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I am looking at doing the Level 1 Certificate in Coaching Football, just wondered if anone has done and what they though of it?
Level 1 Certificate in Coaching Football
- Thread starter Axis64
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No one then
Caporegime
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- 18 Oct 2002
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not done it, midly considered it at one point as I kind of fancied getting into coaching at some point. Frankly I imagine the course will be boring, dull, slow and ludicrously easy, to be honest, look at coaches around, not often the smartest guys in the world doing it 
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Soldato
From memory you don't need to pass level one to be able to do level 2.
Soldato
I completed the Lvl 1 Coaching at Manchester FA about 3 weeks ago. Personally I got a hell of a lot from it. Not only from the course material but from the other coaches as well. It really does let you look at what your coaching and how your coaching in a very positive way.
All I can say is that my under 7's are getting a lot more from their coaching sessions now than they did before. There's more structrure to our sessions, they are better behaved becuase its better organised and there skills an more importantly, there thinking is coming on
My experience was completely the opposite to that. Luckily we had some guys who were ex-pro's doing the course. If it is so ludicrously easy then why not give it a go
All I can say is that my under 7's are getting a lot more from their coaching sessions now than they did before. There's more structrure to our sessions, they are better behaved becuase its better organised and there skills an more importantly, there thinking is coming on
drunkenmaster said:
My experience was completely the opposite to that. Luckily we had some guys who were ex-pro's doing the course. If it is so ludicrously easy then why not give it a go
I did my Level 1 when I was told that the knee injury I had would limit the amount of time I could competitively play football for.
It was a good eye opener and really enjoyable, and as Loki said above, I got a lot from it. I also found it more enjoyable than I thought it would be as I went into it expecting it to be full of people who werent that good at football and wanted this as a way into the game, but I was surprised.
I have signed up for my Level 2 so that I can look at making it more of a career, as I have always wanted to try coaching in the US.
It was a good eye opener and really enjoyable, and as Loki said above, I got a lot from it. I also found it more enjoyable than I thought it would be as I went into it expecting it to be full of people who werent that good at football and wanted this as a way into the game, but I was surprised.
I have signed up for my Level 2 so that I can look at making it more of a career, as I have always wanted to try coaching in the US.
Don't bother mate, you will fail for being a Wednesday fan
I knew someone would comment on that lol
I dont coach already but really want to get into it, do you think it will be beneficial?
Thats my long term goal just not in the US
Soldato
I think so yes. I think the best way to put it is that when your coaching kids you kind of think what you know is best and try and put that into their training routine. After doing the course you kind of see things a little more through their eyes so you can appreciate why somethings work and some things don't.
The two big benefits for me were learning new material but also learning off the other coaches.
For example we used to do a simple exercise called traffic lights whereby we would call out a number between 1-3(1= Shoot in goal, 2=shoot in other goal 3=stop and put foot on the ball)
So I learned a simple variation of this whereby instead of shouting out a number we used coloured cones(red=stop with foot on the ball, yellow=a turn or drag back & green= sprint for five meters with the ball). Straight away such a simple variation has reaped some really good benefits. The kids are not reliant on me giving them the instructions through the drill and they are getting confident at dribbling with their heads up. That came out of a brief chat over our lunch on one of the days. Same for the other coaches learning off me and vice versa.
As I say its really helped me see things through their eyes. The other thing is that is given me a little more trust in the players. I now I can set them challenges that after time they will understand and it will all relate to their game in general.
Other benefits is doing the child protection stuff. As well as a safe guard for the children, its also a safe guard for you as well.
Finally it does give you a bit of kudos as well with the other coaches and people in the game. We got a coaches night at Manchester FA in November hosted by Stuart Pearce and Steve Wigly(sp?). All in all it costs us £10.00 but we get to work with them for the night go through some of their training routines and also to pick their brains.
We had a game on Sunday morning and one of the scouts down from United looking at both teams. Because we are FA lvl 1 coaches and FA Charter standard, he has given us an open invitation to come along to the academy to look at how they coach there and ask any questions. I don't think I would have had any exposure to that if I hadn't gone through the lvl 1.
The FA comes in for a lot of stick(and rightly so) for the way the game has been run. However they are investing lots of time, money and resources into grassroots and big part of that is long term player development and coach education.
My advice is pay for the course (£145 iirc) and use the 4 1/2 days to leach as much good experience as you can. If you come away with nothing more than the certificate it puts you on your path to Lvl2. I suspect you will get a lot more from it than that though
Thanks for the reply mate you have been really helpful, I am defiantly going to do it!