England Futsal will operate the England Futsal National teams on behalf of the FA, including the ‘Three Lions’, ‘Lionesses’ and ‘Young Lions’ brands.
The performance pathway will be built over time to support these teams and in partnership with stakeholders on a timeline aligned to the UEFA & FIFA competition schedules. Currently, England Futsal has created the Men’s and Women’s U19 programme in this new era for Futsal and this will be followed by the formation of the Men’s and Women’s Senior programmes during 2024.
These programmes will be supported by the following performance staff.
NATIONAL TEAM STAFF
BEN TADMOR
BOARD MEMBER & PERFORMANACE MANAGER
Ben has spent almost 20 years driving change and improving standards in Sports Development. He has diverse experience within the industry ranging from front line delivery, to development & planning to delivering strategic change. He strives to engage young children through sport, igniting a passion to participate and enjoy activity as a lifelong habit.
The Futsal community may know Ben as a former Assistant Coach to the Men’s Senior Futsal Team, as the U19 Men’s pathway lead or as an FA Futsal Coach Educator. Having been introduced to Futsal in 2004, Ben evolved with the development of the game in England and has experienced National League, FA Futsal Cup & UEFA Futsal Champions League campaigns with domestic teams.
Away from Futsal, Ben has also led a number of successful corporate promotions including the planning & delivery of a Talent ID program on behalf of an iconic global brand as part of their FIFA World Cup marketing campaign.
Ben is married to Alice and they have 3 children: Herbie 11, Eadie 10 & Ottie 7. All 3 children enjoy playing sport so on the very rare occasions that the family are not on the side lines of a pitch, together they enjoy participating in water sports, playing on the beach & taking the dog for a muddy walk.
SION KITSON
HEAD PERFORMANCE COACH & TECHNICAL LEAD
Sion has been involved in futsal since 2004. As a player he represented Great Britain at two World University Games and played International futsal for Wales for 5 years. Captaining his country and scoring at international level are his proudest playing moments.
He has also had the honour of coaching the England & Wales U19s as well as the England U21s and being assistant coach for the Men’s senior team over the last 5 years.
Sion has worked in the sport sector for the past 15 years; with the FA a Coach Educator, mentor & Development Officer, for Sport England leading their work on coaching, and is now with England Hockey supporting the implementation of their talent system.
He is never happier than when spending time with his family exploring new places, or being on the futsal court working with players (something he is particularly looking forward to resuming over the next 12 months with the national programme).
Sion is an advocate of creating opportunity for young players to achieve beyond what they thought was possible. He enjoys listening to the High Performance podcast and learning from high performing individuals from across the sport & the business world in order to further develop himself in service of the Game he loves.
PETE VALLANCE
WOMEN’S PERFORMANCE COACH
Pete has worked extensively across sport and education and is currently a Lecturer in Sports & Exercise at Coventry University, as well as an FA Licensed Tutor and Coach Mentor. He is passionate about developing creative coaches that create and maintain a high performance culture, combining it with experiential learning and reflective practice to achieve more meaningful and individualised development. Pete is a relational coach and aims to inspire, enthuse and nurture talent by developing both the person and the player. He continues to develop his own coaching practice by engaging in contemporary research, and has published papers in two Routledge Handbooks and the UK Coaching Applied Research Journal.
Pete’s proudest achievement was representing his country in the Senior England Futsal Squad from 2008-2012. Since then, he has been heavily involved in the development of the England Futsal Performance Programme over the last ten years, first as Head Coach of the Midlands Centre of Excellence, then as National Manager of the FA Regional Talent Centres, followed by Head Coach of the England U19’s Futsal Squad and Assistant Coach of the U23’s between 2016-2020. During his time as Head Coach of the England U19’s, he managed the squad for the inaugural 2019 UEFA European Championships in Croatia, achieving a record win against Italy.
Pete is happiest when on the Futsal court, where he can be found as both player and Head Coach for his club, Hartpury Futsal. He is proud to see the club’s development and is looking forward to expanding the club across both the men’s and women’s programme.
Pete is a family man at heart and enjoys spending time with his wife and two beautiful girls, Esther and Clara, going for family bike rides and inventing lots of fun games to inspire imaginary play. His life motto is “Work hard and see everything as a learning opportunity”.
JOHN TAPIA-OWENS
MEN’S PERFORMANCE COACH
John started his coaching career at Cardiff University before moving to ProFutsal London initially as a player before being appointed Head Coach in February 2018. Since then he has seen them go from the 2nd Division and 2 FA Cup Quarter Finals to NFS Tier 1 Runners-up before merging with Bloomsbury Football in 2021. John’s proudest achievement was the 2022/2023 season where he managed Bloomsbury to League, Cup and Play-Off success as well as becoming BUCS National Champion with University of Hertfordshire, their first titles.
John initially studied Architecture at Cardiff University and worked in the Sport Venue design sector before moving into full-time coaching. Whilst at Cardiff he played for Cardiff City and Cardiff University, having the opportunity to play in the UEFA Futsal Cup on three occasions.
John is happiest when coaching and watching Futsal. He values building strong relationships, emphasising teamwork and resilience. John’s joy comes from seeing his players excel both on the court and in life.
John is an avid learner and looks to visit other environments and discuss ideas with other coaches. He loves a challenge and is currently undertaking a MSc in Advanced Performance Football Coaching and his UEFA A License courses. He is an avid reader and enjoys listening to podcasts such as the High Performance Podcast or The Diary of a CEO.
English