Hello, I’m Harry Bland, this is my 1st season on The FA National Youth Council (FANYC) as The Community Engagement Lead for the South and East of England. Alongside this, I am also Chair at Norfolk FA Youth Council – I have been on the Youth Council for 3 Years, with this season being my first as chair. I am currently studying Sport and Exercise Science at Sheffield Hallam where I unfortunately don’t get to coach as much, but I’m still associated with Alive King’s Lynn Elite as a Support Coach and have previously coached age groups of U9s-U16s.
My coaching journey started at the young age of 14, going along and helping out at my local football holiday clubs – I had a buzz about helping and assisting other coaches only a few years older than me but found this more rewarding than taking part in the sessions. Whilst volunteering at these holiday clubs, I was also assisting coaches at Alive King’s Lynn Elite in Norfolk. This initially consisted of picking up cones and collecting balls (not the most exciting job ever, but once again this gave me a sense of belonging that I was really helping out).
As time passed whilst completing these tasks, I was given my first opportunity, to lead coach the Under 9’s ‘Elite and Development Squads’ alongside another coach at the scheme, who to this day is a massive role model of mine. Thinking and creating session plans, CPD events, discussions with other coaches were just a handful of tasks I took on – all for the main goal of putting a smile on these 18-20 young boys and girls.
Throughout this season, I learnt a lot. I was pleased to have the opportunity to try and make a positive change to these young children’s footballing game. Whether this was technical, social, or psychological I knew that these children were at an important age where what I said to them could be really influential in the rest of their football journey or even who they became as individuals . This was a lot of benefits; children smiling, giving high-fives, to seeing them about the town and having chats about how their grassroots game had gone at the weekend and knowing I had an impact on them. Whilst there were plenty of benefits, there were also a number of challenges – but what is self-learning and development if there are no challenges? Having difficult conversations with parents (whether this is due to behaviour or other instances) could be a challenge that you may face through your own coaching experiences, but embrace this with open arms as an opportunity to learn, or a chance to discuss situations with mentors to understand the best routes to take.
At the point I am currently at now in my coaching career, I am not actively coaching, but often going back to King’s Lynn where these now 11–12-year-olds still remember our year together at the young age of 9.
My number one bit of advice for any young person looking to get involved in coaching is throw yourself in and don’t look back. From when I was starting out, I had a quote of “You only get as much out of the role as you put in”, which I still believe stands to this day.
Go to your local club/scheme and ask how you can get involved, be aware that this may just be collecting cones and assisting in the sessions to start – but see this role as being a part of a club/scheme and starting your learning journey in coaching. When you are running your own sessions in the future, you will be grateful for this time getting to constantly learn from others. My Final Question would be What is stopping you from going to a local club/scheme and volunteering in a sport you love?
