Coaching
How to join us as a coach, the courses you will need, and where to find sessions to run.
Becoming a coach
Every new coach needs a DBS check obtained through the FA. This is the one thing there is no way around: a DBS certificate from another organisation is not accepted, however recent it is, and however thorough. If you already hold one through work or another club, you will still need an FA one.
Starting your DBS
Fill in the short form and the club's welfare officer will start the process. It asks for four things:
- Your full name
- Your date of birth
- Your FAN — your FA Number, if you have one
- Your email address
If you do not have a FAN, or cannot remember it, leave it blank — the FA explains how to create or find one and we can pick it up later.
Courses
Two courses are required of every coach:
We also encourage coaches to take the England Football Playmaker course. It is short, free and a good grounding if you are new to coaching.
Claiming the cost back
The club reimburses course fees. Put your claim through Winston Ruddick, the club treasurer, at winston@westkirbyunited.co.uk. Do not let the cost put you off signing up.
Session plans
England Football Learning publishes a large library of ready-made session plans — getting on for two hundred of them, free, with videos and printable plans.
They can be filtered down to what you actually need:
- Age group
- 5–11, 12–16, 17–21 and 21+
- Theme
- Attacking, defending, coaching and more
- Player skill
- Passing, finishing, marking, intercepting, moving with the ball, communication and others
- Format
- Single sessions, or multi-week programmes that build across a block
If you find one that works well for your age group, tell the other coaches — it saves everyone the search.
Safeguarding
Everyone coaching at the club works to the Code of Conduct and the club's safeguarding policy. Two pieces of FA guidance are worth reading before your first session, both on the documents page:
- Photographing and filming children — what is and is not appropriate, and how to handle parents taking photos.
- Names on shirts — why a name on the back of an under-18 shirt makes a child identifiable, and why the FA asks for written consent from the player and their parent or carer before one goes on.
The club’s own photography and filming guidance sets out what parents and spectators may share. One part of it is yours: before a match, check with the opposition coach for any safeguarding restrictions — for example children in foster care or witness protection. If the opposition objects, no filming can take place during that match, and it is on you to tell your parents so.
The club does not put player names on shirts at all. Squad numbers only, on every team and every age group, rather than collecting and keeping that consent shirt by shirt. If you are ordering kit, there is more on the kit page.
Also worth having to hand
- Match day responsibilities — what is expected of you before, during and after a game.
- Keeping up the good behaviour — the chairman on FA disciplinary points, and what the club needs from players and supporters.
- Training rota — who trains where, and when.
- Book a pitch — for club representatives. Other coaches ask their representative on WhatsApp, as now.
- Our venues — pitch plans, parking and defibrillator locations.
- Ordering kit — match day kit for your team from O'Neills.
- Coaches' kit — the club's leisurewear range for coaches.
- Documents — policies, insurance and the coaches' expectations.
- Coaches' documents — player registration guidance, for signed-in coaches.