OUR COACHING STRUCTURE and VALUES
The Bentleigh JFC has been extremely fortunate over many years to have had outstanding coaches. This has not only resulted in a successful performance on field, but through a coaching culture of inclusion and encouragement, the Club has benefitted from strong player retention as well.
As we continue to compete in a constantly changing League where footballers are faced with increased challenges every year, the BJFC considers that greater coaching support is required for all our coaches.
Recently, our strong relationships with the Bentleigh Football Senior Club and Bentleigh Auskick Centre have produced coaches throughout our boys and girls age groups helping with retaining players, providing a connection beyond the juniors as well as growing a strong player base in our under 8-10 age groups that provides a good foundation for the club.
Our current focus in recruiting coaches is to see more younger people become involved with the Club who aspire to leadership positions whether as Head Coach or Assistants. In addition, we will always encourage parents to be involved in coaching roles and past coaches as mentors.
All Coaches are required to be accredited, sign a Coaching Code of Conduct and will be given opportunity by the Club to online resources, coach forums and coaching expertise.
Our club policy of having Coaches coach a maximum of three (3) years tenure as the Club wants to ensure players are exposed to different coaching styles, different personalities, different coaching methods/structures and that players are given every opportunity to learn the full breadth of the game and ground positions and not be 'pigeon- holed' into one style of play. This is most important particulalry from U8-U12 and the Club views this as a key issue when appointing coaches and reviewing performance.
Junior football is about the learning phase of the game and our coaches are required to have this as a key priority. At BJFC winning is not a priority but being competitive and ensuring the players have fun is, especially in those younger age groups (up to U12) and any aspiring coach at BJFC must be aware of this club mantra.
We are also maintaining our approach that emphasises strong succession planning for our coaches. We see the ability to have more coaches than fewer is critical to the success of developing our players and our club culture.
The Coaching Management structure at Bentleigh JFC is as follows:
Director of Coaching : Paul Jemmeson
Football Operations: Layne Hesse