Macarthur Football Association side Tahmoor Soccer Club have long had a reputation as a club that develops great footballers and provides a great culture for all participants.
Tahmoor SC’s Club Coaching Coordinator (CCC) Alex Sargent along with Club President Paul Stanton have both worked hard in creating a positive culture for the various coaches at the club, specifically new ones in the MiniRoos ages.
With over 20 years of coaching experience, Alex Sargent is the embodiment of the CCC program at Tahmoor Soccer Club and has been providing relevant and valued coach support in the club environment for more than 12 years in the role of Club Coach Coordinator.
“When asked by the club at the inception of the CCC program roll out, I had no hesitation in accepting the role of CCC for Tahmoor. I viewed the CCC role as an opportunity to focus on our coaches and players, especially within the MiniRoos and junior teams.
“The CCC role allows me the opportunity to influence and hopefully unlock the potential of our coaches and players to develop them as individuals and as teams to experience the joy that our beautiful game brings.”
Possibly the biggest success of the CCC program at Tahmoor can be seen in the positive culture that has been created for new and inexperienced coaches of MiniRoos teams.
Both Sargent and Stanton ensure that the club is welcoming by:
- acknowledging the coaches’ commitment at the start of the season,
- supporting them through training together at the start of the season,
- hosting a MiniRoos Certificate delivered by Alex,
- supporting the coaches throughout the season and,
- acknowledging the coaches’ contribution at the end of the season.
“A very satisfying experience for me was our introduction of conducting U6 joint training sessions for the first 3-4 weeks of the pre-season. These sessions with new coaches, players and parents allowed the adults to destress at the thought of what to do etc. and equally important, the players had lots of fun together,” said Sargent.
“With this positive experience in the early weeks of the season the new coaches were keen to join the MiniRoos Certificate, previously the Grassroots Certificate, that is also conducted at TSC by myself. This is the highlight of the season for me where new coaches are at first so tense, but a few hours later are more confident about coaching in their first season.”
These sorts of initiatives ultimately have created a culture where coaches actually want to stay coaching for longer because they enjoy their time. As a result, coach retention rates have maintained quite high at Tahmoor Soccer Club over the past years.
Club President, Paul Stanton believes that having a CCC that can deliver the MiniRoos Certificate in-house for the club is especially valuable and beneficial.
“During the season, Alex will arrive 1 hour before coaching his own U15s team and offer his support to other coaches, which makes checking in with coaches after they’ve completed their coaching qualification that much easier.”
Stanton has also made it a priority to ensure the coaches feel valued and that their contribution is acknowledged at the end of the season. Over the years has club has provided coaches with a gift of appreciation, ranging from key rings to mugs as a small token of appreciation.
Even with all of these successful initiatives, Tahmoor SC are not resting on their laurels and already thinking of new initiatives to implement to continue building a positive culture at the club. Stanton is looking at the possibility of providing coaches with a club polo in the future and Sargent is looking at building a club library of resources for coaches to have handy throughout the season.
Macarthur Football Association were appreciative of the efforts the team at Tahmoor Soccer Club have done in continuing its investment and support into coach development at a local club level.
“In the CCC role some feedback sticks with you more than others. The most memorable feedback I have received was a simple thumbs up from a new coach a few weeks after starting their coaching experience and completing the MiniRoos Certificate,” concluded Sargent.
For more information on the CCC program or for support with coach development strategies in the Macarthur Football Association, contact Kevin, the Community Football Manager at kevin@macarthurfootball.com.au
