Our Philosophy
At A Star Coaching Academy, we put your child first. This means that we create each activity in your child’s best interests with our unique LEARN – GROW – DEVELOP – INSPIRE learning model. We aim to make sure your child leaves every session with a smile on their face along with something new which they can come home and show off to the family.
Why We Started
A Star Coaching Academy, founded by Anand Karia, aims to not only improve your child's football skills but also their personal growth. Anand's passion for coaching grew during his time with Surrey FA and Hersham FC Youth, where he saw young players thrive both on and off the field. Football served as his personal refuge, teaching him valuable life lessons. A Star Coaching Academy now extends this community, fostering growth, sharing experiences, and, most importantly, having fun.
In each of our sessions, we use our unique Learn-Grow-Develop-Inspire learning model to ensure progress is always being made.
Learn
The LEARN stage of our coaching system is critical. We aim to teach our players something new each week, growing their confidence and adding more equipment into their footballing toolbox. With constant encouragement balanced with our constructive criticism, we allow a player to fulfill their sense of achievement. Whilst we are there to guide them, a player’s best way to learn is from their own mistakes. Sometimes frustration gets to them but with our continuous support, we allow these mistakes to be made and praise the player when they realise their mistake without us spelling it out to them. For a child, this is a great feeling as they are in control, also it allows them to gain confidence in what they are doing which enhances their performance.
Grow
The GROW stage of our coaching system is where our players gain some more confidence, There are still some mistakes, but they understand the technique and can carry it out with a helping hand (or foot!). Players are encouraged to try the technique or skill they have learned under a bit of pressure, stimulating them psychologically. When we coach the growth section of an activity, the player usually has to try and carry out a skill or technique as many times as they can without making a mistake. This challenges a player’s concentration and improves their coordination over time. Players are given several attempts to do this, and the overall aim is to beat their previous score. Successful players feel an overwhelming sense of achievement, as beating a personal record is a great way of seeing progress.
Develop
The DEVELOP stage is where our player feels confident performing the skill in a game-based scenario. We practice the skill or technique lots before going into a game-based scenario. Having a player do the activity as many times as possible in a timed situation puts pressure on the brain and body to perform as well as possible. Coordination, willpower, and self-motivation are key aspects of the development stage, as a player has to push themselves to beat their score consecutively before we move onto the game-based scenario. Once in the game-based scenario, players are put under pressure by lots of things, including visual, audible, and physical distractions, all of which happen in a match. Putting the player in a game-based situation while training allows mistakes to be made and rectified in a constructive environment.
Inspire
The INSPIRE stage is an environment where a player can really be as creative as they want to be, explore different techniques, and put their own mark on a chosen skill. A great example of this is Cristiano Ronaldo, who is known for the “Ronaldo Chop” skill. He has practiced the skill and added his own variation to it, and now everyone knows the skill as his own. Here at A Star Coaching Academy, we encourage our players to come up with new variations of skills and push their creativeness to impress themselves, us, and everyone else on the pitch. For most of our players, creativity comes naturally, and we are always amazed at the ideas they come up with. However, when a player feels as though they don’t have the creative spark, examples from our own playing and coaching experience usually help stimulate their creative side.
