it. Whether they think I'm moving too fast or if it's in the wrong order or maybe too much for them, any comments will be taken on board. Also if you get confused by the topic names just get hold of me and I'll gladly explain my thinking process. 

Thanks again and hope you enjoy!! Until next time..

Session self reflection

Sorry this is late unfortunately I wasn't able to get it out on Friday evening like I said it was going to be but better late than never ay?

Last night I took a session with a group of elite U12 girls in Cornwall. The session topic I was given to coach my session around was 'Attacking the space' so my understanding of that was creating space on and off the ball to then exploit it.

Over all I thought the session went well, the outcomes that were set before the session were met by the girls by the end. The main reflection on the session was the fact that I changed my original plan to try and challenge the girls more as their level of ability and understanding was very good for their age, it was obvious very quickly that they needed to be challenged more. To meet this need I changed the technical part of the session by making it more competitive and this automatically increased the amount of decision making they needed to do.

When planning for this group in the future I now know what level they are at an can plan session around that now with more insight into the group and individual players.

This session was one of my first opportunities I'd had to really coach a group of this level and I took an awful lot from it. Realising the jump in ability from sessions I'd run before to this and so realising the amount technical stuff that I was going to be able to challenge them with.

Being able to get to know every player and how they think was also beneficial and this was highlighted when a competitive edge was added, there are some characters in the group and it was obvious that with the right pairing/grouping these players were going to shine. What I didn't expect was that the more shy players also to shine when competition was added and I saw a different side to them, playing with more confidence and aggression. Getting to know the players more helped me when going into my technical practise as I was able to make the groups depending on their personality they had showed me and it seemed to work really well. With them in these groups it also allowed me to set smaller challenges for groups or individuals depending on their needs although I feel like I could have used this more during the session to really challenge all. All players came out of their shell a little bit more as the session went on.

Because this was my first session with the girls I started with quite an autocratic style as I wanted them to get into the mind set of listening and ready to play and learn. As warm up went on I left them to it a bit more to allow them to express their ideas while playing and didn't really have a huge amount of input until the skill practise. I became more democratic as I started to us question and answer and guided discovery more and the girls seemed to respond to that method quite well as all engaged and listened. The characters in the group needed some more autocratic coaching I found to get them concentrating and thinking but that came down to individual personality.

Since the camp I mentioned in my last post I have realised that self reflection is very important in a coaches development and is one of the main reasons I started this blog. This is one of my first reflections that I have taken the time to write down myself and properly think about my coaching and the planning of my session so  realise I can get better at reflection and any comments would be appreciated.

So over all I thought the session went well and I adapted well, The use of individual and group challenges is something I need to work on more to really push all players in the group and meet their needs and this would also help me to manage the characters in the group. I will also leave more time before in advance of session to plan and really think about the outcomes I want the players to meet and how I'm going to get the players there.

Football Futures camp 2014

So I thought it was best that my first post was about one of the most inspiring and amazing four days of my life I have experienced so far. And they happened just a couple of weeks ago.

When I joined the Football Futures programme, just over two years ago, I never expected that I would experience half the stuff I have or meet some of the most influential and inspiring people I have ever met. I never expected the journey that I was about to embark on.

A lot of people will say that I'm exaggerating and being over the top but if it wasn't for this programme and the camp I went to this year I would not be as motivated to do well in coaching and get somewhere in life, it definitely changed my perception on life. 

Anyway, The 2014 Football Futures Camp started on the 21st of July this year. I turned up at St Georges Park in total awe of my surroundings trying to take every little bit in. After registering and picking up kit we stored our bags away ready to take to our rooms later. Quickly members of the FA national youth council got us all involved in ice breaker games and activities, Some young leader mentors took groups for a small tour around the grounds, which were a million miles away from anything in Cornwall. To start the day off we all headed into the conference room for the opening ceremony. A really cool world cup themed dance and song done by some students from a local school. After that we headed into our reflection groups for a short time to set some goals of what we wanted from the next couple of days. 

From our reflection groups we went straight into our first general workshop, there were going to be 5 in total but our first one was coaching 5-11 year olds. A fun and enjoyable workshop lead by two tesco skills coaches showing the difference between a session they would run in the community and one they would run at a centre, both great sessions to take back and use. We also got to show what we could do by setting up and running a small 10 minute session for ourselves which hopefully impressed others and got me and my group off on the right foot.

Second workshop of the day after lunch (which by the way was amazing) was promoting the game, this was one of my favourite workshops which I wasn't expecting. It was run by two guys from the television and radio industry. The task that was set for the 2 hours was create a 3 minute live video so no breaks and no cuts it just had to flow and if I say so myself my group did a great job. I ended up presenter on sky sports news, our story was on Steven Gerrard retiring from international football so there were a couple of dodgy Liverpool accents flying around, cheesy smiles and fluffed up lines that kept us all entertained!!

This ended the day one and most of the young leaders went off to their rooms got tea and headed down to the evening entertainment made as a team bonding, get to know you exercise. The evening was full of laughs and smiles and built relationships outside of football as well.

Day two consisted of three workshops included refereeing, informal football and disability football. The last one being the best of all making a bunch of pretty good footballers look like total idiots haha. The workshop gave us more of an insight into amputee football with the workshop itself being lead by two GB amputee footballers. The last hour of the workshop was where we got to have a more practical go and the guys lead an amputee football match, using crutches and only using one leg for everything just like they would in a normal game. This workshop for me made me see what football can really do, it's such an adaptable and inclusive sport and can really change peoples lives in some situations and it really made me appreciate what I have and how lucky I am.

Now day three and four were where we broke off again into three separate groups depending on our specialist areas. My area obviously being coaching as it's something I am very passionate for, the two other groups were refereeing and football development. The two days were lead by Dan Greenough, Matt Craddock and Steve Swallow, all three experienced coaches and it was amazing to question them and see them do what they love to do, it was really something to look up and aim for. All three guys are in a position now that I want to be in, I want to be making a living from coaching or working for the FA and it was nice to talk to them and see that they started like I did and that it is achievable. I tried to take in everything i could over those two days and learn as much as possible from them, it was definitely an inspiring and motivational workshop as I have taken a lot back to Cornwall with me to start and look to do. 

The two days allowed us to observe three quality coaches and learn from them but also allowed us to coach ourselves and show what we could do at national level in front of national staff. The whole experience was so surreal and amazing that it flew by so quickly that it had finished before i had even realised it had properly begun. The camp is something I will never forget, the things I learnt, the people I met and the reflection I made about where I am and where I want to be.

A quick mention should go to the summer ball that ended day three of camp. This night really brought everyone together, brought lots of people out of their comfort zones but also continued to strengthen the bonds that had been made already through the use of some dodgy dance moves and singing. When i came to camp this was the night i wasn't looking forward to but it ended up being the best night of them all with some many memories made and laughter shared.

The closing ceremony at the end of day four stuck with the inspirational theme that had been set through the whole of camp and some words from kid president made all of the young leaders feel ready to take something back to their county and make a difference. 

Not just the camps that the wonderful FANYC set up but the whole programme itself helps to give young people a voice and really show the world what young people can do and how they can help in a massive way. I want to say massive thank you to the programme for really changing my life and helping me not only to develop in an area of my interest but also develop as a person. I wouldn't be the person and the coach i am today without this programme and now this camp.

I made so many new friends and role models over these four days. So many memories that I will remember for the rest of my life and share with everyone back home, not just because of what I leant and who I met but for all the laughs I shared and the bonds I made over such a short amount of time.

A massive thank you should be said to all staff involved in the camp from young leader mentors to national staff and the FANYC that set it all up. It was a week that changed my life and pushed me to come out of my comfort zone and challenge myself which is something I have taken with me to life back home. Thank you for the experience and the memories.

Thank you!

'Be Better or Be Different' 

Introduction

So, this is totally new to me so give me some slack!

So I'm guessing you want to know about me, well my name is Beth Willshaw, I live in sunny Cornwall, currently on a gap year working as a football coach trying to gain more experience and a little bit of money before university.

As I mentioned before I'm working as a football coach wherever I can and this is the reason I have set up this blog. Coaching has become such an interest of mine and after sessions etc I have so may thoughts and ideas that I just wanted somewhere to write them down....Blogger fitted the description pretty well! This blog will be all about the experiences, ideas and questions I have when coaching and will be a great tool for me to think out loud and possibly get some feedback, who knows.

I hope you enjoy it if anyone is actually reading this and find it helpful or inspiring!

I should say a massive thank you to anyone that has helped me to get this far as I wouldn't be making this blog or having the thoughts to make this blog if it wasn't for them, also want to say a massive thank you to anyone I mention in this blog in the future.