/My first session

Yesterday (Wednesday 16th September 2020), I finally took my first coaching session.

I was given a 40 minute slot in the middle of a 90 minute training session and had been preparing all week, working on a number of drills that I’d been developing having studied various other coaches and their work. On that note, I need to tip my hat primarly to Neil Cutler and his Walsall training videos from a few years, Martyn Margetson and his England ones and to the numerous other coaches who put their sessions online for free, helping us all to gain an insight into how each other work.

I’d been working under the assumption that I was going to be coaching with two goalkeepers, but some last minute car trouble reduced that to one with just an hour or so to go before training. Whilst this was initially frustrating, I am now somewhat glad of this issue arrising, as it forced me to think on my feet and adapt my session accordingly. Some drills had to go and others needed to be simplified or changed to allow for just one participant. Some preparation for this was done in advance, but I also adapted the session as it progressed to make it most suitable for the keeper I was working with.

Overall I think everything went really well. The goalkeeper seemed engaged and looked to be enjoying himself and my confidence gradually grew as we progressed. I definitely learnt a lot in one 40 minute session, both about coaching in general and myself, and I look forward to developing the process moving forwards to offer even more useful, enjoyable experiences for the goalkeepers.

Roll on next week!

The icing on the cake…

This afternoon I received a message from the manager of the first team which read:

“Well done yesterday mate! Hope you enjoyed it? *The keeper* has since messaged this morning to say how helpful and enjoyable it was, so I think for a first session it doesn’t get much better than that”

I’m glad the keeper enjoyed it as much as I did and hopefully over time the sessions will go from strength to strength. I’d love to start introducing different equipment and approaches further down the line, but for now, my focus is on working on and developing the basics.

Session rundown

When I look back on this post in the months and years to follow, I thought it might be quite useful to remind myself what that first session entailed. So below is a quick rundown.

1. Activation Drills – Starting with simple volleys to hands to get warmed up, I gradually introduced more movement into the drill to get the feet working as well as the hands. This developed into volleys from different angles and distances, increasing power and difficult as it progressed
2. Passing & Shot Stopping – On the angle, the goalkeeper and I would play one-two passes to each other 5 or 6 times before I shouted “go”, at which point I’d move to another ball near the centre of the goal and shoot across them. The idea of this one was to work on footwork, passing, reactions and shot stopping. This drill seemed to go down well and I will definitely use it again.
3. Crossing – This drill started with the goalkeeper towards the centre of the goal, throwing it to me on the byline. He’d the move to the near post, I’d volley to hands, he’d throw it back and I’d throw it high into the air over his head for him to claim as a cross. The drill was based on one by Neil Cutler and again, seemed to be both useful and enjoyable.
4. Cone Movement – This drill featured a square of four cones. I’d volley it to the keeper, he’d then have to step round one cone, back to the middle for another volley and repeat around all four cones, twice.
5. Cone Shout – Similar to the previous drill, the evolution saw me call a cone between each volley for the keeper to rush to and back to the centre, to encourage reactions and quick thinking
6. Kicking – Finally, we worked on kicking, both in the form of static goal kicks and moving back-passes to wind down the session.