Chesterfield FC coaching session 1.

Me and three other students coached a lesson to Chesterfield under 7's. There was 20 kids and we had an hour and half to coach them.

As a few kids turned up early, i got them in a circle and passed the ball round. When everybody turned up, we got them in a grid (size of two badminton courts) with a ball each dribbling around which that they had to include any skills or turns they had learnt in the previous weeks. Then we introduced 'tiggy scarecrow football'. This consisted of two people being on to begin with, they had to tig the other people while dribbling with the ball. If you got tug, you had to freeze into a scarecrow, to get untug another person had to dribble with the ball under your arms. The next few rounds, three, four and five people were on. This progressed and made it more difficult. Plus, it gave everybody a turn to be on.

While this game was on, a few people was late so i had to introduce them, explain what they was doing and then gave them a ball to let them join in. I also noticed a few peoples shoe laces was undone so i asked them if they wanted me to tie them as i realised quite a few of them couldnt do it.

As it was cold in the sports hall and was the last lesson until after christmas, we organised them into four teams and played mini matches.I was a captain for one team so i had to introduce myself to my team, got to know them and related to them. During the matches, i constantly praised and encouraged both teams which increased their confidence and allowed them to have more fun. For one match, my team had too many players so i dropped out and refereed the match. For this, iused my whistle a lot, and shouted to maintain control while still enouraging the kids. Most of the time i follwed play so i could view and help them better but on occasions i stood around one part of the pitch as they kept tripping over the netting which was dangerous so i warned the kids to be careful around that part.

In the matches, there was quite a lot of incidents where kids were getting hurt. When this happened, i immiediately stopped the play and made sure the kids was okay. In one occasion, a kid got hurt and started crying, i ran over to him and made sure he was okay. He was struggling to run so i got him to come and stand i net with me. After one minute, he was fine and carried on with the game.

In my team, i had a defender who could read the game really well, there was one battler who made all the tackles, one that was quite tall and skillful who took players on, then finally a playmaker who was involved most of the match. We wore orange bibs, so i told the team that we was Blackpool... This got them excited and more eager to win.

I really enjoyed the session and i thought i did a really good job as i related to the kids which made them look up to me. I dealt with different circumstances such as people turning up early and late. Plus, tieing shoelaces and dealing with injured/upest kids.

Delivery of my football circuit.

This morning, i had to set up my football circuit for 10 people in an area, size of a badminton court. It was cold in the sports hall so we needed to keep everbody on their toes so they kept warm. As a warm up we got them running round the area and we shouted instructions out: 1. Touch the floor with your left hand. 2.Touch the floor with your right hand. 3. Head the ball.

After the warm up, i demonstrated the circuit. This consisted of:

1. Dribbling in a circle.
2. Kick-ups.
3. Toe-taps.
4. Shuttle runs.
5. Pass against the wall.
6.Dribbling on the spot.

This circuit mainly aimed to improve ball control, while having a bit of fun and keeping warm. As it was cold in the sports hall, i had to keep on encouraging the particpants to keep up what they were doing. I tried helping and improving them if they wasnt doing it correctly.

The session lated 15 minutes. Each person had 1 minute on a station, then 30 seconds resting time. Everybody had a go on each station.

Abercrombie Visit 3.

Today, our lesson was held inside as the weather permitted us from using the outdoor facilities. Due to the this, we had to change our sessions again.

After the register, i took the group, introduced myself and Kurt, told them that we was doing the warm up and got them to stand up. After that, Kurt explained what the warm up consisted of.

The warm up was basic, the kids had to run round the grid to start off with. Then we introduced one ball, then two, then three which they had to pass round. After two minutes, we realised that it was too crowded and children just ran to the ball screaming. So, we stopped the group and split them into two groups. I had one and Kurt had the other. We had half of a badminton court each. I explained to the children that they had to run into space before recieving the ball.

Eventhough this warm up didn't go to plan, it still was successful as the children enjoyed it, got them thinking, made them aware and got their heart rate increasing.

Then we passed the group onto Dan who then explained the 'Shark Game.' We repeated this game another two times as the kids had a lot of fun and enjoyed it. All the coaches got involved in this game which was a huge possitive as the children liked the competetivness which made them try harder and it got them excited.

After this game, we introduced relays. We also repeated this three times.We split the group into two, the problem with this was that we had kids waiting around in very little space which made in confusing and over crowded.One of the races, Josey started crying as somebody pushed in the queue so i took her to the side and made sure she was okay then i lined her back up and then she carried on with the race straight away.

We then calmed the children down as they had to go back to class.

I thought the session went well. I could of improved my teaching as i didn't get involved as much as i would of liked to but when i was involved, i was loud and clear which enabled the kids to understand what to do. Plus, i encouraged a lot by clapping and saying well done, i got to know them as i spoke to quite a few which allowed everybody to feel comfortable around me.

*The Register*