hi,

i was just wondering what hours/days do full time coaches work in an academy. i think it varies from age group to age group but any info is appreciated.

tom

Hi frammo.

It can vary from club to club but in general the coaching is spread over Monday to Friday Evenings with a game on a saturday. Each age group usually trains on 2 evenings a week varying from 1 1/2 to 2 hours an evening. Academy coaches are normally assigned 1 age group. If you were 1 of these then your coaching time with the academy would be around the 4 hour mark for your evening committments and about half a day for your saturday.

thank for reply. u work at reading don't u? are they the hours u work?

Hi frammo. No i dont work at reading. Please check out my post in newcomers and you will see my background info. Basically i run a sports coaching business in Hull and do know that the scenario i gave you for the academy system is basically how it works at Hull City. Also i have a friend whose son attended the Leeds Academy and thats more or less how the system worked there too.

but it thort coachin at an academy is full time. a couple of evenings and half a saturday doesn't sound very full time.

Hello again frammo99. No it isnt im afraid. You are very much mistaken. Look at it like this - These players (acadamy) are still at school so would only finish at 3 - 4 o'clock. Allow time to get home then to get to training and your talking round about 6 o'clock. What are the coaches doing when there are no players to coach. There are some posts doing the rounds that make the picture with regards to football coaching a little clearer. 1 aspect of these comments is that coaching is very much a part - time job upto and including the semi professional game.

can you give me some guidelines into what an academy coach would earn plz. (hope im not being too personal)

Basically the payment is rather standard for coaching full stop be it football or otherwise. Dont expect more than £10 per hour for your troubles. Different areas may pay slightly higher to cover cost of living differences.

Look at it this way frammo. Football is very much a part time job except that at the top level you earn fantastic money for it. Obviously running, managing and the administration of a club are very full time but with regards to junior level coaches part time is all you will get my friend unless you are the main man in charge of youth football and the academies. The football in the community workers can sometimes be there on a full time basis as they spend a lot of time in schools and generally out and about organising things. However, the money is far from great and in most cases wouldnt see you earn much more than minimum wage - It most definitely wouldnt be £10 per hour on full time hours.

then wot do coaches at academys do for another job? a full time job? what do u do?

They just do regular jobs. I can only speak for the ones i know. some are inolved with the council and sports development, others are part of the football in the community set up, some work in sports centres or health clubs. Most are involved in sport but not all. 1 or 2 have had jobs that are totally unrelated to sport but obviously they have a passion for it.

I have a small sports coaching business.

Frammo go to newcomers and check my posts in there and you will see my background details.

well i also have an ambition to become a physio for a football team as i enjoy doing things like anatomy n stuff at school so if i can get to do bit of coaching at academy, n a full time job of physio at nhs after a few years i cud get a job at the academy as a physio

Heres some good news for you. A friend of mine started off doing the football in the community course. Did some part time coaching when he finished (as did we all). Then he did a college course, then a uni course and whilst doing it became the physio for 1 of the Hull City junior teams. He is now 1 of the Physios for Scunthorpe United. It was a long road but he managed it.

wow. i looked at community coaching jobs n the wages offered are around 19-24k pa. i think thats ok isn't it?

Ofcourse that sort of money is good! Im also sure that the level of experience in a similar environment required is also going to be high. There are plenty of jobs within sports development kicking around and these tend to create opportunities to progress, however not necessarilly in the hands on coaching capacity. There are other opportunities arising because of the drive towards the 2012 olympics. Now would be a good time to get on the ladder.

Frammo, firstly, good luck.

Secondly, maybe try and be aware that it's going to be tough to "do a bit of coaching at academy" - it's not just a matter of offering yourself and getting the work like that. Firstly, you do (in most cases) need to be a UEFA B/Level 3, which is a)hard to pass and b) takes time. Please don't think I'm being negative as it is certainly not out of the question, just tough.

Another thing to remember is you won't just get offered Academy coaching just because you have the Level 3. You need to have experience, a strong footballing background, probably have contacts within the club and show them, of course, that you are a very capable coach.

Like I said please don't think I'm being negative but that's how it is, tough and hard, and can take time. But be committed and work your nads off and you could well get there. Best of luck.

Forgive me if this is a stupid question but how would you advise someone starting in the coaching ladder to go about getting experience, a strong football background, contacts within clubs and showing that I'm a very capable coach?

A few examples and explanations will do.

Thanks in advance.

May i just clarify a few points. People seem to think that coaching at academies is the be all and end all, the holy grail. Well reality check, it most definitely isnt. Its very much a part time job that takes up the odd evening and the money isnt that great. However, if you have a few hours to spare and just enjoy coaching then its not a bad way to go.

Be aware that it doesnt generally lead anywhere and dont be confused between centre of excellence and acadamy. Most clubs have centre of excellences but far fewer have acadamies. They (acadamies) are better equipped, usually have indoor facilities and cost in excess of a £million and thats at the lower end of the scale.

They tend to be staffed by the more experienced coaches (this by no way means that junior coaches cant be involved) who are coming from a playing background. Im sure that if you look closely at acadamies certainly at the the bigger clubs, they are staffed by young players who maybe didnt quite make the grade as footballers but have embarked on the coaching path, ex pros who are involved in youth development at the club and so on and so forth.

Football, despite its appearance as a sport for the man in the street, is just as guilty as other sports for creating jobs for the boys be that on the playing staff or the coaching staff. However, that doesnt mean you cant succeed. There are several avenues that you could take to enter this world, but you dont necessarilly have to be in the circle to make a living from it. If you pardon the pun - think outside the box as it really isnt the be all and end all.

hey strass one last thing, u no being a physio for a pro club, it doesn't require an ex pro status as much as a coaching position, does it? i also presume that there is no requirement for technical ability, cos i have little lol.

I like your humour. No it most certainly does not revolve around your ability to play, then again neither does being a good football coach. The links with regards to being an ex pro and a physio are not so apparent, but im sure there are 1 or 2. Points to note: vacancies for physios are obviously much less than for coaches. The value of good physios cannot be overstated and as such opportunities of good employment exist far beyond the the reaches of football and sport in general. Just look at the vast number of people who require the services of a physio that have no connection to sport whatsover.

I suggest you really sit down and think what it is you most really want to do and then set about that task. Im sure there are a number of paths you could take to achieve your targets if you apply yourself correctly. Remember anything worth having is worth working hard for. Good luck!

thanks very much stras for all your help over the past few days, good luck too.

Glad to be of service pal. Only hope you found the information fair and usefull.

Strass...you said that you run a small coaching company, how did you go about starting it up? Also, how many hours do you actually work? Do you coach yourself, or do you just employ coaches to go around schools?

Hi i posted some info in football coaching - football coaching business. There are some important points for you to take note of in there. The story of how i began is quite interesting but lengthy to post so i wont do it here. However, i posted in newcomers a little bit of background info that should also give you an insight into how things work for me.

To try and answer some of your questions:
My physical coaching time is about 20 hours a week. Then add in the time spent travelling from job to job, add in the paperwork and administration and you have your working week. If you want to make true profit then you have to do some coaching yourself its that simple. There is work that i could do but i pay other people to do because i make enough to not have to do it. eg i could get £50 for 2 hours work but instead i pay somebody £20 to do it and i make £30 for not working. Thats how you grow.

Your probably wanting to know how much i earn. Not wanting to be too specific, I earn considerably more than the national average and thats after paying part-time coaches about £1000 a month between them obviously some coaches do more work than others. ie. 1 of them does 10 hours a week and gets £100 another only does 2 hours so he gets £20 etc.

Unless you were to work in the same place 9 - 5 everyday, it would be nearly impossible to actually coach for 40 hours a week so the simple equation is try to earn as much as you can for the time you actually do spend working.

I am thinking seriously about Franchising my business. If you think you might be interested then please drop me a line. regards strass