Assistant Manager puts young squads through their paces
Assistant Manager John Schofield headed out in to the community late last week to coach two youth teams from Hempstead Valley at a sports club in Gillingham.
The Gills number two spent an hour with both the U7 and U13 teams putting the squads through their paces and carrying out a series of exercises, before answering questions from the players and their parents before rounding out the evening.
John said it was an enjoyable experience and praised the players for the way in which they listened and took his advice on board, and he believes going out to coach younger players in the local area is part of a coach’s responsibility in the professional game.
Speaking to the club website he said:
“It’s been fantastic, Vokes Taxi’s won it as an auction prize for us to come and train a couple of their teams. There was great effort and enthusiasm from everybody, real positivity and its part and parcel of getting out in the community to spread the Gills word.
“We have come in and done sessions that we do with the first team, we have to water them down for the younger ones but it gives them a taste of what we try and do at the club.
“To work with different age groups you have to be able to break things down – I don’t envy the blokes that coach the Under-7’s, they are full of energy!
“They are a very well organised club, there was some good football with good players and they’ve tried to take on board what I tried to do with them so I’ve really enjoyed it.
“It’s always difficult when you work with a set of lads you don’t know but we kept it simple, kept it fun and got them interested. I hope they enjoyed it and it was a good fun night.
“It’s the second or third time I’ve done some work in the community – we have a good following of supporters and it’s about spreading the word and giving something back.”