Coaching for kids - help please!

[Shrimper_Wez]

Shrimpers I need your help!

I am currently doing my FA coaching badges and will soon be seeking football volunteering opportunities with children up to the age of ten or eleven (I have plucked this figure from the air so I am open to suggestions!).

I am 24 years old and my relatively short employment history since graduation is in adult and child safeguarding (strategic multi agency arm - not local authority). I have two requests, which is why I need your help:

1. Do any of you work/volunteer with clubs in the local area where there may be volunteering opportunities up for grabs? I would be willing to cover the cost of CRB checking where necessary.

2. ...and the slightly more fun request! My longer term goal is to run my own football coaching company. Initially it would be as a hobby alongside my current, fairly flexible working arrangements - with a view to developing it into something more formal eventually. What I need is a name for the company! Ideally I would like to operate in the Hadleigh/Leigh/Benfleet/Rayleigh area and any suggestions/advice/criticism are all very welcome. My degree is in business and I hold a marketing role with the safeguarding boards in Essex, so I'd like to think my strengths will lie in business development and community engagement - but if I don't try, I'll never know.

If you've read this far - thank you! :smiles:

Any help would be gratefully received.

Wes

 

[Prodigal Son]

Can't believe someone did not answer. My main advice would be go work for someone else's academy, learn from them including where they go wrong. Remember it's their living so they will keep telling parents how much their kids are improving/claiming contacts with scouts/pro clubs, keep selling the dream and the money keeps coming in.

If you are volunterring, I'm not in the Southend area but established clubs like Rayleigh Boys or Catholic United would be a good starting point. On the name, people get enticed by words like 'Excellence' and 'Academy'.

Maybe get a pro to lend a name, the Darryll Flahavan Goalkeeping Academy would bring the punters in.

I fancy doing this one day.

 

[Blue_Shrimper1959]

Shrimpers I need your help!

I am currently doing my FA coaching badges and will soon be seeking football volunteering opportunities with children up to the age of ten or eleven (I have plucked this figure from the air so I am open to suggestions!).

I am 24 years old and my relatively short employment history since graduation is in adult and child safeguarding (strategic multi agency arm - not local authority). I have two requests, which is why I need your help:

1. Do any of you work/volunteer with clubs in the local area where there may be volunteering opportunities up for grabs? I would be willing to cover the cost of CRB checking where necessary.

2. ...and the slightly more fun request! My longer term goal is to run my own football coaching company. Initially it would be as a hobby alongside my current, fairly flexible working arrangements - with a view to developing it into something more formal eventually. What I need is a name for the company! Ideally I would like to operate in the Hadleigh/Leigh/Benfleet/Rayleigh area and any suggestions/advice/criticism are all very welcome. My degree is in business and I hold a marketing role with the safeguarding boards in Essex, so I'd like to think my strengths will lie in business development and community engagement - but if I don't try, I'll never know.

If you've read this far - thank you! :smiles:

Any help would be gratefully received.

Wes

Setting up your own football coaching company is very hard with so many around these days. I started my own when I was 18 a few years back, and did so by running holiday camps in partnership with a local club (ie contact to about 400 players and discounted facility costs). Income was steady but not what I wanted to do and not really much progression other than an extra school session or holiday camp.

So I worked for my local Community Sports Trust (ie for you it would be Southend Utd CET) started as a casual coach before working my way up in a year to running some Social Inclusion projects, before deciding I would transform my Football School into a Social Enterprise Sports academy, with the idea of helping young people through sport participation/mentoring and also having sport development centres for young people showing potential in football and tennis. I combine this through my work with a pro club academy and therefore can offer a decent pathway for any young players showing real potential, and my head tennis coach can do the same with a local tennis club.

For me the name of the company represents me (SC Sports Academy), it may seem slightly mundane but I try to be involved in every session or project we run, and therefore parents and players can relate to me and speak to me personally at anytime, the reputation of the company is helped by my football qualifications and links with pro clubs, but more importantly the quality of sessions.

My advice would be to volunteer with Southend CET, do some sessions and they will probably offer to pay for a volunteer CRB. Find out how an organisation like that runs, with after school clubs, multi sport clubs and evening social inclusion sessions then once you have a but more knowledge then you can start up your own organisation or you might even enjoy it so much/I,press that you get a full time role there.

With the likes of Steve Tilson's new football academy (and with him personally delivering on the centres), plus the other organisations out there, competition has never been harder. Try to think of something different after getting some qualifications and more experience, and I would advise the Social Enterprise route because of the funding you can also apply for to run more free sessions which all helps the reputation.

If you need any help in setting your own stuff up feel free to PM, it's been a tough 3 years for me, but very rewarding and also pays the bills for me to be able to focus on my long term aim- coaching senior players within a pro club.

 

[Shrimper_Wez]

Thank you both for coming back to me with some really valuable suggestions.

The idea of running my own company is very much on the back burner while I get some volunteering under my belt, and I'll certainly get in touch with Southend CET and some local teams as a starting point.

It's great to hear your success story Staines and it sounds like you've earned it with the work that you've put in - I read a little further about the social inclusion work on your website and it sounds fantastic, I truly wish you every success with the work that you're doing.

Thank you both.