Here in Australia you usually have to apply to the team directly. I've noticed many schools advertising for coaches, and a few local clubs also have positions available. I think your local footbal association may also be of assistance.
As for a democratic approach, I don't think one would be appropriate for football. I've been coached in other sports where the relationship was different; either the coach was there to serve the athlete, or there was some level of democracy. That may work for coaching individuals or small groups, but I think for football it is best the coach remains boss.
Anyway back to my answer about coaching philosophy. As I said, it is a coached role to prepare his team technically, physically, psychologically, and tactically. A coach must be organised and everything he does with his team must have a purpose.
The Technical Element
I strongly believe that good football has much to do with doing the simple things supremely well. Watch any professional game and you'll notice a player's involvement almost entirely involves the basics. Technical training must therefore be centred around training players to be able to comfortably and confidently perform these simple tasks when under pressure.
The push pass, for example, is one of the most basic and most used skills in football. At the most basic level you can teach this skill by having two players pass the ball to each other. You can then progess by adding defenders who are able to mark and cover but unable to tackle, defenders who are able to mark or tackle in a 4v2, then 4v3, 4v4, etc. You may then progress by tightening the defense and increasing the pressure by reducing the size of the playing area.
One of the keys here is progression. When the players become competent and comfortable it is time to challenge them by making things more difficult. Ultimately you will want your players to be comfortable in any situation they find themselves in during a match.
The Physical Element
Football is a physical sport and players must be prepared for the physical demands of a match. Players must be fit and have good leg speed. Most of my warm ups at training involve exercises utilising speed ladders and agility poles. Fitness is essential and must never be overlooked. I've witnessed many comeback victories that have resulted from superior fitness.
The Psychological Element
Good psychology is essential for the success of any athlete. Players must not mentally take themselves out of the game but should instead stay focused and on task at all times. One of the most common psychological lapses I witness is players standing around after losing the ball lamenting their mistake rather than immediately getting to work on winning it back. Any coach must put an end to players taking themselves out of the game in such a way, and must not allow any negativity in thought or action. Be positive whenever you can and you'll find players will usually respond positively.
The Tactical Element
The coach of a team must have a tactical style of play in mind, and must train his team accordingly. Coaches must be flexible and able to adapt to best utilise the players that are available. Tactics should be the main emphasis of training, and much work should be put into developing team play. Players must understand and be able to respond to the coaches instructions.
The team must go to a match with a tactical awareness of how to play, but they must also be able to adapt to suit the conditions and their opposition.
On a windy day, for example, would long balls and crosses be less or more effective?In wet conditions do you play more long shots and follow up on them, hoping their keeper misses clean catches? On a heavy ground do you minimise your running early in the match to run down your opponents later on? A coach should always look at the conditions and question his tactics.
When playing to an opposition a coach should look for strengths and weaknesses in the opponent and adapt to suit. Their defense may play flat and spread out, or tight in the middle. They may have a sweeper playing deep, or shallow. They may be fast, or slow, or tall, or short. Look for their weaknesses and try to exploit them. If they play tight in the middle, for example, it may be better to play wide to either spread them open, or get crosses in. If their defence has more of a physical presence crosses may not work so you may need to look to play along the ground or cut back for longer range shots.
Adapt your defence to suit their attack. How many do they play up front? How do they like to attack? Do they have any particularly fast or skillful players and if so, how would you minimise their threat? Are there any obvious mismatches?
A good coach must be able to analyse the two teams and make changes accordingly.
So there it is, the basics of my football coaching philosophy. Any thoughts?
