Having started the course back on the 28th September 2015 Steve has been working on the award for the past 12 months across the course of last season and beginning of this season. The course was done in 4 blocks of two days at St Georges Park, the home of the FA.
Alongside the blocks of work at St Georges Park, Steve was given a series of assignments to complete and produce a portfolio of his work. On top of this he had to host a micro group event at his respective club (Swindon Town at the time) and visit two other coaches clubs whereby a typical day’s work would be watched and discussed. The last piece of the jigsaw was his final assessment at his current club Forest Green Rovers working in conjunction with first team manager Mark Cooper and his assistant manager Scott Lindsey as they prepared for their latest league game with Aldershot Town.
This was the first course in England where the previous FA Goalkeeping A Licence has changed to the UEFA Goalkeeping A Licence and recognised across Europe. The class of 2015/2016 who enrolled along with Steve have vast experience in the game:
Martin Brennan (Leyton Orient)
Nick Colgan (Huddersfield Town)
Neil Cutler (Walsall)
Tony Elliott (FA National Ladies Youth)
Lee Kendall (FA Ladies National Coach)
Mark Mason (FA Staff)
Billy Mercer (Burnley)
Neil Moss (AFC Bournemouth)
Matt Murray (Nike Academy)
Mart Poom (Estonia FA)
Kevin Pressman (Millwall)
Ben Roberts (Brighton & Hove Albion)
Dave Timmins (Blackpool)
Gavin Ward (QPR)
Anthony White (AFC Bournemouth)
Ian Willcock (Bury)
Andy Woodman (Crystal Palace)
Steve said:
“I am absolutely buzzing and so proud to have completed the UEFA Goalkeeping A Licence, hot on the heels of the FA Goalkeeping Advanced Youth Award, two of the highest qualifications possible. It’s been a long and hard process of work but certainly eye opening and it’s taken me out of my comfort zone and definitely improved me as a coach. I've had a great time meeting, getting to know and working with some great and vastly experienced names in the game.
Since I started on the coaching pathway 10 years ago, many people have helped and supported me along the way. Barry Stephens, Mike Byrne, Ivor Gumm and Pete Amos initially and in recent years a huge amount of help and support particularly in terms of goalkeeping coaching from Martin Thomas, Tim Dittmer, Eric Steele, Simon Smith, Tony Parks and Pat Mountain so I’d like to say a huge thanks to all of them.”