In a bid to better support budding community coaches across Wales, a new online resource has been launched to help educate the next generation of coaches.
Carl Darlington, Head of Coach Education at the Welsh Football Trust, gives the rationale behind the online revolution.
On Monday January 11th the Coach education landscape in Wales will change; a change that will continue to ensure welsh football and welsh coach education is at the forefront of development to support the ever-changing landscape of the coaches who look to access our awards.
Since August 2006 on average over 2,100 candidates access the FAW Football Leaders Award per season, our entry-level award and first step on the coach education pathway in Wales.
The course has historically been delivered across two consecutive weekends, accumulating 16-hours of on-course content with a mix of theoretical and tutor lead practical sessions along-side candidate shared practical sessions; Over recent seasons the welsh football trust and FAW have aimed to provide more flexible opportunities for our coaches with not only Saturday practical days provided but Twilight awards delivered across four weekday evenings’ accumulating the 16 hours candidates require within an alternative delivery format.
The jawaban consistent through-out almost the last decade of delivery has been our application process and cost placed upon the awards, the current paper-based format not only takes time for candidates to access our awards but must be a key time constraint on the hours our dedicated volunteers place into registering their candidates on our FAW awards.
Over the past 18-months the Welsh Football Trust has undergone a thorough consultation with volunteers, coaches, clubs, leagues, area associations and key partners, looking to revolutionise our coach education pathway and specifically the foundation level awards we provide access to thousands of candidates per annum, per season across Wales varied landscape throughout the country.
On the turn of the year, www.fawcourses.com will launch, an exciting new platform to launch our new home of online learning. Candidates will have the opportunity to access hundreds of courses across Wales through our new online booking system placing customer service at the forefront of our support for the wonderful volunteers who support our game in Wales on a weekly basis, instant access to book thousands of coaches on hundreds’ of regional courses will provide a home and a key focal point for our 600+ grassroots clubs and all those wishing to access our coach education pathway across Wales.
At the heart of our change will lay our 5 online FAW Foundation Modules, which will be in place to support candidates accessing our;
· FAW Football Leaders Award,
· FAW Goalkeepers Award,
· FAW Introduction to Futsal Award,
· FAW Coaching Footballers with a Disability Award,
The modules, which have been designed in partnership with our online learning providers ‘Prospect Training’, will provide strong foundations for all coaches accessing our awards. The 5 modules will take candidates through a journey supporting and providing key understanding within module headings such as;
· Planning and Preparation
· Match-day Management
· Better People, Better Players
· Small-Sided Fun
· And a course Introduction Module.
One of the key aims of the online pre-course modules is to ensure key flexibility in our candidates learning. The modules which will provide candidates with a strong foundation of knowledge prior to attending our practical day can complete and access the information any time and any place in the build up to their practical content.
The important flexibility of such access, ensures we can provide much needed support and education to our large and varied landscape across Wales; candidates can complete their FAW Online modules in the comfort of their own home and within a time frame and time period that is suitable not only for themselves, family and work commitments but also at a pace that is suitable for themselves.
The modules, already been accessed by over 250 Candidates during our trial period, have been developed in a way to ensure we are challenging, tackling and educating coaches in key areas that effect our grassroots game. The large variety of interactive screens and challenges candidates will face across the five modules will test current knowledge and understanding all of which will be fed back into our regional lead tutors to support candidates further on their practical day.
One of the most difficult components of delivering coach education within any sport, is ensuring as tutors we can make the award and day(s) as personal as possible to all the individuals in the room, specifically from a level one perspective where candidates will have such a wide ranging level of experiences, backgrounds and future plans within our national game.
Our purpose built online scenarios, challenges and tasks will ensure candidates not only develop prior knowledge leading into our singular practical day, but answers provided will be drawn down and utilised by tutors to support, further enhance and make our practical days as personal to the candidates attending as is possible due to the prior knowledge built up from their responses to our online modules.
2016 will be an exciting year for Welsh football and none more so then within our coach education structures, the benefits to clubs, coaches and thousands of volunteers will out last the next 12-months as we continue to ensure we breakdown barriers for those wishing to access coach education across Wales and our programmes become even more attainable to the army of dedicated volunteers that support our national game on a daily and weekly basis within Wales’s vast and varied landscape.
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