In my early years as a high school Australian rules football coach, I trained after school at least once a week. In later years, this became untenable as children started working after school and many had to take the bus home. So he would have one formal training session a week during his lunch hour. I would start with a warm up. Then later in my career I would do some skill work with them that involved grid work. After this, we would practice a basic play, for example a central rebound or a kick from the side. We end with a short game. It could be backs against forwards in a midfield or defensive handball game. Practice was often based on the mistakes the team made in their last game.
Then, on the other days of the week, the kids were allowed to borrow soccer balls to have “Kick-a-Kick” in the oval. As often as possible, he would be on the oval giving kids advice on how to improve their kicking and scoring skills.
On Wednesday, our sports day, we would meet at morning tea for me to check the players’ attendance at school. I will briefly discuss our games and announce the teams.
One of the duties he had every game day was to umpire our school games, particularly in the early years. This happened because often the master responsible for the other team had not played our game or lacked the experience to do so. This meant that he was at a disadvantage in a coaching sense because he had to make changes “on the fly.” So whenever possible, I coached both competing teams in a general sense on what to do at our local competition. However, refereeing the game gave me the opportunity to see the game up close and the skill mistakes my players made.
Most school games in local competitions and in competitions organized outside of school hours are games of relatively short duration. So I always adopted the simple game plan. It was to move the ball long and fast.
I always played with my best players on the ball or in the middle, that is, where the ball is most of the time. This allowed them to bring others into the game and increased the success of the team.
Watching our games, I rarely focused on the opposition players. I would focus on my own players to find ways to improve their performance and enjoyment of the game. After all, that was my job as a teacher.
Finally, he would always host a staff vs. student match with a difference. It was against a team of girls. The teaching team had both male and female teachers. The women’s team was joined by some of the older female footballers, dressed in women’s uniforms in the second half. I always played on the baseline as I used to be the only coach with football experience. The game attracted many students and staff as spectators.
