Shaun Taylor first played football in New Zealand at age 5 for Rangers AFC in Christchurch, and continued to play after moving to Australia at age 12 for both Narrabeen and Pittwater, until he was 16 and his focus shifted to surf lifesaving and rowing surf boats.
He continued to play on and off until his kids were old enough to start playing themselves, at which time he dived into coaching in 2014 with his daughter’s U8 side at Narrabeen, where he has been combining coaching both of his kids’ football teams in the winter and rowing in the summer.
“I have a passion for goalkeeper coaching, seeing that there are not a lot of kids that want to play the position due to it being considered as a shot stopping position. Having played the position from a very early age myself, I want to see kids who want to play the position thrive.”
Having worked through the community level coaching courses with MWFA, along with the FFA Level 1 Goalkeeper Certificate and FFA C-Licence, Shaun is excited to continue to developing players in the area.
“More recently I’ve wanted to challenge myself as a coach and learn as much as I can about different techniques, recognising that we should be providing the best quality coaching we can for our kids to help them develop. Eugene and the coach educators at MWFA really are passionate about providing the best possible content for coaches to develop and learn. Each of the courses I’ve done has been so enjoyable, it really does pump up your enthusiasm to get out and try to give the kids the best possible coaching you can.”
Shaun is currently coaching Narrabeen’s U11 Division 1 team, as well as working with SAP and BYL/AYL goalkeepers with Manly United, after joining MWFA’s Future Coaches Program in 2021.
“Taking on something like Future Coaches was a huge eye opener. I thought it was going to be a lot more football based, but I was surprised that so many things that were discussed transcend more aspects of life than just coaching. It all helps to help us to prepare our players and kids for life on and off the field.”
MWFA is looking forward to seeing Shaun contribute to developing and inspiring players, in particular even more goalkeepers hopefully, in the future.
Look out for more articles on other MWFA Future Coaches over the coming months.
