BSc Football Coaching & Performance students joined Port Vale F.C. Foundation Trust for their recent Coach Development Event

The first-year cohort of the BSc Football Coaching and Performance course were invited by Tom Sheratt, Head of Port Vale Foundation Trust, to visit Vale Park and participate in their in-house Coach Development Event for sports coaches.

The day started early for the students with an 8.30am meet at the Roy Sproson statue (popular player from the 1950’s and 60’s) directly outside Vale Park in Burslem. The first action of the day was to shake off the effects of the -2 degrees Celsius temperature with warm refreshments. After a short while meeting and greeting the club coaches and coach educator, the in-house training event started in earnest. The students were purposefully mixed with the club and community coaches to ensure that there was a variety of backgrounds and experiences to draw upon in the subsequent activities.

The activities on the day all revolved around effective coaching and how coaches can add their own ‘flavour’ when coaching. Coaching is a social activity, conducted in teams, and it always benefits to have the coach put their own stamp on what they do, making it unique and personal to themselves, whilst also focusing on the needs and development of the participants. The students enjoyed the coach development session, which was delivered by Tom Peever, F.A. Coach Educator, particularly because of the insight that it provided to students surrounding the type of CPD training they may have to undertake when they graduate from the course and gain employment in a football club. This was invaluable for the students and only provides them with more knowledge of the inner workings of a football club. Continue reading →