More used to the one being coached as a player at Manchester City I have undergone something of a role reversal in recent weeks.

As part of my UEFA B Licence course I have to conduct in the region of ten coaching lessons, for which I am then assessed.

I have been taking City's Under-16 team and on Monday had my second session with them at Platt Lane.

It is obviously unusual for them to have their training taken by a first team player and so I think because of that I was able to get their attention from the off.

That said, you have to be sure you know what you are talking about, especially when they ask questions, otherwise you can be found out very quickly.

Initially the players were not sure what to call me. Should they call me Goat because that's what they shout when they are in the stands on a Saturday or should they call me Mr. Goater. I just told them it was a lot easier if they just called me Shaun.

This week I was instructing them on how to bring the ball out of defence in a 4-4-2 formation.

I think it went well although my positioning was criticised afterwards by City's youth coach Alex Gibson.

I found myself standing between defence and midfield when in fact I should have been standing behind them, in the goalkeeper's position.

From there I would have been able to see the players' movements better.

In my first session I was a little nervous and while I felt a bit like that on Monday, I was becoming more confident and I was better able to speak about the observations they had or questions they put to me. By the end of the sessions I should be a lot more at ease and it should come more naturally.

They are a talented bunch of players and it would be really interesting to see them play against a Bermuda team of that age.

I have watched City's Under-14s and the coaching lessons that they have compared to what happens in Bermuda are far more in-depth. They do the same things but they are broken right down. Whether it's how to create space or how to control a ball to feet when you are being marked from behind they analyse every little thing.

At home a kid just wouldn't get that. Presuming he had the talent, a player would receive the ball to feet turn and weave his way out of the situation naturally without necessarily knowing how he had done it. In England they would be taught how to do it and why it was a useful technique.

Young players in England have the advantage of being able to see professionals doing those kinds of things day in and day out on their doorstep. In Bermuda you are thousands of miles away and they just see it on TV.

English kids will take what they have seen on board and use it when they turn out for their school or their local team in the knowledge that someone might just be watching them. In Bermuda our kids are like 'there ain't no one here watching us'.

Like I said I think everything went well with the session. I was a mix of both the dictator - telling them what to do - and the seek and discoverer - saying for example 'if a player comes and pressures you what do you do?, asking a question of them. I thought I was good at those two points.

There were a couple of key factors out of the four I had planned that I didn't manage to get over and so next time I need to ensure I cover everything. If I can do that then the session will be perfect in that sense.

What these sessions have taught me is that just because you are a good player does not necessarily make you a good coach. It is something you have to work hard at and involves a lot of preparation beforehand. If you do not have a plan and are not prepared you will get found out.

That is why I am taking this course just as seriously as I take being a professional footballer. After all, at the end of the day I really would not want to fail it.