Head of Academy Coaching looking to create seamless transition within the Academy
Shrewsbury Town’s pathway for producing new stars of the future is taking yet another step forward.Earlier this year the club appointed a new Head of Academy Coaching, Eric Ramsay, who is responsible for developing themes within the Academy programme.
Eric has only been in his job a matter of months, but he is already making strides in order to aid player development.
“I’ve worked across the under-9 to under-18 spectrum”, Eric told ShrewsWeb.
“I’ve tried to get a real feel of every age group, every coach, what the programme looks like from top to bottom and try and slowly plant some seeds in terms of what the academy’s philosophies look like, what our playing principles are and the way in which we deliver these principles through particular coaching sessions.
“We’ve developed a set of core themes that run all the way through the academy from under-9s to under-18s that are developed weekly and reinforced on a regular basis. That’s with a view, that in terms of principles of play, we are pretty seamless from under-9s to under-18s.”
In order to achieve this transition Eric is constantly looking to develop the coaches within the Academy and he has been impressed with what he has seen so far.
“There’s a really good bunch of people here”, said Eric.
“Everyone’s definitely in the right place in terms of their intentions. Everyone’s in it for the players. Everyone’s very invested in all the age groups.
“In terms of the feel you get around the place and the feel you get when interacting with the coaches it’s excellent and there are some very good stay in terms of their delivery to players as well.
“But, as with all clubs, a big part of the Head of Coaches role is to continually develop the coaches and I think every coach would tell you they are on this pathway of continually trying to learn and develop.
“That’s something we are trying to facilitate by putting a CPD (Continuous Professional Development) programme in place and exposing them to a variety of external speakers and making sure everyone is moving in the right direction.”