

Online Courses
The LMA School of Football Management
"Identifying potential talent"

What?
Real-world problem-solving in young player talent identification.
Who?
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For Football coaches who work in youth football in talent development programmes (or who aspire to work in such programmes)
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Typical programmes would include: pro and semi-pro clubs, youth academies, development academies, colleges, youth soccer clubs, ODP (in the USA).
How?
The course is delivered online and involves interactive tasks, peer-peer learning, quizzes and polls, authentic scenarios and case studies, and over 200 video interviews with respected coaches in youth football.
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The course will take approximately 20 hours to complete and will require learners to devote approximately one and two hours a week for 13 weeks. Once enrolled you have 3 months to complete the course.
Benefits:
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Developing your own thinking with the help of experienced practitioners
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Improve your Talent ID skills to recognise potential talent
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Increase understanding of the background of talented players
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Identify what potential talent looks like at various ages
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Share learning insights with a global community of coaches
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Apply lessons learnt into your own coaching situation
To view Feedback from coaches who have completed this course click here.
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The LMA School of Football Management
"Creating a culture of excellence"

New online course
INNOVATE ! Build Your Grassroots Football Startup
What?
The online course focuses on leadership for soccer coaches, including 6 hours of video clips with Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Fabio Capello, Roy Hodgson, David Moyes and Howard Wilkinson.
Covering the following 6 modules:
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Increasing your awareness of ‘Culture of Excellence'
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Reflecting on your own strengths and weaknesses
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Developing your own set of values
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Establishing realistic objectives
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Knowing how to achieve these objectives
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Improving your communication
How?
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More than 3 hours of video interviews in course 1 from Fabio Capello, Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsène Wenger, Roy Hodgson, David Moyes and Howard Wilkinson.
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Online tutor support–appointed by the LMA to assist learners.
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Interactive tasks involving key course themes.
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Scenarios—dilemmas based on real problems experienced by LMA members. Learners provide advice for the LMA tutor and other learners to view and comment.
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Access to the community website.
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All six modules will take at least 15 hours to fully complete. Once enrolled you have 3 months to complete the course. All learners are tracked through the system to completion and receive a certificate on successful finishing of the course.
See what coaches who have completed the course think about the course here.
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Please allow up to 24hours for your emails to be enrolled. Any problems please email rrussellsportspath@gmail.com
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What?
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The course is designed to help Organisations,Clubs, Associations ,Entrepreneurs & Charities attract new (or lapsed) participants to grassroots football
We define ‘Grassroots Football‘ as all non-elite, non professional football across the full range of grassroots football including youngsters, teenagers, adults, senior citizens: males and females of all abilities.
Across the world pre- pandemic participation had already stagnated and after the lockdown there has been even further decreases in participation rates
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Why “ Startups” ?
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We consider Grassroots Football Startups to be new projects OR new programmes added to an existing project.
To attract new or lapsed participants imaginative innovation is required: our review of over 40 Case Studies of successful Grassroots Football Projects indicates the enormous impact innovation has had on participation for Clubs, Schools, Charities, Associations, Private and Social Entrepreneurs : thus the need for Start Ups has never been greater to attract NEW participants
Across all industries there were more new business Startups established in 2021 in the UK and USA than any other previous year in the history as records being kept kept
Who is the Course aimed at ?
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Building a Startup to enhance the local communities will be of interest to anyone considering a new project or adding to an existing programme.
It’s for anyone who has a business idea and would like to validate it OR is looking for an idea in grassroots football.The course is therefore suited to any of the following individuals :
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A Grassroots enthusiast who wants to increase football participation in their community
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A Grassroots Volunteer or Coach
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A Social Entrepreneur or Commercial Entrepreneur
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A Grassroots Club Organiser or Administrator
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A Charity Organiser
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A Pro football club community/development officer
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A Football development manager for a national, state or regional football association
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Which Benefits ?
As a result of completing the course all participants will have obtain the following benefits:
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Identifying and quantifying a ‘ gap’ in the full range of the grassroots football market
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Innovating to create new markets in Grassroots Football
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Effectively assessing basic research techniques
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Using simple Data analysis strategies to obtain additional insight
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Learn Easy Steps to launch your programme- A simple Toolbox to get started
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Financing your Project
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Developing an idea into a Business Plan and then into a Powerpoint Presentation Deck suitable for potential investors, sponsors, donors, board members, etc.
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Obtaining confidential feedback to your Business Plan
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Downloading a PDF of your Personal Startup Workbook on completion
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Certificate of Completion
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On successful completion of the course join a ' Alumni' forum of previous participants on the course who have launched their Grassroots Football Startup
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How is the course delivered ?
The course is 100% online with 10 modules and takes approximately 20 hours to complete
You can look at an overview of the course content here.
We conducted over 50 Video Interviews with Experts in Grassroots Football across the world who have built successful Startups . The Full list of interviewees is here
There are over 30 additional Short Video tutorials + Forum Discussions and an archive of grassroots football development content.
All the course content is related to grassroots football, with an emphasis on attracting players back to football post-pandemic and capturing first time players.
Participants are expected to create a business plan, for which feedback will be provided confidentially.
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Why Sports Path ?
Please check our track record here in the area of Innovation in Football Development
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Access and Cost ?
From January 1st 2023 , the cost of the course is £35 ( $49). To take advantage of this offer
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Complete the course within 4 weeks and you will receive a FULL 100% refund
Thus participants on the course can therefore complete the course at their leisure over 6 months OR complete all the tasks on course within 28 days and receive a Full 100% refund
We have a limited scholarship programme available for low-income candidates. Please send an email to rrussellsportspath@gmail.com if you’d like to be considered for the scholarship.
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Over 100 Learners in the first month have started on this course and below is a selection of their comments to date :
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Joe Cunnane, Precision Football, Brisbane , Australia:This course is excellent for any grassroots coaches looking to begin their own startup as it runs you through the necessary processes/steps needed prior to establishing your startup. I highly recommend this course as it is well structured, provides a great deal of detail and is very interactive." https://www.precisionfootball.com.au/
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Ms.Ihsan Ramadan,Technical Director Assistant,Grassroots coordinator /Football development, The Palestine Football Association: "I have really enjoyed it! In talking about the course, the provided material was so much interesting, and it was divided in a way that facilitate the understanding of the concept ,the chosen interviews, articles, and researches along with videos were so much interesting" https://www.linkedin.com/in/ihsan-abdallah-140444146/
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Luca Conniber, Founder of Tredegar Park Wolfpack AFC, Newport, Wales " The content and quality of this course is one not to be missed. A fantastic learning suite through Pebble Pad allows for easy navigation, access and tracking of your own workbook. An excellent course and definitely not to be missed! " https://www.facebook.com/TredegarParkWolfpackAFCNewport/
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Steve Hamilton, UEFA Licensed Coach, FC Blagoevgrad, Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria " I have just finished Robin Russell’s Sports Path online course called “build your grassroots startup”. This is very valuable in finding a business idea in grassroots football and progressing it . It's a great educational platform to learn from. " https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-hamilton-07305120b/
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Mauricio Suarez, Football Director of Sierra Fútbol Club. Bogotá, Colombia
"At first I was a little bit afraid because English is not my mother tongue and I thought it was going to be a technical language difficult for me to comprehend. But as I have gone through the modules, I have felt more comfortable, the course has made me open my mind, think, research and think out of the box. This course is really different" https://www.linkedin.com/in/edgar-mauricio-suarez-reyes-a7422a42/
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NB : For avoidance of doubt
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Comprehensive Feedback with be provided for Course Task and due to popular demand there will be a Certificate to recognise successful completion
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The course is not a Coaching course. For Leadership and Talent ID online courses see the LMA School of Football Management Courses above on this page