Value of a good coach.

[aussieowl]

My son plays for an all age side in a Sydney comp on Sunday's, the level isn't very high, sort of like what you get in Graves Park etc, they have a player coach & they more or less just look after themselves & have a good time with it. They aren't the best side in the comp but were running about 3rd or 4th I think, anyway...

...the coach of the Central Coast Mariners is a friend of one their players, one night last week he came to training & took the session, my lad says it was the best thing he's ever done, not so much drills or the ball work & all that but the tactical side of the game, what to do when you have the ball & when you haven't, where to be on the field at a given time & all that sort of stuff, how to move as a unit instead of being a team of individuals who roughly know what position they are playing....so, the team they played yesterday had beaten them last time out but this time armed with their new found knowledge they absolutely dominated, they won 3-0 which isn't outstanding I guess but it could have been much much more, I suppose all the tactical coaching in the world doesn't make you shoot any straighter.

All this from two hours of training...anyhow, this Mariners guy is Tony Walmsley(I think), well I know he's head coach at the Mariners it's just that my lad didn't say his name just that he was the Mariners coach but I guess they have more than one coach, Walmsley I think was at United for a spell, youth team or academy or something like that,...I guess my point is that if you know what you're doing & how to pass it on then coaching is very important, it certainly helped them, whether they keep it going without week on week learning I don't know.

[Rotherhamowl10]

Great stuff.

It's so ***** that kids are taught how to play football by good coaches.

I always remember how much I improved as a goalkeeper when my mates dad (ex-pro) started coaching sessions with me. From there I managed to get picked up by the Young Owls and I was fortunate enough to have a number of coaching sessions with Martin Hodge - fantastic bloke who opened my eyes to the difference in coaching at academy level.

I've always wanted to pass some of that knowledge on to today's young goalkeepers - whose training consists of the entire team belting the ball at them for 10 minutes before a game - but I've not had heard anything back from the local clubs I contacted.