Introduction – Who Am I, and What Is CRL Sports About?

Soccer is more than just a game - a growth, resilience, and opportunity journey. With over 23 years of experience coaching at all levels, from grassroots to elite, I’ve dedicated my career to helping players, coaches, and teams unlock their full potential. My mission is simple: to empower individuals and organisations to achieve their goals and exceed expectations. Welcome to CRL Sports - where development meets opportunity.

My ultimate goal has always been to help people. Initially, my “why” centred around being a Head Coach. While this remains true, I’ve realised it’s just one part of my purpose. My actual “why” is broader - it’s about helping people grow as individuals, teams, or organisations. Whether it be mentoring, profiling or serving as a “critical friend” to a coach, player, club or organisation, my focus is always on development and progress.

Now, who am I? I am Craig Large, a UEFA A Licenced and English FA Advanced Youth Award qualified coach with an MSc in Sport Coaching and an EMCC qualified Mentor. My career has spanned decades, giving me the privilege of working at all levels of the game. Through my MSc dissertation, I explored the characteristics required for a Head Coach to succeed. However, a supporting strand to these characteristics is opportunity. After all, no matter how talented someone is, their potential means little if they don’t have the chance to showcase it. My goal is to provide those opportunities and help individuals seize them.

How I Can Help

At CRL Sports, I offer services to support individuals and organisations in soccer. Let’s explore how I can make a difference:

1. Mentoring

Having been mentored, I’ve experienced firsthand the power of having a trusted sounding board. Mentoring is not about providing answers but helping individuals make sense of their thoughts and emotions in a safe and confidential environment.

As a mentor, I work with players and coaches to:

• Navigate challenges with clarity.

• Reflect on their goals and actions.

• Grow personally and professionally.

I empower mentees to find their paths and confidently make decisions by offering guidance without dictating solutions.

2. Coach Development

I’ve always sought to grow as a coach, driven not by certificates but by a thirst for knowledge. With my background, I work collaboratively with coaches to design bespoke development plans tailored to their unique needs. Here’s how:

• For Performance Coaches: Using research from my MSc dissertation, we assess key success characteristics and identify improvement areas. Together, we’ll craft a strategy to elevate your coaching career.

• For Development Coaches: We focus on how you can continue to grow while fostering the development of your players. This includes feedback on session design, game analysis, and reflection techniques.

Whether in person or remotely, I’m here to guide you in becoming your best coach.

3. Player Development

Helping players reach their full potential is at the heart of what I do. I profile players to create personalised development pathways, focusing on their strengths and areas for improvement. Using my development model, I provide a solid foundation that allows players to build skills, confidence, and a deeper understanding of the game.

4. Working with Clubs

Clubs often face challenges that require an external perspective. Here’s how I can assist:

• Leadership Roles: I can take on a direct role, leading a team or assisting coaching staff to achieve club objectives.

• Mentoring and Critical Friend: Sometimes, an independent voice is needed - someone who isn’t directly tied to the club but can provide honest feedback and support. I can serve as a “critical friend” for coaches, staff, or players, offering unbiased reflections and relieving some of their pressures.

5. Scouting

I provide detailed reports on players, teams, and staff. My scouting work includes:

• Evaluating strengths and areas for improvement.

• Grading performance and assessing how individuals fit within a team’s structure.

• Offering insights for both immediate and future planning.

6. Research

My MSc dissertation was an incredibly fulfilling experience, allowing me to explore the intricacies of soccer coaching and development. Research continues to be a passion of mine, and I’m eager to collaborate with others on topics that can inform and improve future practices. Engaging in discussions, challenging assumptions, and learning from others are central to my philosophy.

Why Work with Me?

The environment we’ll create together will be honest, challenging, and, above all, safe. You will hear what you need to hear, not just what you want to hear. This collaboration will be built on trust, and I will support you in achieving your goals while pushing boundaries.

I know what it’s like to overcome challenges and seize unexpected opportunities. My career shouldn’t have happened - but it did because I worked hard and had the right people supporting me. Now, I want to be that person for others.

Join Me on This Journey

If you’re ready to take your next step - whether as a player, coach, or organisation - I’m here to help. Let’s start a conversation and explore how we can work together to achieve your goals. Contact me today to learn more and set up an initial consultation.

Understanding your worth or understanding yourself?

Which should come first, someone else's belief in you or your own? The answer is that it needs to come from within first. Now, it is nice when someone shows faith and says that you are capable or have the potential to be more than you may be showing. As Derek Jeter said, "If you don't believe in yourself, why should anyone else believe in you?" and "We can be our own best friends or our own worst enemies."

These words highlight the crucial role of self-belief in our journey of personal growth, empowering us to take control and reach our full potential.

But why does it need to come from within? How can you achieve anything if you can't see the potential from within? But what is potential? The dictionary definition is "having or showing the capacity to develop into something in the future."

This, to me, leaves some questions that need to be thought over and answered: -

Where does your belief come from?

How do you know it's correct for you?

If we don't champion ourselves, why should anyone else?

What is stopping you from believing someone else's opinion of you?

How do you prove you are capable without getting an opportunity?

Is some self-doubt helpful?

While I don't have all the answers to these questions, I am writing them down to aid self-reflection. Over time, more could be added, answered, or figured out.

I am not trying to answer all these questions now; I want them here for some reflection, as I am sure more can be added. Over time, these questions can be answered or figured out. Regular practice of self-reflection can be a powerful tool for personal growth and self-improvement. 

Imagine someone asking you, 'What unique qualities do you bring to the table?' How would you respond? Could you confidently list your strengths, or would you hesitate? Would you know or be apprehensive about how you react? Keeping your thoughts inside you. This is where keeping a reflective journal could help, keeping your thoughts in one place and a first step towards understanding your worth and potential.

Consider this quote from Ellen Johnson Sirleaf: "If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough. The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them. If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough." I try to use this to inspire myself to embrace my fears and chase after my dreams that seem to be out of reach 

This may be a big generalisation, or I might be talking about myself. Most of us are shaped by the limitations we impose upon ourselves—the defensive walls we put up to ensure we don't get hurt and protect ourselves. We often hinder our progress due to fear or self-doubt. But remember, you have the power to break through these. All we must do is embrace our fears and let go of self-doubt. 

I'm more capable than I allow myself to believe. But those capabilities are only starting to happen and get to be shown because of situations I have gone through, comfortable and uncomfortable. I can sit here now and speak with some clarity about what I bring to a role or situation, and that is due in no small part to personal and professional circumstances that I have been through the past few years, understandings from my MSc in Sport Coaching degree at Leeds Beckett which has made me face and scale some of walls that I had put up and also my time on the Elite Head of Coaches Course (EHOC) which has got me to take a look at myself and how I am as well as getting others to give their opinions. 

This is now turning into a waffle, but the point of view I now look from is that you need clarity of what you bring and who you are. Stand tall, walk confidently, and speak with the utmost belief in your words.  If others can't see that (or don't want to), you can't do anything about it. But by recognising and embracing what you bring, you are putting your best foot forward. It might just not be the right time for that situation. But it doesn't diminish your worth; it is all part of the journey and might even be something that will develop you more!

I will leave with these two quotes: If, when you wake up in the morning, you can think of nothing but writing, then you are a writer. Rainer Maria Rilke's "Letters to a Young Poet." You must believe without a doubt in yourself!

Arsene Wenger – "Don't be scared to be ambitious. It's not a humiliation to have a high target and to fail. For me, the real humiliation is to have a target and not to give everything to reach it".

You are the driver of your own destiny. Face challenges head-on, enjoy your reflection in the mirror, and see what you can accomplish. Don't be scared to put your head above everybody else. 

When looking to develop yourself, is it also better to see yourself through other people's eyes?

They say that the eyes are the window to the soul. When you want a well-rounded and honest view of who you are, only trusting your opinion, in my opinion, can't be the only way to look at it. I know from personal experience that I had been too tough on myself and others not tough enough. These skewed opinions can sometimes be beneficial, but rarely do you find that sweet spot of where to develop, what we excel at, and a well-rounded, accurate representation of ourselves when all the other walls and defences are down.

It is a blend of your opinion and using trusted people. Looking through your own eyes allows for: -

Self-reflection

Self-reflection is something I am looking to add more and more into what I do. I read an interview conducted by David Artell at the start of last season, who spoke about how Pep Guardiola reflects every three days. I tried to do this throughout the season with varying degrees of success. I set some base questions to answer, such as how well I communicated with people and anything else I thought relevant. Reading back over them has provided some interesting insights. I also used the reflection app, which I found easier to record my thoughts. These are also in addition to reflecting on sessions and my performance. Being as honest as possible is imperative when reflecting –good, bad, or indifferent. I find doing a hot debrief after a session worthwhile – either a voice note or a note on my phone. Then a couple of days later, I would go over what I have said and put if that still feels relevant or if I am thinking differently.

Experiences

When faced with new experiences, check in on yourself and see how you feel. Your gut feeling will give you an indication of how you are handling situations. Facing new situations helps you grow. I would never have said being a Head of Coaching was something for me, but I love what I am going. For the final few weeks of the season, I had the opportunity to lead the Academy, which gave me an excellent opportunity to be responsible for the decision made at that time. I enjoyed the experience more than I thought, but it confirmed that I'm still not ready to sit behind a desk. I still want to be involved in coaching and being on the grass. There are still things I want to do and achieve in these areas. The experience from this has given me opportunities to grow.

Through other people's eyes

Mentors

These can be formal and informal. It has only really been the last 12-18 months that I have appreciated and understood the power of having mentors. For many years I have had, without knowing, informal mentors. People with whom I can discuss football, tactics, development, players etc. These people, I have always said, have come into my life at the right time for the stage of my development. Some were tougher than others, and looking back, I can see the part they have played in the development to where I am now and my confidence in myself. Over the past few months, due to the role I have, I have been given formal mentors and introduced to other mentors who have helped me immensely with how I act and should act in situations I face.

A child

As we know, children don’t have filters and say it as they see it, at times even to the detriment of our egos, and I find this is a good reality check; I have been lucky to have a nephew and two nieces who let me know what they are thinking and if they see any changes.

Conclusion

Trust, honesty, and relationships are the critical thread that runs through these four. When looking at yourself, be truthful; that doesn't mean you must tear yourself to shreds. Just take the emotion out of it and see it for what is good, bad, or indifferent. When using other people's eyes, know whose opinions you trust. Not just to be told well done, but who will tell you what you need to hear. The relationships you have with people then play a crucial role. To build trust in relationships with people, honesty is always a critical element. If you know people can be truthful with their words and actions, trust and relationships can build. Always be wary of people who are nice to your face but are critical of you behind your back. For your development, you need to trust the words people tell you.

The individual within the team

What should people focus on within team sports? The team or the individual? This a considerable generalisation – here is how I look at it. Firstly, what defines a team? Only for writing this, I checked what the dictionary definition is: -

noun

a group of players forming one side in a competitive game or sport.

verb

come together as a team to achieve a common goal.

Both descriptions fit in with how I see things. In my opinion, a team is a sum of all parts, each working together. Looking to the layer below that is the individual, now I am not going to dwell on the development vs winning debate; that can be for another time; for a team to achieve a set outcome, the individual must understand themselves and what is expected of them. If all 11 (from a football point of view) understand this, then, in my opinion, the result has more of a chance of ‘taking care of itself’.

What does understanding yourself mean? Obviously, for clarity, I mean to understand yourself as a player. This goes on throughout the whole age group spectrum. The players should experiment and develop a skills base within the Foundation phase stages (up to and including U12). The phrase that I have adopted is “filling the toolbox”. Within the Foundation ages, I want the players to make errors and see what works for them. By allowing players to experiment and express themselves, they learn by doing. The coach should then drop in questions to aid understanding and determine what the player has seen. A phrase that doesn’t sit well with me at any age is “make the right decision”, but what is the right decision? A positive outcome? Only what the coach has seen? What if the player has seen something the coach hasn’t, and it's more of a technical issue – you will only know that by asking a question.

For this phase, the team (again, in my opinion) isn’t about tactics; it’s about getting the players to understand traits and cues. Taking the moment of negative transition, for example, for the Foundation Phase, do they need to know the ins and out of it? – or would a simple reminder of ‘being closer to our goal than the ball is’ work just as well?

Moving into the Youth development phase, each player must understand what is expected of them regarding their role and responsibilities. It is also essential for the coach to understand the player; in doing so, this allows the coach to set achievable expectations for the U13 and U14 age groups and build on the layers that have been developed within the Foundation Phase. When entering the Youth Development Phase, building experiences via pitch references help the individuals understand their role within the team dynamic. Blending these and game moment principles provides the base of knowledge from which the player can work.

As we move through the U15 and U16s in the Youth Development Phase and enter the Professional Development Phase, using the team strategy as the overall picture we want to build. As in the other age groups having simple sayings, usable pitch references and clear principles for the players to work with.

Building a team is like a puzzle; you must know how the pieces fit together. The result will be a by-product of how they all do. It is also the coach's skill to relate what is expected from each player and make the information relatable to them.

CRPS Awareness - Personal

November is Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) Awareness Month. On the first Monday in November it is Colour the world Orange day to help raise awareness. This is where people are encouraged to wear the colour Orange to show your support and to get people talking.

CRPS has been known by different names firstly Reflect Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) and Causalgia. It is also known as the suicide disease. This due to the debilitating effects the disease has not only physically but also mentally, being in pain 24 hours a day, not knowing where to turn and in some cases trapping them - going from healthy active people to someone who struggles with the most basic task.

CPRS is a chronic pain condition, one that lasts more than 6 months, that most often one limb usually after an injury has occurred. CPRS is thought to be caused by damage or an injury to the peripheral and/or central nervous systems. In layman's terms it is the over stimulus of the sympathetic nerve, which is used to send and receive signals from the brain to the rest of the body. The sympathetic nerve will send signals to an injured area of the body i.e. a sprained ankle. The injury will then become swollen, the body's natural response to an injury. The trouble is these signals don’t get 'switched off'. The affected area as well as swelling also changes colour, temperature and also becomes sensitive to even breeze going across your skin.

CRPS is divided into two types:  CRPS-I and CRPS-II. Individuals without a confirmed nerve injury are classified as having CRPS-I (RSD).  CRPS-II (causalgia) is when there is an associated, confirmed nerve injury.  As some research has identified evidence of nerve injury in CRPS-I, it is unclear if this disorder will always be divided into two types.  Nonetheless, the treatment is similar.

It is estimated that CRPS affects 1 in 3,800 people in the UK alone. This accounts for around about 15,000 new cases every year. It also doesn’t take into account any undiagnosed or misdiagnosed cases

CRPS symptoms vary in severity and duration, although some cases are mild and eventually go away.  In more severe cases, individuals may not recover and may have long-term disability.

With currently there being no known cure for CPRS, treatment is more around the relieving of pain. Therapies used include psychotherapy, physical therapy, and drug treatment, such as topical analgesics, narcotics, corticosteroids, antidepressants and anti-seizure drugs.

With pain being 'unseen' it is often hard for people to understand what someone with CPRS is going through. With everyone having their own levels of pain that they can endure and some who don’t like to talk about how they are feeling or what they are going through. To try and give this a bit of a visual for people to get an understanding of the levels pain that people go through, on the McGill pain scale RSD has been classified as at least 42 out of 50.

Now it is time to spread the word, increase awareness and not be happy with just helping to relieve pain. A. cure must be found! Now people who have this condition go through a lot physically and mentally. I would like to put myself through a series of events to help push myself to what would be of fraction of what these extraordinary people go through with CPRS. No one should have to live in pain, it's time something is about it #timetofindacure #timetoputoutthefire #rememberwhyyoustarted #CRPSawareness #CRPSOrangeDay

Here are some links to help you find out more about Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_regional_pain_syndrome

https://rsds.org/definition-of-crps/

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/complex-regional-pain-syndrome/

https://painuk.org/members/charities/burning-nights-crps-support/

The Foundation Phase – An overview of my thoughts.

My thoughts on what a Foundation Phase should consist of.

For me the Foundation Phase should start from when the child first kicks a ball through to and including the U12’s age group.

One of the good things I believe that has come out of the England DNA is the line about the ‘Golden Thread’ that should run through a club. To truly know what you need to start with you need to know what the end point is meant to look like. Now this isn’t a debate on what is the best style of football to play or you have to ‘play the right way’. That is what makes football what it is, everyone has their own way of playing, their own thoughts on what should be done. The problem in my opinion used to be that in Academies and Grassroots different age groups played different ways within the same club. Now is that fair on the players? Will it aid players in their development with mixed messages?

Now I have been lucky in my time at Oldham Athletic that we have had some excellent guests come in and talk and give presentations on their experiences and express their opinions. One that has stuck with me is when Eric Harrison came in and spoke about his time at Manchester United. He said how he always made sure “it wouldn’t be a surprise for the players if Sir Alex came and asked for a player” It could be their only chance to impress, and their standards needed to be at the minimum expected at first team level how or you were setting them up to fail.

But I digress, for me because of the influences I have had through my coaching and the work I have done at Oldham Athletic, I am someone who believes that the Foundation phase is about the individual. Dominating the 1v1 both in attacking and defending situations and giving players experiences in all situations of the game. I was lucky in my early education to be introduced to considering 4 types of situations, the defender from front, the defender from behind, defender from the side and the defender from an angle. Having spoken with people over the years, some just see the attacking nature or the potential to isolate a skill in each of the areas.

But for the attacking nature of a player to get better, then the defending has to push and challenge them. One helps develop the other, the duel returns are massive as long as you can see how to do it. When working on each area it is crucial not to work it in isolation. In a ‘simple’ 1v1 practice as I say above you are working on the attacking attributes of one player, the defending attributes of the other, and to start the practice you can start off with a pass, which is working on passing and receiving skills. Inadvertently you are working on tactics as the attacker is learning to recognise space to attack. Defenders are also working on sending players into certain areas (showing a player inside or outside), not forgetting all the physical returns players are getting in accelerating/decelerating, changes of direction etc.

A very basic 1v1 that allows for multiple outcomes and returns. As stated above 

That 1v1 practice links into games as well. Can you manipulate any game you are playing (in training or not) to create these 1v1’s?

A 'game' which has been manipulated to create the 1v1's that have been worked on in the session. A game doesn't always have to just be a game.

Game day what should they look like?

•       Children playing – not adults

•       Being able to express themselves

•       Showing what they know and understand

•       Replicate what is being done within training (sessions are the lessons, games are the exam)

•       Do they show the traits of your club?

•       Do they love what they are doing?

•       Players are positive on the ball

•       Do they show a love for all parts of the game? Celebrate defending as well as attacking!

Rotating positions is something that has been much debated, for me this is a must. At the younger ages who can really tell what position is going to best suit a player? People can have an idea, but are we short changing the players with this type of thinking?

I am not advocating rotating positions for the sake of it. The reasoning behind it is to provide players with as many different learning experiences as possible. By playing a more attack minded player in defensive positions will then expose them to situations where they have to defend, but also, they get to experience what it feels like. Where didn’t they like the attacker going? Where did they feel comfortable? Which types of runs made it difficult to defend against? These experiences can then be used when they are back in an attacking position.

The number of players playing in the games: for me less is more. Working 1v1’s through to 5v5 in small sided games in training and warm ups. Focussing on improving each player individually – in my opinion if this is done correctly, then players will be able work well with others within a ‘team’.

As the players get older then that’s when we should be adding in more players, but I wouldn’t jump from 7v7 to 9v9 as we currently do from U10’s to U11’s I would personally go to 8v8 just by adding 1 player you are adding the next layer to the players. By adding 2 it’s a big jump. Some players can handle this, others can’t. For the players that can easily handle the adding of players, with only adding one. It’s a perfect opportunity to challenge the boys that are striving whilst not overstressing the boys who need a little more support.

To finish everyone will have their own idea on how younger players should be developed, whether that be as an individual or as a team. For me its understanding where each individual is terms of strengths and areas to work on. Having that at the forefront of your mind should point you in the right direction. During games do they show what you have been working on in training? Do they enjoy what they are doing? Do they show the traits of your team/club? For me everything interlinks individual and team. But when working with a player know your WHY for them. That will have a knock-on affect for everything else that happens. Hopefully I have been able to get across my points on how I would work within the Foundation Phase, I know it won't be everyones way of doing it. But it's A way and I believe in it.

Why do I want to raise awareness of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CPRS) #rememberwhyyoustarted

Being honest it’s two-fold. I want to give meaning to some of the things that I do. I have wanted to raise awareness leading on to then raising money for charity for a while but have found taking the step difficult. One of the things I struggled with is choosing the right one. Not because I couldn’t find one that was deserving. I just couldn’t find one that would help my Dad and people who suffer the same condition, or conditions as it now for him.

My Dad suffers from something called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RDS) or as it is more commonly known now as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS).

What is complex regional pain syndrome?

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a chronic (lasting greater than six months) pain condition that most often affects one limb (arm, leg, hand, or foot) usually after an injury.  CRPS is believed to be caused by damage to, or malfunction of, the peripheral and central nervous systems.  The central nervous system is composed of the brain and spinal cord; the peripheral nervous system involves nerve signalling from the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body.  CRPS is characterized by prolonged or excessive pain and changes in skin colour, temperature, and/or swelling in the affected area.

CRPS is divided into two types:  CRPS-I and CRPS-II. Individuals without a confirmed nerve injury are classified as having CRPS-I (previously known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome).  CRPS-II (previously known as causalgia) is when there is an associated, confirmed nerve injury.  As some research has identified evidence of nerve injury in CRPS-I, it is unclear if this disorder will always be divided into two types.  Nonetheless, the treatment is similar.

CRPS symptoms vary in severity and duration, although some cases are mild and eventually go away.  In more severe cases, individuals may not recover and may have long-term disability.

(go to https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Fact-Sheets/Complex-Regional-Pain-Syndrome-Fact-Sheet for more information)

To try and give this a bit of a visual for people to understand, on the McGill pain scale RSD has been classified as at least 42 out of 50

The 5th November 2018 is Colour the World Orange day to help raise awareness of Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome (CPRS); this is now an annual event and it is to help raise awareness. It takes place on the first Monday in November. November is CRPS Awareness month #letsturntheworldorange #letsputoutthefire. I failed to start my fund raising before November last year, but I won’t fail again!

Here is why the ‘condition’ is one that is close to me. My Dad has suffered with it for over 20 years. I have seen the affects it can have on a person and how it can change them. Turn them from someone who used to drive over 2000 miles in a week to someone who even a slight bump on an uneven surface would send crippling pain throughout their body.

It was the 3rd March 1997 and as silly as this may sound, I can remember it like it has only just happened. A Monday, Newcastle vs Southampton was the Monday Night football match on Sky Sports. My dad came home unexpectedly, on crutches after a minor fall at work.

He went to the hospital to check out if there was any kind of fracture, but because of the swelling he was unable to have an x-ray so had the leg in a cast until the swelling had gone down. The swelling didn’t, what happened was his foot become very sensitive to even the slightest breeze and this would send severe shooting pains through his body. When he went back to the hospital he was told that he was suffering with a condition called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD), now known as Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome. When a person gets injured their sympathetic nervous system sends signals to the injured area to instruct the body to protect the area until it is healed, hence the swelling. The problem with RSD is that the messages from the brain don’t get ‘switched off’, so pain continues to be felt and the affected area stays swollen.

What has followed is a series of procedures which were meant to help but in fact has made his condition and his quality of life far worse.

The first procedure was a sympathectomy, and this was done in two parts over two weeks. After the first procedure all seemed well. The second part was to have chemicals injected which would reverse the pain messages from the brain. A side effect could be a SLIGHT NUMBNESS in the leg. What really happened has changed my dad forever. The slight numbness is in fact the whole left leg, leaving him wheelchair bound. It has also affected the pain messages, moving them from his ankle to his waist and left him in severe pain 24 hours a day. So now not only does he have CPRS, but it’s been intensified by the procedure and left him unable to walk. 

Next, he had a procedure called a dorsal column implant. This is like a tens machine where electrical impulses are sent through the body to help with pain relief. This implant helped, but as it was internal the batteries only have a certain lifespan, which is meant to be 5 years. It lasted 18 months because of the amount of use it was getting, this happens. So, he has had have further surgery to change the internal unit for an external one. This then allows changing of batteries on the external unit.

Following this, the next surgery he had to help deal with the pain was to have his spine opened up and some nerve endings burnt away to stop the pain messages being passed throughout the body. The surgeon said after the surgery that if he would have been able to perform the procedure earlier it could have been a success, but the pain messages had jumped on to different neural pathways. It was also discussed after this that my dad shouldn’t have any more procedures done as it only seems to intensify the pain he is in.

Nobody should have to live like this. From the groups that I have joined on Facebook and other websites that I have looked into, there doesn’t really seem to have been much more progress made. This now needs to change. So, I signed up for the Manchester 10k, 3 Triathlons and the Rochdale half marathon. All with the purpose of pushing me physically, but hopefully raise money for research into a cure.

Now the Manchester 10k has gone and I completed my first Triathlon yesterday, and still have 2 more to go. Along with 2 half marathons to do. Raising awareness starts now with more things to follow #letsputoutthefire #rememberwhyyoustarted

Who am I? And how was last season for me?

I sit here looking at the screen for some inspiration or even a distraction. Attempting for what’s probably the 5th time to put a blog post together and then actually post it!

I think back to what’s probably the most valuable season been I have had in a long time! Why? Because I have spent time developing me not only as a coach but as a person.

With my role as Lead Foundation Phase Coach I have to have or at least be working towards the UEFA A and the Advanced Youth Award (AYA), I did the Foundation Phase course on the AYA. Now my A Licence has been going on for a while and when I first started out coaching that was the pinnacle. When you qualify and get awarded your A Licence you can then coach within the pro game. Over recent years the Youth Modules have been developed to add the human side to the knowledge of coaching qualifications.

I have to say I have been hugely impressed with everything about the AYA. One of the overriding message was about being selfish. Not that everything has to be about you, but to take away as much as you can from the course, ask questions, research. Think what works for you and how you can implement it within your coaching, ‘Remember to always sharpen your axe!’

I would go as far to say that the AYA has done more for me than my A Licence blocks of work did. Although the AYA is around the player and the structures of practice to build in around the 4 corners. It posed me questions like what is my philosophy? What are my values and beliefs? When challenged do I really believe in my values and beliefs or do they bend depending on what’s happening? It also poses the question of having real meat on the bones about what you want from a session and how it’s going to help the players.

It's safe to say I’m very hard on myself and like to think the standards that I set myself are high, one of the areas I have progressed in, over the last few years is being a better reflexor. After season rather than just being harsh on myself I can now look more objectively at how everything went. This has happened because of the people around me. I am lucky in a way I not only have some very good people around me, also people I trust to give me honest feedback and say it as it is rather than be fluffy and sugar coat things. I believe in honesty within what we do, it allows for better conversation and this helps develop better reflection. Not only after a session, but during it. Being able to talk within a session allows for better practice development. Which will then help to develop the players as everything is pushing/stretching the players at the right level.

It’s has been interesting learning the academic side to the course and being able to put theories to what and why we do certain things in coaching. This then helps you understand why you do certain things, most people who go on the AYA will probably already do some of what we are being taught. But now we can know the science around it. Listening to the external speakers who bring their own knowledge and expertise, as well as some straight talking. What you could feel from all who presented was a passion for what they did.

Something that it did do, that probably went more into my subconscious and plant a seed was that I needed to know who I was? Not only in terms of what I wanted with a philosophy or my values and beliefs etc. But who I am when I coach, who is the real Craig Large?

When I speak to people I often say I felt like I was coaching my best around 5/6 years ago. It felt natural in what I was doing. I believed everything I said. The enthusiasm came across. For one reason or another that’s probably changed over years and I’ve gone from being me (rightly or wrongly), to trying to be someone else or something I’m not.

This year through a lot of reflection and in that honest reflection (good & bad) from myself and others I am rediscovering who I am. Taking the opportunity to be more ‘business like’ as it was put to me rather than trying to help everyone and answer every question asked from people not in the session. I had to remember that the coaching session is my time.

As all this was going on with my courses and using the support sessions that come with both qualifications, I wanted to improve other areas of how I coach, with that I signed myself up for two League Managers Association Courses. On them I got to listen to Lee Richardson and Richard Nugent. I came away from both with a lot to think about. The talk with Lee Richardson was on Personality and Performance, which thankfully was worthwhile as I had gone to that rather than spend Valentine’s Day evening with my wife (thankfully even though not into football she is very supportive of me). For this I had to take a personality test and it was scary just how accurate it seemed to be. It has given me a good base to develop other areas of myself and performance. The second Master class was with Richard Nugent and was about Emotional State Mastery. This was just as the ‘Beast from the East’ hit. I have to say it was worth the drive up. Richard was able to provide information that I could relate to, his first story I could put myself in a similar situation. Even that morning and it’s something that I keep referring back to. The rest of the day provided more areas to look into and improve as well as enhance! I was also introduced to TED Talks, which have added to my development.

So, with everything I have done this season, including coaching. I am finally back comfortable in my own skin. Coaching as is right for me. I look upon everything I do as a way to improve. I will never be happy with how I am. But that’s because I want to be the best I can be and with football constantly changing, if you keep doing the same things you are going to be left behind. Just as if you only focus on coaching, you aren’t doing yourself or your players justice. To help players develop you need to know about the four corners, I have read lately that some don’t believe in the four-corner model. For me I use it and can see how they blend together. You can’t just work on one area. Everything we do will affect a player in all the areas. Using the model helps in my opinion understanding and you can’t affect one without considering the others.