fbpx

Blog

dom w

Grassroots / Academy coach case study and top 5 tips to become a goalkeeper coach

I personally had an interest in coaching at an early age, I had a passion for mentoring young children and this started with doing work experience at local schools as part of my education while attending college.

At age 17 yrs old I played at semi professional level and used to coach some of the youth keepers at the club I played for, this was my 1st real coaching experience. I can still remember kicking the 1st one or two volleys and thinking ‘this feels good, Im putting my passion and skills towards helping a young goalkeeper develop’.

Along side playing and training I attended college where I did my level 1 coaching in football as part of the business and leisure diploma.

This gave me a lot of confidence and more understanding in terms of having a coaches mindset.

After playing at professional academy level and semi pro senior level, at age 22yrs old out of the blue I had the opportunity to go to USA and coach for 9 months. This for me sparked a real passion of coaching and gave me direction in what I wanted to do in life. Working with children aged 7yrs to 23yrs in USA allowed me to study different personalities, it also gave me an understanding of how I needed to adapt my coaching to cater for the different age groups.

And one of the biggest learning curves was to learn about myself, being away from home and standing on my own two feet.

I can’t speak highly enough of the experience and would highly recommend to anyone if they have the opportunity to go and coach in USA or away from their native country to then give it go. I was lucky to be invited through a friend and ex teammate, so just make sure you research before you go in to making a decision on what might be the right path for you.

From returning to the UK I set up my own GK coaching school catering initially for grassroots goalkeepers, this has progressed to coaching academy and semi pro goalkeepers as well.

Having learnt business at college it definitely helped with running my own coaching school, but as in anything you learn as you develop and make mistakes along the way.

I continue to grow my coaching knowledge through FA courses and working with other coaches. And the business has gone from strength to strength, personally for me I am happy coaching in the environment of grassroots football and developing young goalkeepers to improve and enjoy their football.

Everyone’s journey is different….

Here are my top tips for you to become a goalkeeper coach and start your own journey…

1. Find a grassroots club and/or school and offer your services to coach and mentor at youth level.

There are also many college schemes which will support your development as a footballer and as a coach, so check these out in your local area. Many of them are linked to professional clubs so there is a pathway to coach with their development sessions outside of your college education.

2. Another massive bit of advice I would give is surround yourself with people that are already in the position you want to get to!

“If you hang around in the barber shop long enough, you will get a haircut”

This could be shadowing a coach at a dedicated goalkeeper academy, a distinguished coach at grassroots level, a pro academy coach. For me this is massive and puts your face in front of the shop window, a saying I love which Denzel Washington used in this powerful speech was “If you hang around in the barber shop long enough, you will get a haircut”.

Networking is huge and conducting yourself in the right manner to build bridges which you will walk over in the future is advice I will never forget. Think about that for a minute….. if you were going to build a bridge that you need to walk over in 5 … 10… 30 years time, how strong are the foundations going to be? Rock solid is the correct answer, which translates into the dedication you put into learning your craft.

Go to seminars, write to club academies, surround yourself with like minded people….

3. Believe in you, have a vision of yourself reaching your goals. Stick up a picture of you coaching at the level you want to reach, positive affirmations….

4. Educate yourself and work towards getting your coaching badges. One thing I here a lot is “the FA badges are so expensive, why do I need to take a coaching in football badge before getting my goalkeeping badges”.

Bottom line… Don’t make excuses! If you attend a college they will help you take your level 1 badges, some grassroots clubs and pro academies will also support you with free or discounted courses.

‘if you want something enough you will find a way’

Your investing in YOU and your future and you can’t put a price on that. So look at the bigger picture, if you want something enough you will find a way.

And don’t think you can’t coach above the level you have played, never limit yourself.

5. Check out online content, theres loads out there. You can check out our free online content HERE and also check out our paid content for an in depth look on coaching goalkeepers HERE.

Best of luck with your coaching and thanks for reading, I hope this blog has given you some valuable insight..

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published.