After my level 1 assessment on the 27th of July, I have had a week to reflect on my experience over the previous two weekends. Firstly though I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. When the FA Tutor predicted the group would be well bonded by the end of the course, I was admittedly skeptical. However this prediction was 100% true.

However, I was very surprised at the teaching style used. As I left school only a couple of months ago & have two teachers as parents, I have a good knowledge of the education system. The theory part of the course, while interesting, was extremely school like and this could potentially put off people who aren’t great “learners”.

I also felt that the course was overly aimed at delivering a good session, rather than providing a knowledge of football or how children behave & learn. Of course I understand that the Youth Modules cover more on learning etc. and the Level 2 goes into a greater technical and tactical depth. Despite this, is it not worrying that someone could still pass a course and be coaching kids with extremely limited football knowledge? This may just be my opinion, but I think you should be able to do more than just deliver a safe session.

The FA Tutor did an extremely good job. However despite encouraging the coaches to be creative with their sessions, the most highly praised assessed sessions where those that incorporated a lot of the aspects he did. While there was nothing wrong with these techniques, it could be deemed quite hypocritical.

A final thought is on the FA sessions that applicants are given to perform. While the majority of the sessions are very good, there are some sessions that simply aren’t appropriate for a 15 minute session. Unfortunately I got one of these (my session plan here). I struggled to stretch out the session and I am sure others did.

These are just my opinions so I’d love to hear yours. Thanks for reading,

Charlie.