Part of the England DNA of football coaching

With the England match away to Slovakia tonight in mind - first one for Big Sam - it has been interesting doing my Level 1 football coaching course this week. The way that the FA is now structured is that every level feeds into the national team and the way of playing the game. In future you will see the players that have gone through the grassroots of football and through the system to reach the top level of the game. We are now generating players that have played in all positions, have developed the skills that have been identified as essential and will play the game in the right way.

The FA Level 1 Football Coaching course has been really interesting for me to work with other budding coaches and get an insight into the way the FA wants us all to bring our players through and develop them. I am really excited about getting to put all of this into practice with my team. I am ready to get back to my club and put all of this into practice.

Being able to watch and learn from the tutors as well as see practices delivered by others on the course was a great way to get together some ideas about different training sessions, how they fit together and how to adapt them to players of different ages. I am confident that I can start to think about the development needs of my players and how I can put training sessions into place to help them be better players over time.

The way that all of this fits together from grassroots up to the top level of the game is really interesting and will stand the game in this country in good stared in the future. The different phases of the game are looked at in detail to establish the necessary skills-

• In possession
• Out of possession
• Transition

You will see the way that young footballers play the game will change over time. The emphasis on everyone enjoying their game, players swapping roles and being comfortable on the ball are all major factors in this. One other parts that I found will make a massive difference is encouraging your players to take risks and not being afraid of the consequences. The focus has been taken away from winning games at all costs to achieving specific objectives both from a personal and a team point of view.