Rosi Webb: Leaving a legacy

Taking the helm at Pegasus

Rosi admits to a degree of naivete when she first took the role at Stanway Pegasus in 2021, beginning with big dreams, before realising that she needed to tailor her vision to her resources.

“You’ve got what you’ve got,” she summarises. She’s quick to thank Stanway’s ownership, who share her passion for driving the club forward. “I wanted to create a culture in the  club. I wanted to create a place where players felt heard, players could come along, they could develop, they could question.”

That includes questioning her processes.

“I’m really self aware. I only know what I know, and I’m open to feedback. I always say to the guys, ‘You’re the experts, and if something doesn’t sit right, tell me, and we’ll change it.’

“Over the last few years, we’ve built this environment where I now say that we only ever lose a player if they get offered more money or they go to a step higher, and that for me means that I’ve done my job as a coach.”

She describes the club as one that’s “as professional as we can be with the means that we’ve got”, but knowing that budget is limited has also helped her expand her knowledge.

“We have things like the VEO camera, the stats vest, and I’d love to have somebody come in and do all that for me. Unfortunately, it’s just me, but I wouldn’t change that because I understand a little bit more around the data of the game based on the stats vest, I understand analysing from the VEO footage, and had I not had that and had somebody else [do the work], I wouldn’t have got those experiences.”

Rosi, like any club manager, has a broad range of responsibilities.

“When you’re involved in a club, you’re not just the manager,” she says. “You get pulled left, right, and centre. I was there Saturday before our [first-team] game, and I turned up to watch the reserves play, and I [had to run] the line because they didn’t have a lino!”

Of course, coaching and picking the team is her primary job, and she views team selection as a jigsaw puzzle.

“Every piece is different,” she says. “It might be a little bit bigger, it might be a little bit smaller, it might be different in colour, but ultimately every piece is important because without one, that picture is not complete.”

Her plans for the team have developed as her understanding of each player’s strengths has grown.

“Rather than working on some of the things that the players need to get better at, I try and try and turn their strengths into super strengths,” she says. “For an example, we might have two holding midfielders. I might have one that’s technically really good, can ping the ball, so as soon as he gets on the ball, he might hit spaces in behind. The player next to him might not have the ability to do that, but actually what he’s really good at is he connects the passes and allows us to overload on one side.

“I can then work back from that and create triggers. If Player A gets on the ball, let’s exploit the space in behind – we’re going to get the ball, and then we’re going to play in the final third. If Player B gets on the ball, we know [someone else] might have to go over and might have to occupy one side of the pitch.

“Every player is important, but they need to be aware of what they’re good at, and they need to just be okay with that.”

Holistic player development

From grassroots upwards, and in all age groups, Rosi is focused on developing players holistically: “getting to know players, how they learn, how they receive feedback, how we can make players more emotionally intelligent and more resilient.”

She’s also keen to find out how players learn, which she thinks can be neglected, adding that from there you can go into tactics and technique because you understand the individual’s perception of football and the world as a whole.

“Oftentimes when I go to sessions, especially when we’re working with younger kids, I see a coach stand up there and they talk through their session, and then they get the players to go out and do it, and then a kid messes around in it. We automatically think the kid hasn’t listened, when actually the kid just doesn’t learn by hearing what you’re saying. They need to see it on a whiteboard; they might have to stand back and watch the practice for a bit; or they might have to be part of the demo.”

Rosi continues to be curious about different ideas and approaches, and likes to learn from others – not just within football, suggesting that school teachers are the experts in understanding learning styles and could have great insight into session design. When she puts her own sessions together, she likes to use plenty of visual aids, and to stay as clear and concise as possible when she’s speaking to the group.

“If you can keep it under a minute, great. After a minute, you’ve probably lost them,” she says.

“Dripfeed those targets throughout the session rather than sitting there at the beginning going, ‘Right, I want you to do this, this, this, and this.’ Probably they don’t remember the last one you said, or they even switched off after the first one.

“We need to be really open to players being able to experience as much as they can, and create environments where they can learn, they can practise, they can make mistakes, they can review, and they can do it again, and they’re not going to get absolutely shouted at for making a mistake. It’s an environment where mistakes are okay, and we learn from it, and that’s part of the learning process.

“The biggest thing that I find when I’m in the senior game now is that these players are technically really, really good. Some of them lack decision-making, and that’s because as they’ve grown up and they’ve been part of youth teams, they haven’t been exposed to that kind of practice where there’s lots of opportunities to make decisions, opportunities to get it wrong, and opportunities to problem-solve. I think we have to be creating players for the future.”

She does much of her work with Stanway Pegasus in timed blocks, to reflect a game situation as much as possible, and delivering the coaching in the rest periods. The players themselves drive the speed, and the whole session is conducted with a ball at their feet.

“We’re trying to replicate the game. We’re working on our game plan. The ball’s moving. I’m trying to get players making decisions, and I’m trying to get them as close to tempo as possible.

“Ultimately, we’re trying to make the session fun. [Even though] they’re adults, they’ve given up their time, they want to come, they want to enjoy it, and they want to have fun.

“The biggest thing I’ve learned in non-league football is just because you shout louder on the sideline doesn’t mean it strengthens your argument. Having those one-to-one conversations is so important. Don’t just use training for an opportunity to coach, you can coach in match - and I’m not just talking about before the game, and I’m not just talking about half-time. You can coach during the game: the ball might be out of play, there might be a drinks break if it’s a really hot day. 

“Really use those moments to coach, because the game is just an extension of the practice on a Tuesday night.”