The FA Youth Retention Hub
The FA’s Youth Retention Hub programme is aimed at coaches with male teams aged 12-18, looking to improve engagement and retention of players through different projects.
Our plan is to design and deliver a six-session, online professional development programme for coaches specifically aimed at developing their interpersonal skills.
Each session will build upon the next by first introducing what interpersonal skills are, and why they are important, before moving on to discuss strategies and approaches can take to develop their interpersonal skills.
However, our experiences as experienced coach developers have taught us that simply delivering content will not have the desired effect of supporting improvements to practice. Instead, what is required is a carefully thought through approach to how the professional development is designed, something rarely considered in CPD for coaches (Allan et al, 2018).
Therefore, this programme will be underpinned by the principles of action research, which is a method commonly used in teacher education to support teachers in understanding and changing aspects of their practice.
The main premises of action research are that the learning programme is shaped around the coaches’ learning and wants and needs, as opposed to imposing some generic ideas on coaches. Furthermore, coaches are engaged in an iterative process of reflection and practice, meaning they are supported in applying their learning.
Delivery will start on 8th March through until the end of the season. This will be free to access for those coaches on the programme, so no cost to the clubs
This is a fantastic opportunity for coaches within your club to access additional exclusive CPD.
Please note that we have limited places available on this programme.