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In the Club
At the Club: Empowering Kilmarnock's Under 18s Women's Team
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From the hum of factory machinery to the spirited shouts on the football pitch, Grant Corrigan's life took a turn that even he didn't see coming. Seizing the silence of lockdown as an opportunity, Grant swapped his supervisor's hat for a coach's whistle, diving headfirst into the world of sports science and coaching.
Now the influential coach of Kilmarnock Football Club's Under 18s Women's Team, he joins us to recount his remarkable journey—a tale of transformation that proves it's never too late to follow your passion.
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You're listening to In the Club Presents at the Club, a Class for Kids podcast with me, brian Davidson. Hi guys, and welcome back to another episode of In the Club Presents at the Club. If you haven't done so, please do consider liking the page. Subscribing and dinging that bell for notifications At the Club is, of course, brought to you by Class for Kids.
Speaker 2:Class for Kids is an industry-leading booking and management software designed for kids' activity clubs. We work with 250,000 monthly users around the world to help them save time and admin and organise their business. If you'd like to learn more, click on the link in the description below.
Speaker 1:So on the podcast today we have Grant Corrigan. Grant is the coach for the Under 18s Women's Team at Kilmarnock Football Club. We talked to Grant a little bit about his career progression and what he gets out of coaching women's football. Hi Grant, thanks very much for coming on to the At the Club podcast. Just to jump straight in because we might have a long one ahead of you, can you share a bit about your background and how you got involved in coaching women's football?
Speaker 3:Yeah, no problem. So it was actually during Covid when I decided to change career path. So I went straight out of school and I had a full-time job in a factory and then kind of progressed through different jobs within a factory up to supervisor role, and then during Covid, when I had all the time in the house, I was really, really bored and wanted to do some online classes and started doing sports science stuff online and then I thought this is as good a time as any to go for it and since then I've pretty much been involved in coaching analysis. I'm currently doing sports science at university and, yeah, it's just pretty much whirlwind for the last three years.
Speaker 1:Nice. So who is it that you currently coach and has that? Have you always been with the same team or have you progressed from?
Speaker 3:So when I first started, I was currently well, I wasn't, currently, I was at college. And then there was a post came up at Command Look Women's and I went in did their trial session. They were like yeah, that's fine. Basically started as an assistant coach at the under-11s and in a very, very short space of time I went from coaching as an assistant under-11s to being the head coach under-13s, then under-14s and now I'm coach of under-18s. We play in the National Performance League or the National Academy Program, if you want to call it the proper name. So it's been very, very. I mean, I've been there for just over two years. It's been quite a quick rise through the age groups, but it's been brilliant. Yeah, it's been brilliant.
Speaker 1:Nice. So what do you think are some of the unique challenges and opportunities in coaching the women's game as opposed to the men's game?
Speaker 3:Well, without going into a big long-winded rabbit hole. There is stark differences between the two. Most coaches in the women's game I say most, but I would say 95% that's no factual, just off the top of my head are volunteers. So we don't get paid for the hours we do. We don't get paid for pretty much anything and we also we pay our own fuel to get to games etc, etc. There are bigger clubs who pay them, pay their coaches, but 95% are volunteers In the men's game. If you work in an academy, that's not necessarily the case. So that's just from the coaching point of view, but from the player point of view as well. Yeah, the women's game in Scotland is still a fair bit behind the men's game in terms of sport, science access, physio access, all that sort of stuff. So there is challenges there, there is barriers, but as a coach it's kind of your job to be as inclusive and give them the best opportunities you possibly can within your means, if you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So where, like, do you see any sort of if you get envisaged the next kind of like five years of coaches at your level, what would you like to see from then, like realistically? Obviously the kind of the big conversation is we'd like to see it on par with the men's game, but what do you think where would you like it to be like kind of realistically, in the next five years?
Speaker 3:Well, I do believe it is making strides forward every year. It's not as if it's just standing still. I mean, there's constant meetings, obviously speaking of people that come on. There's constant meetings going on with heads of the SFAS, wfa about how to take the game forward. So there is progress and it's just it'll be steady.
Speaker 1:So how do you approach team building and fostering a positive culture within your team?
Speaker 3:Well, as I said earlier, I've been with quite a few different age groups and every age group has different needs and, believe me, there's no better paper that tells you this is what this age group needs. So there's a lot of adaptability. There's a lot of thinking on your feet. As I said, I work with the under 18s at Kilmarnock and I've only been there since the summer, but when I came in it was very much a team that was sort of thrown together, if you know what I mean. There was no real cohesiveness from previous seasons. It's pretty much here, we're all here together, that's it. I mean we've had 12 players at the start of the year, so we were two players away from not being able to play a game at the weekend, stuff like that. So it's just trying to keep them all together. Try to be positive. They are a bit older, so you can use not negative feedback in a positive way, but you can be a bit more critical of what they're doing to inspire other players to be critical of their teammates. At the younger age groups, especially in females, they're very much relying on individual the coach saying well done, you've done this really well, whereas they won't really tell each other they've done well or they won't say you can maybe do this better. So it was about really getting the players to sort of understand they have a voice and they are allowed to speak out and they are allowed to challenge the coaches in a constructive way about their development, about football in general and about stuff that's happening at the club. Because they are under 18, some of them are adults, some of them have jobs, so I mean it's quite a weird dynamic because you've got people who are 16, 17,. Or we've got a 14 and 15 year old who's in fourth year at school. So there is a weird dynamic there.
Speaker 3:But it's about identifying the leaders not just because of age but actual personality. Not necessarily playing on the leaders, but if you can get the leaders on your side, that's massive in terms of building a culture and then just keeping it positive, just trying not to be too negative on them, not to be too harsh on them all the time. It's their journey in football, it's not mine. So just trying to push them to be creative, step out and say the box really. And yeah, if people deserve praise, give them a. If not, then choose your words wisely and the players will play. The players will play for you. That's all you're looking for. And then, if they play well, tell them, that will build your culture.
Speaker 1:Yeah, nice. So it's just about building that place that you can like. People are feeling as if there's like a safe space to be constructive with each other, and it's not about tearing them down as it is about giving them kind of building blocks to make the team better as a whole. So I think, then bring their own kind of identity and personality to it. That's good to hear. That's what you'd like to hear from a team giving them that kind of platform to be critical of themselves and be critical of each other.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. There's no point in me going to a session and saying this is how you play football and this is what you're going to do. Do not do anything else other than this. That's not. Nobody's going to learn anything. I'm not going to be a better coach by doing that and they're not going to be better players. So give them the freedom. It's their game. Yeah, I think that was quite a learning curve for that team, See, because they were just sort of thrown together and then I'm like this is how I think we should play, this is what we're going to do to get there. And they're all looking at me like, okay, I've never played that way before and they've bought onto it. They give 100% of training and then they go out and play at the weekend, and I'm not going to look at after the sidelines and I just let them play.
Speaker 1:Nice. I like to hear that. I like to hear this. It's kind of nice to see you, and we'll see here that you and the team are kind of like on this upper trajectory. In your own individual ways, you're going to like grow and then figure out what works for you as a coach and what does it work for you. At the same time, they're working finding out what works for them as players and teammates and what does it do. So it's nice to see that. Hear about that sort of dynamic and you're just going to like hope it's more widespread than as widespread as you would hope it would be. Yeah, so Are you kind of just answered this as well? I don't know if you want to touch on any highlights that you missed, but highlighting any sort of like key skills and qualities you think are like crucial for success in women's football.
Speaker 3:Being adaptable is one of them. 100% I mean, obviously I'm a male, I don't know like different stages of a female's life and they're trying to play football, they're trying to go to school, they're trying to do exams, they're trying to do all these different things and it's just being aware of that's also going on outside of the pitch. So just because somebody might be having a bad game, there's many reasons why somebody can be having a bad game. So this is probably applicable to the men's game as well. But it's not just like. The football should be a release for them. Football should be a getaway from exams, from whatever's going on at school, whatever. So just being adaptable to that.
Speaker 3:Obviously we are trying to push performance because of the environment. I coach in. It's not a community club, I coach in. It's an academy. So we are trying to get players ready to play first team football for commandant women. So there is an element, there is a line, but understanding where that line is between you must do this and this is football, go play. So I'm not, I'm hoping, I'm not contradicting myself there, because we do have, we do have a structure to which we stick to and then, as they progress through the academy and then they get to under 18s. We're one step away from the first team at the minute.
Speaker 3:So my role as a coach is to get them ready for the first team. So that's when the detail comes into it. So some of these players that I'm working with just now, the detail that we need to coach them in just in terms of body shape, like how to receive the ball, what to do if this defender does that like I could speak for hours about that but the detail they need, but also the freedom to go and experiment. That it's the edge be adaptable, be open to ideas, and I just don't. Nothing will ever catch you. Don't let anything ever catch you by surprise, because just try and be ready for everything, because you will. In the last two years, I've been hit with everything from players, parents, different coaches and it's like all right, okay, I've never had to deal with that before, but here we are. It's about the players, it's not about me, so we need to do the best for them.
Speaker 1:In your experience, what impact does coaching have on the overall development of female players, both on and off the field?
Speaker 3:As a coach, I don't think I'd be the one to answer it. I think I'd like to ask the players that, but I know if I went tonight and said to any of them like I would just look at me. They wouldn't give me an answer. So, me, I always say I just put cones on the pitch. It's up to the players what to do with it. I'll design the drills, I'll design the sessions and I'll motivate them and encourage them. I'll give them all the information in detail they want. But it's up to them what to do with it. If they want to make it to the first team, they're going to have to push themselves. They're going to have to do this, they're going to have to do that. So again, sort of circling back to what I said earlier, I could stand at the sideline and say do this, do this, do this. I don't think I'm going to have a very positive effect on them as a person. I think that just shows me they're good at following instructions. That doesn't show me they've developed as a person, as a player or any of that. So yeah, it's just.
Speaker 3:I think a coach has a very, very unique role in the fact they have this ability. Who's somebody who's not their parent, but somebody who's overseeing their development. And it's not just about the football development. We're trying to build a team, we're trying to build better people. So everybody's different, as I said before, just adapting. So yeah, I think coaches can have a massive impact. I mean, when I think back to when I used to play, like I've got my favourite coach and I've got my least favourite coach and I'll never forget them too. So, but I know my favourite coach, for example. He helped me get to a certain level by pushing me and helping me and guiding me, and then my not so favourite coach regressed me, like he really held me back. So yeah, in terms of I know from a player point of view how impactful a coach can have, but in the female game it's different. It's still a very male led environment and we're trying to empower these young females to be the best that they can really be, to be honest with you.
Speaker 1:So thanks once again to Grant for coming on the podcast. Some really insightful stuff there about coaching the women's game. If you haven't done so, please do consider liking the video, subscribing to the page and digging that bell for notifications. I will see you on the next episode.
