During the football unit, I learned a lot about myself and my liking for football.

I have not
always been a big fan of football although I always enjoyed watching the game as I found it
entertaining. This unit, we were paired with a client. Our mission was to find different drills
that support what our client wants to improve on and record data on it. Record how effective
the exercises were and how much our client improved by.

As a coach
I had been paired with my client, Fouad. I realised that I never had a conversation with him
so I found this experience insightful. I got to be a friend to him and encourage him as he
played. I would describe Fouad as different in the best way possible. I got to know more
about him and I tried my best to create a personal connection with him outside of class so that
he would feel more comfortable while we work together. Fouad was very interesting to work
with and I enjoyed his company more than I expected. This experience allowed me to be
more open minded and open to new challenges and ideas. It put me out of my comfort zone
and allowed me to make a new friend.

Overall, I think that my drills were effective. I think this because I had seen improvement in
the way my client controlled the ball. I also think that as we had been performing the skills,
encouraging him had given him an advantage. I feel like he had felt more confident with the
ball after I had said a few encouraging words to help him such as “good job”, “you can do
this” and so on. I could definitely see a difference in the way he played compared to when he
had first started. I had also directed him to show him the correct way to shoot the ball and he
took my advice. I would advise him after watching videos on the shooting skill and direct
him to get the best result. Overall, I am proud of my client's performance and the way that he
improved

Throughout my coach and client experience, there were many successes such as my client’s
ability to perform the drills at his best effort. I noticed that my client was hesitant at first but
after he had gotten comfortable with my presence, he improved.

One thing that I would do differently with my client is to communicate more effectively. In
retrospect I should have communicated more effectively than I did. This would have allowed
us to be close friends and allow him to feel more comfortable around me. With my client, I
would focus on providing more positive feedback and encouragement during our training
sessions. This would help my client feel more motivated and confident in their abilities. I
would also work on being more specific with my feedback, providing clear and actionable
advice on how to improve their skills.

My client performed several drills such as cone shooting where there were 4 cones lined up in
front of the goal and my client was determined to shoot all the 4 balls into the given target;
whether top right, left or bottom right, left or middle. My client was able to perform this drill
confidently and enjoyed performing it so much that he insisted we continued. As I
encouraged my client throughout this drill he gained a lot of confidence and I found that he
barely made mistakes. My client stated that he had played football but when I was observing
him, I saw that he didn't have much experience in shooting and struggled with direction and
power. After these sessions, he was able to kick the ball perfectly into the goal. My client also
performed different drills such as the stationary shot, corner shot, move to shot drill, and cut
in two shots. As my client performed these drills I saw that he observed and grew as a player.
He gained confidence and it showed in his performance. My client had been able to defend
the ball away from the goal and also had a good attempt at scoring a goal. It seemed that he
had put all the practice we had done to use and it helped him.

My client seemed to enjoy these drills and did not want to stop. When it was time he insisted
that we continued with the drills as he had been enjoying himself and felt good about the way
he had been performing.

As a coach, I would label myself as a supportive coach as I was constantly encouraging my

client to do his best. When my client had done something well and good, I would motivate
him and give him high fives to allow him to perform the same throughout the drills.

As the games progressed, my client had taken the position as a goalkeeper. My client had
done exceptionally well when playing in this position and had saved multiple shots. He was
not scared of the ball but instead went for it. He had the confidence to do so and after he had
saved a ball, the whole class had been cheering for him which made him happy.
As a client
One challenge I faced was that I did not do any drills throughout the unit. I felt as though this
would affect my performance in the criterion c video in which we recorded. I do feel that
more practice would have gone a long way in my case.

During this unit, I struggled with confidence when playing and had difficulty controlling the
ball at times. I felt as though I was unable to exert all my power onto the ball. I noticed that I
had been scared of the ball hitting me since in the past it had happened and it caused me an
injury. Due to this, I am afraid of the ball hitting my face and potentially anywhere that is not
my foot.

This presented a hardship for me because I often felt as though I was failing my teammates.
The fact that I was the only female player during the match, in my opinion, negatively
affected my performance. I was too shy to get the ball and call for it. I had a fear of being
tackled. This definitely affected my overall performance during criterion C in which we
played a match and recorded it.

One of the things that I found helpful was getting positive feedback from my coach and
teammates. Even though I wasn't always confident in my skills, they encouraged me to keep
practising and reminded me that everyone makes mistakes. This helped me feel less pressure
and gave me the confidence to keep trying. My peers had told me that I had been good at
controlling the ball and that the passes that were made were accurate. This boosted my self
confidence as I didnt feel afraid to play again.

Something that I think affected my overall performance was the lack of practice. I lacked
when playing with my classmates because I had hardly practised shooting or passing. I had
one session with my coach in which I shot the ball at different angles. Although this did give
me a feel of the ball, I do think that more practice would have gone a long way for me. I
believe that if I had practised more, there might have been a better result than the one given.

I also found that after kicking the ball a few times and having fun doing it, I enjoyed it. The
ultimate outcome of this unit was that, I joined the Girls Football Varsity team. I enjoyed
playing the game even though i wasn’t the best at it but I concentrated on having fun. I would
call this the silver lining of this experience as me joining the football team was the ultimate
outcome.

In the Task 3 video, I felt that I had been able to control the ball quite well, better than I
expected as that was the feedback I received from my peers. I felt a bit more motivated when
I had gotten this feedback from my peers as it made me gain confidence and allowed me to
take part in the match more and call for the ball.

Overall, while I struggled with confidence and control during the football unit, I found that
with practice and positive feedback, I was able to improve my skills and build my
confidence. It was a great opportunity to learn and grow as a player, and I'm grateful for the
experience.