Head Coach Tom Guy joins us from national league side Eastleigh Football Club where he helped to develop one of the best and successful non league programmes in the country. Tom has experience coaching within premier league clubs and across all age ranges and variants of football.
We are very excited to announce our new head of the elite football programme, Tom Guy. We recently caught up with Tom and were able to discover a bit about his background and experience, as well as some of the plans he has for the football programme at The Henley College going forwards.
Have a close look below so you can share our excitement for the big things that are set to come in the coming months and years.
"Before coaching I have played semi-professionally although, not for very long! It was then I realised that coaching and leading teams was a real passion of mine. Unfortunately, injuries cut my playing career short and when I was out injured, I was proactive and started my coaching badges as well as coaching a local youth team, that's where it all started!
I have coached from the youngest age group all the way through to men's football at all different levels. This has certainly helped me hone my coaching, my philosophy and my approach to developing young players and ultimately, getting them ready for men's football.
In terms of successes, my time at Eastleigh Football Club was a real highlight in my coaching career in regard of success both through individual player improvements and additionally, winning titles! Leading an under 17's side in the National League Alliance under 19's league and winning the title for the first time in the club's history was a special moment for me personally. I also had prior success within these leagues helping Brockenhurst College (Bashley FC) do the same a few years before!
I have overseen numerous individual players make their first team debuts and sign professional contracts at Eastleigh Football Club and higher! This is what all the hard work is all about, as much as I do enjoy helping teams to become successful.
A key to making the football programme successful and really engaging the players is through the pathways it can offer, whether that be a scholarship abroad, a professional contract, playing for representative teams or university. This is something I believe Henley can help players achieve through my contacts and the opportunities I aim to provide.
Elite level footballers should sign up to this programme because I believe, The Henley College has a unique position where we offer a wide range of different study options (vocational or A Level) in a wide range of subjects alongside the Elite Football Programme where students can not only play football to a high level but study to a high level also. This I believe, is the difference between the football environment here at Henley College to that of a non-league or community football club programme, where players have less options study wise and may find themselves in a high numbered group where opportunities could be limited.
There will be benefits to players that will come with being part of the elite football programme. Players will still be able to play for teams outside of the college elite environment as long as it doesn't clash with our Wednesday match days! The programme will provide extra training and fixtures for players with aspirations of playing semi-professional football or higher in the future. Football, Sport and Exercise itself can bring many benefits to a student’s study experience.
I believe in order to move forward, which is our ultimate goal, we need to form links with local clubs and I will be working on that going forward again giving our players another pathway. Everyone loves a new kit and we will have a new one for the start of next season. We will do a yearly tour in April time abroad to play some fixtures and experience a different footballing culture as well as update some of our training equipment and add some TLC on our training pitches!"
As you can see, Tom brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our sports programmes, specifically on the football side of things. We are excited to see all the changes and developments that will start to occur with the football programme and look forward to sharing this with you. We hope his enthusiasm and ambition has a direct impact on the team and consequently, there will be an instant impact on the pitch!
If you’re interested by the elite football programme, come along to our next information event, where Tom will be available to talk to and find out more details about the programme as a whole!
