Players coached by Young Leader Hannah Humphries are benefitting from the knowledge she brought back from the Football Futures National Leadership Academy over the summer, where she joined 60 peers from across the country to receive dedicated tutoring on specific areas of the game.
Essex’s Girls Player Development Centre and County Representative Team Coach was at St George’s Park in Burton-on-Trent in July. She was joined by Essex County FA Children & Young People Football Development Officer, Luke Hornsley, and fellow Youth Council volunteer Rhys Elmer for a week-long event where youngsters could share ideas, network and learn from some of England’s most experienced coaches.
Now the Dagenham & Redbridge Coach says she’s already implementing some of the tactical and psychological ideas she brought back in her youth coaching sessions. “I thoroughly enjoyed the experience from start to finish and learnt a lot,” Hannah explained. “All the workshops were delivered incredibly well by people who had clearly invested a large amount of their time in ensuring our understanding was as good as it could possibly be.”
The event began with an inspirational introduction from Baroness Sue Campbell, who explained how vital their roles are to develop community football. Hannah said: “That was amazing to hear, as it felt like our efforts were being recognised on a much higher scale than previously possible. It set the pace for the first day and gave me a high level of motivation to go out and make the most of the week, and try to take in as much information as possible!”
Over the course of the week there were then a variety of workshops aimed at preparing the attendees for the season ahead. The first was based around the FA Mentoring Programme. Hannah relayed that the session was geared towards looking at how volunteers communicate in order to help each other’s development: “We were asked “are we listening to understand, or are we listening to reply?”
“Precision of communication is even more important now in our era of ‘hair trigger balances’, when a false or misunderstood word could create as much disaster as a sudden thoughtless act! The mentoring workshop gave me a real insight into how important the way in which we interact with people is,” she continued.
Students were then introduced to ‘Personal Leadership Philosophies’ and were encouraged to create their own which would guide them through their development. Philosophy was described as an “internal compass’, something which guides individuals even when alone. Hannah said: “This was my favourite workshop. Shortly after the Academy I created my own philosophy in the form of a video, which I hope will evolve over the course of the season!”
“I’d like to thank the Youth Council for giving me the opportunity to attend. The National Game Youth Council worked extremely hard from greeting us on the day to seeing us out at the end of the week. The energizers and evening activities were always run with enthusiasm and energy and ensured everyone was always involved. I got to know more Youth Council members and make contact with people who can hopefully support my further development.”
If you’d like to know more about the Football Futures Programme or young leadership opportunities within grassroots Essex football, visit www.essexfa.com. Information is also shared on Twitter @EssexCountyFA and by searching for ‘EssexFootball’ on Facebook.
Photo: Luke Hornsley, Hannah Humphries and Rhys Elmer (courtesy of Essex FA)
