Chris Berry’s growth as a coach at New Milton Town Ladies has on occasion come through dealing with chaos, as evidenced in a Dorset derby.
SK: Tell us a little of your footballing history and any personal high points?
CB: I have been with New Milton Town Ladies for nearly four years now after volunteering to help with the U-10s. In this time I have had the pleasure of coaching across all the age-groups in the club and most recently the seniors team who play in the Southern Region Women’s Football League Division One.
I have been really fortunate to have worked with the team in order to achieve my UEFA B this season and also to have been enrolled as a FA Women’s High Performance Football Centre ACC and RTC Regional Mentee with Dorset FA. To have had the support from the club and local FA, I have really had a great opportunity to develop as a coach.
SK: How had your team’s season been going before lockdown?
CB: The team have been working their socks off and were gathering momentum in the on-the-pitch performances. There have been weeks where we had the bare eleven players and a bench full of leg braces! At New Milton we have a great pathway from U-10s through to seniors (with a Wildcats starting soon). The U-16s last year went a whole season undefeated, scoring 187 goals and over the season, players have started to become eligible for the senior team. It has been fantastic to watch the team bond over time.
Before the actual lockdown we had a spate of ‘dry all week, pour down weekend’ fixture cancellations. We are fortunate enough to have a great pitch and stadium (which we share with New Milton men’s team) but when it rains on a Friday night, it rains hard.
SK: Who did you do against any local rivals in 2019-20?
CB: We’re all friends in the Southern Region Women’s League, so do not have rivals as such … perhaps neighbours!! For me personally. I felt the pressure when we played neighbours AFC Bournemouth CST Development in December, as this was also the game I had an in situ for my UEFA B. The element I need to evidence was around application and chaos and boy did chaos occur!
Started off with the twelve players against a strong opposition and held our own for a while defensively. Then the injuries struck, the last being a horrific ACL injury just after the second half got underway. With 40 minutes left to play, the team were down to nine players. We cover underloads and overloads in training but never covered a 1-4-3-1 formation until then! The resilience shown that day by the team was immense, losing the second half 1-0. The felling at the end was a ‘we lost but felt like we won’ type feeling. There was certainly enough ‘chaos’ to write about for my project!
SK: Any rising star, club veteran or stand-out personality we should know about?
CB: I could not name just one! New Milton Town Ladies have strong representation in the Dorset FA-run Advanced Coaching Centre across the age groups, whose coaches I have had the pleasure of working alongside as part of the WHPFC [FA Women’s High Performance Football Centre]. For a grassroots club, it’s great to see our players representing the County, with some being spotted and moving onto neighbouring clubs like Southampton RTC and Reading as part of their ongoing development. It is always sad to see a player leave, but also to have pride in that you have helped them develop in someway to perhaps be a future professional player.
SK: How are you trying to keep fit and fill the void in football?
CB: Perhaps fitness for football not a key priority for me as a coach, that said, I am a keyworker and need to stay fit for my own wellbeing at this time. For me, to fill the void of football, I have been keeping my mind fit and linking into as many webinars as time allows.
Only recently I logged into Zoom (look at me trying to be all down with technology) and watched a day’s webinar titled #shewins focused around women’s football. The day stated off with a live Behind the Scenes Q&A with England boss Phil Neville, before a multitude of guest speakers covering subjects from reducing the risk of a second ACL injury (much needed advice) to what it is like for a female working in the men’s game (Dr Laura Bowen, 1st team Sports Scientist for Southampton FC).
I’ll finish with a quote from Dr Bowen: ‘Nothing grows inside a comfort zone’. With that in mind, I am going to sign off now and start drawing up some new session plans for the team to pick up on the momentum we had before lockdown. Until then, stay indoors and stay safe.
#FAWSL: Season could be settled in six-week period at central venue
