NSFA ran its first Youth Coach Development Program (YCDP) of the new year this week with 24 local coaches walking away with their FFA Skill Training Certificate, a toolbox of coaching techniques and ready to take on grassroots football in the season ahead.
Ed Ferguson & Nick Marr joined forces to deliver the two day course aimed at encouraging more young members of the NSFA to become involved in coaching with the course open to 15 – 22 year olds, free of charge. NTRA was alive with action on Monday and Tuesday as the YCDP ran for 6 hours each day in the heat with the coaches challenged to organise, deliver, design and create training sessions for players 9 – 13 years of age.
Day One saw the coaches exposed to the four core skills, session structure and basic coaching principles involved in coaching within the Skill Acquisition Development Phase.
We turned up the heat on Day Two, inviting 16 Northern Tigers and Northern Lions SAP players in to test our young coaches and their player management skills. The morning proved a huge success as the participants were challenged with keeping 16 eager footballers engaged and enjoying the sessions. I would like to thank all players and parents for joining us on the YCDP and making it a success.
Day two ended with the coaches grouped together to design their own session before delivering their creation alongside their peers.
Ed Ferguson commented on the running of the two days;
“Each time we deliver the YCDP we are improving ourselves and the output of the students involved. It was great to see so many interested and passionate young coaches from the NSFA region and Northern Tigers FC take on the course and prepare themselves for the 2019 season.”
“The growth over the short two day period was immense. We had participants running extremely engaging, energetic and enjoyable sessions by the end of day two, as well as using their playing knowledge to make important coaching points and recreating realistic scenarios to assist the players learning.”
Well done to all involved in the first YCDP of 2019.
For more information on coach education courses coming up in NSFA please visit the NSFA Coach Education hub.