20 Jul 2010

Whats involved in doing your FA Level 2 Coaching Certificate

At Grassrootscoaching.com we get a lot of enquiries about football coach education courses. In 2006 the Football Association designed a new curriculum for the Football Association Level 2 course. We are very proud that we were asked by the FA Learning Department to provide an animated resource for all the FA Level 2 Tutors to assist them with delivering this new course. This resource can be accessed by members of legacy.grassrootscoaching.com along with more detailed information about the course.

We thought it would be useful to outline what the course is about, details below and where you go to find out how you can get on an FA Level 2 course and become qualified.

The county football associations are in charge of organising and running the courses. Details of all county Football Associations cane be accessed via this link http://www.thefa.com/GetIntoFootball/CountyFA/CountyContacts We would suggest you contact your local County Football Association for more details.

At the bottom of this blog you will find a session on improving Close Range Finishing, which we hope gives you an insight into the Technical Requirements of Coaching a Technical Session on a Football Association Level 2 course

Course Information:

Minimum Age: 16
Course Duration: 75 hours
Course Prerequisites: N/A
Course aims and objectives: This nationally recognised qualification will provide candidates who have an ongoing involvement in football, with the opportunity to gain knowledge of how to effectively plan, deliver and evaluate coaching sessions.

Theory: The course will introduce a number of key aspects related to the role of a football coach in working with youth players. These are delivered via home based study tasks and Tutor delivered workshops.

The roles, skills and qualities of a football coach
Developing session plans and associated information for planning
Awareness of safe and organised activities
Preparation for potential accidents, illnesses and emergencies
A consideration of coaching styles
Coaching session evaluation and self-reflection
Nutritional needs of football players
Fitness components related to football
The planning of progressive coaching sessions.

Practical Coaching: The practical elements of the course will provide the following:

The principles of attacking to include creating and exploiting space
Passing
Support Play
Ball Control
Dribbling
Running with the ball
Turning
Goalkeeping
Finishing
Heading
The principles of defending to include denying and restricting space
Defensive play when organised and outnumbered

In addition candidates will have the opportunity to undertake two observed practical coaching sessions with their Tutor and receive feedback based on selected criteria. This will form the basis of an opportunity to deliver 12 hours of coaching in the candidate’s work place to apply the experience gained from the course of training.

Practical Involvement: Candidates will be encouraged to participate practically to maximise their opportunities for learning (This however will not prevent successful completion of the award).

Assessment: Assessment is via successful completion of:

1. All pre-requisites (First Aid/Safeguarding Children/FAL Laws of the Game Online module)
2. All candidate portfolio tasks completed
3. Practical delivery of a 35 minute practical coaching activity that will be progressed on a specific theme relating to the course syllabus

Re-assessment: Candidates can be reassessed within a 24 month period from registration

Refresher: Every 3 years as specified in The FAL Level 2 CPD and Refresher Policy

Suggested additional learning opportunities: