5 Targets I Set Myself as a UEFA A Licence Coach after Covid-19 Outbreak
Tim Wareing is a UEFA A Licence Coach based in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Overview – I’m a self-employed UEFA A Licence football coach that operates my own coaching business based in Northern Ireland. I offer Toddler Soccer and Mini Soccer for children aged 2-13 along with an after schools program. I am Academy Director of TW Braga and we have teams from U14-U6. I work with over 500 children per week along with offering 1-on-1 Coaching. I have published 4 coaching books that have sold in over 30 different countries.
Covid-19 forced my entire program to close on 18th March 2020. Along with the stress of little to no income I set out a plan to keep myself motivated and cater for all our players and children that attend our program while reaching out to a global audience.
Here is my 5 key targets that I have operated during lock down…
1. Communicate to ALL our players, parents and coaches…
- WhatsApp – I have groups for every age group at TW Braga along with a group for each of my community programs. This includes Toddler Soccer and Mini Soccer right through to my after school groups. This is a quick and easy way to ask after everyones welfare to setting challenges / sharing sessions, etc.
- Email / Social Media - I send and share updates reminding everyone about us and our program. I have also used our You Tube channel to create and share a highlights video for each age group – POSITIVE MEMORIES from this season sharing goals, assists, saves, tackles and celebrations! For example - https://youtu.be/9cxSo3DH0II
- Zoom to replace meetings (speak more on this in later point)
- Phone call – PERSONAL! I took 2 days to telephone everyone – POWERFUL! How many of us have taken the time to speak to our players / parents or, if you like, our customers? I really enjoyed speaking directly to everyone.
2. Online Home Program
- I filmed a 6 week course in my back garden. I used my youngest son to film a home online coaching program for Toddler Soccer covering ages 2-6. With my older son we filmed a Mini Soccer program that helps to offer a home program for children aged 6-14.
- The 6 week program is available to anyone to register. Each Saturday they get an email with the link to the video. We have it on our You Tube channel as an unlisted video. The content offers parents support to follow the program with their own child in the back garden. They have me explaining the game, demonstrating it with my son along with coaching points and direct access to me for support.
- Currently we have children registered from Northern Ireland, England & USA! For reference - https://youtu.be/dCCxWKDtm28
- Again this only cost time. It was filmed on an iPhone, edited on the same phone using iMovie and uploaded to our You Tube channel.
3. FREE You Tube Isolation Games Series
- We also wanted to include a FREE weekly series on our You Tube channel that would connect with everyone. This offers content that keeps our club and branding alive.
- The weekly series kept a similar feel to each episode. It included an introduction / fun family games in the garden / TW Braga Skills Coach Tutorial and a weekly challenge. For example - https://youtu.be/ntPGD33YifE
- We filmed in my back garden and kept the games simple to follow and generic so it catered for all the families watching (i.e. games not just related to football, not requiring much experience or equipment) so we played everything from tic-tac-toe to hungry hippos and simple fun games that always brings plenty of fun and laughs.
- TW Braga Skill Coach offered a weekly tutorial of how to do skills from a 'round the world' to a 'reverse crossover'…this also ensured kids watching from our club got weekly contact with not only me but their skills coach too.
- Weekly Challenge offered a connection between the viewer and ourselves. We set a challenge then asked everyone to film and send in their efforts so we could share in a midweek video. This was everything from juggling a toilet roll to chipping the ball into a wheelie bin and back heeling the ball into the boot of a car. For reference - https://youtu.be/ZTT_1ca6O3E
- We had so many of our own players, parents, coaches and kids from England, Finland and further afield join in!
4. Offer my services via zoom
- I briefly touched on this in an earlier point but it deserves a section dedicated to it on its own. Like todays webinar (these are my notes from a live webinar if you click on the link I speak from approximately 38 minutes in) we are sharing and communicating to a global audience via zoom for free! By joining in these webinars it helps increase awareness as an individual and organisation.
- Tomorrow I start coaching a Scottish woman’s team via zoom!
- We are also trialling this out across our own age groups and I have had a few requests for 1-on-1 online sessions from parents in USA and Australia. With technology we can reach a much wider audience! Although this virus has stopped the way we normally carry out our coaching it has taught us how to adapt!
5. Written my 4th book
- When I delivered my last coaching session on 18th March I set a challenge of writing my 4th coaching book. I have delivered coaching clinics across Europe, USA and Australia.
- This time last year I coached with David May in Australia. He played for Manchester United and created history by becoming the first English team to win a treble in 1999 (won the Premier League, FA Cup and European Cup in the same season). I took all my coaching notes from the clinic we delivered to share in my latest book. David also kindly agreed to write the foreword.
- My book was published at the end of April as a spiral bound paperback and ebook! Too date it has sold in over 10 different countries!
Along with these 5 points I continue my education through reading; online tutorials; networking…enjoying my family…walking…this is time we will never receive again so try to use it positively – thank you! I hope I have helped inspire you. The points above have helped me stay motivated while improving my mental well-being.
If you would like to find out more about Tim Wareing or purchase his latest book you can send an email; tim@twsports.org
