The Rise of 1-2-1 Coaching in Scotland

The usual cycle in football goes from player to coach and then potentially management, but over the past decade there has been a mass increase in players doing their own coaching. This ranges from coaching younger boys in groups or doing “1-2-1” sessions with other pros or younger players. For Jethy Kinavuidi, both apply to him.

Growing up in Royston, just outside of Glasgow City Centre, Jethy has always played football and through his growing career, a lot of his training and development has been individual and personal, setting up his own sessions, taking advice from coaches and applying it to his own work.

During his own training, he would often be asked on how he sets up his own sessions and knows what to work on.

Jethy said: “I just remember beforehand, I’d always have younger boys coming up to me and asking how I know exactly what to work on and how I’m doing it, sometimes asking me to give them drills for their own training etc.” This was one of the motivating factors into starting his own 1-2-1 coaching business called MVP Performance. Still only 19 years old and still playing under 20’s football, Jethy wanted to create somewhere for younger players to come and take themselves to that next level, and through his own experience with 1-2-1s he started it up.

Jethy Kinavuidi - U20s player and 1-2-1 coach

“In my area there’s not a lot of access to personal coaches and if there is they aren’t affordable, especially for younger boys. It’s hard to justify paying that on top of already paying to play in a team, kits, boots and equipment.

“My inspiration was an old coach named Reno, I was talking to him about other coaches charging prices like £40-50 an hour and he said he’d give me sessions for £5-10 instead and I really enjoyed his drills, and they were very effective. Covering all the basics in full detail and this is what I do with my own clients, making sure sessions are enjoyable but full of the basics as this is how players can improve.”

The importance of 1-2-1s often go under the radar for younger players as they might not know how important they can be or they might not be able to get access to them.

“A lot of boys who end up training themselves don’t know how to train properly and effectively so that’s why they look to 1-2-1 coaches as someone to give them set drills, analyse what needs improved, give feedback and measure successes.”

Balancing playing, training and coaching has been a tough ask for Jethy but he has handled it as well as he can.

“To be honest, it’s not easy, but it’s just something I have to  do. When I was younger I didn’t have access to this form of coaching, so I want to give opportunities to younger boys around me to develop their game and take that next step. I just have to find the time to schedule boys in consistently while still having my own training and games, so it’s certainly a struggle but I work hard to make it work.”

Jethy has set up something that is very beneficial to younger players who want to take themselves to the next level whilst also keeping it affordable. In an area like Royston where stuff like this is hard to come by, MVP Performance is a great outlet for improvement and hopefully more of this will be seen in other areas going forward.