As I reach the end of my 3rd season as a community coach, I can happily look back at the many dozens of matches and training sessions that we went through as a team. So many positives of course, and the usual hiccups.

But also quite a few thoughts about the styles of management I have come across (including my own!), and what it means to make young football players happy. So see below…

Our team has pretty much reached the end of its season, so now is a great time for me to reflect about how it went from a coaching perspective. Here are 7 things I learnt over the course of the season.

It’s only October, but it’s been a busy start of the season. 6 weeks, 6 training sessions, 4 league matches and 1 cup match. So how did it go and what did I learn as a coach along the way?

The start of the season is always pretty hectic for football coaches. I wanted to share how we prepared for the new season this year - in the hope that it helps other community coaches, and that more experienced coaches point out some tricks we missed!

The end of the season is always a good time for coaches like myself to reflect on the year that was, and on what is coming up next. This was our team’s second season and it was a good, busy year. The highlight for me: seeing how much progress the boys have been making, each one in their own way, over the last 9 months.

Building on the first two days of workshops, Day 3 and 4 of the course were dedicated to the Develop (skill) and Extend (game) phases of training sessions. For either phase, we got in pairs, organised a mini-session and ran the other attendees through it on the local 3G pitch.

BACA is one of those places that you either do not know at all or are very familiar with: a modern, large building on the outskirts of Brighton, in the shadow of the Amex stadium (home of Brighton & Hove Albion FC), whose main use is as a local college.

This blog will hopefully offer a glimpse at a world that you may or may not know about: the world of Saturday morning kids’ football.

In a previous life, my weekend mornings just like most adults’: spent on mundane matters like food shopping, going for a walk or just staying at home recovering from a demanding week of work.