NL Youth Coaching Group

Chris McLaughlin – Taken and adaptedfrom Gillen Reid

Twitter @gillenreid

http://thecoachingcolumn.net/

5 Basic Steps to become a Coach.

Introductions

I would like to make some introductions, my name is Gillen and i’m currently working as a Coach in the world of scottish football, I have developed a great deal of experience and would like to share some of it with you. The idea behind this is simply to express how I got the stage I am and see if someone else could benefit from some of the information if they do wish to become a coach. Keeping in mind, all this information that i share with you in this is simply my own opinion, if you choose to follow this information thats great, if you choose not to well that’s okay as well.

Step 1

Build yourself a foundation.

The Scottish Football Association provide a well-known education programme aimed to do just that. The first one to obtain is called Development Activities 1.1, this is a one day event where the regional coach will provide a practical demonstration of a number of routines throughout the day, where you will be the people taking part. At the end of the day you will be supplied with a DVD with all routines that you enjoyed on the day. The routines and drills expressed are aimed at youth development and adults (previously the pathways were entirely separate but after the influence of performance director, Mark Wotte, this was changed only just recently)

Another badge to be part of your foundation Early Touches 1.1, this is starter badge for the Childrens pathway, again the same details apply a regional coordinator with be the coach and will express

The dates & costs of this day out can be can be found on http://www.scottishfa.co.uk go to the coach & volunteer section, then coach education and the web site provides a detailed PDF file offering options for the pathways you wish to go.

Step 2

Experience

The next step is gathering experience which is a key aspect of your development, this is where you get the opportunity to establish your own approach as the coaching qualifications simply give you a foundation to work from, study the finer details of the game, and learn how to deal with individuals and groups of players in your own way.

Personally I worked on a freelance basis. I visited a variety of clubs and expressed my own thoughts and feelings towards how routines and drills worked and in what way the players would learn from it. I benefited from it as it allowed me to fine tune my own approach in terms of how to explain practices and routines, in my opinion when there are no questions on how a drill works after you have explained it, you have achieved your objective in terms of your development.

Step 3

New Ideas

Still is a fundamental problem that British sport(football) suffers from, there is still a collective problem where a coaching team, the recurrence of long term and established members are closed minded in terms of new ideas, claims made that routines work because they are tried and trust so evolution of football should be ignored entirely. Remain open to new ideas, a key example that I always make a reference to is Raymond Verheijen (Twitter @raymondverhieje) -a pioneer of fitness development based on the principle of short and sharp, his work reached a level where Dick Advocaat brought him in to work with his South Korean side, paid through his own earnings. The fitness work is designed to benefit fitness without encouraging the fatigue factor that occurs on a regular basis with older players.

Step 4

Networking

Sadly a one of the biggest flaws of the sports industry is sometimes it is not about what you know, ratherWHO you know. Part of my progress was I used as many social networking options as possible (facebook, twitter, e-mail, LinkedIn, etc) to network with clubs and people. Meeting people who know high profile individuals can prove to be an excellent part of your coaching profile. Remember to be careful what you post on social media though!

Step 5

Personality

Be proud of your work, and work your hardest to learn new and fresh ideas. Scottish sport is developing to shake off the stereotypical arrogant coach, who swaggers in claiming to know everything there is to know about coaching and will not be undermined at any point. Don’t be that person. Remain open-minded.

I would like to share this with you, and I hope it proves to be an interesting read. I don’t consider it a finished product and would be keen for other people to make their own contribution to make it a more complete and helpful guide. If you would like to offer your own opinion, or even offer advice on how it could make better option this would be wonderful, please get in touch via [email protected]

Thanks for reading!