Teenager has designs on Shrewsbury Town job one day
A Shrewsbury student has dreams of becoming the next Steve Cotterill after making an early start to his football coaching journey.
Geoff Freeman, 17, has taken his first steps towards football management while at school at Shrewsbury Academy and then at Shrewsbury College – with the help of Shrewsbury Town In The Community.
The football-mad youngster was assigned a coach to learn from while at school at Shrewsbury Academy and is now studying a College Ready programme at Shrewsbury College, to prepare him for further education.
And Freeman, from Shrewsbury, is proving adept on the training field, having already completed his Level One coaching qualification. He is a volunteer at Shrewsbury Town's charity arm, coaching young children in the Community department.
Freeman admitted he caught the football bug when watching Town in action at Montgomery Waters Meadow. He said: “Having a coach from Shrewsbury Town Football Club helped in school as it gave me target to aim for. I’d go to watch Shrewsbury play at home and it all kicked off from there.
“My target in the long term is to complete all the coaching courses, build up experience and hopefully one day manage at Shrewsbury Town Football Club."
Freeman did not let the global pandemic intervene with his coaching, as the teenager delivered training sessions for kids online while also completing his coaching courses.
Shrewsbury Town In The Community inclusive sport co-ordinator Nigel Wellings said: “From the beginning I could see how effused and knowledgeable Geoff was about football."
