Most coaches will be fortunate to coach 1,000 players over their entire career, but for Lismore Thistles Head of Football, Chris Layland, it’s all in a year’s work.

With his work through Sydney FC, Lismore Thistles, and various schools on the Northern Rivers, Layland coached over 1,000 players in 2023 alone.

His record-breaking year started in the state capital where he spent January coaching for Sydney FC, before returning home and running important football programs throughout many of the region’s primary schools.

Then as the Football Far North Coast (FFNC) season began, Layland launched the Thistles Acceleration Program (TAP), which saw a Lismore club conduct a season-long professional development program for the first time.

With over 1,000 players benefitting from Layland’s expertise, the former Australian Champion is ready to inspire even more children as the TAP program returns bigger and better in 2024 – sponsored by Summerland Bank.

“2023 was an incredibly busy and rewarding year for me, but I didn’t realise the scale of what I was doing until I sat down over Christmas and crunched the numbers,” said Layland.

“To be able to coach over 1,000 players in a year is a great privilege as I am not only able to teach them the fundamentals of football but can have a positive impact through life lessons.

“2024 is shaping up to be an even more exciting season because we’ve expanded the Summerland Bank TAP program to allow for more age groups: this means even more players will be able to benefit from high-level coaching right here on their doorstep.”

TAP is an academy-styled program for players who want to improve their football skills and game awareness so they can develop into the best player they can be.

In 2024, TAP is expanding and will be for U9s, U10s and U11s, with the teams playing in FFNC’s Skill Acquisition Program: the highest tier for junior football in the region.

By playing in a high standard of competition and working with one of the region’s most qualified and experienced coaches, the development of players is accelerated.

“We launched Summerland Bank TAP in 2023 with a smaller program to test out the interest levels. The program was a huge success with 95% of players saying they agreed or highly agreed that the program helped them develop as a player.

“Due to the demand, we’ve expanded the age groups and we’ve also had enough expressions of interest during the off-season to form more advanced squads.”

This year’s program starts in March with players participating in two training sessions per week: one dedicated TAP session coached by Layland and one session with their game-day coach.

All players aged 9-12 (regardless of your experience level or which club you play for) are welcome to join Lismore Thistles Gala Play Sundays which start on 11 February and continue throughout March.

The gala days are a perfect way to get back into football and a nice way to finish a weekend. Running 4pm-6pm and are free of charge: just turn up on the day.

For more information or to join Summerland TAP, check the Lismore Thistles Facebook page, fill in this form, or call Chris Layland on 0403 926 132.