Wayne Harrison is a former professional player and has been a highly qualified professional coach for many years. He has previously held the positions of Academy Director at Blackpool Professional Football Club in England and at Al Ain Professional Football Club in the UAE.
About Wayne Harrison: A Brief Bio
UEFA Professional “A" License Coach since 1996
Professional Player (Blackpool) and Oulu Palloseura (Finland)
Professional Coach in England and abroad (Finland, the United Arab Emirates, and the USA)
NSCAA Premier Diploma holder and Staff Coach
Bachelor’s Degree in Sports Psychology / Applied Physiology
Represented Great Britain Football team (England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales combined countries) in the World Student Games in Mexico 1979.
A proponent of a thought provoking proven one-touch mentality training program to develop a quick playing and quick thinking mindset in the player and creator of many age group related coaching programs for players and coaches.
Educational Soccer Symposium Clinician for the NSCAA ( Seven presentations including on the field and classroom clinics), World Class Coaching, Reed Swain, and many State organizations throughout the USA as well as in the UAE, Germany and Japan.
Author of 14 Coaching Books and four DVD’s on Soccer Training plus 62 E Books with diagrams and animations explaining ideas on the beautiful game.
164 Training Videos on youtube https://m.youtube.com/@soccerawareness
With his experienced full time professional coaches Wayne helped produce 7 National Championship winning Professional youth teams in 2 years in the UAE 2009 – 2011 as the Director of Coaching for Al Ain Soccer club and introduced successful his Soccer Awareness coaching program
The Al Ain Academy was voted the Number One Professional Academy in the United Arab Emirates by the Abu Dhabi Sports Council Consultant Marco Monte of Inter Milan who described it as the closest model to the best European professional club academies using Wayne’s Soccer Awareness training model for the Thinking Player developed over many years and with his experienced professional youth team coaches.
EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS
Professional Soccer Player in England, USA and Europe
Extensive first team head coaching experience: 1st team coaching in over 250 senior games over 7 years in England
UEFA “A” Professional Licensed coach July 1996 to 1997
UEFA “A” Professional Licensed coach Refresher Course July 2010 *Updating my license.
NSCAA Premier Diploma Holder USA July 2009
ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS
Bachelor of Arts Degree
Sports Psychology and Applied Physiology
Chester College of Higher Education; England 1977 to 1980
COACHING HISTORY
Soccer Awareness Professional Training Programs (Owner) October 1996 to present
A developmental Training Company focusing on “pure” teaching and training. Soccer Awareness is now “International” with its first Affiliate club in England using its curriculums who are a feeder club to professional clubs. The goal is to spread the soccer awareness method of teaching across the globe. Read More about Soccer Awareness
NSCAA Staff Coach Education Instructor July 2009 to Present Teaching Coaching courses to Coaches
Age Group Director: Tonka United 2020 to 2022
Director of Coaching: Chill Soccer Club, Lansing; Michigan 2017 to 2020
Soccer Awareness Coaching Center (Own business: San Diego, California) 2014 to 2017
Technical Director: Surf Soccer Club; San Diego 2012 to 2014
As well as being their Technical Director he was the DOC to the Boys Program and the Development Academy; as well as the Head Coach for the 16 and 18 Academy teams and was a driving force behind the Surf Affiliate Club and Surf Camp programs. The Boys program “officially” outperformed the Girls program in 2014; in year two of his tenure; and for the first time in 20 years of the clubs existence under Wayne’s Guidance.
Professional Academy Technical Director April 2009 to October 2011
Al Ain Sports & Cultural Club; United Arab Emirates, Middle East.
Coach Education; Player Development and the organization of coaching and training programs for all age groups. Presenting training courses to the coaches.
Administrative: charting the scholastic development of all the players. Included scouting players for the future development of the academy and first team. In charge of 42 full time professional coaching staff.
SEVEN National Champions at Youth Professional Level in the United Arab Emirates in 2 years. The most successful professional academy in the country. 6 Finishing Championship Runners up. Voted the Top Professional Academy in the UAE by Marco Monte of Inter Milan the consultant for the Abu Dhabi Sports Council 2011.
Added the method of play from primarily individually focused players to a 1 and 2 touch team style using the 1-4-2-3-1 but without losing the individuality of players.
Television Analyst October 2009 to October 2011
A regular live Television Champions League and English Premier League Analyst on the Abu Dhabi Sports Channels in the United Arab Emirates
Director of Coaching 2000 to 2009
Eden Prairie Soccer Club, Minnesota; USA. Coach Education; Player Development and player recruitment. Built the club from 36 to 65 teams increasing financial turnover by 100%. Managed 130 coaches and 850 players. Budgeting for training facilities and coaches’ salaries
Associate Head College Coach 2001 to 2004
Dakota County College for both Men’s and Women’s teams: Included coaching duties and player development; as well as recruitment of players.
Minnesota Youth Soccer Association 2000 to 2009
Teaching Licenses and ODP developmental training
Professional Club Academy Technical Director 1996 to 2000
Blackpool Professional Soccer Club; England: Coach Education; Player Development and player recruitment plus monitoring each player development and progress in soccer and in school. Budgeting for the academy expenses. Teaching the “C” License for the English Football (Soccer) Association
English Football (Soccer) Association County Coaching Director 1996 to 1997 Cumbria; England; Developing coaching courses for coaches throughout the county of Cumbria. Coaching in schools.
Semi Professional Men's teams
1st Team Head Coach: Accrington Stanley Football Club 1997
1st Team Head Coach: Bamber Bridge Football Club 1995 to 1997
1st Team Head Coach Workington Reds Football Club 1994 to 1995
Academy and Youth Team Coach: Carlisle United Football Club 1990 to 1994
Coach Education Instructor
Presented several clinics at the Minnesota Youth Soccer Association Symposiums
State, Regional and National educational coaching development in the USA.
Educational Soccer Clinician for the NSCAA, World Class Coaching, Reed Swain and several State Organizations throughout the USA.
Educational DVD clinic presentation at the NSCAA Convention 2007: Awareness training: Developing the Thinking Player (purchased on the NSCAA Website) plus two DVDs on 4-2-3-1
Proponent of a scientifically proven one-touch training program built around SCANNING to develop a quick playing and quick-thinking mindset in the player
Creator of many age group related coaching programs for players and coaches.
Presented at the NSCAA National Convention January 2012: Coaching the 4-2-3-1
Presented at the NSCAA National Convention January 2015: Dynamic Games to teach Movement OFF and AWAY from the ball.
In total he has presented Seven times both in the classroom and on the field at the NSCAA over the years.
Professional Playing History
Carlisle United Football Club 1987 to 1989
Workington Red Football Club: 1st Team Head Coach and Player 1984 to 1987
Oulu Palloseura Football Club (Finland) 1983 to 1984
Blackpool Football Club 1978 to 1983
Great Britain Students / Universities: 1979
*Representing England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales: World Student Games in Mexico
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club 1976 to 1978
Everton Youth 1973 to 1976
Published Articles
Numerous articles published for the NSCAA Soccer Journal; Insight Magazine: English Football Association; Soccer-Rom; Reed Swain; World Class Coaching Magazine; and USA State Associations
An example: https://www.soccertoday.com/wayne-harrison-intelligent-youth-player-development/?cn-reloaded=1
Author of 14 soccer education coaching books
“Recognizing the Moment to Play” (A Best seller in the English F.A. Catalogue) 2002
"The Art of Defending: 1 v 1 Through 8 v 8” (Number TWO in Reed Swain Top Ten) 2003
"The Art of Defending: Phase Plays and 11 v 11” (Number SEVEN in Reed-swain Top Ten)
“Game Situation Training for Soccer” (Number ONE in Reed-swain Top Ten) 2005 (Also first ever in Arabic.)
“A Full Season Training Program for U14”. 2007
“A Full Season Training Program for U12”. 2007
“The Attacking Roles and Responsibilities of Players in a 4-4-2” (a BEST Seller) 2008
“The Defensive Roles and Responsibilities of Players in a 4-4-2” (A BEST Seller) 2008
“Soccer Awareness: Developing the Thinking Player” (Published January 2010).
“Coaching The 4-2-3-1” Published November 2011: The first book ever published solely on this system of play; currently the most popular in the professional game
Arabic version of Game Situation Training for Soccer 2012
Striker Movement and finishing techniques (Published June 2015)
Coaching the FLEX 1-3-3-1-3: 2015
Also created 164 videos and 62 eBooks on soccer development.
One of his Latest eBook being “Tactical development of the 4v4,7v7 and 9v9 game sizes (407 pages) and also including many animation eBooks showing the Tactical development of systems of play you can use in soccer both in youth and senior play.
Example: eBook 54 Taster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=1syDLM-PBrI
Achievements at AL AIN Sports and Cultural Club; UAE
Seven National Championship winning youth age group teams at Al Ain Professional Soccer Club, UAE, Middle East; under my Awareness Training Programs. Also beating teams such as Inter Milan, Valencia, Atletico Madrid and Raja of Morocco in tournaments at U15 and U16 to highlight the level of play.
Thirteen players promoted to the first team from the academy 2009-2010
Voted the number One Professional Academy in the UAE by the Abu Dhabi Sports Council via my presentation on academy organization and development of all the professional clubs in the UAE. Evaluated by a Consultant, Marco Monte from Inter Milan, Italy.
Al Ain youth results were the most successful Professional academy in the UAE in both years (2009-2011) National Championship winners in 7 age groups.
Thirty eight players playing Internationally at 5 age groups
Created and presented In – House Coach Education and development courses December 2010 and February 2011
Represented the Abu Dhabi Sports Council as a deligate in Tokyo; Japan at the Japanese F.A.
