The FA Coach Mentors

FA Coach Mentor Programme

FA Coach Mentor programme

At The Nottinghamshire FA Coaches Club launch in October, and in our first newsletter, we introduced you to FA Coach Mentor, Anthony Beaumont. Anthony is available to members of the Coaches club to offer advice, guidance, ideas and help with anything linked to coaching.

For those who were not at the launch, and who may want to know a little more about it, we thought we’d remind you what it was all about.

The FA Coach Mentor programme began as a pilot in 2013, and was expanded for the 2014-15 season, when 300 Mentors were contracted on a self-employed basis by the FA, to provide mentor support to grassroots clubs.

The aim of the program is simple – to improve the coaching in grassroots football. This is all part of  The FA’s National Game Strategy, under the heading of Better Players. The reasoning behind it being Better Coaches = Better Players.

Initially the mentors worked mainly in Charter Standard Community Clubs, working with the club to develop a coaching philosophy, to which all its coaches can work to and working with individuals and groups of coaches. They provide support at training and at match days, whatever the coach wants or needs. Sometimes it’s just someone to chat to about issues they have.

The work undertaken by the mentors is now more varied and diverse. They still work in clubs but also undertake other projects alongside their club work. This season we have Mentors who work with BAME Coaches, one working with U7 coaches in the Kickstart League, two offering mentor support to coaches undertaking Level 1 and 2 qualifications, and of course there’s Anthony working with you in the Coaches Club.

Part of the Mentor Programme is to work with clubs to leave a legacy of mentoring; anyone who is thinking about helping other coaches in their clubs, can find out more about the mentoring process by attending one of our Mentoring Adults courses. The course covers the skills you need to be an effective mentor, and is obviously focused around coaches, it is a certificated course, which is recorded against your FAN as a qualification. If you ever want to apply to become an FA Mentor, you need to have this qualification.

Our next course is taking place as follows:

  • When: Wednesday 14th March and the 21st
  • Time: 6.30pm-9.30pm (You must attend both sessions to receive the award)
  • Where: Joseph Whittaker School, Warsop Lane, Rainworth, Mansfield, NG21 0AG

You can book a place on the course (cost is £10) by clicking HERE.

The FA is committed to the programme and mentor support will be available to clubs for the 2018/19 season.

If your club would like to apply to be allocated a mentor for next season, they just need to email

Tim Jones – FDO on Tim.Jones@Nottinghamshirefa.com

We will try to accommodate as many clubs as we can. The current Mentor team is as follows:

Samantha Griffiths (East Midlands Regional Coach Mentor Officer)

Steve Thompson

Damian Beattie

John Adams

Anthony Beaumont

Scott Corah

Alex Trukan

Jake Kemp

You can watch a short film about the FA Coach Mentor Programme by clicking HERE.