Jobs4football meets Ben Kamara-Adams
Welcome to the latest Jobs4football meets, where we’ll be discussing the journey of UEFA B coach, Ben Kamara-Adams, and his experiences in coaching both in the UK and Saudi Arabia. In this Q+A, we’ll be exploring Ben’s early beginnings in coaching in the UK and the challenges he faced as a young coach trying to make his mark in the game. We’ll also be looking at the exciting move he made to Saudi Arabia and how he managed the transition, adapting his coaching style to suit a new culture and language.
Whether you’re a young coach just starting out in the game or a seasoned veteran looking for new ideas and inspiration, our Q+A interview will surely offer valuable insights and lessons. Let’s learn more about this talented coach and his fascinating journey.
Q: Can you tell us about your experience coaching in the UK with Shrewsbury, TNS and West Bromwich Albion?
A: Shrewsbury Town was my entry into academy football. They ran a volunteer program which I’m incredibly grateful for. My main role was pre-academy but I ended up coaching u9s, u10s and u11s. They kept their doors open to me and I got to observe everything from u18s to helping u16s. It was like a football university. They had an excellent CPD program. Shrewsbury Town had the biggest impact on me as it was my first experience at that level. I was a sponge and worked incredibly hard to experience everything and to impress. I learnt how to coach at Shrewsbury Town, in terms of interventions, how to package coaching points, etc.
TNS Women’s U19s role came about after 6 of my U14 grassroots girls got signed for their U16s team. One signed for Wolverhampton U16s and it made my grassroots team fold unfortunately but TNS provided an opportunity for me. The u19s project needed players and I had quite a few I could bring from my other age group teams at grassroots. I’m passionate about team building, being a part of a project and having responsibility so i thrived in this role. I was the lead coach and led training sessions and matchday.
I was also studying for my B licence at the time so it was great to have a team of that level to practice with. I had one of my players play for Wales U17 girls. It was also the first year they created the Welsh Premier League for the women’s teams with European spots up for grabs and the u19s league for girls. Was high level girls football and I enjoyed every minute of it. We finished second and ended the year winning our final 5-6 games in a row.
West Bromwich Albion RTC – this came about after observing the boy’s academy. I learnt and experienced real professionalism at the RTC. Everything was purposeful, interventions, matchday behaviours, coach behaviours. The level of detail I was exposed to was second to none. This was different to everything else I experienced. Got to play in an excellent games program. What I really enjoyed is that with these girls you could dream huge. You could sense that some of these players would play for the biggest clubs in the world and could one day be England internationals.
I started off as a U12 assistant coach but an opportunity arose to go with the U14s on matchdays. At the end of the season, I got offered a role to coach the U14s due to my performance and work with them. This meant a lot to me as an opportunity to coach in the girl’s FA Cup excited me.
Q: What inspired you to pursue a career in coaching, and when did you first realise that coaching was your calling?
A: I always wanted to coach but I believe life wanted me to explore other things that have now become really pivotal to my coaching. I quit playing football at 16-18 years old. I used to suffer from fear. Fear of failure of other people being mad at me, of the coach humiliating me, of making mistakes. I couldn’t handle it really and I’m quite grateful in hindsight I never achieved my dream at that time as I believe I would of ended up with a lot of emotional trauma from the game. Instead, I studied English literature and creative writing and also to be a counsellor. I have my level three in counselling skills from Shrewsbury College. These skills I learnt outside of the sport are huge factors towards my current success.
Once I decided to take a break from uni I got an offer to do my level 1 for free in London. I decided to do it. This was many many years after I quit football. I quickly realised coaching was my calling as I could be the person I would have wanted as a coach. I am human centred as a leader. Authentic, and in touch with my emotions, I can articulate myself and connect with people quite well. I can take away unhealthy fear and toxic shame, I can inspire and create an environment where players want to be there, want to express themselves and want to run until they can’t run anymore.
Unlocking potential and providing opportunities gives me great fulfilment. And I quickly became passionate and wanted to dive into every opportunity that allowed me to do so.
Q: What is your ultimate goal for your coaching career, and how do you plan on achieving it?
A: I have a unique gift for managing girls. I also have a goal and a vision to expand and continue to provide value to women’s football. Something underlying that drives me is providing opportunities for those who are currently underrepresented. Women’s football provides me with that, especially in Saudi Arabia which is just starting to implement there women’s structure.
I know as of right now helping these girls become Saudi internationals drives me. Giving these girls the goal and the dream of why not be the girl that helps Saudi become a top 20 nation in the world? Why not have a vision and a process to become the best at your position in your nation? I love competition and love educating within a professional footballing environment. I would love to be responsible for the growth of women’s football at the level of the national team and their age groups or a Saudi premier league women’s club and their age groups.
My steps to achieve this are to keep making an impact at the ground level, keep showcasing my ability to develop and provide value to women and girls in this region and put my current players on the international stage. As well as continuing to engage with Jobs4football for their guidance and expertise.
Q: What motivated you to move to Saudi Arabia, and what opportunities has it presented for you as a coach?
I was volunteering at West Bromwich Albion RTC and when I got offered the role of u14s coach it would have been voluntary. My co-coach from the pre-academy at Shrewsbury Town had at that stage already been coaching in Saudi for two years and highly recommended making the move. A break from the UK and getting a paid full-time role in football excited me so when Juventus Academy offered me the position in Saudi Arabia I took it without hesitation.
What opportunity it has provided has been the opportunity to learn about myself in ways that were impossible staying in the UK. I learnt that I’m highly adaptable and that is who I am as a person who works in Saudi Arabia. My energy, my personality, and my ability to communicate and make things happen really shine here. I have become very resilient, grounded, calm and patient. The Saudi way of doing things is very different and I have learnt that being authentic, passionate, energetic and also letting go of any outcome is key.
Some of the other opportunities that opened up for me were doing new things. Like opening up two new branches of Juventus Academy within the Kingdom. This gave me tremendous confidence in my ability to thrive here.
I have interviewed candidates for those positions and I have worked with the Saudi Football Federation on a number of occasions providing friendlies for their RTCs. I also assisted our boy’s team in providing the Saudi women’s team with a few training games. Overall it provided me the opportunity to learn holistically and to experience different things.
As a coach, it’s taught me to simplify and to become really efficient. Lastly, I have also learnt a bit of Arabic.
Q: Can you describe what a typical day looks like for you while working at the Juventus Academy in Saudi Arabia?
A: Right now we have Ramadan timings. So we start at 3 pm, and have a break after Iftar. So around 6.30 pm. Then we return at 8.45 pm and finish at 11.15 pm.
My normal non-Ramadan schedule is from 2 pm to 8 pm. What this looks like for me is the foundation phase. U8s to U6s. Then late FDP U10s to U12s then my YDP girls squads. What I enjoy about Saudi is that every day something new can happen and life can change in an instant.
As girl’s academy manager, my day consists of arranging friendlies for all groups. Doing player evaluation meetings, and providing individual learning plans and feedback for the parents. Planning and working towards tours so currently two of the girl’s teams are going away in the summer, one to Portugal to attend the challenge cup and one to the Gothia Cup. I liaise a lot with the Saudi Football Federations RTCs and some of the local professional women’s clubs. Then I coach all of the girls in the academy.
Q: What have been some of the biggest challenges you have faced while coaching in Saudi Arabia, and how have you overcome them?
A: Very early on the behaviours and expectations of the kids, the parents and how to manage it was different. Transforming behaviours and attitudes was something I hadn’t really done before consciously because I was always in high performance environments where the kids want to learn and perform and the parents respect the rules and regulations.
In Saudi Arabia it’s a win now culture. From u8s onwards. If you lose a game there’s huge pressure on you. They may want to leave the academy and find another team or may just want to complain. I struggled with this at first, I started to feel fear and pressure as if I was at the first team level. It actually started making me feel stressed and lose enjoyment.
I realised though that I was brought out to Saudi Arabia not to conform to their viewpoints of football but as a specialist to provide specialist work. I then went down the path of educating the parents on the development, minutes for all and started talking to the players about learning and wins being a by product of learning. Slowly but surely transcending the loss there’s a problem culture.
I started creating the environments I would create back home. High performance, light hearted, human centred not results centred. Putting development first with real goals and learning plans in place. Turning into an educator of parents and players was key for me. Not succumbing to their expectations but putting in place what was right for the child’s development.
Q: How has the transition been from coaching in the UK to coaching in Saudi Arabia, and what have you learned from this experience?
A: The biggest difference has been the level of the athlete. My last experience in the UK was with West Brom U14 girls. My first experience with girls here was a U14 group that hadn’t kicked a ball before. Went from having S & C coaches to learning how to put on coordination sessions to increase mobility and have the players look and move like athletes. I knew I could take teams from square one to being able to compete but I hadn’t done it this quickly before. I learnt how to do so, I also have learnt how to transform behaviours and increase commitment by teaching and educating.
My players are dedicated learners, work so hard and have adopted a great mindset. We took an A and a B group to the Abu Dhabi Cup and both teams got through to the final group stage. My biggest takeaway is that I understand how to methodically take a group from the beginner level to on the radar of the Saudi U17 national team level in a short space of time.
Q: What advice would you give to aspiring coaches who are looking to make a career in football coaching abroad?
A: Ask questions galore!! See the realities of working in that environment or country. My questions would be based on those things. In Saudi Arabia, people love passion and energy. Laid back coach behaviours work in the UK but here they’ll feel as if you don’t care. I’d ask those questions about the reality, how is the visa process, what’s the living situation, how much extra work is involved that the contract doesn’t state, and what coach behaviours are you looking for. Does my cv represent the fact that I have worked with all age groups and all abilities?
Study the country but also have an open mind. Everything I read about Saudi Arabia I had to throw out of the window, its a welcoming country, from what I read I never would have believed I would have been leading a girls’ academy program in this region. Or coordinating with Saudi Women to create a games programme etc. I’d give that advice to all countries. Study but go in with an open mind.
Q: Can you tell us about your current UEFA B license and your plans for further coaching education and development?
A: My current B licence situation is I am awaiting feedback for my coursework. My practical has been signed off but I took a little bit of time due to a bereavement to finalise my coursework, now I’m awaiting sign-off. I want to get my A licence next, I don’t know yet if I want to go the Uefa route or the AFC route.
Q: Lastly, what do you love about your job as a football coach, and what keeps you motivated and passionate about your work?
A: What motivates me is my vision, can I continue to add value to the women’s game? What I love is taking the players on a journey and unlocking their potential. Whether that is the Saudi National team or learning how to open up and play forward or finding their strengths and working towards them. Impacting lives positively keeps me ticking its a vocation that uses all of my gifts. Written, verbal, empathy, and intensity and the more I’m learning the more I realise I don’t know.
I have definitely found my calling and as of right now, I believe I have found my home.
Huge thanks to Ben for sharing his experiences and good luck on his journey. Jobs4football are sure he will continue his rise within women’s football in Saudi Arabia.