Sports coaching and talent development is a massive part of sport every level, from grassroots to elite sport. Sports coaching is also a very attractive course for people, especially at a university like Leeds Beckett with such a big sporting pedigree. But what can change to make the course the best it can be?
Coaching plays a crucial role in the development of athletes in all sports. Without top class coaches, sport as a whole would see a drop in quality, having an affect on the industry as a whole. Programmes such as the one at Leeds Beckett are vital for the health of sport and to keep an interest in coaching.
Former Beckett football co-ordinator Ruth Brazier spoke about how vital it is to have programmes such as the one at Beckett, “It’s really important, coaching is difficult, its complex and there’s lots of different things you’ve got to think about,
“A lot of people think you’ve just got to know football and that’s it but you’ve got to understand psychology with motivating people and be able to work with people,
“Programmes at university are important because it gives people a mentor, which is really important even when you’ve got some experience but especially at a student level.”
Beckett’s football programme is one of the best in the country and has yielded great results, with the first and second men’s teams competing in the top division. The women’s side are also impressing, with the first team competing in the first division. Both the mens and women’s teams have also had success over the past few years, reaching finals and winning leagues.
Beckett’s reputation as a top university for sport covers a wide range sport, including boxing. In the past few years, Beckett have been able to rack up a number of medals in BUCS competitions with different fighters. Coach Shairb Mohammed shared how his experience of coaching at the university is: “It’s really good being a coach because you get to see the fighters develop, especially at university where you get a lot of people who’ve never boxed before,
“These people might not have fought before for different reasons and they come here and are really enthusiastic and you get to teach them and it’s great to see them grow, take them to their first fight and they win and they get really cocky and its quite funny to see the transition from nervous to cocky.”
Leeds Beckett vs Leeds University
Mohammed currently leads the coaching at Beckett but used to lead the boxing programme at Leeds university. Leeds university is traditionally seen as having a lower sporting reputation.
Mohammed’s comparison of the boxing programme between the two universities however, leaves a lot to be desired for Beckett, “I was the captain at Leeds (university) and I did my level one badge so that was great and I got a great mentor and it got me into England camps and I met lots of great cricket coaches and speak to them,
“The biggest difference is at Leeds I was given £13,000 – £15,000 to develop the club and I could do a lot with that such as hire other coaches whereas here its a much lower budget, its a bit shoestring and I can’t really hire anybody else so I’m trying to mentor a different coach who’s part of the club so it’s difficult and I have to do a lot more such as the matchmaking and the training and be on the phone more but the disparity in budget is difficult despite the great facilities we have.”
The next step
As with all degrees, a pathway after graduating is important and the coaching programme is no different. Having links and connections into the professional game is vital for people to succeed. Brazier also spoke about how programmes help their students get into the professional world: “There isn’t one set way to get into the professional side,
“For some people it’s not necessarily a goal to go professional. They might want to work in grassroots or community spaces which is great,
“For those who do want to go into the professional game it depends on what that is, is it academy football, women’s football or men’s football and there’s so many factors to consider its hard to give a straight step by step guide almost,
“The main thing is building on the experience you get at university. University football gives you fantastic exposure to really good players as well as responsibilities, whether that’s working for three points or developing players its got a bit of everything. Building experience gives you the grounding to work at academy level or senior level as well as helping you deal with the challenges you’ll face.”
Like all university sources, the coaching programme has the scope to improve. Brazier spoke about how improvements could be made to ensure more students join and that more students go on to achieve what they want, “having stronger internal links between the coaching and football programmes would help a lot,
“If you think about it as a career development programme then people will view it slightly differently and that could lead to more resources and they have made strides in that and some fantastic work is being done,
“Coaching’s about opportunities but to make it better then you could put more around the coaches such as adding more resources for strength and conditioning so the coaches get that experience and understand how that affects players and it goes more formally into their coaching.”
Is coaching a ‘mans world’?
A huge area of growth in coaching has been the number of women. At Tokyo 2020, the percentage of female coaches was 17%. This is expected to rise to 25% at Paris 2024. However, there’s still a massive disparity between male and female coaches. In the Women’s Super League, half of the mangers are female. In the Premier League, there are no female head coaches.
Brazier also spoke about the importance of getting more females into coaching at university level to help push them on into the professional game: “I think it probably starts before university,
“It’d be fantastic if you get to university and you already have a vision to do it. But it’s really important and having the more difference in a workforce the better and more creative it is with people having different experiences and upbringings whether that’s gender or something else,
“Diversity within coaching is important for me to open new opportunities for different people. I never saw a female coach growing up so I was later into it because I didn’t really see it as a feasible career choice,
“Hopefully it filters down to young girls and boys and they see coaches like them.”
