Valentine FC in New South Wales, Australia, is one of the clearest examples of a club building its whole coaching programme around The Coaching Manual.
Under Technical Director and Head Coach Cas Wright, a decorated coach educator, the club's Junior Development Program has earned gold status from Football Australia, with The Coaching Manual supporting its 40-week curriculum.
We caught up with Cas to find out what she finds useful about the platform, her own journey with The Coaching Manual, and how it has become an essential toolkit for Valentine FC.
Cas said: "I had previously used The Coaching Manual at a different NPL club and was eager for Valentine FC to see the benefits. When I returned to Valentine, I said, 'Can we roll this out because it saves everyone time?'"
The roll-out across the club was smooth thanks to the support of The Coaching Manual's team. Cas explained: "I spoke to Ellie (The Coaching Manual's account management specialist) and sent her our 40-week curriculum guide and our requirements, and she helped me upload it. We use the Folders as part of our curriculum for all of our departments within the club, including content for our coaches like the 7v7 and 9v9 guides.
"Ellie has been amazing setting us up. All I had to do was change a session here or there, but most of the hard work was completed. The 40-week curriculum is obviously a mammoth job for two departments, but Ellie could throw things in and get me started. So, that was such a time saver."
The variety of sessions in The Coaching Manual's library made it straightforward to build Valentine's curriculum across their age groups.
"Once we changed from our old curriculum to the new curriculum, which is all about the principles of play, it was great," said Cas. "That's why I suggested that the club utilise The Coaching Manual. It is the same football terminology, and it was easy to translate and adapt for all of our coaches to use the same 'football' language. Therefore, all new coaches coming on board can now access all the right content, which is exactly the philosophy that we utilise in FA/AFC licence courses.
"The coaches can make up their own session, or they can tag me in as they go, 'What about this?' So, I suppose I'm lucky I can have that flexibility with a lot of my coaching staff. They're all on different learning journeys, but The Coaching Manual gives them that platform and flexibility with session choices. So they either utilise what's in the folders, or find their own, or build their own. That's where we have the awesome flexibility with The Coaching Manual."
As well as the platform and its structures for session management, Cas uses The Coaching Manual's shareable guides to support her coaches, many of whom are early in their coaching journeys.
Cas added: "I recently sent another of TCM's guides out to the coaches this week, a document about the fundamentals of setting up a session, the theory behind Play-Practice-Progress-Play. It was the New Coaches Starter Pack. I used it as a refresher."
It's not just the coaches who benefit. Parents are supported through material the club sends out, too.
Cas added: "For parent education we have a team app and provide a weekly update. So one week I might send them Perception, Decision, Execution or The Three Rs, or an update about 'using two feet' or 'first touch'. So it definitely helps educate them as well as sharing the football terminology, so they can discuss football at home. I like the nutrition content as well. Basically we use these guides to educate our parents as well as the players, so we're all on the same page."
Beyond the club's own goals, The Coaching Manual is also helping Valentine meet national requirements.
Cas said: "We are under the NPL, so Football Australia has national Premier League guidelines that you have to meet. For example, in the Junior Development League, we have received gold status (boys and girls), and that's partly thanks to you. Amazing resource.
"We have to build a 40-week curriculum, which includes six-week cycles. It needs to be specific to ages 9 and 10 (7v7), and then a separate set for 11 and 12 (9v9). It then has a key focus for the sessions. So, whether it's play-practice-play, or a build-up of introductory skill and game, for us it's both: we can utilise multiple options during the cycles."
Cas and her team have also been watching our Principles of Play webinar series (Episode 1, Episode 2) to deepen their understanding of their own playing philosophy.
She said of the webinars: "I had a look and they were all brilliant. They were really good because it was relevant to what we're talking about: the principles of play and how you bring them to life, and how that's staged in a pyramid and what that looks like. It was a good process for me. As a coach educator, I live and breathe that anyway. So it's really important to share the knowledge."
Cas has been a coach educator for more than 15 years. She was named NSW Football Female Coach of the Year in 2021 and has coached in Australia's top flight, the A-League, as second assistant with Newcastle Jets.
Established in 1971, Valentine Eleebana Football Club (commonly known as Valentine FC or Valentine Phoenix) is one of the largest football clubs in Northern NSW, with more than 900 registered players and officials, plus over 1,500 associate (adult) members and families. Find out more about Valentine FC.
If you'd like every coach at your club working from the same curriculum, with the support to set it up, see how The Coaching Manual works for clubs.