Argyle Players Take Part in Academy Coaching Sessions

Young members of the Argyle Academy have taken part in training sessions with some familiar guest coaches.

First-team players James Bolton, Jordan Houghton, Dan Scarr, Conor Grant, Adam Randell and Brendan Galloway, as well as strength and conditioning coach Elliot Turner, are all in the process of completing their UEFA B licence in coaching, and part of their syllabus includes practical coaching sessions.

Over two nights, one in December and one in January, they headed to Ivybridge Community College to take sessions firstly with Argyle’s under-11 to under-13 players, then latterly with the under-15s and under-16s.

The budding coaches led sessions on general skills and techniques, as well as player positioning, with the assessment looking at how sessions were planned and undertaken.

“I enjoyed it,” said midfielder Conor Grant. “You see another side of football; the detail that goes into the planning and preparation of a training session. The more coaching we do, the more we get an insight how coaches have to think, and it can only help us to learn more about the game, which has obvious benefits now and in the future.

“I was a little bit nervous. I wanted to make sure that the players enjoyed themselves, which I think they did.

“If I stay in football and go into coaching when I finish, if I can get the qualifications then it gives me an option at the end of my career. It is definitely something I’ll be thinking about closer to the time. It’s better to have the qualifications now, and not be scrambling and rushing when the times comes.

“We’ve been fortunate to be able to use the Argyle Academy as we complete our badges. A big thank you to Phil Stokes, Darren Way and everyone in the Academy for their assistance and allowing them to use their valuable time to help us on our way to passing. Hopefully we have helped them too with some good sessions.”

Argyle Director of Football Neil Dewsnip attended the sessions and was not only pleased by the players’ decisions to safeguard their future and improve themselves, but also by the coaching acumen they showed.

He said: “Historically, this is something that players have left to the end of their career and then they think: ‘if only had done this five years earlier.’

“This has all been driven by themselves, and supported by the PFA. I watched the sessions, and some of them were fantastic. They will make very good coaches one day. You can see the influence of our senior staff such as Kevin Nancekivell, Mark Hughes and Steven Schumacher.

“It's wonderful for our Academy players to be in the presence of the first-team players. There is a little bit of a wow factor, no doubt about that. We hope that our players who were doing are doing coaching awards enjoyed that experience and will want to do it more.”