Nottingham Forest Football Academy

CPD Events Update

CPD Pete Sturgess' England DNA Foundation Phase Postponed 

On the plus side, we have spoken with Pete and Eastwood CFC and we can confirm the event will be re-arranged for a Monday evening in the New Year! 

This week was set to hold the biggest CPD event of the season, Pete Sturgess’s England DNA Foundation Phase workshop, until the British weather decided to step in and ruin the fun, unfortunately the evening had to be postponed due to bad weather conditions.

Everyone who booked a space on the event will have their place reserved, we will keep you updated on the new details as soon as they are confirmed.

Despite this not going to plan, we have had some positive stories over the past few weeks. November saw the first of our Coaches Club CPD events take place which proved a great success as detailed below…

Coaches Club at NFFC Academy

Our first Nottinghamshire FA Coaches club CPD session took place at the Nigel Doughty Academy on Tuesday 28th November, with over 20 Coaches Club members in attendance. The event was hosted by Nottingham Forest’s head of coaching, Jody Caudwell.

Jody explained to the group the philosophy of the academy, and how the club works hard to be exceptional developers of the young players in their care. He talked about the clubs Academy Traits, the things that they look for, and ways they develop the players, to help them become not only better players, but better people. The Traits Wheel, on the wall in the academy, clearly shows the demands they have of their players.

Tacticts was the theme of the CPD and the coaches were fascinated by the input from U15s lead coach, Tom Mallinson. Tom explained that as the players moved up through the age groups, they tried to give them experiences that will help in the transition to the senior teams; one of these was the increased use of analysis, not only of themselves, but also of their opponents.

The U15s play in a round robin tournament, which this season sees them face Manchester City, Manchester United and Rotherham. The coaches showed the group footage of the game between City and Rotherham, and the players were asked to analyse their opponents, trying to devise strategies which would help them in their upcoming game against Rotherham.

Tom explained how they were asking the players to play, in certain situations that they may encounter during the game.

We then had the pleasure of observing this same U15s team play against Burton Albion, our coaches were tasked to look at a number of things during the game, including coach behaviours on the side line. At half time we all went back into the warmth and debriefed with Jody about what we had seen, there were some fantastic discussions, with the coaches firing insightful and challenging questions to the head coach.

Jody finished his presentation by outlining the effect that the academy is having on the club as a whole, by producing players equipped to make the step up into senior football, whether with Forest, or with other teams the players moved to, either on loan, or on a permanent basis.

The likes of Ben Osborne, Joe Worral, Ben Brereton and Jordan Smith are all 1st team regulars, Jorge Grant and Ryan Yates are enjoying great success whilst on loan across Trent Bridge at Notts County. Forest are also big contributors to the England Youth and age teams, with several players involved with their country in the past 12 months, helping to achieve the great success we have experienced. 

The evening ended with our coaches’ club prize draw, with Rob Jevanovic from Burton Joyce walking away with a first prize of 2 x tickets to a Reds game.

A great evening at the academy, the first of three that we have planned for the 2017/18 season.

With a huge thank you to Jody, Tom and the rest of the academy staff, and players who made us very welcome.

We’ll see you next time!

Upcoming CPD Events

In addition to our coaching events, Nottinghamshire FA are also running an Autism Awareness Workshop in January, delivered by Autism East Midlands to help coaches gain the knowledge and understanding of how to deliver inclusive football sessions.

The workshop is suitable for anybody linked to a grass roots club or delivering football in the community and will count towards CPD hours. For more info on this event or to book online please click here. Alternatively, contact sara.dickinson@nottinghamshirefa.com for more details.

  • Monday 15th January
  • Nottinghamshire FA, Chilwell
  • Autism Awareness Workshop

We are also hosting a CPD event at Notts County in January, once all final details are confirmed the booking link will be emailed to all Coaches Club members, so keep your eyes peeled!