The Welsh Colleges Football Diary - Introduction

This year I was offered the opportunity to work with the Welsh Colleges Football side. The squad of around 35 players spreads across two different age groups, the under 18's and the under 19's, although many of the players play in both teams. The player’s have a deep background in football, many of whom have come from Premier League academies and the like, but have failed to just get across that line of a pro contract. The quality of these players is therefore very high, many of whom are playing and making regular appearances with a number of Welsh Premier League side’s with the added benefit of getting an education through the number of Colleges in Wales.

The role came about after a sponsorship deal with Cardiff Metropolitan University. As part of this deal, Welsh Colleges Football were to give a Performance Analyst from the University the opportunity to work with the team at a tournament in Rome. Due to the timing of the sponsorship it wasn’t until January 4th that I first met with staff at their training camp, held at Met. I knew who the head coach was already, thanks to his career within the top flight of Welsh football, and was quickly introduced to the rest of the coaching staff. All the staff are lecturers and coaches in a number of different colleges

My first job was to get an understanding of the type of football they like to play, and get to know the philosophy of Marc ‘Jiws’ Williams. One of the first things I heard him talk about during a session was about ball retention, so I quickly enquired about his definition, as this is something I could quite easily build in to a coding template. I’d started to build the template, but obviously with some very generic items. I’ve always felt that one of the most important things, is to make sure you can get as close to thinking like the manager as possible, in order to deliver the desired outcomes. I was also tasked before hand to do some oppositional analysis on the game scheduled the 6th of January against Newport County Under 18's. I did quite a bit of research, and looked at all the footage I could find online, and coded it appropriately in order to deliver a session on the morning of the game. This was something that I did before every game, even in Rome where there was around a 15 hour turn around time.

International football is a slightly strange environment to work in, given the little amount of time spent together, but more emphasis put on getting results quickly. Over the course of the season, there have been about 40 players that have earned caps, and keeping up to date with all of these has been one of the most difficult aspects, but what it has taught me to do is to try and look at each individual player and make a little note of his strengths and weaknesses, just in case i’m asked a question by the player himself or coaches and hopefully be able to contribute to his long term career.

The most positive aspect has been what I have been allowed to do, having free roam to develop and bring ideas in that i’d been working on with Cardiff Met Women’s team. I felt that the staff and players trusted my judgment and took on board things that I contributed. Marc Williams (Manager) and Jon Garcia (Assistant) have been incredible and very supportive, I feel i’ve learnt a good amount from both and am extremely grateful to them and all staff involved.

Welsh College’s Record

Scotland Colleges 2–4 Welsh Colleges

Welsh Colleges 1–3 Newport County Under 18's

Welsh Colleges 4–2 School Sport Australia

Swansea City Under 18's 0–1 Welsh Colleges

Italy LND 3– 0 Welsh Colleges

Albania Under 18's 0–1 Welsh Colleges

Malta Under 18's 4–2 Welsh Colleges

Hopefully this gives an idea of what has gone on over the season, and I will be addressing the next three blogs in greater detail about the process and the development.

Arron