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Coaching badges


EnderMB

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Has anyone on here ever taken the FA coaching courses, and if so how far did you take them? 

I've had a few friends take the first two levels, mainly for coaching their kids football teams, and one for the management aspect (non-sporting related), and they've had mixed opinions. Some said they were useful, some said that the instructors spent all their time with the ex-pros on the course and effectively ignored everyone else.

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Got a few mates done or doing it. One is now a coach at City, 1 is going through the process and is helping out at his playing club and 1 has been doing kids coaching with opportunities to do adults but wasn't the right opportunity.

All 3 thought the courses have been brilliant 

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25 minutes ago, EnderMB said:

Has anyone on here ever taken the FA coaching courses, and if so how far did you take them? 

I've had a few friends take the first two levels, mainly for coaching their kids football teams, and one for the management aspect (non-sporting related), and they've had mixed opinions. Some said they were useful, some said that the instructors spent all their time with the ex-pros on the course and effectively ignored everyone else.

One of the Secret Footballer books mentions that. Don't remember what was exactly said as I read it a few years ago, but said they'll go the extra mile to help the pros out, but not your average joe. 

 

But in response to the first question, I have a feeling @Cowshed may be able to help you out. 

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I did mine about 20 years ago, it was good at the time & enabled me to spend a bit of time in The States coaching but to progress it over here was difficult, it’s very much a case of who you know rather than what you know unless you’re happy to just coach kids on Saturday mornings at the local sports centre, which is more like a babysitting course rather than serious football.

All the extra courses & classes started to become very expensive & to progress through the badges was also the same & it got to the stage that I just felt that paying the money to become a higher qualified babysitter didn’t make any sense.

It’s very time consuming & in my view, unless you know someone who can help you get your ‘foot in the door’, it’s not really worth it all just to coach the local kids but I guess it depends on your hopes.

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For anyone going into coaching

I coached from kids through to decent amateur men’s and some with City’s youth side

Having done the spectre I personally found the most rewarding was , perhaps surprisingly , teenagers and I’d personally recommend getting involved at U14/16/18 level 

As long as they weren’t the odd pain they were old enough to understand hat you were asking and to try and implement it and improve with drills etc and the improvement is noticeable and tangible

I found decent amateur football difficult as adult players were generally uninterested in improving or accepting of others observations 

Again I found the best results and gratifying parts were integrating and improving younger players 

I was very lucky to have been involved with City’s Youth side (YTS lads in those days) for a spell and Tbf and have to say they were truly fantastic lads (Some of the nicest set of lads I’ve met across my lifetime)  who I was pleasantly surprised listened and took advice /. Observations sincerely and humbly , no know it alls or billy big b*****x and of course had a level of ability to implement which was extremely rewarding 

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I remember reading or hearing somewhere that in Germany it matters not, if your an ex pro or ordinary joe, you're treated the same, no favouritism. You pass or fail because of your ability.  I think for too long in England,  the emphasis is too slanted on players, hoping to fast track into management /coaching etc.

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3 minutes ago, BobBobSuperBob said:

For anyone going into coaching

I coached from kids through to decent amateur men’s and some with City’s youth side

Having done the spectre I personally found the most rewarding was , perhaps surprisingly , teenagers and I’d personally recommend getting involved at U14/16/18 level 

As long as they weren’t the odd pain they were old enough to understand hat you were asking and to try and implement it and improve with drills etc and the improvement is noticeable and tangible

I found decent amateur football difficult as adult players were generally uninterested in improving or accepting of others observations 

Again I found the best results and gratifying parts were integrating and improving younger players 

I was very lucky to have been involved with City’s Youth side (YTS lads in those days) for a spell and Tbf and have to say they were truly fantastic lads (Some of the nicest set of lads I’ve met across my lifetime)  who I was pleasantly surprised listened and took advice /. Observations sincerely and humbly , no know it alls or billy big b*****x and of course had a level of ability to implement which was extremely rewarding 

I found with the local adult sides, most thought they were Gazza & couldn’t be taught anything when in theory they were more like Dobbin & if only they weren’t so far up their own backsides, they may of been able to better themselves & it was them who made it more difficult for everyone else as you had to spend more time on them & ended up making them look silly because they couldn’t do what was expected of them & it all became rather tiresome.

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2 hours ago, EnderMB said:

Has anyone on here ever taken the FA coaching courses, and if so how far did you take them? 

I've had a few friends take the first two levels, mainly for coaching their kids football teams, and one for the management aspect (non-sporting related), and they've had mixed opinions. Some said they were useful, some said that the instructors spent all their time with the ex-pros on the course and effectively ignored everyone else.

I have done several levels, youth modules as well as FA psychology courses. My experiences of the courses and instructors has been overwhelmingly positive.

As Bobs says in post six the above opened possibility - I now have a form of mentor who is a vast font of knowledge and experience to call upon. My education, and that is what it is has led me to think entirely differently about football.    

It would only make sense to advance my qualifications further if I wanted to Manage professionally / work in a pro academy ... I do not. So the question could be what do you want to do, and how far do you want to go?

 

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Asking yourself what you want to achieve and where you want to go with it is a decent place to start, as Cowshed says. 

Done the level 1 and 2, an FA youth module, futsal and various other bits and bobs. 

They're not bad for improving basic knowledge and meeting mentors, other coaches etc to have discussions with (can be quite enjoyable too) but the biggest issue is they're quite decontextualized and none have really provided tools to help reflect on your practice and learn yourself which is vital and helps you progress further. They aren't cheap either.

 

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11 minutes ago, Cowshed said:

I have done several levels, youth modules as well as FA psychology courses. My experiences of the courses and instructors has been overwhelmingly positive.

As Bobs says in post six the above opened possibility - I now have a form of mentor who is a vast font of knowledge and experience to call upon. My education, and that is what it is has led me to think entirely differently about football.    

It would only make sense to advance my qualifications further if I wanted to Manage professionally / work in a pro academy ... I do not. So the question could be what do you want to do, and how far do you want to go?

To be honest, my interest would be purely from morbid curiosity of coaching. I won't pretend that it's been my dream to coach a football team, but the coaching aspect had interested me far more than the playing side had for years. I have a comfortable desk job that pays fairly well, so I can't see myself quitting that to slum it as a youth football coach, but like you've said, it's an educational thing.

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17 minutes ago, Badger08 said:

After leaving Bath City I took my coaching qualifications up to UEFA B.  I coached an under 16's team and absolutely hated it.  I didn't hate it for any other reason apart from the parents.  They didn't seem to realise that I was doing this in my spare time, I wasn't getting paid for it and I didn't let the kids pay subs. 

Ugh, I remember the parents being a big reason why I didn't want to play club football as a kid. If it wasn't other kids parents getting hammered in the park where we trained, it was parents fighting because one kid fouled another kid, or because someone called their kid shit for handballing in the area. I can't imagine what it'd be like to coach in an environment like that...

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8 minutes ago, Badger08 said:

It was awful.  Kids not being picked, parents abuse to refs. I used to get calls all the time. I wanted to give someone back, but, it was too much.  Its a shame really, but you really do see an ugly side to people. 

Found similar trying to manage an adults team! Not from the parents, but the whinging when not being picked :laughcont:

 

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3 hours ago, Badger08 said:

After leaving Bath City I took my coaching qualifications up to UEFA B.  I coached an under 16's team and absolutely hated it.  I didn't hate it for any other reason apart from the parents.  They didn't seem to realise that I was doing this in my spare time, I wasn't getting paid for it and I didn't let the kids pay subs. 

Anyway, overall, for me it was a bit of a waste of money.  The courses themselves though were interesting and fun. 

 

Added: May I also suggest, that if anyone is looking at taking the course for career reasons, then be very wary.  I tended to find in footballing circles (I'm not saying I was in anyway involved) but it tends to be "its not what you know, its who you know".  I guess that's life in general though. 

Totally concur with that mate...football is one of those businesses that looks after it's own.

I've met so many people that haven't played professional football, but have a better coaching ability.

The same in other sports too.

Just being able to play a sport to a high standard, doesn't mean you'll have the ability and skill sets to coach and get points across or man manage.

As for parents...funniest thing that ever happened to me, was playing against Gloucester, and making a sliding tackle, then being attacked by the mother of the player I made the tackle on with an umbrella...total shock moment...Lino had to pull her off me :laugh:

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7 hours ago, EnderMB said:

To be honest, my interest would be purely from morbid curiosity of coaching. I won't pretend that it's been my dream to coach a football team, but the coaching aspect had interested me far more than the playing side had for years. I have a comfortable desk job that pays fairly well, so I can't see myself quitting that to slum it as a youth football coach, but like you've said, it's an educational thing.

It would be hard to be solely curious and do coaching badges. FA coaching courses above level one are time consuming and assessed on your coaching at an affiliated club. 

What is it you are interested in e.g.tactics? People may be able to point you towards resources which will help you to know more. 

 

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Took the L1, 2 and youth modules a few years ago and it certainly impacted on my career. 

Now working in education, which the coaching certainly had a positive impact on. Volunteered for 6 months whilst doing the L2 with a pro club and was offered a coaching position with the development teams. Funnily enough, the experiences of coaching a local youth squad for a season also formed the basis of my action research project when training to be in education too.

I think, as with anything, you get out what you put in. I only had positive experiences from it and found the courses, staff, ex players and other coaches really helpful. It led to meeting some great people and a substantial career change. 

Currently studying a degree but I intend and have agreed to complete the B licence in the future once that is finished. 

I would certainly recommend it.

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Did my badges on the City Post-16 course.. saw it advertised on a poster in the Dolman Exhibition Hall and went on to do 2 years. To get the FA Level 1 and 2 badges free of charge was brilliant, only thing was to buy City kit to look professional. Went on to do my B and A UEFA badges which cost a bomb.

 

Coached at Bristol Manor Farm and had plans to further it by going to a number of EFL clubs but to no luck,  only way you can get in a professional team is who you know.. it's the only way this world works now.

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