Jorge Cabaco was born in Portugal where he played junior and youth football. He came to Australia in 2008 for geotechnical engineer work and played a little bit of senior football here.
He started coaching 8 years ago in North Sydney, taking his 14 year old son’s team. Eventually he started working with the AL7 team at Dee Why last season, taking them to the finals and winning the club’s coach of the year award. Moving into 2020, Jorge has put together a new AL2 team that has been shaping up well over the pre-season, and also won its first official game of the season 3-0.
His experiences in Europe when he was younger, and also from his coaching so far, have influenced him a lot when it comes to how approaches coaching now.
“I believe that talent is not enough, a player needs guidance and intelligence. If they want to become a top player, or just successful for their current level, they need someone who believes in them, so they can get that chance.”
Jorge saw this himself when he coached an U18 boys team a few years ago.
“That season we actually had 2 girls in the team. No other team wanted them, but we needed 2 players so we gladly welcome them into the squad. Initially, the boys were not used to it, and they were shy, and other teams were afraid to tackle them as well. One was a very good technical player, and the other very athletic and ran a lot. I rotated everyone in the team fairly, and put these two girls in positions where they would play at their best. In the end they both contributed a lot, which gave them confidence, and the boys developed confidence in them as well. The whole team had a range of abilities, but they all supported each other, and that was key. We even made it to the finals and won the competition.”
Recently, Jorge has attended a lot of coaching courses and workshops with MWFA to further his education as a coach, and feels this has helped him progress quite a lot.
“I am more organised now, and I know where I want to go. I did have structure before, but even more so now. I have a better understanding of what to do on training days, especially in terms of football fitness, which is completely different from my thinking previously. I used to do fitness separate, but attending the workshops gave me certainty that it should be achieved through intense football based training.”
So what are Jorge’s goals for the future?
“I want to be the best coach I can be to serve my players, and I want to see them playing well. I want to improve, because you need to be a good coach to create good players. I believe if a dedicated player has a coach who believes in them, gives them the best mental support, motivation and dedication, and the player responds with hard work, humility and positive thinking, even if they are not the most talent player, they will achieve incredible results, I believe this can change everything and is the most important thing in a successful playing career”.
MWFA is running several courses and workshops like the ones Jorge attended across July and August. For more information on this, please see here: https://www.mwfa.com.au/2020/07/01/community-coaching-courses-rescheduled/
MWFA is looking forward to seeing Jorge continue to help players achieve their potential.
Look out for more articles on other MWFA Future Coaches in the coming weeks.
