Springhall Coaching

30/12/2025

Some of the Riverland’s finest.

I’m currently holidaying with my family up in Barmera on Lake Bonney and put some feelers out to a couple of lads who I have worked with in the State School Boys U/15 side over the past couple of years.

Was amazing to work with Mitch Johnson and Sammy DePalma again, plus local lad Harry Banks who captained West Adelaide’s U/16’s to a premiership this year and South Adelaide SANFLW Premiership player Marley Tape who is also holidaying up here.

A solid session focussing on touch, skill development and finished with some footy specific running.

Four absolute stars!

Huge thanks to the Barmera Footy Club for letting us use a couple of footies. A great country club who are the team to beat in the Riverland Footy League.

26/10/2025

Good luck to these three legends who are off to represent their District in the SAPSASA Girls State Football Carnival this week.

Despite the wind it was great to see these ladies working hard to give themselves the chance to get some skill work and ‘touch’ in before games kick off tomorrow.

16/09/2025

Had the pleasure of coaching these incredible year 5/6 boys this season.

The boys took out the Southern Fleurieu Carnival earlier in the year winning all 5 games in emphatic fashion.

Moving into the State Knockout Rounds and carrying some significant injuries to key personnel I was so proud at the way the boys stuck with it, defeating another 5 schools to be crowned State Champions.

As a group we spoke before each game about trust, impact and simple brilliance.

Trust: Do the boys trust me to make the calls, changes and decisions that will enable the TEAM to succeed, even if it means certain players need to do certain jobs, spend a quarter on the bench, or play a new position.

Impact: Making sure every player made an impact on the game. Whether it be a player just coming in to the ground from the bench, or a player standing up in the moment and taking their chance.

Simple Brilliance: It’s the little things in the big moments we wanted to get right. Whether it’s picking up a ground ball cleanly, or hitting a target, if we got the simple things right, the game steadily flows our way.

Today’s grand final my opening message was to not focus on what happens after the final siren, it could be good or it could be bad. We wanted to only focus on the moments in front of us.

As a player, and as a coach you can easily get lost in “Imagine if we win” or “Losing will be hard” so to just focus on the next play, the next time the player is involved helped us stay in the moment.

For the first time this season we were really tested, giving up a 20 point half time lead to only be in front by 1 point at 3/4 time.

We spoke about what it would take. We drilled down on trust. Was it there, were we willing to do exactly what was needed of us regardless of the role? We spoke about impact, and how everyone had their job to do. We needed leaders to stand up, we needed our defenders to lock in and our midfielders to become more accountable. Finally the simple brilliance, it’s hard when you don’t train together to make drastic changes during a game, so we just kept it simple, keep the ball rolling our way, compete in the air and have a crack.

The result?

Six unanswered goals!!

10/09/2025

Couple of legends cleaning up on awards night!

Best and Fairest
Best and Fairest Runner Up + Best Finals Player.

Two lads who I have had the pleasure of working with consistently over the past couple of seasons.

Huddo oozes X-Factor. He possesses game changing ability and can hurt opposing teams in in so many different ways. He has great attack on the ball and hits the contests hard. I liken him to an Isaac Heeney.

Sammy is all class, an absolute work horse who runs hard both ways. An elite user of the ball, he can change lanes and hit the kicks others wouldn’t dare to attempt. Very much a Jordan Dawson type operator.

Exciting things to come from these two.

23/04/2025

Lots of fun tonight out at the Goolwa / Port Elliot Football Club with the U/14 Girls team. The girls are coached by Ellie Fry who I was lucky enough to coach for a season back in 2018 at Strathalbyn 🏆

An energetic group of girls who had me laughing regularly. I was really impressed with their fundamental skills and look forward to seeing them play throughout the year.

Great work team.

14/04/2025

Every footballer wants to take the next step in their football journeys. Regardless of the level, footy trials can be a scary place. So many talented athletes miss the chance to further their football careers due to not performing when the time comes.

As someone who has been involved in the process as both an athlete and as a coach I’ve created a guide to help you maximise your impact at your trial.

Every coach and every trial will be different, however it’s important to back yourself in and don’t let your confidence waiver.

Good luck x

05/04/2025

Make sure you recover today. Download our full recovery guide in our links.

25/03/2025

Check out our FREE preparation and recovery guide now.

Thanks to Morgan from Mũve Physiotherapy for her incredible insights and support in developing this.

06/03/2025

Come and join us for a fun filled development sessions.

Catering for girls 12-18 of all skill levels and experience.

Get in touch with any questions.

20/01/2025

Spent some time over the weekend running a skill development session with senior c**t players at the Langhorne Creek Football Club. Coach Cade Murgatroyd has the boys up and about early running a successful camp to kick start their 2025 campaign. I look forward to seeing these boys in action throughout the season.

12/01/2025

Looking for that extra edge as the season gets closer?

The weekend is nearly upon us, so here’s 5 tips that can instantly improve your weekend run!

↘ Determine the type of run. Is it your weekly long run? Is it a tempo session or are you feeling beat up and need a recovery session? Once you’ve decided, planning the route becomes much easier.

↘ The route. Are you training for a road race? A trail ultra? Answering these questions is going to make planning the terrain much easier. Make sure the route suits your end goal!

↘ Training adaption. You’ve worked out the type of run, now does the route (the distance and terrain) suit the desired outcome of this training session? Eg: if you’re planning to do 1km repeats to increase your lactate threshold, a windy, undulating and hilly trail probably isn’t the best location. Pick your spot carefully!

↘ Plan your gear ahead of time. Heading out for a 3 hour long run? You’ll need some serious hydration and nutrition options, so consider this and load up your pack ahead of time. Is it going to be a scorcher of a day and you’ve got a hard interval session planned? You may not need to pack the kitchen sink, but you will dehydrate fast so best to carry something with you. Start thinking about this NOW.

↘ Enjoy the day out. The most important part is to enjoy what you do. The sessions won’t always feel great, but always find ways to enjoy the process. Planning ahead, prepping your gear an picking an outfit (while seemingly minor) can really boost morale and get you excited and inspired to get out and train!

↘ [Bonus tip] Never underestimate the power of small, mental wins! Plan ahead, celebrate all the small wins and take time to reflect on how the run went - all of this contributes to a well-balanced and satisfying training regime!

Enjoy!
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My name is Sam Willis

I’m a coach for endurance and performance athletes.

If you want to know how I can help you reach new heights in your athletic pursuits, let’s chat!

Or, you can learn how supercharge your endurance training here 👉 https://lnkd.in/g-BphANm

See you in the DM’s ✌️

20/12/2024

A couple of solid sessions capping off a big 2024 for Lacey.

U/14 team captain ✅ 🐓
Team Best and Fairest ✅ 🏆
League Medal Winner ✅ 🏅
South Adelaide U/15 Team ✅ 🐈‍⬛

Looking forward to seeing what she can achieve in 2025! 👀