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[Jamie]
Hello and welcome to Coachcast by England Football Learning, the coaching podcast that brings you insight from people across the game. Today we're chatting with Rosi Webb, an FAE High Performance Centre coach development officer, to discover her journey so far and to hear her insight into coaching in the male game. Well hi Rosi, welcome to the show, how are you?
[Rosi]
I'm good, thank you and yourselves?
[Jamie]
Yeah all good, thank you very much.
[Louise]
It's really good to have you with us. Can we start by finding out a little bit about your role and what it is that you do?
[Rosi]
Yeah so I'm a coach developer, I work at the Women's High Performance Centre based in Essex and we work across the women's talent space supporting coaches within the female game.
[Jamie]
Brilliant, well thank you very much for that. And just before we kind of like discover a bit more about yourself, your role and your experiences, as this is a coaching podcast, coaches could be on the way to training while tuning into this, so we like to give them some good advice at the top of the show.
[Louise]
Yep, so we call this your arrival activity and we're gonna give you 30 seconds on the clock and we're gonna ask you to give us as many top coaching tips as you can. Are you up for the challenge?
[Rosi]
No pressure.
[Louise]
No pressure at all. Just give us that knowledge. Okay, So once the music starts, you can begin.
[Rosi]
Right. So my first one is get to know the person before the player. If you're observing sessions, stand back, watch and focus on one element. If you look for everything, you'll see nothing. And probably my most important one would be make the players part of the review process that's both match day and training what did they like what went well what would they like to see a little bit more what they enjoy so they would probably be my top three.
[Jamie]
Perfect, look at that brilliant nice and succinct as well fantastic.
[Louise]
To time and really useful tips.
[Jamie]
Thank you, right well we'll jump into the main section which is all about you and your experiences and we always start this section off with a guest by asking what was your first experience of football like?
[Rosi]
My first experience was as a player and it was growing up, I grew up in North London with brothers and it was playing Wembley singles over the local park and that was my first real experience that if you went out in the first round you probably might as well go home because there was 20 of us over there and if you left into the last you probably got called home by your mum or dad shouting your name across the park in the pitch back.
[Jamie]
I love that, I love hearing like everybody's like stories for this question just because it kind of takes your mind back to yourself and your own life sort of looking at that experience. I love Wembley singles, Wembley doubles as well, it's great. Thinking about coaching then, when did that experience first start for you?
[Rosi]
I joined my first team when I was 14 so I actually came into football quite late in terms of organised football but I'd always played over the park with my brothers so it was when I joined Spurs there was an opportunity to get on my level one it's paid for by the club so that was my first experience of going into an after-school club I remember the first day going into a school in Woodgreen and it was so daunting and I remember coming out of there thinking, what am I doing? Because I was only like 17 at the time and I had 30 kids running around after school and sometimes it's not very organised at them after-school clubs. Reality is it's an extra half an hour to an hour that parents can bide their time when they're coming home from work. So yeah, it was very daunting. I wouldn't change it for the world because I got lots of good experiences from it that probably plays out in my coaching today. So yeah, they were my early days of coaching.
[Louise]
And I guess with your playing as well, you must have had lots of experiences there. Would you say that any of those experiences would have influenced your coaching approach?
[Rosi]
Yeah, I always think about back to when I was a player and the things that I liked and the coaches that really resonated with me, what were they like, What were the sort of things that they done and they said? And I use those experiences today. And also the things that probably I didn't like as a player and things that didn't work for me. And, you know, I was trying to get that balance right and that constant learning. And, you know, as you go through your career and you have different managers, they bring different skill set and experiences and it's about picking the ones that were really useful that sit with me and are probably used today in my coaching.
[Louise]
Yeah. What would you say when you're thinking of coaching, what do you enjoy most about it?
[Rosi]
For me, it's just turning up and being part of a family. When you're out there coaching and you're with players that respond well and you're on the same journey and you want the same outcome, that satisfaction at going home at the end of the day that you've impacted players lives and people's lives and I think it's really important especially when working with young kids that that might be the one thing they look forward to during the week and we've got to make it as enjoyable and a great experience for them because they really look forward to that session and that's what they pin their hopes on for the whole week so it's really important that we make those sessions fun, engaging and a great experience for everyone whether that's kids or adults as well.
[Jamie]
You mentioned kind of like playing Wembley singles and that and then also being at Spurs so we've had a little bit of an intro to kind of your journey but do you want to give us a bit more of an insight into your journey from there to where you are today at all?
[Rosi]
Yeah so I went to uni, It was never in my plans to go to uni to be honest. I didn't think I'd get the grades but I did so I went over and done a sports studies degree at East London and like most people that come out of uni you apply for jobs and you know after the 50 or 60th application you get nothing back. I finally got one through for a job in Colchester so I kind of um-denied, went for the interview, got the job and I just up to move and that was, must have been about 15 years ago now and I found myself in Essex and that's what I call home. And in that time I went from working in a community-based club which was fantastic again, lots of good experience, to the FA Skills Programme which was a great programme I loved being part of and yeah done some other bits in terms of Curver coaching it was more of an academy setting and then found myself back in this job and in the meantime got myself into the Mal game and I manage a step six men's team as well. So lots of different experiences along the way. At one point I even took a break from football and went and worked in a transport company. So that was a different, a completely different experience. But again, lessons I learned there in that environment that I've taken to my coaching and managing today.
[Louise]
Really interesting saying, like, just reflecting on the fact that you can get experience from all sorts of places and kind of the skills that you can bring into coaching is a really valuable thing for people to think about. So taking in everything that you've learned from your coaching experiences so far, what advice would you give to your younger self to prepare them for stepping into the world of coaching for the first time?
[Rosi]
Be brave, don't be scared to make mistakes. I think we get so caught up on the outcome and we don't enjoy the process and sometimes that process is uncomfortable and you might get some knockbacks and setbacks but if you can overcome them, it builds resilience. So for me it's just enjoy the process, whatever that process might be, and the outcome will take care of itself.
[Jamie]
Love that, love that. What would the best piece of advice be that you've ever received then?
[Rosi]
The best bit of advice I received as a player that I take into my coaching today and my work life is focus on yourself especially when you're having those conversations at work or manager we tend to talk about the reason we're not doing something to the best of our abilities because of somebody else. I think focus on yourself, what you can do better, be really self-aware of what you're good at, what you need to improve on. I think that's really important if you want to move forward in life.
[Jamie]
And what do you think, you mentioned like self-awareness there, what kind of other key skills and attributes do you think people need to be a transformational coach?
[Rosi]
I touched on it briefly just a minute ago, but I think be brave, don't be afraid to make mistakes, and certainly don't give up at the first time that you fall because you're going to fail more than you ever succeed and all those times that you do fail or things don't go right, it's part of the process, it's part of the learning and as long as you can bounce back from it and you know you review that process as well as you know what this didn't work out this time, what could I have done better, what could I have changed? Sometimes those things are out of our control, but a lot of the time there's small changes that we can make and continue to just strive forward and be brave in everything that you do.
[Louise]
Really good messages there.
[Jamie]
Now Rosi, you wanted to chat with us today because while you coach in both the male and the female game you actually get quite a few questions about your experience being a female coach in the male game. So to start the first thing that we want to ask is what are the main questions that you do get asked?
[Rosi]
I always get asked what is it like, what's the differences and do I enjoy it? They're the three main questions that I find people always ask and what the challenges are as well.
[Jamie]
Okay, okay, what would you say, I don't know, we're probably going to touch into some of this just going on, but just following up directly on the back of that, what would you say the main differences may be from both areas?
[Rosi]
I think in terms of when we look at players, I think the physical side of the game, I don't think we can hide from that. I think that's probably the most obvious one. I think sometimes maybe the social element in terms of those conversations in the changing rooms might look a little bit different. I'm sure that some of the reactions after games might be very similar. I feel personally as a coach, as a female in the male game, I probably had to prove myself. I don't know if that's a little bit of my bias a little bit, that in terms of I feel like I had to go in, I had to prove myself really early doors. I feel that a little bit in life when you're in a male-dominated environment as a female. Sometimes you probably feel you have to go in the room and you have to speak for the sake of speaking because you want to make it really clear early on that you know what I'm here. I do have a little bit of knowledge that I can share and hopefully people can gain experience from. But I think they're the main differences. I think I got really lucky in the club that I'm in, that the environment is really, really good and they welcomed me and I still to this day walk in a changing room and I don't feel a female in a male changing room or a male environment.
[Louise]
Yeah, that's really important to hear. So if we take it back to kind of the beginning of that, so you're in your fourth season of coaching an adult men's team now, but thinking back to when that opportunity came about, what were your thoughts back then before taking it?
[Rosi]
I remember it was in the time I took a break from football when I was managing a sports facility and my paths had crossed with a guy called Ray Turner, he's our head of youth at our club, really really good guy and coach and he was coaching the first team at the time and he said why don't you come along, why don't you come along and get involved? And I thought about it for a couple of weeks and I thought, do you know what? I'm out of football at the minute. I'm looking for a new challenge, something different. And I remember going in and I'd never been so nervous. I remember sitting in the car and it's probably the first time I was like, Rosi, you can turn around now. It's not too late to kind of just make an excuse. And I remember walking in there feeling really nervous, but I always remember getting a really warm welcome from both the players, the club owner Ian Booth and Ray himself, and it just felt right. You know, sometimes you walk into an environment and it just feels right, and for me if it didn't feel right I don't think I would have stayed around, but that was really important to me.
[Louise]
So that shows the importance of kind of the welcome that someone gets when they start something new. So that's something for people to think about.
[Jamie]
You mentioned that you was a bit nervous when first going into that environment. Can you give us some insight into what maybe your expectations were compared to then the reality of it?
[Rosi]
Yeah I think when I went in as a coach at that level my expectations were probably they again I had to prove myself that everything had to be perfect and actually over the years you realise as a coach nothing's perfect and that's part of again of the process but in reality it's the biggest journey I've been on where I've learnt so much and it's challenged me both personally and professionally and my biggest advice is if you ever want to try something like that, just be brave, go out there and do it and what's the worst that can happen? One, it's either not for you or number two, you really enjoy it and you're there. So yeah, I think those nerves soon got put to bed because the players and the club made me feel really reassured.
[Louise]
And what, I mean, you've said there that kind of you felt reassured after, but what was the first session like for you? And what did you learn from your first experience of coaching that team?
[Rosi]
I think I overplanned. I probably spent about a week planning a session because I wanted, again, I wanted it to be perfect. I wanted to know how many players, again, you do your research, how many players. I didn't really know too much about the players that I was going to be facing because I hadn't seen them play. My first experience of meeting this team was the first training session. And I think I probably over thought it a little bit too much and again sometimes when you want it to be perfect you miss the real small details and my advice at the beginning was sometimes when you step back focus on one thing because if you look for everything you'll see nothing and that's probably where that comes from because I wanted to try and do as much as I could to prove myself rather than just focusing on one or two parts of the game or my intended outcome of that session.
[Jamie]
You mentioned that you went in and there was a really good environment there so perhaps there wasn't loads of challenges there to face but some people may feel that there might be some challenges there for a female coach going into a male-dominated environment. Were they any for you? And if so, how did you overcome them?
[Rosi]
Yeah, I think when you walk into any new environment, players, whether it's in the male game or the female game, or if it's in youth football as well. Players will challenge you straight away because they want to see, first of all, they want to see how close to the line they can toe. And there were certainly some challenges, nothing where I felt players ever overstepped the mark, but it taught me quite a lot. I mean, I'm used to, I grew up with brothers, I'm used to being in a male-dominated environment, so I'm quite quick-witted in my responses and I think that really shines in the men's game, because I think you have to think fast on your feet and you can't be too sensitive to some of the things you might hear in the changing room. It never toes too close to the line where I think, oh, you've overstepped the mark. We've got that mutual respect between the players and myself and they certainly know where the line is and would never over overstep that. Individuals will always try and test and challenge you. But yeah, you've just got to be, I always think if you're honest and you're transparent, then that's where you cut out a lot of the problems that you might face with, especially with individuals and players.
[Louise]
Just thinking in terms of if something did happen where you felt it was a bit too close to the line, is there someone that you would go to or a process that you'd go to to kind of bring that out and make sure that it doesn't happen again.
[Rosi]
I'm in my fourth season now. I started out as the coach and I've been managing for the last three, so if anything was too close to line, I'm at that place now with the players where I could just pull them to one side and go, look, didn't really like that, let's not do that again. But again, really good environment, really good players. They're really respectful. And I'm sure at some point we might get to a place where we'll bring some new players in and they might challenge me because it might be new to them to be coached by a female. But I think the current players set that environment as well and they're very forceful on, look, this is acceptable, this is not acceptable. So yeah, I think we're at that point. If there was any challenging conversation to have, I'd directly go to them and I think that's important. I don't think we always, if I go to a person that doesn't change, that's when you go to that person that owns the club or the welfare person. But for me, I think I've got that relationship and I'd like to think sometimes you just need to talk to people and pull them to one side. In life if I was to say something that might offend someone I'd like to think they'd go, do you know what Rosi, that really that really upset me and then I'd go, do you know what, fair enough, I won't do that again, apologies. So that's how I would deal with it.
[Louise]
Yeah, that's good to hear.
[Jamie]
Do you have any top tips to help coaches to be able to start to build that relationship where you feel comfortable to step in and then just say that's not right, this is sort of the boundary that we're setting here?
[Rosi]
Yeah, I think it's important that you get to know your players individually and I think sometimes we overlook that because we're in a team sport and we always coach the team. For me I'm coaching 11 individual players and if I can get that right the team takes care of itself and I get to know them outside in terms of what they do for work, what's their family situation, because then you start to build that rapport and then relationships, and it's so important, especially when you haven't seen those players for a couple of days and they walk in, you start to build that relationship after three years of knowing a player, if they've had a tough week just by how they walk in or if they're really quiet compared to normal. So it's so important to get to know them individually because on the spot as a coach you might have to adapt your sessions. If you've got a real, for example, if we're doing a pressing session and we've got players and the reality of our level and in the MAL game is a lot of them have trades, so they're probably up at four or five o'clock in the morning, so if they're tired we might have to tailor that a little bit. And it's just, again, you don't know that if you don't build relationships.
[Louise]
No, they're really good tips, because obviously you've got a good position and a really good team, but there may be people who are having to start that journey or kind of might be in a challenging situation. So it's really good for them to hear your thoughts on that. I mean, it shouldn't be harder or more difficult to get the opportunity to coach in the men's game, but there seems to be fewer women coaching high up in the senior men's game compared to men in the women's game. What would you say are the main barriers that could be causing that?
[Rosi]
It's like anything I think it takes for one person to be out there and doing it at the top level in order for people to see that they can achieve it. I still think we've got a long way to go in the game in terms of females in the female game And I think until we start seeing more females within the top level at the elite level in the female game, we've still got a bit of work to do on that. I think it's probably educating clubs as well and understanding the environment. So my advice would be if anyone's out there listening and thinking, you know what, I'd like to get involved, go along to your local games, go along as a spectator, have a little look, hear what it sounds like, and then see if it's right for you, because it is an uncomfortable environment. It's not the easiest environment to be in, especially some of the grounds you go to away from home, the environment that's set from other clubs might not always be what your values lay close to you. And you've got to be open to that. I'm not saying you have to accept everything that's thrown at you. Again, there's that line and what you tolerate and what you don't tolerate, but definitely go along to your local game, see what it's like, get involved in the environment and just reach out to clubs and say, look, I'm interested in coming along. Can I come along to training and see what it's like? And then maybe start stepping in and go, look, can I take 20 minutes? Can I take half an hour? And before you know it, you've built up that confidence and that relationship with the players that you'll feel comfortable enough to go in and put yourself out there a little bit.
[Louise]
Yeah, I guess it's like any kind of coaching position, whether it's male or female, it's kind of got to be one that suits you, a club or an environment that suits you and your needs.
[Rosi]
So yeah, 100%. I think it's down again, like I said, I say I'm lucky. I think we're in a club where we're very well educated and there's some really forward-thinking people in our club that when I turned up for that first session it wasn't oh here comes a female coach in the team it was like here comes a coach and I don't get looked at as oh Rosi's a female coach Rosi's the coach and I know I've got I don't want to say it's lucky because I think we're educated and I think there's still a little bit of education to go, but I know we'll get there at some point. It might take a little bit longer, but we're slowly turning the tables.
[Jamie]
You mentioned there, if anybody's wanting to get involved in coaching, to go down to the local games see what the environment's like and if the club maybe suits them. If somebody's not necessarily sure what their local games are anything like that would the County FA there, County FA be the best place to go to to find out what clubs are around?
[Rosi]
Yeah County FA is always useful to reach out but also as well social media. Normally if you type in in your area there's normally a club that plays in that area so have a little look on there, go on social media, get following some of the local teams and go along see what it's like, enjoy yourself. You might actually enjoy it and want to get involved.
[Jamie]
Absolutely, absolutely. Now, if we kind of switch back to our attention to your journey and your experiences, you mentioned some of the differences between the male and the female game. Did you feel you had to adapt your coaching approach at all or is it very similar in terms of you just went into into the male game and just being yourself?
[Rosi]
Yeah I think it's very important to be yourself and I said it at the beginning that it's the person before the player and that's male and female get to know the person before the player. Yeah some of the conversations you might hear in the changing room might be a little bit uncomfortable and again it's you as a coach setting in that environment. What's right, what's wrong, where's the line and where you're not going to allow your players to step over. And that happens in the female environment as well and that's down to the coach and the coaching team to set that environment. There's quite a few things that are similar, but just be honest, be true to yourself and be transparent and don't feel you have to change to fit into that environment.
[Jamie]
Really brilliant advice there.
[Louise]
And do you think there are any differences between the age groups? So for instance, if someone is coaching a boys team, are there things that they might need to do differently than if they were coaching a girls team?
[Rosi]
I think in terms of if we're looking at puberty and bits like that, I think there's differences. We talk about the female game and menstrual cycles. I think there's still a lot of research to be done there, but there's certainly differences. There's lots of good workshops on FA learning so if you want to find out a little bit more I'd definitely head over to there. Reach out to your local county FAs as well and it's considerations and things to be aware of, emotions, especially working with teenagers and they might look a little bit different in the boys and girls game but I think if you try and get experiences, if you're a coach predominantly working in the female game with under 14s, go and watch an under 14 boys in your club and see if you can recognise the differences and see what that coach does or if you're working in a boys game, go and work in that same age group and go and watch sessions in the female game and try and start making them connections yourself. I think that's important as well as coaches that, you know, we're very lucky with social media, we're very lucky that we can just type in bits onto social media and it'll give us a session, but actually really invest in your own learning and put yourself out there in different environments.
[Jamie]
So it's a really good way to enhance yourself as a coach, just to learn, just to take things and whatnot, and then also potentially open up doors as well for you to explore. You've mentioned there's quite a lot of similarities between coaching in the male and in the female game. So how does your experience coaching in the female game help you with your men's team?
[Rosi]
I think females genuinely are a little bit more understanding and compassionate. I'm not saying that's across the board, but I think that's just traits of being a female. I think I probably learned to listen a lot more before I kind of let players talk, listen, taking what they say and really think about my answers. I think sometimes in the male game and we act off emotions a lot of the time. So I think I've learned that a lot from the female game that you've really got to think, let players talk, process what they're saying and pick your words wisely. Because I think sometimes players always home in on words. And if you say the wrong word, that they'll focus on that whole sentence on that one word. So I think I learned that early doors with the female game, especially around emotions. I don't think it's too dissimilar in the male game. I think the emotions might look a little bit different, but they're still the same things that you can take.
[Louise]
And if you were to flip that, do you have any insight from coaching men that you would take into coaching women?
[Rosi]
I think in terms of the men's game, it's very competitive in training. I always assumed, I mean, as a player, I wanted it to be competitive as well, but I always assume when I go out and I watch female teams that it's not competitive training. That's kind of lessons I've learned that is competitive. And maybe me as a coach in a female game if I look back I didn't make it as competitive because I didn't think players wanted and needed that but in fact they did so I think that would be my biggest lesson that I learned and if I was to go back into the female game that's probably some of the bits that I would take in is around session design making sure that my sessions are really competitive in that environment as well.
[Jamie]
We've spoken about the challenges that female coaches may face in male environment, but actually on the flip side of that, are there any benefits to being a female coach in the male game?
[Rosi]
I think there's benefits to being a coach in any environment. I've learned, like I said at the beginning, I've learned far more in the last four years than I've learned in the whole time I've been coaching. And even if I don't end up in the male game and I go back into the female game, I've learned far more than I would have ever learned if I'd stayed in a female game. So in terms of that, I think every environment brings different challenges, whether that's male, female, youth football. And if you can try and get as many experiences in as many different environments, you're only going to be a better well-rounded coach.
[Louise]
Definitely. And then you did mention kind of being quick witted and stuff like that before. Would you say there are any key skills or attributes that you think would help coaches to work in the male game?
[Rosi]
Yeah I think sometimes in the male game when I first started out a lot of players would would want the answers. Now I've learned to flip that a little bit and give a little bit of ownership, not too much ownership, but flip questions back to players. So when they ask questions and I'm not saying it's a quick get out, but sometimes it's like, yeah, well, what do you think? What would you do if you was in my situation? What would you do if you hadn't trained for three weeks and you show up at a match? And you're not in the team and you're fuming that you didn't get on What would you do if you was the manager and you've got 16 other players training week in week out? So I learned to flip things now of trying to get players to understand my thinking as a manager and that works really well. Not all the time, but it does work well.
[Jamie]
I was just going to ask in terms of player ownership really, you said that it works well in some situations. So we talked to a lot of coaches and player ownership is such a valuable thing for coaches to be able to utilise, but it's also knowing the right time, because especially if you're with younger age groups, that will look different to when you're with older age groups. So do you have maybe any advice on how coaches can potentially start to introduce player ownership into their sessions?
[Rosi]
I think especially at the young age when you do arrival activities you could get the players to set that up and take ownership and again we spoke about the review process at the beginning, let players be part of that review process. That's player ownership. What do they want? What are their needs? What would they like to see? And one thing I'd say is be careful of what players want and need, because I know that if you go into a lot of environments and you ask players what they want, they'll say, we want to play a match. But actually, is that what they need? So that's the kind of the first part. We've done a lot of work on the last few seasons in regards to players understanding other players and I think it's probably bits of the game that we miss quite a bit that as Coaches I understand my individuals, but do my individuals understand Individuals what they're really good at what they're not so good at what they need to work on And that's something that we've worked really over the last two seasons with these players is understanding the coach, understanding yourself, but understanding each other.
[Jamie]
Do you have any top tips for anybody looking to coach in the men's game at all?
[Rosi]
Top tips is, like I said, go out there, find your local team, reach out, be in and around the environment, see if it's for you and if it is, be brave, just go out there, give it a go. You'll either really like it or it's not for you and you've not lost anything by giving it a go.
[Louise]
And have you got any other like practical insight that would help people kind of that they might stuff that they might not have thought about so protocols around approaching male dressing rooms or on a match day or things like that is there anything different or specific things?
[Rosi]
Yeah so I think we have to be aware of the changing room situation. It's always a topic that comes up and what do I do? And it's probably the same question that gets asked to male coaches in the female game. I have my routine. I get there earlier. I set up the changing room with the rest of my management team. The players will arrive. I'll say hi, and then I'll go set up the warm-up, I'll stay outside. I normally, if it's a three o'clock kickoff, I'm normally in at ten past two to have a good talk. And then we go out, once we come back in at half time, you know, we have our chats. And then after the game, I'll come back in, we'll have a little debrief, and then I'll leave the changing room and that's their space, that's their safe space. And I would expect that if I was a female player and there was a male head coach. And you know, it's really important that the environment's right for me, but it's also right for the players as well. And I don't want to come into that space and make players feel uncomfortable. So, you know, we've got to have considerations around it. We have a routine, the players know what the score is on match days. And it's been like that for the last three years and we haven't had any stumbling blocks along the way so far. Brilliant.
[Jamie]
You mentioned Ray, wasn't it, earlier on in your journey getting you into the club. Do you think there's anything that male coaches could do to encourage more women into coaching roles in the men's game and how can men be allies?
[Rosi]
Yeah, I think we always, when you get asked who's your biggest influence in coaching, I think sometimes we straight away try and think of female coach. As females, we want to look at female role models, and they're so important as players. But equally, there's loads of male role models out there. And Ray brought me into the club, Ian, that I work with now as well as my assistant and owns the club. They're really important. And Ray brought me in, and he's now head of youth. And I've learned so much from him in terms of that kind of set up. Ian's been experienced in the game and he brings in a lot of players in recruitment and between them they've made me feel comfortable but they've also taught me things about the game that I didn't know and I probably need to know. That's the strengths and weaknesses of your management team. So I'm quite self-aware of what I'm not so great at but I know my management team, someone in that team will be better at me than that and I'll be better at them and That's why myself, Lee and Ian all work well as a three, because we all have different skill sets, bit like players, all 11 players on the pitch have different skill sets. And if you can get them working together, then the team takes care of itself.
[Louise]
I guess that's quite an important thing for men wanting to be allies, is that kind of recognising that you might have, or a female might have, more skills in one area that they don't have. So it's just respecting that kind of difference between everybody and embracing the different things that everybody can bring to the table rather than being the expert on everything.
[Rosi]
Yeah, and I think that word respect is really important and you know we all respect each other and we know what we're all good at and we all know what our role is within that management team and everybody's opinion is important. I might have the final say on picking the team, but the process was we'd probably had three or four conversations throughout the week and the teams changed three or four times and normally we only get it spot on 10 minutes before we put the team up on the board because we've had them conversations and like I said, I'm really self-aware and I listen to the rest of the team in terms of like if somebody else sees something in the management team I'm quite open to go yeah you know what I didn't see that and I like that we'll change that and this needs to happen this week. I think that takes a lot of time over the years and experience to get to that point. We don't know everything and we never will. We were always learning and I always say it when I'm on courses or delivering CPD events you learn far more from each other than you will from the person standing at the front of the room and that's really important.
[Jamie]
Overall then looking at everything we've discussed so far Can you kind of summarize the key top tips that you want coaches to take away from this episode and maybe any key top tips to answer those questions that you always asked about?
[Rosi]
Be brave, put yourself out there, challenge yourself and stretch yourself. Get to know your players as people, first and foremost. And also start to explore yourself and what your strengths are, what your development needs are and go seek those CPD opportunities. You know, like I said, we're really blessed with social media, but there's so much more out there than social media. And I think you gain so much more from going out there, watching live games, being in and around a live environment and seeing those things. Remember social media, we only ever really see the good bits or sometimes the bad bits, but they're always clipped and they're short little clips put together. But actually go out there and see the whole process from start to finish, believe in yourself and just be transparent.
[Jamie]
Brilliant.
[Louise]
And just to kind of round this bit off, do you have a coaching challenge you can set for listeners to kind of go away and have a go at something and maybe report back on the community and kind of chat about what's happened.
[Rosi]
I would say if you're a female coach wanting to get involved in the male game, go out there, watch your local team, see what you think, what you liked, what you didn't like, what made you really uncomfortable and might test your values a little bit. And genuinely out there for all coaches, stand back, watch your players, understand them as individuals and make them part of that review process. What do they really like? And if you're, if you're really self-aware, ask them what they like about your coaching and what they like about you, but be open to those answers.
[Louise]
Yeah, it'll be really interesting to hear what people's responses are in the community about that.
[Jamie]
Yeah. Brilliant. Well, we are coming up to the end of the show now, Rosi, but it does mean it is time for our Swift Session feature.
[Louise]
Yep. So we've got another 30 second challenge for you but this time we're going to ask you to explain a session idea in those 30 seconds. Are you up for this challenge?
[Rosi]
I am up for this.
[Louise]
Okay, so this one will set the timer up and again once the music begins you can start.
[Rosi]
Right, this is a transition game. The goals are back to back in the middle of the pitch. There's three teams, one team defending one of the goals against an attacking team. If the defending team win the ball, they try and run it out to the end zone. The attacking team will try and score. When the ball goes out of play, the team that attack in that goal then transfer over to the other pitch against the team that's attacking and it just goes back and forth and a transition depending on the age groups, depending how much rest you'll need in those games. Normally my men's team get to about two and a half minutes.
[Jamie]
Brilliant. In there, just in there then.
[Louise]
You were going fast and then you were like, I've got this. Yeah, exactly.
[Rosi]
And then I heard the whistle.
[Louise]
Great timing.
[Jamie]
No, that was a great session idea. Was there anything, I mean to be fair like you just said you was comfortable and got that in 30 seconds, but is there anything else that you want to elaborate on afterwards to help explain the session further?
[Rosi]
I would just say I think sometimes we always talk about that realism word. I'm one of these coaches as long as you can justify why you're doing a session. Because the first thing in that session people go, well the goal's back to back. You'd never get goals back to back. You wouldn't. But the transition you get out of it in terms of distances, pressing, attacking, defending, transition, you get a lot out of that session.
[Jamie]
Brilliant. Well, great idea. So definitely go and try that out and let us know how that session went for you. But thank you very much for your time today Rosi, it's been really great to get your insight and to hear your experiences. Hopefully you've enjoyed being on Coachcast for the first time.
[Rosi]
No, I've had a really good time, thanks guys.
[Jamie]
Brilliant, well thank you very much for sharing your story and your coaching advice, once again plenty for listeners to be able to take away. Right well that was another great chat, really insightful chat with Rosi there. What did you take away from our discussion Louise?
[Louise]
Like you say, really great discussion again. One of the things that I thought was quite good was being self-aware and thinking about what you can do yourself to kind of change situations or develop situations in the best way. So other people might have done or have some impact on that but actually what can you do to change that and being really self-aware about that?
[Jamie]
Yeah a really good point and something that stuck in my mind was Rosi saying be brave you know give coaching a go be brave and see it's either you might think it's not for you or you might absolutely love it and then you can start your journey and the
[Louise]
other one was helping yourself develop as a coach by you know so Rosi said if you're coaching an under-14s boys team for instance go and watch the under-14s girls team and vice versa just to learn as a coach see the similarity see the differences and whatnot and just enhance yourself as a coach. Yeah, just go out and get lots of live experiences.
[Jamie]
Exactly. Brilliant, brilliant point to take away. Right, well that is all we have time for today, but don't forget to check out the episode description for the transcription of this episode and for all the links to our platforms. There you'll be able to click through to the England Football Community and this is where you can post your coaching questions for us to discuss on the podcast or just simply to connect with loads of wonderful coaches.
[Louise]
Yes, we'd love to help you out with your coaching questions So please do check it out. We'll be back soon with another episode of Coachcast, so if you haven't already, hit subscribe to make sure you don't miss an episode. From all of us at England Football Learning, thanks for listening.