Elsewhere In Football #21 - India Visit
- Apr 28
- 3 min read
Grassroots Coaching Clinic
My second week in India and everything have been doing has been geared towards the Grassroots Coaching Clinic that I delivered over the weekend 26th/27th April. Fifteen local coaches joined a two day seminar in which they learned how to develop effective grassroots coaching programs specifically focused on U11.
What we focused on....
We opened the morning session with a discussion of what the expected outcomes of a grassroots coaching session could and should be. It was evident from the beginning that the local coaches had a good base knowledge of football and different types of sessions, however it was important to get across that the main focus of sessions at this level is.. Fun!
From there I delivered a series of warm up games that are high energy and have children engaged from the first minute of the session. After a short break, and a second discussion on how to structure a grassroots session, I delivered some technical practices (dribbling, ball control, shooting, passing) followed by
some conditioned games linking each technique. The morning ended with fun games as every grassroots session should.
Over the course of the morning we established that our desired outcomes from grassroots sessions are;
Children having fun
Children learning/developing a skill
Children improving their health
Children developing social skills
We put together a blue print for every coach to begin following;
Warm Up
Tech Practice
Game Related To Tech Practice
Match (3v3 or 4v4)
Getting to know the locals......
During the lunch break it was an amazing opportunity to be able to sit and chat with all the coaches both as a group and as individuals. We had a real mixture of people on the course, from PE teachers to semi pro players as well as coaches about to do their first license and coaches that already have.
The group of fifteen coaches was split with nine males and six females and one thing that was very apparent from the beginning is that the male coaches were very supportive and respectful to the female coaches which, sadly, isn't always the case.
Before leaving for the day the coaches were put into groups of three and challenged to deliver a grassroots session the next morning with a group of children. Each team were given 15-30 minutes to deliver a session.
The locals have a great foundation to build on..
The next morning we were joined by a local football team #FCKuamon with fourteen young players (and parents) joining us at the field at 6am for the local coaches to have the chance of delivering their session.
All five groups did exceptionally well with their deliveries. As previously mentioned the base knowledge is there, what was needed from myself is guidance in organising the session so it can flow and tiny tweaks to the set up so kids stay engaged. An example of this would be instead of having six players stand in a line and one by one dribble round a cone, can we instead have three cones and three players dribbling at the same time or go one further and have all six players dribbling at the same time in a different shaped area. Tiny details and small changes like this made all the difference to their sessions and I hope they're things they can take away and keep putting into practice.
The morning was rounded off with a coaches vs kids game (at the kids request). I'm pretty sure it was just an excuse for the kids to kick me 😉 and showcase their skills but nonetheless we as coaches agreed and I managed to score the winner..!
I'm loving it.....
It was another great weekend and India is turning out to be a fulfilling experience both personally and professionally. I'm inspired by the local coaches all of whom have a passion for football that the outside world doesn't believe exists here in India. Believe me, the passion is there and I'm delighted to be able to help and guide these coaches as they develop their own programs, academies and clubs.
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