The NSFA Coach Development team is conducting NSFA Super League and Diamond League matchday mentoring throughout the season. This initiative is designed to support NSFA coaches on the ground in their club setting by receiving bespoke mentoring from NSFA Coach Developers. Read on to learn more about NSFA Coach Developer David Neale!
Pictured: David (second from left), with coaches from Lane Cove West FC.
Who’s your favourite football team and player – and why?
My favourite team is Sunderland, I’ve supported them through thick and thin for over 15 years now and have just completely fallen in love with the atmosphere and history of the club despite all the recent struggles. My favourite player to watch at the moment is Kevin De Bruyne, as far as footballers go he has to be amongst the best in the world right now and no matter what match he plays in, he is always able to have some sort of impact.
Why are you involved in the delivery of coach development within NSFA?
I’m involved in the delivery of coach development courses through my role as a development officer for XLR8. I love the coach mentoring aspect of my role, so having the chance to run community courses for new and old coaches alike is a great experience that allows me to help provide more opportunities for others to develop their coaching knowledge.
Tell us some of your key highlights as a coach or coach developer?
As a coach developer I love to see the growth of coaches over the course of a season. One of my greatest highlights is working within St Ives FC through the XLR8 last season and seeing coaches who have never taken a team before become completely comfortable running safe, organised and enjoyable sessions for players in a relatively short period of time. More recently, being involved in the delivery of the community coaching licences has been fantastic. Getting the chance to lead and run these myself was really enjoyable and I had the chance to meet and work with lots of great coaches through it.
What have learnt when delivering courses, workshops or mentored others within the NSFA community?
The thing I’ve learnt from being involved as a coach mentor is that there is always something new to learn as a coach. Whether it’s been in a formal environment on a course or workshop, or an informal situation where I’m just talking with other coaches, I always see people learning new skills and pick new things up myself. It’s great to get other perspectives and see how they think, so having that growth mindset can be really important and beneficial.
How have the changes to the coach development courses this year within NSFA benefitted the coaching community and you as a presenter?
The biggest change has just been that it’s a lot more accessible for everyone now. Having shorter blocks more often allows people to be more flexible with their time and more likely to be able to attend the courses and attain their certification. It also makes the content a bit easier to digest, rather than absorbing all the information over a big weekend coaches have time to learn everything in smaller, more manageable amounts.
What are your goals for coaching and coach development this year?
My goals for coaching this year are primarily to have a successful full season in my new role with Turramurra United and see the growth of players across all teams within the club. It’s been great to get the chance to help all the coaches learn more about each individual player within their teams and help them on their own football journey. I want to be able to work with each and every coach to identify areas that they want to develop and then help them on that journey, which will hopefully have a big impact on both their own coaching and also, as an extension of that, all the players that they coach throughout the season.
In one word, what does being an NSFA Coach Developer means to you
Inspiring