Coaching in real life

Anyone on here managing any teams or helping out on the weekend? (youth, senior, at university, any level etc )

Anyone embarking on any coaching course at the moment or have done in the past?

I finished my FAI soccer level 1 course a few weekends ago, I couldn't fail it because all I had to do was attend but it was brilliant to get the courses started. Long journey to the top, but if I'm determined and work hard I could gradually climb the ladder. I'm going to try all the courses, the fitness training course, coaching and GK coaching (I think there is 3 of these).

Also starting a Gaelic football course on the 10th of November, buzzing for it! I've a pretty massive interest to start coaching, it's something I'd love to do down the line, even at the lowest level.

So anyone here have a job coaching anywhere at any level?

When I was 16 I helped out my primary school football team, they were awful. We played 4 won 1 drew 2 and lost 1. Which wasn't bad considering how terrible the team were. We should of won one of those drawn games too, missing a penalty with the last kick of the game. It was fun though, good experience for me.

I currently work for the FA coaching full-time. I'm UEFA B now, starting my A licence next summer.

At the minute I just do bits and peices for local youth teams, last year I was working at Newcastle's Academy but sacked it off for this job, which I absolutely love

I've coached at various youth levels for about 14 years now. I've coached about every age group from U8 up. I've helped get a youth club started, and I started a program at a Private School which this spring will consist of three teams, a middle school co-ed team (basically U14), and high school boys and girls teams (u-18). It's work, it can frustrating but I've found it incredibly rewarding and I honestly hope that I can do it until I die. Right now I possess a USSF C license, not sure what that is equivalent to for you.

That's roundabouts UEFA B standard, you've done LOADS mate. Love it

That's awesome mate. What sort of work are you doing with the FA? Best of luck attempting the 'A' license, how long will it take you to complete? And if you pass, will you go for the pro license?

Cheers for that.

I do a bit of allsorts really. Leadership (getting young people involved in volunteering) Coach Education (coaching coaches) help with facility grants and things like that too. Also put sessions on in schools and clubs to get kids playing.

A licence average pass is about 18 months, though you get 2 years to fully complete. The pro licence is only really necessary if you're heading into manage a Premier League club and so unless I ever end up doing something along those lines I'll probably leave it...unless a club/the FA decide to put me through it anyways

How much do these courses cost?

I'm just waiting to be 18. Even though there is some licence (E or something like that) you can obtain when you are 16, but nobody in Slovakia has those courses. Okay, Košice Football Association or who does, but I won't go through the whole country for the licence. So I'll wait and get C.


In here it is like 250€ for UEFA B, plus 10€ for the paper.

Depends what county you're in and stuff. We offer the cheapest ones in the country in Durham due to the partnerships we have with colleges etc, you can do a level 1 for £50 at times. In other counties you can be looking at £200+ for the basic level 1

I've got my level one had it for about 3 year, got it when I played for Newcastle academy. However since then I got a job at Complete Football which involved a bit of coaching (Kez will probably know where it is), since last week they've sacked that off so its a bit of a nightmare as I'm recovering from a ACL operation and still got 4 month before I can kick a ball again. Helped a bit around the academy and in schools and stuff, it's just a little annoying trying to get kids involved that really really dont want to be there. And you're basically just baby sitting them.

I bet this is easier for you over there than it is for me. You probably just have to help them understand how to run a training session because most people there already have a working knowledge of the game. When I started that youth club there were a couple of coaches who knew very little about football. I basically had to teach them the game and then run their training sessions for them until they were comfortable. Then I had another coach who even though he never played he thought he knew everything and wanted to implement his own system that was in conflict to the philosophical direction we were trying to take the club. I wanted all of the coaches pulling in the same direction so that the players had continuity from one level to the next but he wanted to pull in his own direction. It was pretty frustrating.