Andrew Pollard moved to the Northern Beaches in 2013, where he joined Pittwater RSL’s O35s and began coaching his son at U6 level.
“Football has provided me the opportunity to integrate into a community and make life-long friends. I saw coaching as a way to spend some quality time with my kids doing something I loved and get to know people in the community as well.”
Andrew had some previous coaching experience with all-age teams but hadn’t coached kids’ football before, so he decided to attend the MWFA Skill Training Certificate coaching course to learn the right way of doing things. To him, this course demonstrated the difference between being a good player and being a good coach.
“I soon realised that I had a lack of understanding of how kids learn, which meant the kids weren’t being engaged enough at my training sessions. Attending the MWFA training courses and workshops have really helped fill that gap. I strongly recommend anyone that wants to coach kids should attend a relevant MWFA course. You need to educate yourself first.”
Andrew has since coached both boys and girls from the U6s up to U13s. He’s currently coaching his daughter’s team, the W11 Pittwater RSL Emeralds.
“I enjoy the time spent at training and games getting to know players and what makes them tick, so that I can help them get the most out of playing the game. I’ll continue to coach my kids’ teams for as long as they’ll let me!”
In 2021, Andrew decided to join the Future Coaches Program to take his coaching to the next level.
“The Future Coaches Program was a good experience. It introduced me to a group of people that shared a common goal of trying to be a better coach. The program was challenging but rewarding and provided great tools and thought processes to tackle situations a coach may face, at any level.”
The next phase of his coaching journey will be to take the C-Licence course, and then maybe in the future, coach a team that doesn’t included any family members.
MWFA is looking forward to seeing where Andrew’s coaching journey takes him.
Look out for more articles on other MWFA Future Coaches over the coming weeks.
