Alain Reveyrand was born in the south of France near Lyon, and came to Australia in 2003, joining the Belrose-Terrey Hills Football Club. He always played football from a very young age, mainly on the street as a kid, as it was challenging for him to join a club because his family had to move town quite often due to his dad’s work.
“I am a big fan of ‘street soccer’. I believe it is the best way for a kid to improve his soccer skills and creativity, playing freely without any instruction. I wish we could see more of this in Australia.”
Alain has always been passionate about football.
“I have fond memories of spending full days in front of the TV when I was a kid watching every single game during the World Cup, and supporting my favourite team and players. I haven’t lived in France for nearly 30 years, but I will always be very patriotic and remain the biggest fan of the French national team, for soccer of course, but also for any sport.”
Alain worked in the restaurant industry for over 30 years, but he was rarely able to spend the whole weekend with his wife and kids because of work, so about 7 years ago he decided to change his career so he could free himself from work to go to more training sessions and games.
He never really thought about coaching before, but he got into it in a way to spend more time with his kids and make up for lost time. He has now been coaching his two son’s teams, Remy and Jesse, alternately for the last 7 years. At CC Strikers, he has been Jesse’s coach for the past 3 years now, keeping the same core of players together each season.
“Through these 7 years, I became very conscious of the responsibility I had as a coach. When you have a group of young kids listening and taking on board every bit of advice you can give them, giving their all on a soccer field, fighting every game to the last minute; when you experience a rollercoaster of emotions every single weekend, you quickly realise that coaching is a bit more than soccer. You are more than a coach most of the time, you turn out to be a mentor. You really feel accountable for this group of kids and you want to give the best of yourself to help them achieve their goals and avoid any disappointment, in the same way that you want them to give you the best of themselves.”
This realisation caused Alain to become more and more interested and involved in coaching. He decided to attend several courses workshops with MWFA last year, and he believes that these helped him to better understand what was expected of him, as well as expanding his coaching knowledge. Alain is now also planning to do the C-Licence course later this year.
“I recognised that I needed to keep learning as a coach. The Future Coaches Program came along at the right time for me. It has been challenging but so rewarding in every aspect. In addition, the network of coaches and mentors that I met during this program will certainly prove to be a wealth of support. Eugene is a true professional, very passionate and inspiring, who makes those courses really interesting and engaging. He deserved a lot of credit for trying so hard to improve our coaching community.”
MWFA is looking forward to seeing Alain continuing to give his best to mentor his players and helping them achieve their goals.
Look out for more articles on other MWFA Future Coaches over the coming months.
