Firstly on behalf of everyone involved at Walking Football I would like to congratulate you on winning the National Championships with Birmingham Walking Football Club and your new position as the England Over 50’s First Team Coach.
Thank you , its been quite a week, I feel like I need to pinch myself really.
What does it feel like to be named the England Over 50’s First Team Coach and just a few days later win the National Championships with your club?
It’s just amazing, from a personal point of view I feel really proud, as a club we had really set our sites on the WFA National Championships, we consider it to be the premier tournament out of the four majors (Champion of Champions, Peoples Cup and EFL)
We’ve reached the finals of all of them this year and after winning this and the Champions Trophy last month the hard work we’ve put in is paying dividends.
How long have you been playing Walking Football?
I started playing two years ago after my business partner convinced me to eventually take part, like most peopled I’d seen the Barclays advert and I wasn’t that impressed but from the first whistle I was hooked.
Can you describe any injuries you have suffered when playing Walking Football and can you let the readers know how they were caused?
Just one quite nasty ruptured adductor muscle at the beginning of the year, fairly innocuous really just from taking a shot, I don’t shoot anymore!
Why did you decide to apply for the position as England Over 50’s First Team Coach?
As a youngster I played at a pretty good level and have always enjoyed looking at the tactical side of the game, I really feel WF is a little bit like playing chess, anticipation and staying two moves ahead is really beneficial as a management team with Paul Murtagh and Dave Norton, we have developed something pretty special at Birmingham, we would like to think we could do something similar for this great country of ours.
Will you have any assistants working with you at your coaching sessions and if so, can you share with the readers who they are and which roles they will undertake?
There are no plans at the moment to have any.
How often do you hope to get the England players together for your coaching sessions and will they be run at a central location or different parts of the country?
We are holding trials at 3 different centres, on different dates, in the early part of the year culminating in a final selection process at one venue to pick the squad for the first international planned for May/June.
Are you planning to include 48/49 year olds in any coaching sessions to help prepare them for a place in the team when they reach 50?
Yes definitely we would really like to know about players of this age that are of the quality we are looking for, the Euros are in 2019 so its somewhat inevitable that so younger players will come into contention.
Is there any coaching advice you could give prospective England players, to practice in their club training sessions, which will help them fit the player profile you and your management team will be looking for at the player trials?
It’s really important for us that players take the WFA ethos of how the game is played.
Did you find it difficult NOT to run when you first started playing Walking Football and what techniques or advice could you teach a player to help them maintain walking pace?
It’s funny when people who I played with many years ago find out about WF they told me it suits me as I never ran when I played normal football so I didn’t really have a problem, it’s about developing a gait that works for you as an individual.
What advice would you give to someone who would like to play but is nervous about approaching a club or attending a Walking Football session for the first time?
You just have to give it a go, its changed my life totally, my general fitness level has increased, I’m so much stronger than many people my age and play football with a great bunch of people that are now friends.
What do you like most about Walking Football?
Being part of a team and the exercise.
What do you like least about Walking Football?
People who don’t get the concept of walking and fair play.
What are your goals for the future in your new coaching role, and as Captain of Birmingham Walking Football Club?
Obviously to have a successful Euros in 2019, for England and as Captain of Birmingham we need to keep developing, we will put our current success to one side now and look how we can tweak things, improve ourselves as individuals and make us better as a team – we won’t stand still.
Small margins make such a difference in this game.
Author: The Walking Football
You create the memories; we help you relive them forever!
