Richard Evans arrived in Australia with a backpack in 1994, and was soon playing football in the local MWFA Premier League.
“I’ve been playing football my whole life growing up in the UK, so one of the first things I did here was to find a local team to play for, which ended up being Mosman.”
Despite a lot of playing experience, Richard had never really considered coaching until kids came along.
“I was keen to get involved and have fun when my daughter and sons joined Forest Killarney FC. I was loving the experience, so I attended some MWFA coach training sessions and courses to improve my knowledge and skills as my kids progressed from U6s into U8s and beyond.”
When his 2 boys moved into the SAP program at Manly United, Richard was ready for the next challenge, and so took on the U12 div 1 team at Forest in addition to his daughter’s W13 team. He also continued his coaching education by completing the Youth C-Licence.
“By this time I was hooked. Seeing players have fun, and develop their footballing abilities was very rewarding. And they kept coming back!”
Richard has since coached the boys U14 div 1 team at Forest, taken his daughter’s team into the W18s, and completed the Senior C-Licence course. In 2021, he also joined MWFA’s Future Coaches Program.
“I didn’t really know what it was all about, but on the basis that it was going to improve me as a coach, I signed up. It was much more than I had assumed! For anyone looking to pursue a career in coaching, or simply be the best ‘all round’ coach you can be, this course is a great challenge. It’s far more than how to recognise a football problem and design a session to work on it.”
MWFA is looking forward to seeing Richard continually improving his coaching and where he ends up taking it moving forward.
Look out for more articles on other MWFA Future Coaches over the coming weeks.
