At the start of this month, we delivered an end-of-season celebratory event at Surrey Sports Park, to our Female Coach Mentees. 

The group of female coaches have been receiving local mentoring support as part of our programme, which offers bespoke support to female coaches across Surrey who are qualified at Introduction to Coaching Football (or FA Level 1) or above. On the day, we were joined by 13 of our 21-strong cohort, for a combined event to celebrate and congratulate their success this past season. 

The day started with an energiser ran by one of our mentees and Youth Forum member, Megan, which required communication and teamwork before we delivered a CPD-style coach development workshop. The event was co-delivered by Surrey FA staff alongside Sharon Muxworthy, Kevin Finnerty and Abdoullah Kheir from the FA, and offered us the chance to recognise the groups’ achievements whilst using their insights to shape next season’s offering. 

Participants then headed out on the pitch, as they took part in a practical session to understand techniques. The session allowed coaches to bridge the gap between coaching and playing and was a good opportunity to align with FA core course delivery, such as UEFA C & B courses. This season we were proud that four mentees successfully achieved their UEFA C license, after securing fully funded spaces. 

At the end of the session, we presented each mentee with a thank-you gift, the High Performance: Lessons from the Best on Becoming Your Best book, which we hope will provide them with inspiration. The book focuses on how to create an atmosphere in which everyone feels safe, as it uncovers the essential habits of high performance, that coaches can utilise to help players perform at their best. 

Our Football Development Workforce Officer, Helen Ogle, co-delivered the event and had the following to say: 

“It was great to have the mentees join us, taking part in everything we had planned with such enthusiasm and an opportunity to reflect on what has been a fantastic season. I want to say a massive thank you to all the mentees for their continued support of players and co-coaches, it really is a pleasure to work with them all.” 

If you want to learn more about mentoring, and how you can get involved, please follow the link below. 

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