“I’m Rachael aged 18 currently studying A levels at college in Northampton, U.K. I currently coach/manage Well and Valley under 10 girls and under 12s Northamptonshire FA ACC (advanced coaching centre) which feeds into the England set up.
I first got involved in coaching at 13 by coaching in primary schools. I went on to coach in secondary schools and deliver sessions in formal PE lessons. My coaching really took of when I got involved with my county FA Football Futures Programme and since then I have completed my Level 2 and Youth module 2. Currently I sit on my County FA management team which oversees the Football Futures Programme in Northampton.
This year I was nominated by my County to attend the National Football Futures Camp for top young coaches, referees and youth council members.”
Growing up, I played a variety of levels of football ranging from grassroots for local teams, I played at regional level and I’m proud to say I also played for football development centres around the UK. Whilst I really enjoyed playing, I had a number of really bad coaches that left a lasting imprint on my future within sport.
Many of the coaches (not all), were not very good in my eyes; they would shout and stand on the sidelines being very aggressive and were always negative. They never seemed to focus on positives and seemed to always shout at me if I made mistake – they never gave me the belief that I could go on to achieve what I wanted.
So when I started coaching, I made sure to rectify all the mistakes they made by being the best coach I could be to my players. I wanted the children I coached to know I cared and I wanted them to feel appreciated and most of all, enjoy football. This is my motivation and philosophy when coaching and I always practice the following; help players achieve their best and to improve, let them play in an environment where they can make mistakes and learn from those mistakes without being shouted at.
I want to get better as a coach so my players can get better. I want to help them continue to develop and allow them to believe that if they want to be the next Kelly Smith, they can be! Because of this, I challenge myself to go outside my comfort zone by coaching different ages and abilities and develop my ambition to work in an elite coaching set up. This is what keeps you going for that 7am start on a Saturday morning, when you are the only one there setting everything up in the middle of winter!
