Sonny Holyhead

I've only just started this role so I can't actually put much here unfortunately. What I can say is Panjab FA (Representing millions of Punjabi's across the world) is an international organisation playing under the CONIFA banner which is step below FIFA. We have the CONIFA World Cup coming up this year which is being held in Kurdistan. I was luckily selected to represent Panjab FA when the organisation was first set up, I believe I was one of youngest players to represent Panjab FA at the time.

In this role I shall be supporting the head Goalkeeper coach who is currently coaching at Newcastle United FC.

FC Malaga City is an international academy trying to help footballers across the world achieve the ultimate goal of becoming pro. I was lucky enough to play for FC Malaga city when I was a lot younger due to injury I had to come back to the UK.

I got back in touch the the Director of FC Malaga city last year (2023) to ask if I could come along in January (2024) to spend 5 days with the academy and shadow the Goalkeeper coaches and just see how they work. Which was a fantastic experience and I made long term contacts and friends. I have decided I will be heading out to Spain again every 10/11 weeks to shadow the coaches and help with sessions when needed. I am not employed by FC Malaga City at all I am purely going to Spain every 10/11 weeks for experience and help me with my spanish.

I joined Droitwitch Spa FC U18 roughly in November of last year (2023) they brought me on board to coach the goalkeepers once a week and help on match days as well. Im currently dealing with 3/4 goalkeepers on training days and they are all at U18 level. I report back to the manager and assistant manager of the team and let them know my thoughts and improvements for each goalkeeper, I will also speak to the manager before game days to see how he wants the team to play so I know what I need to work on with the goalkeepers/ goalkeeper who is starting the game.

I started at Bromyard Town FC January of this year (2024) the manager brought me into the club to coach the goalkeepers and assist on match days with the players and of course the goalkeepers. I currently have 3 goalkeepers at the club all under the age of 20. We only take one goalkeeper on match days and the other 2 tend to play for the U18. At Bromyard Town FC I do have a free reign on what I want to work on with the goalkeepers which is great and I'll report back to the manager to let him know what I think of the session and what the first choice keeper needs work on (strengths, weakness's).

Match days I typically warm the goalkeeper up, talk to him for a bit and set him goals for the game ahead and just see where his head is at before the game. During the game I tend to analyse the opposition goalkeeper to see if I can spot a weakness we can exploit as a team or see if there's a certain pattern to his game which we can again exploit, I'll report this to the assistant manger either during the game or at half time dependent on how the game is going.

I first started my goalkeeping business in 2019 but, it wasn't until 2022 when it started to kick start for me due to covid. Last year being my first year delivering sessions on a 1-2-1 basis was a very big test for me because I didn't know what to expect at all I also didn't realise how much actually goes into planning sessions and organising dates with parents and venues etc despite all of that uncertainty last year was a great success for me as a coach with having a keeper being signed for Aston Villa U11 and also numerous other keepers winning awards at club level for most improved or player of the season. this year (2023) has also been successful as so far having more keepers being on trial at professional clubs or being signed up. I would just like to make the point I didn't set up my own business to just help keepers improve on there ability or goalkeeping in general, I also set I up to improve kids/young adults to be better versions of themselves and try and set them up for the world there going into or trying to go into. I try and treat my keepers with the respect they deserve but I'm also very honest with them at the same time. Overall id say I'm happy with how I've been progressing as a coach for sure.

Ive been coaching at the worcester goalkeeping academy for roughly 5/6 years, I used to be a student at the academy before turning 18 and I decided to join on as a trainee coach up until 2022 due to not being qualified and covid hitting us which stopped me taking my badges sooner. So the middle of 2022 was my first experience being a fully qualified coach at the academy. Comparing coaching at the academy to my own 1-2-1 sessions was a massive difference, at the academy we tend to have 30/40 kids attend each week who are all different ages and abilities. I've been having roughly 10/11 kids in my group and I'm the only lead coach with 2 trainee coaches helping which is a challenge in itself. Going from coaching 1 goalkeeper at a time to then coaching 11/12 goalkeepers was a big test for me as it was so different for example the sessions I did for my 1-2-1 sessions had to be altered completely for my group sessions due to numbers I then had to consider the weather as I didn't want keepers standing round if it was raining or cold. I do feel that shock of taking a group session has helped me massively into being a better coach today.