The 17-year-olds had already passed their C licence with the rest of the club’s U18 squad, but expressing a desire to extend their coaching further, they were able to integrate the B licence into their weekly programme, thanks to the academy’s assistant education manager Sami El-Abd and BTEC teacher Chelcie Galway.
“The club, led by academy manager Ian Buckman, is always big on upskilling the boys and giving them as many qualifications as possible,” said Sami. “The UEFA B course is something we’ve made available to our players for some time now, and this past year we had candidates from the first team, the U21s, the women’s first team and the Albion Foundation.
“But this is the first time we’ve had any U18 players on it and we’re proud to see both Charlie and Harry representing our scholars in such a positive light.
“The course takes a season to complete, with 12 blocks of theory sessions, and 30 sessions of coaching our U9s to U12s sides, five of which are observed, so full credit to the boys for taking this on. They deserve plenty of credit for their success.
“The next step for them, and all our scholars, is to take the Talent ID Level 2 course – which introduces the key principles of scouting – in April.”
“It’s important to have lots of different options in case your playing career doesn’t work out the way you want it to,” said Harry. “I wanted to take my B licence because I enjoyed doing my C and it will mean I’m already one step ahead by completing it early.
“Our days are already quite long and to add an extra 90 minutes’ coaching once a week was a little tiring – added to the theory we had to do – but it was manageable and enjoyable.
“Instructing from the side and helping out the young players was something I really liked; one week Charlie and I would put on a 1v1 session, the next week it might be a passing session. We’d have to plan it out beforehand and put it into action. The boys all seemed to enjoy it and we felt they could be more themselves around us, given we’re closer to their age group.
“Longer term, I’d love to take my A licence – but I’ll be fully focused on my career before I think that far ahead.”
“It’s important to have something to fall back on, so I was keen to take my B licence,” added Charlie. “On a Monday, we’d get in at our usual time of 8.30am, train, and when everyone went home at 4pm after our gym session, Harry and I would plan out our coaching session and stay until 7pm.
“They were long days and on some occasions we’d be assessed by coaches watching us, so there was quite a lot of pressure involved. We also had the theory element to deal with, some psychological sessions, so it was pretty full-on.
“But I really enjoyed it, while coaching the young players brought back a lot of memories. I have been with the club since the age of six and I remember the excitement when the U18s came over to work with us.
“Now the roles have been reversed, and I remember for one session I came over in first team kit as I’d been training with the squad. The boys were all keen to know what it was like, and you earn that respect off them straight away. It’s always nice to give something back and coaching provides that.”
The current alumni also includes Toby Bull, Matt Everitt and Sam Packham, who were released by the club at the end of last season.
“We take pride on upskilling players even if they are no longer with us,” Sami added. “We have a duty to help them as much as possible as they continue their journey.
“Finally, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Ian, Chelcie, Nathan Marshall, Jim Hicks and Matt Dunn for their hard work and assistance throughout the boys’ coaching journey so far.”