First Kent FA Coaches Club Coaches Conference a massive success
Coaches from across Kent came together for a wonderful evening to connect and network with others from across the county.
They gained insight, information, and inspiration from a special panellists of leading football experts from across the game!
On Thursday, 8th June, at Village Hotels Maidstone, we hosted the first ever Kent FA Coaches Club, Coaches Conference, to provide an opportunity for coaches across the county to connect, network and celebrate recognitions for coaches who have shown an ongoing commitment to their learning and development as a coach throughout the season.
The 56 event attendees were provided with a three-course meal to accompany the order of events. Kweku Afari, a professional sports broadcaster, started the event by hosting the first of two guest speaker panels. The first panel focused on the high-performance coaching environment with Mindset, Leadership and High-Performance expert Steve Sallis and The Professional Footballers Association Head of Player Welfare, Dr Michael Bennett. The specialists shared their experiences and insight into what a high-performance environment looks like, how you identify high performance, how high performance is developed and then maintained, how to ensure that players' welfare is met, as well as techniques on how this can be reviewed to ensure players are not being pushed too far physically and mentally.
After the attendees had enjoyed their mains, Kweku called onto the stage Gillingham FC legend and current Herne Bay FC manager Steve Lovell and the former West Ham FC, Chelsea FC and Millwall FC academy coach and present Rangers FC first team coach Harry Watling for insight and understanding into the coach and manager journey. Steve and Harry delved straight into the conversation by breaking down the difference between management and coaching, then continuing to provide insight into how they have had to adapt their coaching and playing styles to meet the needs of the players, how they have obtained learning as a coach and then provided coaches with their standout advice for those currently on their journey as a coach or manager.
The evenings' events were concluded by formally showing recognition to coach Barrie Pickett, who accredited the most CPD incidences throughout the 2022/23 season. Barrie has demonstrated a genuine passion for further enhancing his development as a coach through attending and achieving 24 separate incidences of CPD, making this the most across the county this season. Followed by recognition of Anchorians FC, a club who have had the most coaches engage within CPD incidences throughout the 2022/23 season, which has further enhanced the great coaching environment the club creates and provide within their large community of players. The club has had 31 of its coaches engage within CPD throughout the season, making them the most engaged club with CPD across the county this season.
Discount on Kent FA Coaches Club Membership
The Kent FA Coaches Club delivers high-quality Continuing Professional Development opportunities each season, developing coaches across Kent to be the best they can be. The Coaches Conference has been just one example of how members have been provided an opportunity for further development. This season, members have benefitted from the opportunity to attend over 30 events through a mixture of Face-To-Face and Online CPD and exclusive access to Q&As with specialists, discounts, offers, rewards and incentives.
The Kent FA Coaches Club runs on a season-long membership for just £20. However, currently, coaches can sign up for just £18 if they sign up before 1st July 2023.
To sign up for the 2023/24 membership, running from 1st July 2023 to 30th June 2024, click the button below, which will take you to the registration page. Please be aware that you can only take advantage of this early offer for just £18 until 1st July when this will go back up to £20.
For further details or to discuss the Kent FA Coaches Club or our Kent FA CPD Offer, please contact David Webb (Football Development Officer – Workforce) at David.Webb@KentFA.com
