Caitlin Foord's football education

In the latest of our Arsenal Women programme interviews, Caitlin Foord shares what she has learnt throughout her career, how coaching has changed and where she sees herself in the future.

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What do you remember from your very early days being coached? 

In Australia, I remember we had this program called Coerver Coaching which I went to when I was a kid. That was the very early stages of my football with a lot of focus on footwork. When you’re young, the stuff you’re good at normally sticks with you so I always remember the speed dribbling in and out of cones and the drills where you’d go around a box and pull off tricks like Cruyff turns and stepovers. I used to hate keepy-uppies but I always loved having the ball at my feet.

What players did you look up to when you started and why?

To be honest, when I grew up playing football, I never watched it at all. I just played football because I enjoyed it. Whatever the boys were doing in the playground, whatever sport they were playing, that's what I was doing as well. I was so competitive as a kid, so I just wanted to do anything sporty. Sometimes it'd be rugby league, sometimes it'd be cricket and sometimes it'd be football. When all the boys I played with at school started playing for a local team, they wanted me to join. That's how I got into it. 

Football wasn’t in my family at all. Some people have an older sibling or their dad to introduce them to the sport but I never had anything like that. It meant that when I first started, I honestly didn’t really understand the game right away! Of course, over time, I’ve become more familiar with what football actually is.

Who were your early influences?

In terms of coaches that influenced me, when I was at Coerver Coaching I had a coach called Glen Fontana. I think he identified my talent pretty early on because he invested a lot of time and supported me. If you haven’t grown up in a sport or followed it your whole life, you wouldn’t necessarily know who the good teams were or the right things to focus on. Especially back then because the women’s game wasn’t where it is now and I was mainly playing with boys until my teenage years. When I needed someone to point me in the right direction and find the level for me to work towards, Glen was that person. He helped my mum understand the right paths for me to take as well. 

When I got into the New South Wales Institute of Sport, there was Alen Stajcic, who coached me from the age of 14 all the way to the Matildas when he became the head coach there. He was a big figure across my journey into professional football. 

Can you pinpoint a stage in your career, or an age group, where you made the biggest leap?

I think it was when I was in the under-17s Aussie squad and I got picked for my first trip overseas. I must have been about 13 and we went to Malaysia for an Asian Confederation tournament. That’s when I got the taste for travelling overseas and playing international football, and it’s when I saw what that lifestyle would look like. I think that was the moment when I knew that football was what I wanted to do. I saw the opportunities it brought me first-hand. 

How has training evolved since your first seasons in the sport?

The evolution has been massive in Australia. That was where I started, playing semi-professional in the W-League (now the A-League). I was playing for Sydney FC and it would be at least an hour and a half drive just to get to training. To have to travel that far just to be in a good quality side wasn’t ideal. I think it’s the small details that show how far the game has come and the way that we're treated here at Arsenal now is amazing. Getting food on-site, and having boots supplied to you by sponsors - it all adds up. Back in Australia, it used to be that you’d drive to training, get changed in the locker room, go out on the pitch and then just drive home. Everything around this club gives you the opportunity to be the best you can possibly be. 

Part of that is the nutritional support that we just didn’t have growing up. We were never educated on what it means to eat the right foods and when, so we’d just make it up as we went along. The footballing language has changed so much too. You see how much preparation goes into a single training session: every session is filmed, there’s a session plan before you go out, individual moments are analysed afterwards. Gone are the days of going out to training and the session is a complete surprise. I’d never had that before coming to Arsenal. 

Another element is the data side of football performance now. We wear GPS trackers and coaches are checking and managing people's loads all the time. Even from a recovery point of view, to recover and be able to go again is huge. Everything you need to perform at the highest level is done for you. 

What did you learn at school that helped in your career?

I enjoyed school for the social side but less for the academic side! I didn’t have a lot of confidence in my schoolwork, especially when I started playing for the Aussie youth teams and missed even more school because I was travelling overseas. Because I didn’t have any passions at school, it meant that I jumped at the chance to make football my life and travel the world with my mates. 

What do you wish you had known earlier in your career?

When I went to Japan to play in 2017, every single training drill we did was with both feet. Whether it was a passing drill or a shooting drill, you’d do a set on your right foot and then your left. It would be like this every day. Growing up, a lot of kids would focus on both, but I was so right-foot dominant. No matter if I was going down the left or right wing, I’d only use my right foot. 

I think about how much better I’d be if I’d started earlier because after just one year in Japan, my left foot improved so much and that’s obviously something I’ve carried with me. Being able to use both feet gives you an edge against your opponent in a game that’s determined by small margins – especially as a winger in 1v1s. 

It takes a lot of practice and the earlier you start, the more familiar it becomes. Now, you see the five-year-old kids train and you wouldn’t know which foot is their dominant one. They’re just unbelievable. That’s something I wish I’d known at the beginning and it’s always a piece of advice I’d give to a young girl starting out in football. 

What coaching experience do you have? What training qualifications do you have now or would like to have in future?

When I was in America, I did a coaching clinic for Christie Rampone. To be fair, I was only 18 myself, but the kids just didn't listen to me from day one! That made me think “Nah, coaching is too hard. I’ll never do that.” But considering where the game's going and the amount of knowledge you pick up throughout your career, it feels silly to rule it out completely. 

I think I’d be an assistant rather than a head coach. I’d like to have the responsibility of developing players, but not the full responsibility of dictating the playing style, for instance. I’m more drawn to roles like the one Kelly Smith has with us now, where she focuses on the strikers specifically. And that’s even if I were to go into coaching! I haven’t done any of my badges yet and right now, it’s not a massive interest. 

Do you enjoy the analysis side of the game? (And why/why not?) 

When I’m watching football, I'm usually just watching it as entertainment. I think I do analyse it more when I watch Arsenal men play, just because you see what they do at the training ground and you're naturally more invested to watch them. 

Sometimes when teams have a similar playing style to us, I’m interested to watch how they do it. But if I were watching with an analytical hat on, it’d be focused on another player in my position rather than the whole team tactics. I don’t connect to it when it’s too broad.

Who in the current squad would make the best manager in future and why?

There are a lot of people who could be coaches here. I feel like Beth would be a good coach. She’s able to be serious but also bring the fun elements to coaching and make sure that football is still enjoyable. I’d enjoy playing under Beth!

What can football learn from other sports?

I think that coaches and other athletes want to learn from other sports to find that edge. What is it that they do differently to make the team click? How do you make the team 100% invested and want to fight for each other? You’re always curious how others create that environment.

Different sports obviously have different skill sets and focuses so I think it’s about finding those things you can relate to across the board. That often means it’s team dynamics that you can learn from other sports.