St George's Park - A trip to remember

La Masia and De Toekomst. Walk down the average street and ask people what these are, and only the very most committed of football follower will tell you they are the 'talent factories' of FC Barcelona and Ajax. 

The Football Association of England is hoping that the most famous of all becomes St Georges Park.

Situated in 14,000 acres at Burton on Trent in rural Staffordshire in the middle of England, it has cost a whopping £105m to build. When the idea was first muted for St George's Park, I was 9 years old. Eleven years later and I was fortunate to be one of the first to visit. The occasion was the 2012 FA Coaches Conference for Level 3, 4 and 5 coaches.

It was my first experience of a coaching conference and here are my findings:-

I travelled to St George's Park with my close friend Chris, a local football coach from Essex who, like myself, has travelled abroad to further his coaching knowledge and experience.

Pulling into the entrance we passed a sea of pristine football pitches (the majority named after ex-England footballing legends), and the sheer scale of the facility became instantly apparent, as on the approach only the rooftops of the newly opened National Football Centre could be seen. 

Upon entering the hotel reception at St George's Park the modernity and state-of-the-art facilities were instantly apparent. Congregating in the Sir Bobby Robson Conference Room, the place slowly filled with passionate football coaches from both the grassroots level as well as some well known names within the professional game; this was clearly not only an opportunity to visit the hub of future English football, but also a fantastic opportunity to network and converse with some of the country's elite coaches. For instance, I was fortunate to share a table on that first morning with Sammy Lee (Former Liverpool star and current Head of Academy at Bolton Wanderers ) and Steve ‘Stan’ Staunton (ex Republic of Ireland manager and holder of over 100 international caps including captaining Ireland at a World Cup), both of whom were extremely welcoming and eager to discover my coaching background. What a way to start! If this was a taste of things to come, bring it on!

We were all welcomed to St George's Park by Mark Clemmitt (BBC Sports Reporter) and Sir Trevor Brooking (Director of Football Development), who briefly outlined the development and aspirations for St George's Park and what was in store over the coming two days; an excellent programme as anticipated.

Day One commenced with an opportunity to observe a technical themed coaching session by Gines Melendez Sotos (Spanish Technical Director) and a behaviour management session delivered by both John Allpress (National Young Player Development Coach) and Merfyn Roberts (Sports Psychologist). These sessions took place on the new full-size indoor 3G "Sir Alf Ramsey" pitch. 

Eager to see the Spaniard in action, I was particularly drawn to Gines' bubbly character on the field. Through his body language alone, he was able to communicate instructions clearly and effectively, despite the language barrier (for which his personal translator was at hand for the spectators' benefit!). Gines was very intense, animated and tactile with the group of young English players he had been given to coach. There were plenty of hugs and smiles, demonstrating plausible man management skills of which the players responded accordingly. This was accompanied with a noticeable high demand for quality throughout, whether this be mental focus/concentration or physical and technical execution. 

This observing experience was enhanced greatly by the fact that Gines and all subsequent coaches were mic’d up, which allowed me to listen for key information and instructions given to the players. With coach education and development a key theme throughout the two day conference, I personally found this a great learning tool.

At various points on the first day we were invited to attend various presentations and interviews. A particular one I enjoyed featured Dr Steve Peters, a Consultant Psychiatrist who has been deemed instrumental in the success of Great British Olympic cyclists Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton, Bradley Wiggins etc and also Multi World Snooker Champion Ronnie O'Sullivan, to name a few. Dr Peters spoke passionately about the psychological issues, thought processes and corrective measures for athletes at the peak of their respective sports. Specifically, his role involves controlling athlete emotions, enabling them to maintain focus and retain the confidence to deliver on the big stage.

This was followed by an interview with Gines Melendez Sotos and John Peacock (Head of Coaching at the FA) regarding Spanish football, in particular detailing their technical outlook including style of play, developmental mindset throughout its youth systems, player camaraderie and likemindedness amongst all involved on the international stage. Questions were fired at Gines in an attempt to uncover "the secret" to recent international Spanish success. It came as no surprise to me when he explained that there were numerous contributing factors over a sustained period of time that have resulted in such unparalleled success. 

Whilst given the opportunity to observe much of St George's Park astounding facilities throughout the two day Coaches Conference, a tour was also provided by its staff, granting access to all areas including the Performance Centre, Human Performance Lab, Sports Medicine and Sports Science Lab, Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Centre, Hydrotherapy Suite, Strength and Conditioning Gymnasium and Medical facilities to name a few.

The clear ambition for St George's Park to become one of the best talent factories in World football was becoming evident especially with its impressive state-of-the-art facilities. I certainly believe that the foundations and infrastructure are in place for both St George's Park to achieve its full potential, and also for the up and coming players that experience what it has to offer, to maximise their potential.

Tour over and back to my plush hotel room and time to get suited and booted for the evening’s entertainment of a Gala Dinner. The guest speakers were Gordon Taylor (Chief Exec of the PFA) and Alex McLeish (ex-Birmingham FC, Aston Villa FC and Scotland Head Coach and current Nottingham Forrest Manager). In between the sharing of experiences and knowledge by Alex as well as some humorous anecdotes from Gordon, came the opportunity to converse and network with other coaches from a variety of backgrounds/football clubs around the UK, with a member of the FA conveniently placed on each table to strike conversation with. As the evening drew to a close, I was fortunate enough to speak to Alex McLeish, a true gentleman who willingly gave his time and attention to not only answer my questions offering invaluable advice, but to share some further experiences of his coaching career (both positive and negative) to further my development, of which I am extremely grateful. 

I was up bright and early on Day Two and proceedings began with a guest interview with Alex McLeish following on from the previous night. This was followed by an Olympic/Paralympic Report featuring Toni Minichiello (Coach to Jessica Ennis), Stuart Pearce (England U21 and Team GBR Football Head Coach), Hope Powell (Women's National Coach) and Jeff Davis (Disability National Development Manager) who discussed their various roles, and shared their knowledge and experiences to facilitate the learning and development of all present. This was an interesting insight into how different sporting backgrounds and leadership styles can still be applied to football coaching.

Much of the hype of the day was to follow next, as Roy Hodgson (England National Team Manager) was to deliver a practical coaching workshop. However, a short break before Roy's session commenced opened up an opportunity for me to approach Stuart Pearce and ask a few pre-prepared questions that I had. Stuart was very open, providing me with his undivided attention and some great advice in furthering my coaching potential. This was really turning out to be an incredibly inspiring two days, and my enthusiasm and passion to learn was in a heightened state. 

Conversations continued as everyone packed into the indoor 3G pitch, filling all seats and balconies to their capacity to observe Roy Hodgson in action. What was rather disappointing though was that due to the high attraction from a number of media outlets, Roy decided not to wear a microphone. My disappointment was shared by all around me but despite this, the opportunity to observe his work at first hand was a good experience nevertheless.

After lunch was the session on Day 2 I was most looking forward to. It was a practical workshop delivered by the highly respected Dick Bate (FA Elite Coaching Manager). His session was focused on coaching players at the professional phase of their development, specifically targeting ages 17-21 and much to the delight of spectators, he utilised the microphone to better the experience. Personally, having coached players of this age range at University level, I was keen to pay special attention to the type of language used by Dick throughout his session; whether he'd look to feed information into the players drawing from his own knowledge of the game, or whether he'd look to utilise open ended questioning to draw/test the players' knowledge, a more modern coaching technique that I have grown to adopt when coaching at various age ranges. It was pleasing to see that Dick opted for the latter, asking many questions of the players for them to assess their own performance and respond accordingly, all the while with learning taking place. Similarly, Dick's attention to detail was praiseworthy, coaching a themed session of defence to attack transitional play, ensuring that each player received some individual coaching along with the main session objectives and encouraging creativity wherever possible during the attacking phases. 
Looking to make the most of my experience at St George's Park I approached Dick at the end of his session to once again ask a few questions that would further my learning. He happily obliged, which I was extremely grateful for, imparting knowledge from personal experiences and suggesting ways to overcome possible barriers.

With the Coaches Conference drawing to a close, we congregated once more in the Sir Bobby Robson Conference Room whilst Dick Bate delivered an Elite Coaches Award and Pro Licence update and Graham Keeley (National Game Coaching Workforce Manager) spoke about COACH bursaries and the FA Licensed Coaches' Club. The day finished with Jamie Houchen (Head of FA Learning and instrumental figure in organising the Coaches Conference) providing a review of the past two days.

My personal highlight of the two days? It would have to be meeting Sammy Lee. Not only is he a humble and engaging man but he has the fantastic capability of putting you at ease and making you feel special. I rather cheekily asked if I could visit him in Bolton to observe his work at the academy and without hesitation he agreed. I have subsequently made that trip and will write about that in a future blog.

To summarise, I thoroughly enjoyed my first experience at an FA Coaches Conference, taking great pleasure from the opportunity to converse and network with coaches from across the UK at varying stages of development over a range of performance levels. 
Furthermore, the open mindedness, willingness, dedication, time and effort demonstrated by all, regardless of their position within the game of football, to impart wisdom, share experiences and give detailed advice to anyone that kindly asked for it, was special.

If this experience is anything to go by, I can't wait to attend again in 2013!!