Like many children across the globe, Maidstone lad Jay Stubberfield, spent his formative years dreaming of one day becoming a professional footballer. At the tender age of fourteen, he was already representing his local side at County level, and by fifteen saw himself join Gravesend and Northfleet. Things were looking great for Jay, and he was enjoying his football more than ever. After a trip back to his local club Maidstone United, trials for professional clubs including Gillingham and Southend United soon come his way. After everything had looked so promising, Jay broke his ankle. Determined not to give up his passion all together, he turned to coaching. It was here he found his injury didn’t mean the end. We met after a coaching session, and I spoke to him about his decision to turn to coaching and how others could get into it..
BW- So what made you stop playing football and take up coaching instead?
JS- Well I could no longer play due to my ankle injury, but I still desperately wanted to be a part of football, and I found coaching was a way to do this.
BW- And how did you get into it?
JS- I went to the FA learning website where they offer different courses. I did the level one course at Cobdown in Maidstone over a period of 5 days. Once I completed the course I sent my CV into soccer Elite FA which is a local company based in my area and went for a trial, which was thankfully successfully enough to get me a job offer.
BW- What advice would you give to youngsters who would like to get into football at a higher level or in fact coaching?
JS- Believe in themselves. When they get knock backs, believe in their own ability that they can make it. They have got to remember it’s important to keep up a good education as a fall back option if football doesn’t work out. Coaching can be a very good fall back option for players too. Work hard, dedicate, believe in themselves but more important than all, have fun playing the game they obviously love
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