I am always on the lookout for new ideas and methods that would give me the edge as a coach. My son bought me a book a few years ago entitled “Shakespeare the Coach” which is written by a world champion coach and Australian Ric Charlesworth. I found the book very motivating. 

I have always been a student of the game of football and I have long accepted that every day a coach learns something about the game. As many will have heard, football is a game of opinions and everybody, regardless of whether they have a piece of paper (Licence) or not has an opinion on how the game should be played. In reading the book by Ric Charlesworth, who was an Olympic sportsman, a first class cricketer, a politician and a champion coach I was reminded to draw on my life experiences, my failures and successes and integrate those lessons into my coaching creed.

KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GOING: 

As a coach I always try and set realistic goals and share those goals with my charges. I set time frames and set smaller goals along the way to achieving the bigger goals. Along the way I observe those amongst the group who have a will to succeed and those who are just there for the ride. I observe those players who do not hurt when targets are not achieved and I admire those who want to know why targets were not achieved and are prepared to dust themselves off and pick themselves up ready to start again. 

“IT IS THE PURPOSE THAT MAKES STRONG THE VOW” (Shakspeare): 

As a coach I try to provide the dream, the vision, and the purpose to a group of players who are committed to giving of their best. I am reminded of a piece I read somewhere a while ago which went something like this:

“If a team is in a positive frame of mind, it will have a good attitude, if it has a good attitude, it will make a commitment to playing the game right. If it plays the game right, it will win, unless, of course it doesn’t have enough talent to win, and no coach can make goose liver pate out of goose feathers, so why worry?” 

I worry if I have not prepared the players well and by that I mean prepared them to play at the best that they can play. It matters not if my team is beaten by a better side, because it gives me and my players something to aspire to. It matters a lot if we are beaten because we did not give of our best! 

IT IS ONLY A GAME! 

Sport came about as a distraction to the burdens of business, work, and all the other tedium’s of everyday life. King Richard II was quoted as saying, “What sport shall we devise to drive away the heavy burden of care”

To some players and coaches, myself included, the game of football is every bit as serious as business and work. To those that take sport/football too seriously I quote from Shakespeare’s Henry IV, “If all the year were playing holidays, to sport would be as tedious as to work”

I must admit I do often take my aim for perfection in football far too seriously.

 TEAM PLAYERS AND INDIVIDUALS

This season has made me aware more so, than in previous seasons how important it is to select a squad of players who are mentally strong enough to accept that they form part of a squad and that they together with others like them achieve more than one can as an individual.  Players need to be reliable, have ambitions, and be consistent and resilient. Coaches need to have powers of “persuasion, values, diligence, flexibility, strategy, purpose and direction”.

It would not be a good thing for a player to undervalue him/her self, however it most certainly is worse in my view if a player were to overvalue him/her self to a point were they are demanding of a place in a team. It is always regrettable when differences of opinion between players and coaches result in the parting of ways. Unfortunately this will continue to occur for as long as players and indeed coaches have egos. Any coach who promises anything but honest appraisal to a player is a mug!  

EXPECTATIONS

Anyone reading this who thinks that coaching is easy should walk a mile in my shoes. Coaching is demanding and stressful because good performances and results are expected. I myself often wonder how football clubs in England cope year in year out when of the 20 clubs in the English Premiership only one or two will taste success (Win the league, or the Cup). Does that make the other 18 or so clubs failures?

The road to success is pitted with potholes. When things go off track and one experiences disappointments and then has to put up with criticism from those watching from the outside and worse from those wanting one to fail, the ability to stay the course and not become distracted is crucial. This is not to say that if things are not working that you do not try other options and look for alternatives. You must be flexible and you MUST endure. 

WINNING VS DEVELOPMENT  

This is a question many coaches are faced with and one that I often give an opinion of. “Without development there will be no winning”! The problem arises when Senior or Head coaches are not provided with sufficient time to put in place their programme because of the pressures put on them by Committees eager to fill up the clubs cabinets with silverware. I am fortunate in that at Taringa Rovers the Committee share my vision for the club. The only pressure I face is that I place on myself.

Personally I am in awe of all the Junior and Youth coaches who go about developing youngsters at their clubs over many years only for the Senior/Head coach to reap all of the glory. It was mainly because of this that I embarked upon a programme whereby I provide every assistance to coaches developing kids as young as six year olds right through to our youth teams. I felt that as a senior coach at a club I can provide a pathway for talented youngsters and certainly provide them with an opportunity to play in the clubs first team. The idea was to ensure that the club has in place a programme that would provide the development required for players to become the very best that they can become in the game.

Perhaps, if the money currently spent on importing players into clubs first teams was re-directed into grants for talented youngsters then through development programmes a club can become a “Winning” club. WARNING: this takes time! Because what is required is that we as coaches we nurture young talent and develop a mix of youth and experience otherwise our team will be imbalanced as will our success. 

In conclusion I quote a saying I read somewhere: 

 “Winners see what they want to happen.. Losers see what they fear might happen”! 

Joe Fenech