Becoming a certified and recognized football coach is no day’s job. It requires dedicated time, Patience, passion for the game, passion to grow others, grit, and an overall high Self-Intelligent Quotient (IQ) so as to handle good and bad times in career practice.
Coaching is more than just a profession; it’s a leadership position that involves mentoring, motivating, teaching, training, helping, listening, advising, and provoking the best in every player.
Having the gift only, is not enough to move straight up into practice. This will only serve as maybe a gift; probably the foundational tool. It’s expedient of whosoever is pursuing this path to build up. Building up simply means going for extra training, securing a place for internship or starting small to gather field experiences, and obtaining the most sought after license and certifications that will sharpen the chances of being employed for the big career roles.
When I say football coaching, I’m not focusing on one person alone (the Team’s manager); there are also positions like fitness coaches (who help with physical and optimal performance), Nutrition and wellness coaches, and assistant coaches.
Advancing Towards Becoming A Coach
There are necessary steps to advance toward a coaching career path in football. Although the criteria for every country or continent worldwide may differ due to the structure and curriculum, this is because of various analyses on the human assimilation capacity and how long and how well a standard body feels one will become good at coaching.
Below are steps to take when aspiring to be an exceptional football coach:
Educational Background: In as much as the passion is there, becoming a football coach requires one to have at least some level of educational background. This is because literacy is fully required to be able to think, communicate (oral and written), dish out instructions, explain technical terms explicitly, and network with other coaches around the world. Relevant courses include B.A (Physical Education), BSc/MSc (Exercise Science), BSc/MSc (Sports Management), BSc/MSc (Kinesiology), MSc (Sports Administration), MSc (Sports Coaching), etc.
Taking Online Courses: Another way to advance into a football coaching career is by taking free or paid online courses. Example of online platforms and courses that one can take include:
Coursers: “Sports Management Fundamentals by Universidade Estadual de Campinas”
Udemy Academy: “Football Coaching 101: Improve Your Game as a Coach”
Alison: “Diploma in Sports Coaching”
OpenLearn (Open University): “Introduction to Football Coaching and Management”
Personal Sacrifices: One must be able to sacrifice other things that may cause distractions from the onset of a journey in sports coaching. Learning new things make someone become better at what they do; and extra time is surely needed to go far beyond the surface to discover new and better ways of doing things. Remember, having only skills is not enough, but adding new skill streamlines the career path.
Licence and Certifications: Posessing relevant lincences and certifications is surf inevitable in a coaching career. There are numerous Licences and certifications that will make you stand out and be employable by sports managements. Some of these licences or certifications include:
International Soccer Science and Performance Federation: Endorsed by elite club worldwide, (ISSPF) offers courses that focuses on soccer science, performance, and coaching.
Warubi Sports Coaching License: It offers license courses in Germany (DFB-UEFA B & C), for non-German coaches.
Professional Football Association (PFA): The PFA offers unique courses for active and retired footballers, and help them gain UEFA coaching badges.
Other national football associations that offer relevant certifications are CAF Licence, CONMEBOL Pro License, etc.
Becoming a Football Coach requires more than skills, as seen. It requires rigorous training and sacrifices, processes that are tailored to break and make. To have a world stage in football coaching, one must be well trained, embrace every possible opportunity to learn, improve on gifts, and be humble.
