As the year comes to an end, we wanted to thank those coaches who have been part of our first ever Coaches Committee.
It has been a really useful exercise in hearing your voices about the challenges
and opportunities in MAN v FAT, along with getting your feedback on our own thoughts on programme development.
We are now accepting applications for the new Coaches Committee, with the deadline for applications being 5pm on Sunday 8th December 2024.
THE APPLICATION FORM CAN BE DOWNLOADED HERE.
James Stanford, our a MAN v FAT coach at Cardiff and Newport was on our original committee and here are his thoughts about how it has gone.
Why did you get involved with the Coaches Committee?
It was another opportunity to meet more coaches and hopefully be able to take away great ideas and share any insights I might have. I think that as, effectively, remote lone workers sometimes we can feel in a silo and disconnected from what others are doing. The Coaches Committee was a great way to connect with other coaches and to check my own practices.
What did you take away from the meetings?
They are really purposeful. It’s incredible the level of QA that goes into every decision. Initially it feels slow and you want decisions to be made sooner, but you soon come to realise in an organisation with 8000+ members, 150+ unique locations and hundreds of staff that the choices you’ll be part of need proper thought. To see these come to fruition is brilliant though.
You can clearly see your impact and you’ll chat with players who will have benefitted from the inputs you made.
What was the biggest influence you felt the committee had during your time on it?
Too much to mention. Developing the role of captains and coaches, giving input into various operating procedures of the organisation, giving feedback on events and training offers and advocating for effective use of assistant coaches, pay increases for staff and effective mental health support programme launches. All vital stuff that we can see in action today.
What would you say to coaches considering joining the committee in 2025?
Do it. It’s an amazing opportunity to offer other coaches and the organisation help and support in ways you didn’t even know needed your involvement. After you join, fully commit. Be there for as many meetings as you can manage and be a consistent voice in the room. If won’t take long to see the benefit of you being involved for both your own league and the whole MAN v FAT Football organisation.