Football in the Community Coach James Tose has never been one to rest on his laurels, and he has spent this summer picking up yet more qualifications that will help both him, and us here at the club.

He told us, "I've been taking my UEFA 'A' coaching badge (Part 1), and it's just another step up the ladder as far as my coaching badges are concerned. I'm always trying to better myself, I'm quite ambitious, so I want to get my qualifications as soon as possible."

"The actual badge itself," he said, "was quite similar to the 'B' badge, but a lot more detailed. You do lots of match analysis, you do plenty of stats, and it all goes towards trying to better you as a coach. Most of the coursework is practical, and you learn a lot from actually doing the programme. It's about how you communicate, and it prepares you to coach at the highest level."

Describing the course itself, he added, "it involved a two week stay at Lilleshall, which is the facility owned by the FA, and there were 41 of us on the course. People came from all over the country and, in fact, all over the world. There were lads from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, even lads from Scotland! It was great, you get to meet different people with a lot of different ideas, which was excellent, and it shows just how good the course is in England when people travel from all over the world to do it here."

"It is actually quite a demanding course," he said, "as you have to get up at 7am, have breakfast, and after a bit of banter with the lads you get down to the pitches, and you don't finish until half past eight at night. You did get fairly lengthy breaks through the day, but you needed them to recoup and recover. It was mentally draining as well as physically because you always had to be at your best. You got topics to coach yourself, but you also had to be helping everyone else as well because it was a big team effort."

"You have to coach each other," he added, "which is actually quite hard. A lot of the lads were 35+ and they were dropping like flies with pulled hamstrings and calf strains. There was a big demand on the physios down there, they had to have a lot of ice available at all times."

Explaining the assessment criteria, he told us, "there were two internal assessments, where you are given a topic two days before and you have to put on a 25 minute coaching session. When you have completed those, and you have also been to all of the seminars, then you have to go away and put what you've learned in to practice. I have to coach for a year now, and try to get up to the required level for passing the course. I go back next year for a further two week course, when I will have two final assessments. I have to get over a certain score from those to get a pass. Not too many people do pass on their first attempt, only 6 or 7 out of a group of 40, as it's quite strict and a highly demanding level."

"It's not as if you can take any short cuts either," he said, "as a year is the quickest you can complete it. I think you have three years to do it, so it depends when you're ready. I was fortunate in that I scored quite high on the topics I did this time, which I was really pleased about, because when you go you don't really know what level you are at, and whether you are ready or not. So, it was a big confidence boost for me to know I am ready for this level and I'm quietly confident, without putting too much pressure on myself, that I'll complete the badge. I will work really hard this year and I'll be able to put my sessions on at the Centre of Excellence then, hopefully, I'll gain the qualification next year. I'm quite fortunate in that I can use the Centre to practice the skills I have learned, and I also have an adult team in the Alliance Premier League where I can coach as well. I'm quite lucky really."

Expanding on that a bit more, he said, "I've actually just been appointed the manager of Harraby Catholic Club, so that's a new challenge for me away from Carlisle United. It's another chance for me to gain experience which, in the long run, will benefit my work at Carlisle United as well. Obviously my work for the club takes the priority, it's my job and it's where I see my future, but I've taken Harraby on board because I think it will be a great challenge and hugely beneficial for us all."