12 March 2008
VIDEO: The FA Roadshow Q&A at Portsmouth

See footage from Fratton Park as a four man panel face the fans in a question and answer session about all things football.


12 March 2008
VIDEO: The FA Roadshow Q&A at Portsmouth Part Two

The second part of our video special from Fratton Park.


12 March 2008
VIDEO: The FA Roadshow Skills Coaching

Stuart Pearce and Sir Trevor Brooking get involved with local youngsters at The FA Roadshow in Portsmouth.

Over 60 local children in Portsmouth received extra specialist coaching on Tuesday afternoon, as The FA headed to the south coast for its second ever ‘Roadshow’.

England Under-21 Head Coach Stuart Pearce, who had earlier conducted a training session with the Navy U18 team, joined forces with six of The FA’s Skills Coaches at the Priory Sports College, based just a few minutes’ walk from Fratton Park, home of FA Cup Semi-Finalists Portsmouth.

He was joined by The FA’s Director Of Football Development Sir Trevor Brooking, who helped to introduce The FA Tesco Skills Programme last year and which has seen over 275,000 5-11-year-olds across the country receive specialist skills coaching.

The youngsters, the majority of which play for a variety of FA Charter Standard clubs in Hampshire, went through a number of different sessions with the Skills Coaches who were Adam Pilling, Baz Shekhon, Lee Burch, Kirk McGinn, Adrian Penrose and Tom Hartley.

Under the watchful eye of Pearce, many of the young Pompey fans made an impression on the former England international who believes that schemes such as The FA Tesco Skills Programme can play a crucial role in the development of England’s next generation of footballers.

“Days like today are for probably ten or 15 years down the line,” explained Pearce.

“The youngsters know it’s about today for them, but for the rest of the game, it will bear fruit somewhere down the line.

“You have to start somewhere and start at an age like this to make sure they get an enjoyment and an experience that makes them want to go home tonight, go to sleep and dream about football and then wake up tomorrow and go and play again.”

The quality of coaching on offer from the Skills Coaches also made a big impression on Pearce, who admits that a certain type of coach is often needed to bring the best out in young players.

“It’s been very good and the enthusiasm from the youngsters is fantastic and the one thing that has impressed me is the coaches themselves,” he added.

“They have come with a structure of how they want things done, but they’ve handed it straight over to the youngsters to say ‘how can we improve this session?’

“They aren’t just asking how they can improve it, but they’re putting into practice what the youngsters want and it’s important that you listen to them, even at a young age like this.

“I was asked earlier if I’ve worked much with youngsters, but I haven’t and I’ve mainly coached at a senior level and all my experience is there.

“I think it’s important that we get the coaches who have the qualities to coach youngsters actually working with them, as it’s very age specific and there are better tutors to this age group than what I probably am.

“If we can get these people in place at every step of a player’s development, then it is ideal.”

Brooking was equally delighted with how the first stage of Tuesday’s Roadshow went and with the focus on a scheme as positive as The FA Tesco Skills Programme.

“The youngsters themselves I think have enjoyed the sessions,” he said.

“They have worked at the Skills Centre for the last six months or so now and I think the Skills Coaches who work with them have seen the youngsters improving and practising in that time.

“Most of all though, it’s fun and they’re going to improve their ability too and we want to try and improve those technical skills at this age group.”

Tuesday evening sees the next stage of the Roadshow, as a panel from The FA including Pearce, Brooking and Chairman Lord Triesman, will also be joined by Portsmouth and England star David James at Fratton Park for a question and answer session with over 200 local supporters.