On Wednesday we had a go at our Level 2 Coaching Certificate. With the season being pretty much over it’s prime time for getting stuck in to this and learning how to think and act as a coach.
We went through 10 different types of drills and we were each assigned one to deliver to the rest of the group. It’s quite daunting standing in front of your team-mates and telling them what to do and how to do it but everyone pulls together and is receptive to what you say so it wasn’t half as bad as I imagined it was going to be before I had my go.
In a way it allowed us to get a view of a session from the coach’s point of view, which again helps us as players – this gets more and more important as the qualification continues and then again when you move on to the next level because you can really start to fully understand reasons behind a coach’s instructions.
In order for it to work, everyone has to be attentive, the slightest distractions can affect the whole session, so its important to stay focussed for the whole time.
We were training on Thursday and Friday, preparing for the last game of the season against Sheffield United – how the season has flown by!
Academy Match: Sheffield United v Newcastle United
We didn’t start the game brightly but managed to score 15 minutes into the game, with Brad capitalising on a poor square pass by their defensive line.
We were much relaxed then and played and moved the ball well. But Sheffield United did create chances of their own and came close on two separate occasions.
We added a second when Aaron linked up with Brad and slid in to finish. The third came in the second half, with Sammy providing a calm cool finish after some decent build up play and although Sheffield got one back the result was never in danger!
It was a good way to finish off the season but its not quite over yet as we’ve still got a trip to Bosnia to look forward to.
