I joined SWFC last June in response to an advert for a U13s coaching vacancy, which aligned
with my youngest daughter’s request to move clubs. When I joined, I cannot express the
gratitude I felt with the overwhelming support I received on taking on the team. Scott was
amazing, so supportive and helped me get on my feet very quickly. The coach’s group was
on another level - material to help with training, session organisation and learning
frameworks to support team development. Henry was great too, he watched some early
sessions and gave me some really good pointers, and suggestions to adapt my sessions
around the group’s ability. I don’t have a lot of experience of how different clubs work, but
this was definitely on a different level. Quite simply the club has a passionate focus on
promoting, supporting, and paving the way for Women’s football to become the norm,
which is no surprise considering the club’s history.

3. What made you want to become a coach originally and why Sirens?

Being honest, I think I have kind of fallen into the coaching role through my desire to help
my daughters. I started being a supportive parent, running the line, setting up the pitches,
refereeing and generally just helping out. This progressed into me being an assistant to the
coaches of a JPL Team and matchday managing the team on a Sunday, as well as helping an
U12s Manager/ Coach. From here, it seemed to me that the players were not being told
‘why’ they should be doing certain things on the pitch and just going through the motions.
This is what led me to the UEFA C course in the hope to understand the why and help
further. Doing the course really gave me the desire to pass on that education and start my
coaching journey, and the opening vacancy at Sirens at the right time was a sign.

4⁠. How has the season gone so far for the team and yourself?

Whilst some of the players were with the club last season, I see this team as new as it starts
its journey in 11-a-side football. Our performances this season have gone from strength to
strength each week and we are currently sitting in third place with the potential of finishing
second, which has far exceeded my objective for this year. Our results reflect the
development framework the coaching team have put in place and the cohesion of the
players both old and new, applying the training sessions into their game day.

5. What are your personal targets for the rest of the season and for the club as a whole?

As we only have three games to go, my target for the rest of the season is to try and get the
girls to have positive possession of the ball and try to identify when to pass and move into
space to support each other, rather than relying on some good individuals. If we can make
progress in that, we will have a solid foundation for next season.

6. What’s your favourite parts about being a coach?

By far the most enjoyable part of being a coach is watching the players mature both in
football and in life. Seeing them apply the teachings from the training sessions into their
game and watching how they all support and rally round each other in challenging
circumstances both on and off the pitch.

7. What is your coaching journey to date?

So, this season has been my first where I have been able to apply my UEFA C and shape the
team without influence of others. It has been very challenging at times as I have been on my
own, so that’s probably my biggest achievement in my coaching journey thus far. Having
said that, I would not have been able to do so without the support of all the youth coaches,
and the reassurance that I am not really alone.

My favourite memory that doesn’t involve either of my daughters, was earlier in the season
when we were about to play the team that beat us at the beginning of the season again; I
overheard one of the players say, “we won’t lose this time, because I know how to play
football now”. She was right, we beat them quite comfortably too.

Obviously, I have far too many fond memories that involve my daughters and their football
journeys I could probably write a book about them as I am so proud of them!
One of the worst memories I have, however, was when I was a referee. Some parents,
coaches and players were all horrible, I had to step in to prevent a fight from happening and being verbally abused for over 50 minutes was not a pleasant experience, it was the reason I gave up as the enjoyment was taken out of it for me.

8. How does your coaching responsibilities affect you being able to watch and support your daughters?

I have two daughters, Priya who currently plays in the U16s Sirens team and aspires to play
Senior football and Nila who is with me in the U13s Sirens team.
This year, obviously because of me coaching I have not seen Priya play as much as I used
too, but I relish the days where they both play at home at Redbridge so I can watch them
both as the teams have different kick offs.

I am very proud of them both, and they know they have my full support as I always try to
watch them where I can, and they know it’s for a good reason if I am not there.

9. Your wife is the treasurer at Sirens; how does this affect family dynamics?

So, Runa has only just started in this role, and to be fair it has no effect on us as a family. We
are able to separate family life with jobs, and because we are all supportive of each other
very few issues arise. I have every confidence that Runa will make a positive impact as she
has taught me over the years to manage budgets and control my spending!

10. What’s your life like away from coaching?

Away from football and coaching I am trying to get myself fitter, so I go to the gym regularly
and have rekindled my love of swimming. I love watching live music so attend a number of
gigs at weekends and mid-week, whilst learning to play my electric guitar.
My occupation is in Project Management, focusing on medical devices as I have always had
a desire to help people, and being part of developing aids to improve or save lives gives me great pride and purpose.