KATIE's FOOTBALL EDUCATION

What do you remember from your very early days being coached? What were the most valuable lessons you learned?

It's so long ago now! When I first started playing, coaching wasn’t strict as such. I remember there were always footwork drills, dribbling in and out of the cones, but the main message from my early coaching days was just to have fun and enjoy your football. If coaches take it too seriously when you’re young, I think you’d lose that element. So, luckily for me, I had really good voluntary coaches around the community that were parents or friends of friends who made sure we all enjoyed it.

In Ireland, Gaelic football is one of our main sports and we've got camogie as well. For me, my older brother Gary played football and I was also really close with my younger brother. We used to play after school for hours with two hoodies for goalposts. That’s what I look back on from my childhood.

Who were your early influences? What players did you look up to when you started and why?

I’d been on trial with Chelsea at the same time as Arsenal, so I'd seen both sides. Ultimately, one of the reasons I chose Arsenal was because my dad put the FA Cup final on the TV when I was 12 or 13, and Arsenal were playing Everton. He showed me that Emma Byrne was playing in goal and there was Ciara Grant, Yvonne Tracey and Niamh Fahey - all these Arsenal and Irish legends that I don't think get spoken about enough. Looking up to them as a kid and then finding myself in the changing room with Emma [Byrne] and the likes of Kelly, Yanks and Alex, it was really crazy and surreal.

I had a lot of good momentum behind me coming into that first season with Arsenal, I'd like nearly played every game possible, I was doing some extra training on a boys course as well so like I felt really good and I made sure like I was training over the Christmas break and stuff, I'd been off, we had like a month off but I remember just training every day doing running because I was like I don't want to not be fit going over. I still remember my first session where we had a fitness test and I held my own. I think Emma Byrne was quite surprised actually! Early on, I wasn’t able to play as much as I’d have liked to, and that was really difficult to manage. I had to figure out where to put my energy.

I’ve seen that same frustration in younger players over the years and I always like to remind them that they’ve got so much time. It’s really hard to be patient because all you want to do is play the game you love. I know what it’s like to move far from home when you’re young so I put my arm around them and look after them in that sense, but I also like to push them as well. There’s a balance showing them what it takes to play for a club like Arsenal. It’s not just about showing up every second day or once or twice a week. You have to turn up every day to get that consistency and to get used to the level.

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

My dad and my older brother started encouraging me more around the age of nine. I was the only girl in my local club, Kilnamanagh, and they saw that I was more advanced than the boys. My brother played for a team called Crumlin United and they wanted me to go down to join, where there was a bigger set up and a better group of lads.

That was really daunting for me at the time because I had just got used to playing with one group of lads and had earned their respect, and then I had to start again. Having the support of those two, being at my first training session and settling in straight away when the boys could see that I was physical and athletic and could actually play. It naturally became more intense because I was playing for a top boys’ team and took my football seriously.

I remember getting taught how to clip long balls and really making sure you're getting your laces through the ball. But it was also work rate. Having that good, honest work ethic is actually the one thing you can control in football. I eventually had to stop playing with the boys when we reached puberty but those core years with the lads shows who I am as a player now. 

I was about 15 when I found a senior women’s team: Raheny United. Raheny is on the north side of Dublin and I'm from the south west but one of my really good friends, Rebecca Creagh, was a bit older so she could drive me. Playing senior football that young means you suddenly find yourself at the bottom of the barrel. You have to grow up quickly because you’re in an environment with grown women and competitive women at that. The first season I was there, we won a Cup final and then the Women’s National League in Ireland started, which was the first proper structured league the FAI had set up. From then on, I just made sure I was trying to get better and better and better.

Being a player for so long, you only see football through one lens and I think when you're doing your coaching badges, you get a different perspective. Taking Renée as an example, she had to stop through injury and she was a really important player, especially for the Netherlands. I know she deep-dived into her coaching journey after that. Now she’s head coach at Arsenal so things can change really quickly in football.

For me, it's about succession planning. I know I'm only 29! But you do have to think about what comes next. I've got such a love for the game and I already feel like I've been through a lot of different things in my career so maybe one day, if I'm a coach, I can give back and share different parts of my journey to advise other players.

What would your footballing philosophy be if you go into management?

Fundamentals, for me, would definitely be having a strong work ethic. I want to play with the ball and my style of play would be very front-footed with a high press. A high-energy team. I see what we do here and also look at how the Arsenal men's team are set up as well and how tactically disciplined they are. 

I definitely want players who are technical and can take on a lot of tactical information. Maybe in a few years, you'll see Kate McCabe's high-energy, high-pressing team. We'd be pretty physical, too!

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

I think Kim would be a good manager because I think she's got a great internal way of thinking. She's obviously quite quiet, so she would need a loud assistant coach beside her - which could potentially be me! I definitely think as a coach you've got to understand your weaknesses before you go into any sort of job and make sure you've got the right people around you to help you. Both Beth and Kim are going through their A Licence at the minute. I also think Manu would be a great goalkeeping coach. She's got a lot of patience, she's good with the kids and she's very supportive. Those would be my three.