Football in the Community Coach James Tose has made full use of his time at the club over the last couple of years by studying for, and qualifying as, a UEFA A level Coach.

Tose, who now manages Harraby Catholic Club, told us about the course today. He said: "Building on what I did last year, I continued this year for a further two weeks to finish it. It was a lot more stressful this time, and obviously I really wanted to pass, so thankfully I had done enough and met the criteria to get through it."

"Basically," he explained, "you have to get over a certain amount of marks. There is a maximum of 200 marks and you have to get over 120 in total, which includes a minimum of 60 on your second appraisal. I got 65 for that, so I'm happy."

"For the most part," he added, "it was pretty much the same procedure as for last year, in the part one of the course. We got up in the morning, had breakfast and went straight in to the lecture room at quarter past nine for a bit of seminar work. Then it was off to the pitches until lunch time, and then more of the same after you have had something to eat. Then it was back to the seminar room to review the day. It was pretty much the same routine every day, but we did get the Saturday off in between, which was good."

With a real desire to pass, he said: "It didn't seem to matter who you were, because all of us were waking up at 3am, worrying about an assessment and wondering if we'd missed something out. It was pretty intense. Once you got the first assessment out of the way though, you got a bit more comfortable."

"in the work outside," he told us, "we all found it a bit different from coaching players, because we were coaching other coaches. Everyone thinks they know the same stuff, but once you get over that barrier and just treat them as players you're fine, and the lads all mucked in together anyway. It didn't matter if they disagreed with what you were trying to tell them, the lads listened and tried to help each other out because we were all trying to get through and get decent marks. There was a good team spirit amongst our lot, which helped."

"Normally, I think there are about 7 or 8 out of 20 or 25 who pass on each course," he said. "There are only two courses a year, so it's pretty tough to get through. We were fortunate, we had a really good group and 14 out of 20 passed, which was practically unheard of. It was good, we all helped each other and I was just really pleased to get through it. My ambition was to try and get my 'A' licence before I was 30, and I'm 28 now, so I got it 2 years early. It's a weight off my mind, I can relax a bit now and I don't need to go on another course for a while."

"We had a good mix on the course," he told us, "with lads who were in Non-League football and wanted to improve their coaching, a few ex pro's like Tom Curtis, Mike Stowell, who was number 2 under Rob Kelly at Leicester, and the most well known name I suppose was Roy Keane. It was good to have a mixed group with different backgrounds, because you learn from different experiences. Obviously with Roy being there, he's such a presence, but he was just one of the lads, and he intergrated in to the group, and when you spoke he listened. Sometimes I felt a bit sorry for him because when we were having lunch, or in the evening when we had chance to relax, it was like question time. He has had so many experiences in football, and we all wanted to know about them, but he was just like one of the lads, he'd have a laugh and a joke and was happy to chat and have some banter. He wouldn't name drop but he would tell you good stories about his experiences at Man United and the winning culture that was promoted there. I had a good bit of banter with him over the two weeks, with me being a big Newcastle fan and him managing Sunderland. We also got to play football with him, and he was different class. If you gave him space, he was gone. He gave it everything, but if we had a break then he'd be the one suggesting a crossbar challenge or something like that. He wasn't always serious but when he was out there you could tell he had a real desire and a will to win. He mentioned a few times about Man United and how they only wanted a certain type of player there - one who could deal with the expectation of the fans, and you could see even down there on the course that he was wanting to win every game. On the second day the ball flew up and came down between us, we both went for it and I thought to myself 'whatever happens here I'm not bottling this.' We both pulled back at the last minute and he ran past me shortly afterwards and said: 'Ah well, its only the second day.' I had a bit of a chuckle to myself about that."

As for how useful the course is, he told us: "I think it's helped me with problem solving during the game, and with systems of play. It's helped me figure out problems during the game and to counteract and combat them. It goes without saying that it's helped my man management skills. It doesn't matter what level you're at, you still have a group of lads who are all different and you have to find different ways to motivate them, and to make them produce for you on the football pitch. It has helped a great deal, I have to say."

And for where it could take him: "Well, like anybody I've got ambitions. I'm a Community Officer here at Carlisle, and I love my work, going out in to the schools and with the Centre of Excellence. Obviously, if the chance came, I'd love to work in the professional side of the game as a first team coach. I'm only 28, so I've got plenty of time and I'm gaining experience all the time, but at some point I'd love the chance and I believe I'm good enough to do that. Fingers crossed it will happen one day, but I'm in no hurry. I'm really enjoying my work here with John Halpin and the lads, and I enjoy the experience I get working with Harraby as well. I've made a lot of friends through that, and we have enjoyed ourselves by winning the league by 15 points. I'll keep gaining as much experience as possible, and I'll watch what the coaches down here get up to, and I'll try to keep adding to everything that I have already done. Then we'll just have to see what comes of that."