Growing up in Colombia, a football was never too far from Samuel Polania’s foot. Here, he developed a passion for football that would be carried through to adulthood and motivate his journey into coaching. Two years after arriving in Australia, Samuel began playing again with workmates, and although he really enjoyed getting back into playing the game, he wanted to find a way to become more involved in the football community. After witnessing a local game between young players, he became inspired by the idea of coaching and passing his passion for the game on to the next generation.
“When you are walking through the streets of Colombia, it is clear to see that football is part of everyone’s day to day life. When I first moved to Australia, I didn’t see that as I did in Colombia. However, after joining a team, my passion was reignited by seeing the other games going on around me, and I decided to seek out ways to become more involved in the community.”
In 2021, Samuel kickstarted his coaching journey by doing the Skill and Game Training Certificates with MWFA, and then followed up with some practical experience coaching the Harbord U12 division 4 team. In November of that same year, he had the opportunity to join the Future Coaches Program, where he deepened his knowledge and developed essential skills to improve his coaching.
“In the Future Coaches Program, I learnt not only about football, but about how to get inside the mind of a player. We had the invaluable experience of hearing from guest speakers as well who shared how they transitioned between different roles in football.”
In this course, Samuel was encouraged to use critical thinking skills and use the information presented to develop his own coaching philosophy, and he also greatly appreciated the opportunity to build a network of like-minded individuals.
“We were appointed mentors that played an important role in supporting us throughout our Future Coaches journey. Through this support, I was able to develop my confidence in speaking publicly about my coaching experiences, while also learning from the experiences of my peers.”
In February 2022, Samuel attended the C-Licence and was able to develop the practical skills that complemented the theoretical knowledge gained from the Future Coaches Program.
This season, Samuel co-coached the Curl Curl U16 division 2 team and was also part of their Junior Development Training (JDT) Program focused on developing the skills of players between 6 and 15 years old. Moving forward, he plans to keep learning by undertaking more courses and workshops and gaining further experience as a coach.
MWFA is looking forward to seeing Samuel’s continued progression as a coach in the coming years.
Look out for more articles on other MWFA Future Coaches over the coming weeks. We will also be announcing details of our 2022 Future Coaches Program very soon.
