LARNE FOOTBALL CLUB
108SPORTS
50 Main Street, Larne, BT40 1SP
Tel: 028 2826 0181“Wishing Larne FC - All the Best”
“Back to School!”
What has been your coaching career to date?
I started coaching when I returned from England at the age of 23. I was
working for Larne Borough Council as a football coach and building
my CV, delivering a wide range of sports and multi skills in local
schools, holiday camps and community groups. Around the same time
I started volunteering with Larne Youth and along with my close friend
Steven Mills we took a team from u8 to u16’s while balancing playing
in the Irish league and working as a sports coach. With my coaching
background, Michael Hughes approached me to join him at Carrick
Rangers and in 2014 I became the first team manager spending the
next two seasons at the club before later joining Glentoran FC as first
team manager for 18 months. While managing Carrick and Glentoran
- I was back volunteering with Larne Youth alongside my brother-in-
law Stuart Pike where our two boys Alfie and Dylan play for the 2010
age group. And when the opportunity to take up the development
managers role came about, I jumped at it, as Larne Youth is a club
that has always been close to my heart with my mother being on the
original committee, my dad one of the first coaches of the club, myself
as a volunteer and with my son representing the club.
How did you get involved with Larne FC?
I got a call from Niall Curneen the club’s academy director asking
would I be keen to have a conversation (I had gained my UEFA PRO
license qualification) and he felt I could offer other coaches at the
club a bit of guidance and they might benefit from my experience in
both England as a professional and Irish league both as a player and
manager/coach. After I met with Tiernan and Niall and they outlined
what they wanted from me. I was extremely keen to take up the role
and see the long term benefits to working at the fastest growing
club in the country. The opportunity the owner Mr Kenny Bruce has
afforded us all to work in such brilliant facilities and conditions at Larne
is something special and my son
along with all the other kids and
coaches (nearly 400 kids and 85
coaches) will hopefully reap the
benefit in years to come and we can
produce players of the standard
for Tiernan at first team level and
produce coaching opportunities
that leads to employment in the
football industry for our coaches
and players alike.Can you describe a typical training session?
Regardless of the age group the coaches are working with, we expect
the same level of enthusiasm, preparation, intensity and commitment
across them all. The majority of sessions last 1hr 30 minutes on a
Monday and Wednesday night, working the players physically and
technically as well as improving their tactical awareness. We do
additional strength and condition sessions as well as an extra session
a week called our emerging talent programme on a Thursday after
schools.What is your advice for kids wanting to get into football?
Get yourself down to the club and have fun making new friends and
learning new skills. Football is an amazing game for developing social
skills and building confidence in young people. With the right attitude
and love of the game it can take you to places you can only dream of.
You can maybe be the next Jeff Hughes, David McDaid or our very
own Liam Hassin! It’s not always the most talented players that make it,
but the ones that always show the right attitude and work harder than
the rest.THE FASTEST GROWING
CLUB IN THE COUNTRY
Academy
Coach, Gary
Haveron