Ron Smith is Sports Wizard®’s Head of Football (link).
Ron qualified as an FA coach at the very young age of 22. Mike Cockerhill said of Ron “almost four decades after he emigrated to Australia, Smith has never lost his enthusiasm. In that time, he has revolutionised coaching standards, created new benchmarks, mentored some of the country’s best coaches, and players, and embraced technology as a cutting-edge coaching tool”.
Ron’s experience as a coach has enabled him to talk with coaches and players about performance and long-term development. He was head of the AIS football program from 1986 to 1996.
In all his time as a coach, Ron has used emerging technologies as tools to analyse performance. He has presented his work at coach workshops and seminars around the country (link). Football NSW said of Ron’s work “‘Smudger’ as he is affectionately known to his fellow peers has been one of the key contributors to Australia’s ‘golden generation’ as a former Head of the Australian Institute of Sport football program that witnessed many graduates progress through to various national team squads”.
One A League player (link) said of Ron:
“Ron is without doubt one of the most educated football coach I have ever had the pleasure of playing for. His attention to detail and the manner in which he gets his message across is always of the highest standards. Everyone speaks so highly of him due to his friendly and caring personality. He is without doubt one of the best coaches we have in Australia”.
Ron completed his PhD in 2016 at the University of Canberra. The title of his thesis was An Investigation into Goal Scoring Patterns in Association Football (link).
He is the author of The Football Centre (link), a website dedicated to help coaches and players be more effective.
Ron meets regularly with coaches to explore performance, training and competition. One aim is to make these conversations as convivial as possible.
Photo Credits
Ron Smith (Pro Football Training)
Conversation (Tony Charge, Sports Wizard®)
