Photo Credit: OFC Media via NZF Media
Southern United Women’s Assistant/Goalkeeping Coach Tom Stevens is the first OFC/NZF GK B licence qualified coach after successfully completing his final assessment.
The inaugural Goalkeeping B Licence was delivered in two parts which were run in April and October in Auckland. The final assessment for coaches, was to head away and perform a match analysis, come up with a session objective, deliver a high-level training session incorporating goalkeepers and outfielders, then reflect on that session.
“It was great to see that follow through from the hard work that went into the course from Part A, the distance learning tasks and Part B and see it come to fruition,” Stevens said.
“Seeing the feedback from the goalkeepers that we’re working with, seeing the benefit of what we’ve learnt on the course, that’s quite a rewarding part as well.”
For his final assessment, Stevens analysed a game against Western Springs over the weekend, from which he designed a session that worked on a key theme from the match, before delivering the session during the week and then evaluating what he’d done.
OFC Education Consultant, Chris Marsh, was impressed with the dedication and commitment Stevens showed to completing the final assessment.
“Tom’s been very organised, he was the first person to complete all his distance learning tasks in between part one and part two. So, it’s no surprise that he’s achieved his final assessment first.” Reflected OFC Education Consultant Chris Marsh.
“He worked with his outfielders really well, creating a match realistic environment that allowed him to coach his goalkeepers on the session objective. Then, he showed a coaching process many times in a thorough way. He showed that he could coach the goalkeepers using that coaching process. It’s exactly what we’ve been asking the coaches to do.” Marsh added.
The Goalkeeping B Licence was designed to help the modern goalkeeper coach keep up with the global trends and develop both their knowledge and skill in other coaching areas.
Nowadays, goalkeeping coaches have evolved into being more like assistant coaches, being able to work with players and support a head coach. As the game becomes more tactical goalkeepers are expected to do much more than just keep the ball out of the net.
“A big thing for myself and the cohort as a whole was getting comfortable with working with outfielders within a goalkeeping session. I think we’ve all probably been exposed to working with outfielders in different ways within our environments, but to actually have a specific goalkeeping session where you’re using the outfielders for the benefit of the goalkeepers, that probably was quite new for us. So, it’s been good to practise that on the course and with our own teams before completing the final assessment”, explained Stevens.
“Achieving the Goalkeeping B Licence is another string to their bow, especially when they’re progressing to coach in top environments like age group national teams. There are some exciting coaching opportunities available. Tom’s definitely showing all the attributes you need to coach at higher levels,” added Marsh.
Based near the bottom of the country in Dunedin, Stevens has shown plenty of sacrifice and hard work to get where he is, making the effort to travel to achieve his Goalkeeping C Licence and now B Licence, all while juggling his daytime job.
“It’s a financial commitment to travel, get accommodation and the cost of the licence itself. Tom is someone that’s engaging with the opportunities in front of him and his development’s been really positive,” Marsh said.
For Stevens the next step on his licencing journey is the Goalkeeping A Licence which is currently in the process of being developed.