Jonathan Delmar Lindley

I discovered the course after reading the national newspaper Diario Noticias, and attended the presentation held at FHM with all the leading spokes-people and Jose Mourinho.

The presentation provided was truly an inspiration for me, as I listened in delight to the description of the modules of the course.

I am a British Citizen who grew up in Portugal from early childhood until I was 18 years old, educated at International schools in Lisbon.  This environment nurtured me into becoming a multicultural individual.  I found that among all nations, Football is a Universal language and I fell in love with it.

I first left for University to study industrial design. After this three-year course, I worked in New Zealand on a farm for a year, and then in machinery sales in Portugal. However, as my passion was for Sports, I was accepted at the University of Lincoln, in the UK, to study Sports and Exercise Science (BSc Honours). I graduated in May 2015.

Whilst at University I volunteered to assist the head coach of an under-11 football side, gaining Level One Football Association (FA) Football, and the Certificate for Working with Children’s Workshop.  Since September 2014, I have been working at two sporting institutions here in Portugal; Kids Move in Carcavelos and the Associação Familiar e Desportiva da Torre, Cascais.

At Kids Move I have acquired insight into movement ability; motor skill development;, strength and conditioning coaching; and developing teamwork skills with group activities.I have learned a great deal from all the coaches and the interaction with children.

Assoçiação Familiar e Desportiva da Torre is a football school where I assisted for an under- 11 (7 a side) squad. The Head Coach gave invaluable advice and training sessions, providing me with detailed training focus, practising finishing, passing, attacking and defensive positions and some physical training. On match days I also helped film the matches and used basic performance analysis software to provide statistical analysis for the Coach.

So far in my experience I have found that the importance of a coaching philosophy is paramount. In coaching young athletes, while it is vital for the child to have fun in the sessions, mental traits such as determination, concentration and desire are important for the individual to improve and for the team as a whole to progress.

My career ambition in Professional Football is to learn more and study more, to be as well-prepared as possible. To quote Socrates “For I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing”.

I am determined that learning on the FHM course of High Performance Coaching will further my education and help me realise my ambition. What I found intriguing about your course is that in each of the 8 modules, aspects of Strength and Conditioning, Physiology, Biomechanics (Analysis and Performance) and Sports Psychology are all addressed. At university I found that Psychological research in Sports is fundamental; this led me to write my Dissertation on Youth Teamwork Experiences.  As your course emphasises the importance of experience, including  the 50-hour internship, I find this exciting and compelling to work with athletes at a higher level of football.