Challenger training weekend

Challenger training weekend

Before leaving to go to America in the summer, every coach has to attend a training weekend which was held during the Easter holidays. It was held over a weekend, starting on the Friday and going through to the Sunday. The aim of this weekend is to teach the new coaches (me) their styles of coaching and their curriculum.

On arrival I signed in and went into a class room with my region, here they told us the plan of the weekend which lasted roughly 15 minutes and then we was straight out onto the fields. During the morning session we learnt about the first kicks and mini soccer camps which range from the ages of 3-6 years old. Regional Directors explained challenges of working with this age group and demonstrated fundamental activities and games from the First Kicks curriculum, demonstrations on the mini soccer ABC’s (Agility, Balance and Coordination) and games were shown. We then had a break for lunch before going back out on the fields for the afternoon session. The afternoon session consisted of a typical half day camp, with this the regional directors went over everything including structure, organisation, voice, body, enthusiasm, ABC’s and individual foot skill development, fakes moves and turns and technical coaching progression. This was a lot to take in during one afternoon but it helped having coaching experience and being on a sport coaching degree as the majority of information I have already learnt.

Once day one was complete I felt happy with how the day went, I had learnt some new drills and ways of coaching, I felt confident with my own ability and delivering sessions to children aged 3-6 based on the demonstrations shown and was looking forward to what day two had installed.

 

Day two started off looking into camp operations which was a classroom based session for the whole morning session. Here we learnt about camp programs, daily/weekly operations/routines, how to open and close a camp, how to complete a participant evaluation, water break activities and how the weekly world cup tournament runs, therefore the morning session looking into the general roles and responsibilities. During the afternoon session we was back out on the fields, this time the directors lead coaches through each stage of the progression and coaches allowed us to take coaching sessions to see our coaching styles. We also looked into the tetra Brazil and freestyle soccer camps which have a different way of coaching. In these sessions it was very much instruction based coaching by using demonstrations. For the freestyle camps the coach demonstrates a skill step by step and then the participants follow what the coaches show them. Once day two was complete I was very happy with what I was learning throughout the weekend.

 

My overall views on the training weekend were positive, I enjoyed my time and learnt new ways of coaching and new drills which I can now use in my existing coaching groups. However I feel that all the information was abit of an overload for two days. We were bombarded with information whether it be practical or theory based therefore there is a lot to remember from this weekend.