Westside junior coaches have attended a number of FFA Grassroots Coaching Courses that have been held by the club Director of Coaching, Barry McErlean. The course consists of discussion based theory and practical sessions on the pitch.  Participants ranged from experienced coaches right through to first time coaches.  It was a great opportunity to share information and for our Westside coaches to come together and get to know each other.  Each participant received a coaching handbook to assist them when planning future training sessions. Everyone engaged and actively participated in discussion as well as the practical activities on the pitch.  The course is the first step in our aim to create consistency in coaching methods and communication between coaches. All participants receive the Grassroots Coaching Certificate which is the first step in obtaining formal coaching qualifications.

Coaches are asked to plan their sessions by preparing a basic session plan.  The session should include fun games as a warm-up, stretching and ball mastery (ie juggling).  The next part of the session should involve game based exercises that provide related technique and skills practice.  Small sided games where players learn decision making skills in real game scenarios should form an important part of any session.  The Director of Coaching can assist coaches with ideas as to how to structure session plans.  Please do not rely on repetative and boring drills where players are required to line up while waiting for their turn.  Each player should have a ball at their feet at all times and all activities should maximise their touches on the ball.  Training should be enjoyable, therefor the emphasis should be on small sided games.

SSG rules can be found on the FFA website.  Minimum substitutes are used so that each child has plenty of game time and touches on the ball.  There are more opportunities for each player to score.  Coaches are not to coach their players to stand in front of the goal as this goes against the spirit of the SSG format.  Under 6, 7 and 8 years age groups will play on field 1.  Games usually start at 9.00am and are played simultaneously.  These age groups play in a local hub competition with Mitchelton Football Club so some games will be played 'away'.