Students studying the Football Coaching in Community Settings course at Bridgwater College have recently returned from a tour of France, and studied the famous French Ligue one team, Paris Saint-Germain.

The students participated in training sessions led by Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) academy coaches and played fixtures against local opposition. The coaching showed dynamic warm ups targeted at the fundamental movements combined with speed, agility and quickness.

The students benefitted from the training as it demonstrated the importance of warming up the correct parts of the body and incorporating their basic skills consistently. There was also the opportunity to play four fixtures against local opposition which gave them an insight of how French teams set up their positioning and use tactics during a game; there was a clear difference between the two playing styles.

Other highlights of the trip included a technical drill session with PSG coaches, an informative question and answer session with the coaches about their scouting and talent identification systems and what they look for in players, and a VIP tour of the French national stadium, the Stade de France. The group were told about when and how long it took to build the 80,000 capacity stadium and the variety events it is used for. There was also a tour of the pitch, changing rooms, warm up area, stadium shop and trophy room.

Student, Savvas Petrou said,

“Paris was amazing. Playing football against the French opposition was tough but we competed well. It was an amazing experience being coached by PSG coaches and having a tour of the French national stadium!”

Andy Gill, Programme Manager for Level 2 and 3 Diploma Coaching Football in Community Settings added,

“The trip was a fantastic opportunity for students to see how a top European football team trains their academy. Students trained with academy coaches, played local opposition and had the opportunity to observe training sessions carried out with the Paris under 18 and 21 teams. The trip was a big success and the students took a lot away from it which they will now digest and use to help complete their football coaching diploma assignments.”