1st Trip to Wembley - Part 2

England 4 v 1 Montenegro. The boys done good!

A decent professional England performance topped off a wonderful 1 st Wembley experience for me and my boy.

Starting off at 9.00am from our house in Northumberland, we set off down the A1 on a 4 hour drive to my cousins house in Bedfordshire. We arrived at base camp and then set off into London via train and tube. This was my son's first experience of the Tube and he enjoyed this as much as the football later that night.

My cousin, the perfect host and guide showed my boy and I some of the sights of London, including the Mall, Buckingham Palace, Horse Guards Parade, Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament / Big Ben, however, my son seemed to be more impressed by the numerous tame squirrels in St James Park? After a taking in sights of London and a quick pit stop at Baker Street public houses, it was off to Wembley via the Metropolitan line.

Once we arrived and emerged from the Wembley Park station, we were both taken a back by the view of the stadium complete with gleaming arch in the night sky. Walking along Wembley way was somewhat of a pipe dream of mine as a kid that never quite materialised for one reason or another. This was a very special moment for me and I was very proud to share it with my oldest boy for the first time. Each step soaked up more and more of the atmosphere and a couple of photo opportunities could not be passed up on

Upon approaching the Bobby Moore statue an overwhelming sense of pride came over me, and I tried my best to make my son understand just how iconic that statue is to the English fans.

I know that Wembley cost a fortune and over 2 years to build but it was worth every penny in my eyes. What a wonderful stadium. Once my son and I took our seats we were just in awe of the place. The atmosphere was brilliant and I asked my son if he would like to play here one day, his eyes lit up and he nodded excitedly. I genuinely believe that a visit to Wembley to watch the best footballers represent their country in a World Cup qualifier can be more educational and inspiring as any coaching or game to some youngsters.

I was lucky enough to have won tickets via the FA Coaches Club and I thank the FA for that opportunity. I hope that they will continue to provide tickets (free of charge) to many more coaches and youngsters from all around the country, in order to try provide that little extra bit of magical inspiration that was so evident in my boys face that night.
I hope England go on to win against Poland tonight and make it to the World Cup, as this will inspire hundreds or thousands of children in it self.

1st Trip to Wembley - Part 1

The modern football fan is becoming increasingly opinionated as their thirst for football viewing is saturated by more and more television exposure. This provides the 'everyone is an expert' culture in modern football as the benefit of hindsight is common place due to slow mo replays and disciplinary panels. Some modern football fans are becoming irritated by some of the exploits of todays game and now join campaigns against modern football. Whatever their opinion on the state of the game, their club or their favourite players, there is no one body that is more heavily criticised than the Football Association. Some of this criticism may be justified given the amount of money spent and the fact that we are approaching the half a century since England last won anything. I myself am looking a little beyond the current plight and to the future, a future which I believe will be proactive and constructive if not successful.

I really like what the FA are trying to do with coaching at grass roots level. I myself have now completed the Level 1, Youth Module 1 and 2 courses in the first part of my coaching journey and would like to do Level 2 in the near future. I believe that the FA are heading in the right direction and at time of writing this, I am excited to see Greg Dyke is setting up the FA Commission and including the likes of Dario Gradi and Glen Hoddle amongst it. These are people I find fascinating and are intelligent thinkers on the coaching scene. Whether the FA is successful or not will of course depend on funding, coaching opportunities and mostly on the whether or not there are going to be sufficient volunteers putting themselves forward. Young, eager coaches, who are not only willing to give up their spare time but, also harbour the desire to try and makes things better for children at grass roots level. The FA cannot do this alone, but they are certainly providing a platform for wannabe coaches via the local / regional Football Associations and with additional help from sponsors such as McDonald's Kick Start and Tesco Skills. The future is a lot brighter than when I was a child that is for sure but there is still a long way to go. I learnt to play football on the pitches of my local village against other older boys, and whilst I put in hours of dedication every day to becoming better, I never really had the opportunities to be coached or developed to a level that youngsters have today. The children of today may have a lot more opportunities than I did, but in saying that we still need the right people coaching them. This is one of the reasons I give up my time as well as to help provide opportunities for my son. I am not saying I am the right person necessarily but I am firslty volunteering and I am relying on the FA to give me the right tools to work with.

Once I passed my Level 1 qualification in football coaching, I immediately signed up to the FA Licensed Coaches club. Signing up meant that I was committing myself to further and constant learning as I must complete a minimum amount of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) each year. I am keen to do this in order to be the best coach i can be. Being a relatively new current member of the FA Licensed Coaches club for over a year now, I often visit the website and receive regular bulletins from them in order to try to keep abreast of all things new in the coaching circles of the FA. Every month the LCC offer members the opportunity to win tickets for matches and events at Wembley from the Community Shield to the England World Cup Qualifiers. I regularly enter these but until now have not been successful. Last month I was informed that I was indeed a Ballot winner for 2 x tickets to the England v Montenegro World Cup Qualifier on Friday 11th October 2013. I have decided to give my 6 year old Son a life experience and take him. We can share a moment together as it will be my first visit to the home of English football too (well being a Sunderland supporter you don't get many opportunities). I am looking forward to it and it is an important Match for England. I will try to write about the experience in Part 2

C'MON ENGLAND !