The Clinic: Effective Coaching

Todays article is written by GB Lions Sneior Head Coach Mike Callan and based on the presentation he gave at the North West Coaching clinic:

I have been coaching for what in the game probably wouldn’t consider a long time.  I have been doing it for only just over a decade.  There are quite a few aspects of coaching that get me excited, but none so much as going to or speaking at Clinics.  There is just something exciting about going to talk about football for a day with other coaches and the likely possibility that you will come away a better football coach that is exciting.

For the last three years I have been lucky enough to be asked to speak at the BAFCA NW Clinic that is run by a good friend of mine, Simon Purcell.  And I have to say, it is one weekend on the calendar that I truly look forward to.  The previous years I have talked about scheme on Offense, Defence and Special Teams.  I have gone over fundamentals with defensive backs and special teams players.  These are the bread and butter of football coaches.

Photo courtesy of Graham Beardsley

However, this year, Simon threw me a bit of a curveball.  He wanted me to speak on how to be an effective coach.  It took me a bit out of my comfort zone, I will not lie, because I think to myself that there are so many coaches out there who I have learned from and I aspire to.  I wondered if I was of calibre to be delivering this type of talk.  I decided that I was going to deliver it, but at the same time speak on how to be ‘more’ effective as a coach.  As coaches we can always do something better each time we step on the field and that is what I hope to get across in this piece.  These are just a few guidelines and there are probably hundreds more out there to be debated, but in the interest of time and space, I believed these were important to touch on.

Top 5 NFL teams that we want to see in the International Series

With the recent news that next year’s NFL international series will feature the St Louis Rams and the New England Patriots and that the Rams will feature in the international series during 2013 and 2014, we decided to dedicate this week’s top five on the top five NFL teams we would like to see play over here in Britain.

Note: Teams who have already played in the UK will not be included on the list.

As per usual we mention the teams that just missed the cut.

Atlanta Falcons – Atlanta are the new Indianapolis Colts (win in the regular season, choke in the playoffs). The Falcons surprisingly have a big fan base in the UK so would draw interest from fans involved in Britball. If the NFL does eventually send the Falcons over to play in the international series then they might as well play the Carolina Panthers, which would mean all of the NFC South have visited London (ED: I doubt the NFL or the teams would want to lose a divisional rivalry game though).

Pittsburgh Steelers – The Steelers have a huge fan base in the UK, so it makes sense for Pittsburgh to come over and play in the UK! Fortunately for the Steelernation fans in the UK, Dan Rooney is the US Ambassador to Ireland and said there’s a possibility that Pittsburgh could play in Ireland, so who knows!?