http://www.barwonsoccerclub.com/introduction-by-mark-strickland-barwon-sc-new-coach

Introduction by Mark Strickland, Barwon SC New Coach.
Coaching history; in short.

I have coached at all levels from under 8s to adults for over 20 years. I have coached State teams in the Nationals (NT) to local league teams and am currently the Australian Army team head coach. I have been fortunate to have coached some talented players along the way and to have won many trophies; I know that vein of form will continue at Barwon SC.

I have completed the old UEFA B course in England and completed the new level 1, 2 and 3 series in England, but all several years ago. Last year to bring myself up to date with new practices and resources, I attended the FFA / AFC B Licence course held in Melbourne. In addition I hold GK Licences, sports injuries qualifications and other sports qualifications, including basic levels of strength and conditioning certificates.

General information

I thank the committee for giving me this fantastic opportunity to take the club forward on the pitch, whilst they continue to move the club forward off it!

I am a firm believer that Geelong needs more clubs in the Metro leagues, whilst I also believe it spreads the quality of players about it also gives some of us “smaller clubs” a chance to grow. Therefore “Our” aim is to have a competitive team in the Prov Div 3 as early as next season!

My aim over the next 12 months is to improve upon the attitude in coaching you have experienced at Barwon over the past few years and to bring a coaching style that many of you will have not experienced before. I want to enforce a professional attitude towards training but that comes with a degree of discipline and we all have a large part to play in that area.

I will ensure training is well thought out, has a purpose, is linked to our strengths and weaknesses in our game performances (SWOT) and hopefully enjoyable, whilst at times bloody hard. Players are expected to attend training or inform me, the manager or the team Capt (when appointed) if you cannot make TRG, and not after the event, in advance please! If you cannot be bothered to inform us, I will not be bothered to include you on the next team sheet! However, I appreciate there will be times players cannot make TRG because of work, family and other reasons, but I insist, you keep me informed.

My first change is to bring the Div 1 and 2 teams together for TRG and invite the 3rds and the under 17 groups. My intentions are, that we train for about an hour together, then split down into 2 groups for team specific TRG. Please be mindful that just because you are in 1 group at TRG does not necessarily mean you will play for that group on the weekend. After TRG on a Thu night we will publish the teams for Sunday on the white board in the club house and continue to publish the teams on the Barwon web page.

Players that are not selected for the first team after playing for them the week before will be debriefed by me as to why I have not selected you this week. But again be mindful, I would like to think we have 2 players for every position that is capable of playing firsts, so if you get a chance take it, as selection will be down to your attitude and attendance at TRG as well as your form on match days. However, there may be times I make changes purely for tactical reasons.

Formation

My preferred formation is 1 – 4 – 3 – 3 with 2 holding midfield players / play makers! In Jan I will issue sheets explaining the formation and I will give a presentation explaining it further. During TRG I will relate things to psns such as the No 6 and No 8, I expect you all to understand who, and what I am talking about when I refer to these!

However, we will change things about and later in pre season we will work on a couple other formations, but between now and the end of March I want you all to become familiar and confident about this formation and know the roles of each player. Chelsea, Barcelona and Spain use this formation and they are probably 2 of the best club teams in the world whilst Spain are obviously the World champions!

My Vision / Philosophy

To Play a Possession based style of football, building up from the back and using quick, talented wide players to help create goal scoring opportunities.

Pre season

In the main everything we do will have a holistic football theme. However, given we are so close to some great beaches I intend to use them a bit as well, but fun as well as hard work will be the basis of those sessions; such as football volleyball, beach football and skills sessions ; with “some running”!

Every Thu in pre season will begin with a warm up, followed by a conditioning session. This session will require 22 players if possible, but I can do it with less. If we have more then we will adjust the session but in the main it will be:

Thu Night Conditioning Sessions – pre season

Phase 1

1 x 10 min EW Game with a 2 min break.

No throw ins, corners, goal kicks, free kicks, etc. Every time the ball goes out of play the team that would normally be awarded the throw in etc, must get the ball back into play via the GK within 3 secs. If the GK does not do this, the other team must get the ball in within 3 secs. The GK can only throw the ball out, no kicks.

We will repeat this for 2 weeks, then on the 3rd Thu we will step it up to:

Phase 2 to phase 5

2 x 10 min EW Games with a 3 min break. Repeat for 2 weeks, then 3 x 10 min Games with 4 min breaks, repeat 2 weeks. The aim is to see if we can get to level 5! Depending on how people react and overall fitness of the team, will determine when we can move to the next level, it may need a 3rd week at a certain level!

If we can get to level 5, that is 100 mins of football which will prepare us well for the season and is our target to hit 1 week before the season starts! The plan is:

Thu 19 Jan and Tue 24 Jan level 1

Thu 02 Feb and Thu 09 Feb level 2

Thu 16 Feb and Thu 23 Feb Level 3 – Mark away

Thu 01 Mar and Thu 08 Mar level 4 – Mark away

Thu 15 Mar and Thu 22 Mar level 5

Level 1 to level 3 will be part of the TRG Session with other activities following the conditioning sessions. Levels 4 and 5 will be warm up; the conditioning sessions and a good cool down with prolonged stretching sessions afterwards. Tue nights will be all about Game TRG, working on the positions and our formation as well as individual awareness and skills.

For this to run and have a successful outcome, I need players to attend all the sessions. I appreciate some times, some of you will not be able to make it, but it will make it difficult for you to jump into one of the conditioning sessions if you miss a step/level!

TRG During the season

Tue nights will start with a 10 – 15 min overview with regards to the last game played. After each game I will only give a few points, but will go into more detail on a Tue night. If I do it after the game you are still running on high and will not take a lot of it in, so it is best we just highlight 1 or 2 strengths and weaknesses at the time and discuss it further at TRG on Tue night.

We will continue to work the 1sts and 2nds as one group for periods of the TRG on both a Tue and Thu night, but will also split down to look at some team specific training, so about 45 mins as a group, 45 mins as a team.

Throughout the preseason and season I intend to get out and about and do some training with the youth teams. I ask that the youth team coaches discuss this with me as we go along. I do not want to run your teams, but I think it is good for the players that the “head coach” is seen taking an interest with all the teams, not just the seniors. If you disagree with this fine, but I would still like to discuss this with you.

Final word

I come to Barwon at a very exciting time, improvements off the field of play are evident in the new facility that is being put out to tender in the next week or so, the all weather field and lights and so as a coaching group and player group, we need to take this progress onto the pitch; we will!

I look forward to meeting you all, to a successful season and working closely with you all over the coming weeks and months.

The First week of pre season is Tue 10 and Thu 12 Jan 2012. These sessions will be game based, although a “bit” of circuit work will also be included, but nothing too hard first week back.

Good luck for 2012 to you all.

I think he was coaching at barwon soccer club in geelong, but has moved interstate again