The FA Football Futures Leadership Camp, 16-20th
July 2012
Leader Life, Leader Legacy.
Excitement built, nerves jangled and the level of
anticipation rose, well for some people it did. On arrival at Hereford Blind
College, Take that – Never Forget was blasting out of my car, bags were falling
out of my hands and t-shirts were being piled on top. The friendly and familiar
faces of Camp staff were greeted by 100 enthusiastic football leaders.
Following the distribution of room keys, ice-breakers and
team activities began; blindfolded assault courses and bowling to kick off. A
task where you really didn’t know where to put your hands!! Then came the
entrance of Laurisa Robson and her sprinkler dance, who knew she would be such
an influential character throughout the week?! Certainly not the 20 of us
playing ‘Hi, I’m an egg.’
Mystery tours across the campus lead us to the main hall; a
room filled with anticipation and senior team members who knew everything about
you, even though there had been no previous meetings. The ceremony really drove
home the key messages for the week; take everything you can, have fun and
create a legacy of your own. Feeling inspired yet? Well this is where great
futures will begin.
After lunch, or an hour long banter session if you were me,
came our first workshop. Group 4 to the main hall for media. Personally I saw a
few familiar faces, this creating a positive atmosphere for the session to
follow.
Task:- create a 3
minute video, come up with your own idea, but 1 minute must be around the Mars
Just Play Scheme. You have 1 hour to come up with an idea, sort out roles,
plan, rehearse and then deliver.
So many great ideas came from the session, since when was
there an age limit on Big Macs and Mars bars?! But on a serious note, there
were many lessons to be learnt from the session. Like how much planning goes
into such a small product. The initial idea can take so long to find, but
without it you can’t move onto the next step.
I took a personal message away from this workshop, the media
can translate so easily into the front line of football,
We as leaders are like the writers and directors of media,
without us there isn’t guidance or someone to follow. We can only offer advice
and start the ball, but other leaders, coaches and players must keep it
rolling.
Reflection time turned out to be the most important part of
my time at Camp. It was time to think and write my thoughts for the day,
discuss opinions and what we want to get out of Camp. Common themes were to
gain knowledge, ideas and to have fun. From this session I was able to create 3
goals for the week:
1.
To be inspired, so that I can then go and
inspire.
2.
To grow as a person with knowledge and
understanding.
3.
To have a clearer image of where to go next in
terms of football and my pathway.
Evening activates were the talk of the day, Team Nigeria
remarkably got a high score on the quiz...
This was soon to be an evening with Dermot Collins, the main
messages I took from this session were,
‘How to do we make this person better? How do we make them
perform better? And sometimes you have to go sideways before being able to take
a step forwards. Don’t be afraid of this side-step, in the long run it will be
for the better.
Back in the dorms, bonds turned into friendships, and late
night thinking turned into personal reflection. Not forgetting the most epic 'hide and seek,' shame that the seeker didn't come looking for well over half an hour!
Ø
So day 2 started off early, thanks to the loud and
enthusiastic running club. Each morning I found myself to be one of the first
at breakfast, which wasn’t a problem, it just allowed more reflection time and
time to wake up. Let’s be honest I’m not a morning person!
The first session of the day, Futsal with Karl Lines,
another familiar face, and an influential character to my football futures
journey so far. This session was a bit like jumping in at the deep end, opening
up a new sport, techniques and ideas. I think that everyone would agree, the
session created ideas which would transfer into football and it also questioned
how we coach. For most this was a learning curve, we should be thinking about
what it best for our players, not what makes us look like a better coach.
But then are we coaching right? Is trapping the ball wrong?
Or are we coaching the wrong technique? If we look at inclusivity, surely
Futsal is the way forwards. The ball challenges all players, not just those
technically gifted.
Onto sports development with Tina Reed. For me, a workshop
which I have learnt the most from; I didn’t realise what football development
officers do and how much they cover. Certain parts of the workshop were about
areas within football which I’ve been part of, more so than what I thought it
would be.
Task – produce
and put forwards an idea to the Youth Council for the Legacy Fund.
A lot of similar ideas came from the task, similar but not
the same. Most were surrounding football for all and equality. It was great to
see that the Youth Council members were impressed by the ideas put forwards and
the feedback given.
If you build a bridge, you’re not the only one who will walk
over it... think of all those who will follow. Maybe not all at once, but they
will come, look and then continue to follow in your footsteps.
Our final workshop for the day was coaching. The key
messages to come from this were; don’t force something which isn’t necessary.
Just because you have planned progressions doesn’t mean you have to use them.
This would be a lot to do with knowing your players and recognising learning
methods, progression speed and when they are ready to move on.
Within this session I took a bit of a step back during the
task of planning a session. I felt that some people took control of the group,
but wouldn’t loosen their grip to let others in. I think that some sessions
have been really eye opening to how people develop and progress, being able to
delegate is a huge part of working as a team. Sometimes workshops have hidden
messages; the title isn’t always the topic.
Onto reflection time, my favourite part of Camp, without a
doubt. Time with our Camp Councillor and enthusiast, Dawn Georgeson, to reflect
upon the day’s events. This session was built up on 3 parts, a blindfolded
assault course, team discussions and the post-it game (where you think of a
word to describe who’s next to you, then they have to guess the word). All are
very simple, but very effective. My 2 words for the day; inspiring and
insightful.
Final part of the day, evening activity! Olympic theme, Task, create an Olympic sport using the
devices given. After having time to think we came up with a tennis like game
using peaked cones and a handball. Each group was very creative and able to
come up with fresh ideas, which would definitely have intrigued Lord Coe.
Ø
Another late night and early morning proved by the fact I
put brown sugar on my corn flakes not white! Luckily this wasn’t a theme which
carried on through the day.
Our first workshop of the day was equality, a session which
no-one knew much about, but took a lot from. Equality isn’t just about racism;
there are so many stereotypes and barriers which need to be broken down. The 3
key words which came from the session; equality, diversity and equal
opportunities; equality is allowing people to have equal opportunities, not
allowing diversity to get in the way.
Something else which came from
the workshop, we don’t act differently around others. We adjust to the
environment and situation and the needs of others. Being able to recognise when
to adjust to the needs of others is a great skill to have. Laurisa Robson and
Dawn Georgeson are 2 top examples, and they portray this skill immensely well.
Final message on equality: CRAS,
Consistent/ Content
Respect
Appropriate
Sensitive.
Moving onto refereeing, to start with we looked at the key
skills of a referee or assistant. Key quality; tolerance, in most situations. To be a top referee you need to
ignore those with an irrelevant opinion. You need to focus on the main roles of
a referee, not imaginary ones. Being a referee has its ups and downs, just like
anything else. If you can stick it out through the bad/tough times, then the
highs are a lot more beneficial. All in all, making you a better person.
After lunch came our specialist training, mine was coaching,
with Paul Bridson and Jack Walton. So firstly, what did we want from the
sessions? What do we expect? Following this we created our own sessions and
then looked at the practical aspect of coaching. Although a lot of notes were
taken within this session, the hard work and analysis came in during Thursday’s
sessions. The main thoughts going in Thursday, drills/sessions must be
realistic and beneficial to the game. Food for thought going into day 4.
In we went for reflection, a team quiz. The theme was the
Football Futures Camp and what had been learnt. Also it turned out to be Nelson
Mandela’s 94th birthday, not 96th.
This lead on nicely into the evening activity, Football
Future’s Got Talent. A clever theme to get everyone active. This brought out a
different side to people. It was great to see how people dealt with the pressure
and how creative people could be.
Next came a session lead by Matt Jones, who opened up the
Mash Up initiative to us all and then showing us (practically) how it would
work. Mash Up sessions are chances to coach, referee and play on a recreational
level. 6 top tips:
Listening
Engage
Graft
Act
Create
Yourself
"You only enjoy it if you want to enjoy it. You only get out what you put in."
An hour of fruit fun followed in the dorms, who knew apples
could make such good entertainment?!
Ø
Getting straight into day 4 and the first specialist
coaching session of the day. To begin with we analysed Wednesday’s session and
it’s key messages,
ü
Practices need to be realistic of game related
in order for them to be beneficial to the players.
ü
Always question and challenge players to get and
keep them involved. This enables a learning process. Players thinking not just
feeding off a plate.
ü
If there is no success, progressions were added
to achieve success,
The more problems there are to solve, the higher the
enjoyment level. Practice in context to the game, under load, don’t always
overload.
Task – create a
15-20 minute session surrounding a theme, forward passing. In our group of 4 we
created a session to then go and deliver.
Outside we were delivering our sessions and smashing
windows. In my opinion a lot was to be gained from watching other coaches, new
tips and ideas, but also it show-cased how different people coach and their
opinions.
During these sessions I spoke to a number of people, asking
for their views and opinions. This again opened up new opinions and things to
look out for. Each session was different, not just the content but also the
delivery. From these sessions you can already see that the future will be
bright.
Onto reflection and evening activities. During reflection we
covered the week and wrote a one liner to describe the week in our view.
‘Inspiration can be found in the places you least expect’ was pretty much mine.
Next came the ‘Post-It’ game (round 2, describe someone with a word.) mine was
considerate, and also inspiring.
To finish the day, DISCO TIME! The fancy dress code, LEGACY.
Everyone had a Boomtastic time, described as ‘the best sober party ever.’ The
final song of Take That – Never Forget summarised the week perfectly.
Ø
Our final day of Camp started with a good old sing song at
breakfast, with Cee Lo Green – Forget You, which really set the mood for the
day.
The last activity was a festival put together by the
football development group. Based around the Mars Just Play Scheme, so not just
a straight forward tournament, an event built around having fun and different
ways to be involved.
I spoke to a number of people surrounding Camp, asking for
their opinions; the general consensus was that Camp 2012 was amazing and 100%
the best one yet!
The closing ceremony was so inspiring. Ted Grizzel and Dan
English’s speeches were amazing. I hope that everyone took something from it,
and will re-use this inspiration within their community. Don’t be the one who
says they want to do something, be the difference...go and do it.
Everyone will take something from Camp, inspiration, new
drills, experience or just new gear! I’ve left Camp as a better person, with a
fresh mindset and a number of targets to hit. Leaders are already making and
leaving their legacy; mine won’t be a quick fix action, but a step process to
when I’m needed.
‘Camp is like dropping a stone in to water and watching the
ripples that follow.’ Matt Chester
Thank you to everyone involved, those who had the idea, made
it happen and created an environment where so much learning and future building
could take place.
Lead a life, lead a legacy.
