When I first played for SSA as a player at Under 9 it would never have crossed my mind that I would be 20 as a General Manager with the club I first kicked a football with back in 2015. My first experience and taste of football was with SSA at a fairly late starting age in football terms of 9 years old, from there my love of football began due to the coaching I received and environment I was in, which is undeniably the biggest key to success in football I believe. After leaving at the end of Under-10s due to not wanting to play Saturdays I’d return 5 years later as a volunteer coach via the City of Portsmouth college as part of a mandatory 12-week coaching placement during my time on the Elite Football course.
I studied at the City of Portsmouth College for three years, on the elite football course before getting my PT qualifications during my third year at the college. At the old age of 20, I’d still say my three years at college are the greatest time of my life, spending every day of the week with teammates and playing the most football I had and will ever play. During my time there I captained the first team in my second and third years as we won the League, Hampshire cup and came extremely close to a National Cup final, losing out on penalties to a Welsh college. A highlight of mine being the week in Salou, Spain we had as a first team, playing two Spanish sides.
After my second year, I spent the entire summer of 2024 coaching in the United States, probably the best personal experience I could have had at 18, to spend nearly three months just under 4,000 miles away from anyone you know or are familiar with was a real challenging but unforgettable experience. Tyler and I spent 5 days a week coaching a football camp in the morning before completing 1-2-1s and Group sessions in the evening with players in various teams and age groups at FC Europa in Philadelphia. During this time I met and stayed with an amazing host family who made me feel one of their own and who completely made the experience unbelievable for me. A lot of the reason I enjoyed my time in the US was down to them! Big football lovers and now converted into Pompey fans.
During and after my time in America I have been playing in non-league for Fareham Town, just going into my fourth season with the first team. Being a Fareham player has led me into having my best ever moment in football so far, winning the Wessex Premier League playoff final and being promoted to Step 4. In 25/26 I surpassed 100 appearances at Fareham over two and a half years and hopefully there’s many more years to come.
After my volunteer placement at SSA, I was offered a paid role as an assistant coach with (back then) the Under-9 Spartans, a fantastic group to start off with and one of SSA’s most successful teams ever. From the beginning of this role I knew that this was where I wanted to go with a career. In December of 2023 I got my first role as a head coach, leading the Under-14 Boys team. A three year spell until U16 that was absolutely perfect for me as a first role. The boys saw great success and were promoted back-to-back into the B then A league and despite their success on pitch the most pleasing thing to see is their development as people first as they grew from children at U14 in year 9 to young adults at U16 in year 11. I couldn’t have asked for a better group to have as my first role and the experiences I have taken from coaching 11v11, dealing with teenagers at a similar age is so valuable to me. It’s also worthwhile mentioning the fantastic support from parents I’ve had whilst coaching that team, as a young coach I believe it goes such a long way to have such support and understanding that you will make mistakes and they have been fantastic, a group I will miss!
Alongside my time coaching the older boys, I began working with a group at Under-6 who are now just about to transition to U9 for the 26/27 season. A very different challenge to the older boys, but one that’s been so important in my development as a coach. A complete flip in how you can speak to players, the type of detail to give to players, the amount of information to give and the way sessions and practices are designed. A massive difference and experience but one so important to my development. Again, another amazing group who I look forward to seeing three times a week, something adults may not usually say about a group of 8-8 year olds! Again I think it’s important I mention how fantastic the group of parents are, the support, backing and understanding they have for me and the way I do things goes way further than they’d imagine and I’m massively grateful for this.
That’s about it for my journey in football as a player and coach so far!
Charlie Cole
General Manager
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