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Daily Womens Football: Episode 105: Mega Monday Guest Special with Jon Dawe- Coach Mentor and Argyle Women's Assistant Manager
12 Plays21 days ago
Thank you for joining Briony and Raj on todays episode where we are joined by Jon Dawe, FA Coach Developer and Assistant Manager of Argyle Women, to dive into the development of the women’s game. They discuss the coaching landscape, the barriers female players and coaches still face, and how the future of women’s football coaching is evolving. Jon shares insights from his experience in the game, the FA’s approach to coach education, and what needs to change to ensure more opportunities for women at all levels.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:00:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hello and welcome to Beyond the Pitch, a daily women's football podcast brought to you by the Global Sports Podcast Network. I'm Bryony, as usual, and I'm joined by my co-host Raj.
00:00:20
Raj
Hey guys, how you doing? You all right?
John Dole's Coaching Journey
00:00:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
And today we are excited to be joined joined by John Dole, an FA coach mentor and assistant manager of Argyle Women. Hello, John.
00:00:32
Jon Dawe
Hello guys, you okay?
00:00:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, good, thank you. um Really excited to talk to you today, um obviously through our podcasts and on the Global Sports Podcast Network, we obviously go a lot into the growth of the women's game, um the future of it and etc, etc. And someone like yourself who, to clarify, works predominantly in developing coaching on the women's side of the game as it stands.
00:01:01
Global Sports Podcast Network
um Would you mind giving us a little bit more around um kind of your background in coaching and what you currently do in terms of the coach mentoring?
Role of Women's High Performance Center
00:01:10
Jon Dawe
Yeah, sure. Absolutely. So I started my coaching journey when I was about 30 on the, what was the old level one qualification? That was probably down to the fact I ah realized that playing days were coming to an end. um Did a lot of my yeah early coaching within um the boys game.
00:01:31
Jon Dawe
ah involved with our goal at the development centres that progressed to senior level in the men's game um with a club called Launston playing semi-professionally down in Cornwall that was a player coach role.
00:01:45
Jon Dawe
And then obviously on the back of that applied for a part-time role as ah as a coach mentor with the FA and undertook that role for seven years until COVID sort of shut the program down. And more recently, I would say more recently, probably for the last couple of years, um was fortunate not fortunate enough to get a role in the FA Women's High Performance Center based at Plymouth Mardron University.
00:02:15
Jon Dawe
And obviously the the remit of that is partly to identify female coaches with with potential, um providing them with with support along their own coaching journey, which is a really rewarding role.
John's Interest in Women's Football
00:02:33
Jon Dawe
um so So yeah, that's kind of a slightly brief overview of my coaching journey.
00:02:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
who
00:02:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
No, it's brilliant. um Yeah, I think it's really, I'm sure you'll probably we probably plan to discuss it a little bit more, but the ah Women's High Performance Centre here, like massive for me, like to be able to come to a university that offers it because it's one of 10 nationally, isn't it?
00:02:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
um Yeah, really, really helpful in terms of that.
00:02:57
Jon Dawe
thats right yeah
00:03:01
Global Sports Podcast Network
so What would you say, in inspire use the word inspired, but what would you say inspired you slash um motivated you in regard to going into the women's side of the game? Obviously you were given the opportunity to do it, but would you say it's something that you were interested in doing?
00:03:20
Jon Dawe
Yeah, i think I think it was because I'd reached a point where my sort of coaching commitments had ended and I just wanted to to sort of try something a bit different, if you like, and and a colleague of mine at Plymouth Margarine University, Chris Matanka, was also an FA coach mentor.
00:03:39
Jon Dawe
and we had a conversation and he said them you know if you considered um coaching and supporting in the in the female game and I started off by just doing some coaching at the Plymouth Argo Development Centre with female players, really enjoyed it.
Challenges for Female Coaches
00:03:57
Jon Dawe
um On the back of that I was asked if I'd be prepared to go in and provide some match day support for the Plymouth Argo women's team in the um National League and just was made to feel extremely welcome um and it was just something new and fresh and really enjoyed it and kind of four years on from that I'm touch wood still involved in it to this day.
00:04:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, I think it's really um like being around on women's match days and that it's really clear the yeah the environment that's been created within the setup. um I mean, how would you say that the FAs maybe re more recently changed its approach to coach education and the women's game? Because I'll let Raj add in a moment, but it's
00:04:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
To be blunt about it is a massive ah being a woman in coach education comes with its additional challenges. I think you'd agree right from experience.
00:05:01
Raj
Yes, yeah, yeah, 100%. It's a fantastic role, but challenging at the same time, um but not through the actual coaching itself, just more opportunities-wise and being heard, I'd say, is one of the biggest challenges I face as a female coach.
FA Strategies for Growth in Women's Game
00:05:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
Have you got any examples?
00:05:26
Raj
and Yeah, I mean, And again, it's hard to explain because it's it's not one example isolated, it's the whole journey. So it's the whole journey from start. So for example, when I was initially, when I was from doing my FA ah level one, I did the old FA and level one coaching badge, um which was face to face. And I was the only female
00:05:59
Raj
um within that and again it was just sort of a very kind of laddy environment and very kind of there wasn't very really any considerations of emotions of female players and female coaches and different perspectives from the the female coaches it was just kind of like man up and get along with it and i just had to kind of like go along with the boys or i just wouldn't be like considered as a coach.
00:06:29
Raj
It's hard to explain, and but then that was sort of when I was about 16 and kind of like oh more than 10 years on I've done my UAFSC recently, but the experience for me has been very similar where it's been really geared and I completely appreciate that the majority of the coaches in that room were male, but it's really, really specifically geared
00:06:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:06:57
Raj
towards the males in the room. And I just feel like I was just kind of like there, if that makes sense.
00:07:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
You got anything to add to that, John, in terms of maybe how the approach is somewhat changed through coach education?
00:07:13
Jon Dawe
Yeah, I think in a lot of it would link back to the sort female game strategies that the FA of have implemented. So the one inspiring positive change which covered from 2020 to 2024, there were some really um
00:07:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:07:28
Jon Dawe
some really interesting statistics that came out on the back of that um and in terms of sort of participation I think there was a 56% increase in the number of women and girls playing football you know which was fantastic because for me you've got to develop that love of the game at an early age and that's not to say you're go on to play, you might go on and and coach, you might go on and volunteer, you might be a
Confidence and Mentorship Issues
00:07:55
Jon Dawe
referee. So there's lots of different opportunities that sort of young um female players can can aspire to and also um I think on ah ah one of the results of that strategy was that there was an 88% increase in the um female coaches that were being actively developed and that's through various means and
00:08:18
Jon Dawe
things like the mentoring programme, community champions, those kind of things where where females can get that support to so like do i guess have the confidence and you know um feel feel safe and comfortable in an environment where they ah can develop.
00:08:36
Jon Dawe
and then obviously more recently in October of 24 the FA obviously because we've gone past the 2024 which was the end of the previous strategy they've now gone for the for the reaching higher strategy which covers 2024 to 2028 and I think again it was things around delivering more opportunities for young girls to play.
00:09:00
Jon Dawe
So for example, that sometimes the first contact will be via PE in a school. So so the aim of that strategy is to try and achieve 90% coverage across um across schools to get that participation rate high.
00:09:05
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:09:17
Jon Dawe
um So I think you know it's it's an ongoing process, um but I certainly take on board ah Raj's point and from my own experience of recently being on the UA4A license course out of a cohort of 35 people on my particular um course, there were only two female coaches within that 35.
00:09:43
Jon Dawe
But again,
00:09:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
I mean, put it this way, to my knowledge at the moment, to my knowledge, I don't know of any other women on this B license here this time around.
00:09:53
Jon Dawe
No. and And I think, um I mean, we we might touch on it a bit later on, but I think in my experience of working and supporting female coaches, I think a lot of that comes down to I've done my UA4C, but I can't possibly go and do a UA4B because I'm not good enough.
00:10:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's how I feel at the moment.
00:10:10
Raj
Yeah.
00:10:11
Jon Dawe
and it's and And I just think, you know, we've got you know, the role I play and in the mentoring, I think it's, you've got to in try and instill that confidence in these young female coaches and say, you absolutely can do it. You know, i've I've seen you demonstrate how you can coach, you know, believe in yourself, go out there and put yourself forward for it. um
00:10:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
I think sometimes in my in my experience that
00:10:33
Jon Dawe
ah
00:10:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
i'm don't know I've got to a point where I've coached long enough and I've got to a stage where I don't care enough as to what people think. But I definitely think there's this worry as a woman, not saying it's it's the correct way to think, but the that there is that massive fear of judgment and about what people are going to think. And that often stems from the comments and the discrimination that, you know, I personally have experienced quite a few times wherein, you know, if you do overstep the line in terms of authority or assertiveness, it's instantly kind of need to come down a peg, because it's not traditional. And like I say, I don't really, I'm not too bothered now. But like, it's that kind of impression management. And um
00:11:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
Like you say, it's that, why would I possibly go on to my B license? Because I'm not good enough to do it kind of thing. And ah I mean, I've been a C license, or I did the level two, watched over four years ago now. um And I know a lot of people go into it a lot quicker than that. I mean, there's obviously arguments for and against taking the time with it once you've gained a qualification.
00:11:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
But I think it's taken me up and but four years to apply just because I think i've i think the word UA4B sounds really big and really daunting, and it's really blown up to be really something really, really big, which it is. It's a big deal. But actually, I think it's recognizing that male or female It's just building upon again. And I think I've had to kind of step back and recognize that, like of for example, I can always message you, John, or you can always come down to my sessions and already you observing, just like putting that plan in place. And just the praise as well from someone like you, and I'm sure Raj will agree, who I have definitely come across mentors and coach developers before who have definitely seemed more standoffish. And I can only assume as to why that is.
00:12:36
Raj
I just um hearing what John just said ah at the end of, um ah at the end of that there, wherein he said, we have to be as coach developers of mentors, encouraging these women in saying, you can do it, the opportunity is there. and Without being too dramatic, that made me feel better in an instant, because I haven't heard that at all.
00:13:06
Raj
Um, so it's, it's really nice. Um, but to have that across the board would be fantastic and would in, in turn mean that we wouldn't have fantastic coaches that are super capable. For example, Bryony waiting four years to do that application because along with building the experience, they've also been given the encouragement as well.
00:13:39
Raj
Because I feel like you've had to build four years of worth experience to to try and prove to yourself and other people that I am worthy of this and I am worthy of applying for it.
00:13:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
proof.
00:13:53
Raj
I am going to do it because you could have done so you much fantastic work in a year and a half to years. and been absolutely ready for it. But I bet there was something in your mind that just thought, no, I just have to do a bit more to prove to other people that I deserve a place on this kind of thing.
Importance of Mentorship in Coaching
00:14:12
Raj
Because that's the kind of mentality that I have.
00:14:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
I think Yeah, and I think like I said, it's getting past that initial barrier of not being as bothered as to what people think. And although I come across quite confident, believe it or not, I am very anxious about going into my B license just from that perspective. If I get on with the with the blokes now with the guys, that doesn't bother me, but I still feel very outnumbered. And I remember how that felt on my level one as a 16 year old.
00:14:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
girl in the room, only female in the room, um as an 18 year old girl doing my level two, the only female in the room. um And now not only am I going into it likely to be the only female again, but it's also a UEFA B licence. Does that maybe make sense, John, as to where I'm coming from?
00:14:53
Jon Dawe
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, but the inship the sort of experience I can share with that and I and i go back to a recent A license course because it is very fresh in terms of that experience.
00:15:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:15:05
Jon Dawe
But I think the refreshing thing was the whole cohort completely respected the two female coaches that were we're on that qualification.
00:15:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:15:16
Jon Dawe
and you know they they were excellent coaches you know that that was the bottom line and and really nice people and i didn't get the sense at all that they were made to not feel a part of it um so that so that was that was really good um and i'd like to think you know with with sort of the b license and that kind of thing that there should be an element of respect for me the fact that
00:15:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's really good.
00:15:42
Jon Dawe
you know that these young girls have put themselves forward in that position to do those qualifications. you know and And I think male coaches have have got to embrace that. And you know why why should it be any different in terms of the experience on the courses?
00:15:58
Global Sports Podcast Network
and To kind of lead on from that, would you say that there's any kind of unique like philosophies that work particularly well in the women's game and when developing female coaches that differs from how you would approach it with a male coach, for example, that you were developing?
00:16:15
Jon Dawe
I think in terms of philosophies, if we're talking sort of playing philosophies as an individual coach, you would probably have that style of play in your mind whether you were working with a ah team of of male players or female players. um But the big thing for me in terms of coaching and mentoring with female coaches is the importance of the why.
00:16:40
Jon Dawe
So why are we doing this?
00:16:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:16:42
Jon Dawe
If I use an example of of of coaching a senior women's team, well, why are we working on this in training? What is the benefit to us at the weekend?
00:16:53
Jon Dawe
um So I think that that is a ah big standout difference for me in terms of um you know, that the why aspect of it also elements like it's a shared two way process. So as coaches, we might have an idea of how we would set up a game plan going into
Coaching Philosophies and Challenges
00:17:14
Jon Dawe
a weekend. But I think it's important that you you kind of empower the ah female players as well to have a buy-in to that game plan you know and challenger so well we don't necessarily think that's going to work what about this so in in sort of recent months we've become a lot more interactive with that in terms of getting um the girls to sort of demonstrate things on tactics boards and whether that's kind of how we're looking to set up our press against the opposition how we're looking to build from the back that kind of thing um so i think empowerment and
00:17:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:17:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. Uh huh.
00:17:50
Jon Dawe
um explaining the why is is really important but obviously I think playing philosophy stroke style is probably going to be the same whoever you're your coaching.
00:18:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
What would you then say is personally the biggest challenge that you've encountered coaching on the female side of the game? Or I think I'd be really interested in developing female coaches.
00:18:16
Jon Dawe
Yeah, I think um think confidence is it' massive. I think it's it's building that self-esteem and confidence in a player and you know recognizing as well the the impact of biological factors with working with female players as opposed to male players and you know the um the importance of those kind of things.
00:18:39
Jon Dawe
so Whereas if you're coaching a ah male player, you know, they they might be in ah in a training session and you think, well, they're not but not at it this evening, you might question their application.
00:18:52
Jon Dawe
And if you were to try and apply that same logic to a female session, then there's there's very good reason why they may not be performing to the max.
00:19:04
Jon Dawe
And it's sort of making coaches aware of that and and how important that side of things is.
00:19:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. And that's so I'm sure you'll agree, Raj, that's so good to hear from um like a man in the game. And actually, like you say, making coaches aware and making them consider those for other factors. And that's where it comes in, I'm going to say, as a female coach, it's easier to consider those factors ah of your female players.
00:19:34
Raj
more natural, isn't it? Because yeah,
00:19:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
I don't necessarily always like blame male coaches because it's not something that it instantly think about, is there Raj?
00:19:43
Raj
yeah it's it's just more natural for us to consider it because especially as players as well, and because we know what certain emotions and and feelings we can go through ah on a day to day basis. It's so interesting that you actually coach this way. And a question that I have then is kind of on that with the female side of the game, how do you kind of approach those situations around kind of body image, self-esteem, mental health, and things like that? you've You've already mentioned that confidence is one of the things that you do struggle is struggle
Understanding Players' Personal Challenges
00:20:28
Raj
with. sorry and So if a player came to you and said that they were struggling with these kind of things, kind of
00:20:34
Raj
How would you approach that as a male coach, John?
00:20:37
Jon Dawe
Yeah I think it's ah it's a really good question actually and for me my my kind of overriding um motto if you like with with any kind of coaching is don't don't start to coach the don't even start to coach the player until you understand the person. So I think first and foremost you've got to develop that one-to-one relationship and and there are quick wins with that it might be during drinks breaks or you you're aware of something you know they've been away on a holiday or something and just checking in with with those players at the beginning of the session you know oh how did how did the holiday go and
00:21:15
Jon Dawe
this, that and the other. And I think the more kind of sensitive side of things if you like, if it's a male coach in that environment, it's um at kind of our level we're quite lucky in the sense we have got kind of you know a female physio um numerous coaching staff and it may be it may be that the the girls wouldn't want to come to us as male coaches to explain things around menstrual cycles so we've got kind of that's kind of logged via Emily our physio at the club
00:21:36
Raj
Yeah.
00:21:53
Jon Dawe
And then by having that knowledge and understanding, then if a player, as I've alluded to earlier, is potentially not performing to their max at a training session, and you know it's not necessarily down to them having a bad attitude or or application, there's solid reasons behind it.
00:21:53
Raj
Right.
00:22:12
Jon Dawe
So I think it's it's the players having to have
00:22:18
Jon Dawe
I'll just try the way of articulating it is players might have better relationships with certain members of coaching staff and it's kind of almost working out which coaches are best to address certain situations. Does that make sense?
Why Fewer Female Coaches at Elite Levels
00:22:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
hundred percent
00:22:34
Raj
yeah Yeah, yeah, the way it's communicated and then you can manage it as needed kind of thing. Yeah.
00:22:40
Jon Dawe
Yeah.
00:22:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
100%.
00:22:42
Raj
Yeah, that makes sense.
00:22:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
I mean, it goes slightly away from this point, but I'd be interested to know, John, yore your view on Why do you think there are so few female coaches at the elite level? I mean, there's obviously the structural element of it, the systemic element of it. And, you know, it's a given that, I mean, I don't know, is it as simple as we aren't getting enough through the pipe, the coaching pipeline, i.e. because they're not confident enough to do so, to hit the the B licenses and the A licenses, or is there more to it than that? Is it actually a, is it an allocation and recruitment limitation?
00:23:25
Jon Dawe
i think it's um I think it comes down to opportunity and and building up those experiences. Because I ah think in terms of the some statistics I saw recently, I think only out of the 12 WSL clubs at the moment, there are only five female coaches.
00:23:42
Jon Dawe
I think in the 2023 Women's World Cup, out of 32 coaches, only 14 were female.
00:23:47
Raj
Thank you.
00:23:52
Global Sports Podcast Network
Only 30% of them, yep.
00:23:52
Jon Dawe
um but That's right. so um But i do see I do see signs of of that changing. I mean, I think it's a good thing that you know we've got sort of Serena as our national coach for the lionesses.
00:24:05
Jon Dawe
I think that's a ah great place to start.
00:24:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:24:08
Jon Dawe
And also, we've we've seen evidence of of progression at the other levels. So for example, if I use Lauren Smith as an example, Lauren was Bristol City's head coach for the women for several years and has now progressed on to being the head coach of the lionesses under 19 side.
00:24:27
Jon Dawe
So I think it's
00:24:27
Raj
Well.
00:24:31
Jon Dawe
I think it starts from the ah think it starts from the bottom in terms of providing coaches at the beginning female coaches at the beginning of their coaching journey with that confidence and belief that they can do it and providing the right support networks around that to to move them along the line.
00:24:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yep. Mm-hmm.
00:24:51
Jon Dawe
And then I think naturally there are places like the Women's High Performance Center with where kind of aspirational coaches that showing potential um can then be signposted into kind of various roles.
00:25:07
Jon Dawe
um
00:25:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
Is that what, can the High Performance Center you know spark the links with almost entry routes into more levels of prestige or levels of um elitism, would you say?
00:25:23
Jon Dawe
i think they can certainly I think it can certainly support coaches along the coaching pathway and then naturally with having those ah higher level qualifications, if people have got aspirations to go into the the higher levels of the game, um then i think i can I think it can support in that sense, but also you know things like CPD opportunities and and being able to go into
00:25:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
Advice for Aspiring Female Coaches
00:25:52
Jon Dawe
some of these um championship level or national league clubs and and kind of get to experience what that environment is like and and it's I guess in a sense networking helps as well.
00:26:05
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, often it, I hate to say it, I mean me and Raja recently had a conversation about this and recently had a conversation with director of football here where name names for the purpose of the podcast but you'll know who that is John.
00:26:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
um And it is often in football unfortunately with coaching at the moment it's who you know as opposed to necessarily you know
00:26:24
Jon Dawe
Hm.
00:26:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
and And how often times is it that you've got your foot in the door of a club and ah a coaching opportunity comes up and they've seen a bit of you before and you get the opportunity to step into the shoes and have a go and that's where the roles come from?
00:26:41
Jon Dawe
Yeah, I think, yeah, I think there can be an element of that.
00:26:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
Would you agree?
00:26:45
Jon Dawe
And that that exists as well in the sort of male game, for example, because if, you know, we we've seen it happen time and time again, that if, um you know, a manager loses his role very often, a new manager will come in and with that will be their own backroom team that follow him up and down the country, dependent on what job they get.
00:27:06
Jon Dawe
um But I think just using the um Using the emerging talent centres as an example, I think there's real good opportunity now for female coaches to get involved. ah a good level of the game. um And then I think just by gaining that experience of you know even working with an under nine's ETC group, whether that's Devon County FA's um ETC or Plymouth Argo's ETC, I think getting those experiences
00:27:43
Jon Dawe
will help to kind of build up a ah CV if you like um and demonstrating you know that you've done the hours on the grass, um you've not just gone through the process like some coaches do of jumping from one course very quickly onto the next one. A good bit of advice I was always given in my very early days was complete your level one, go and do loads of hours on the grass before you even think about doing a level two.
00:28:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:28:12
Jon Dawe
Do your level two, go and do loads of hours on the grass before you even consider a UAFB. And it's so true. So I think if you can if you can document those experiences, I think it stands
00:28:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:28:24
Jon Dawe
stand you in better stead to then apply for you know some of some of the roles.
Overcoming Self-Doubt and Closing Remarks
00:28:30
Jon Dawe
And and I think with the the growth of the the women's game in general, I think there could be some real <unk> exciting and opportunities in in the future, really do.
00:28:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
I think I'm sure I would agree that it's just hoping that more of these arising and opening of door opportunities that are coming up are given to female coaches more.
00:28:57
Jon Dawe
ah Yeah.
00:28:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
And traditionally we see male coaches fill the roles quite quickly.
00:29:03
Raj
Yeah, and I was just going to ask John, he kind of answered the question around what sort of advice you'd give um an emerging female coach that wants to to to kind of have this in a career and and go through um the pathways. And we've we've we've touched on the fact that in participation wise, he's grown so much women's football um But to, we we now, the reason Bryony and I do these podcasts and and do what we do is because we want to have the same effect on coaching for females as well.
00:29:47
Raj
and We want to grow that just as much.
00:29:50
Jon Dawe
Okay.
00:29:51
Raj
And I know you said about confidence being a key part in growing as a female coach.
00:29:55
Jon Dawe
okay
00:29:58
Raj
What what are you ah the key elements that you would say that you need to have and that you can't compromise on if you want to grow as a female in this coaching industry, which is competitive and already challenging as a female, what would you say the the key ingredients that you need?
00:30:21
Jon Dawe
I think um key ingredients for me was, as I sort of mentioned before, get get the hours on the grass.
00:30:27
Raj
Yeah.
00:30:27
Jon Dawe
um Have the belief in what you do. Go and watch other coaches work. ah might
00:30:35
Raj
ah good one yeah
00:30:35
Jon Dawe
and my In my experience, um you know sometimes people are afraid to to say, can we come in and watch a session or something? And and you know a lot a lot of coaches are very open to that in terms of sharing ideas.
00:30:50
Jon Dawe
um pool knowledge with people, um look for resources online which will give you ideas for um session plans. I guess what I'm saying is it be dedicated towards your own continuing professional development.
00:31:08
Raj
Yep.
00:31:08
Jon Dawe
But they but the key the key message I would always say to any coach whether you're coaching at introduction to coaching football level or right up to the A license is it's just clarity in your messaging.
00:31:22
Jon Dawe
So in your sessions be clear about what it is you're going after, explain to the players the reason why. and and also reflection is another one so to be a reflective practitioner in the coaching world is like so important and and I think having having that belief that nobody will ever put on the perfect training session ever there will always be something so rather than beat yourself up about it reflect on the session right actually thought that went well didn't quite get out of that
00:31:58
Jon Dawe
what I intended to, how might I change that if I was to deliver that same practice again. And then through that reflection process, that kind of helps too with your sort of development as a coach as well.
00:32:13
Raj
Brilliant. Yeah. Thanks, John.
00:32:15
Jon Dawe
That's okay.
00:32:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's really interesting as well for me. And I've always kind of assumed the same in, like you say, getting the hours out on the grass is being experienced. In my opinion, it's way more valuable. You obviously learn more from experience than you do from going and gaining ah a title of a qualification. And I'm sure you'll agree, John, there's like, there are, you know, level, there's UAFSC coaches out there that are way better than some B license coaches and et cetera, et cetera. and Yeah, I think it's really interesting just to hear it from someone like yourself that's got the experience and we are pretty much at the end of the time, but yeah, it's, I think obviously I just want to wish you luck with your aid license as well.
00:33:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
um How are you finding it?
00:33:03
Jon Dawe
Thank you.
00:33:06
Jon Dawe
Yeah, I've really um um really enjoyed it and and just to share with with everyone. it's some you know I hold my hands up. I arrived at that course on day one at St. George's Park and I had imposter syndrome.
00:33:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:33:19
Jon Dawe
Am I am i good enough to be on this course? you know you know I've got here now. You question whether you you're even good enough, you doubt yourself. And and I think what I would say 12 months on from that experience, you realize that you know it's never as bad as you initially think. um As long as you kind of work hard and and dedicate yourself to that learning process, then you know we we can all get there regardless of of what course it is you're enrolling on.
00:33:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
I think this was really good advice in there this evening.
00:33:54
Raj
Fantastic.
00:33:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
I think Rosh would agree.
00:33:57
Raj
Yeah. I've really, really enjoyed this podcast and just want to say thank you so much for your time, John. It's been excellent um hearing about your journey and some great advice that I'll i'll definitely be taking on board as a coach.
00:34:05
Jon Dawe
Thank you. Appreciate that. Nice to talk to you welcome.
00:34:12
Raj
So thank you.
00:34:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
hundred some With that in mind, I think that is about all we have time for today. Thank you for joining us and we look forward to welcoming you to our next episode of Beyond the Pitch, which will soon
00:34:25
Jon Dawe
Bye bye.