GB & England Beach volleyball Senior International 25+ international events

Bronze Medal @ World FISU Beach Volleyball Championships

European EUSA Beach Volleyball Championships

Operations manager @ Deep Dish

I couldn’t praise and recommend Phil Crawford enough for his time and influence as a coach. His drive and passion is extremely infectious, his ability to motivate a team and bring them together is something I admired hugely. He was able to create a great team atmosphere, having us play sometimes beyond our capabilities, making us better than just the sum of our parts.

Phil’s commitment to learning and improving his own knowledge is a great example to all those he coaches. Setting a great example to his players, which in my experience made me want to play for him.

Most importantly no matter the situation, Phil was able to make it fun for the team. He has a great ability to read the room and just ease any pressure that I or the team was felling, if that be in the build up to important matches or in pressure situations in matches. I haven’t enjoyed my volleyball and laughed as much as I have will Phil as coach in a long time all whilst improving as a player.

I couldn’t recommend Phil enough and if the opportunity came about to play for him again, I would welcome it.

JP MinstLM

Phil's gentle yet encouraging demeanour made an immediate positive impact during our first meeting at the Armed Forces Snowsports Training camp at Castleford. His approachable nature set a comfortable tone for our interactions.

Despite my initial unfamiliarity with Phil's background or involvement in the sport, I found his coaching style to be highly engaging. His feedback was both insightful and valuable, offering a fresh perspective on thought process and sports performance that I appreciated greatly.

As someone who typically struggles with confidence and trust generally, I found my experience with Phil to be refreshingly different. His approach helped me feel at ease and open to guidance, which significantly enhanced my learning experience.

Phil's coaching style and personality created an environment where I felt comfortable and motivated to improve. This positive experience has increased my enthusiasm for future training sessions and overall performance.

Based on this excellent initial experience, I would be very eager to work with Phil again in the near future. His coaching has left a lasting positive impression, and I look forward to working with him again in the near future

‘The Wheelie pickleballer’

First disability pickleball coach in UK

GB Athlete

I first met Phil in 2003 when I joined thw Men’s GB Sitting Volleyball team, he has helped me develop since then physically within the sport and mentally within myself.

I am also a Level 1 IPTA pickleball coach and play pickleball in a sports wheelchair. Phil is an inspiration to me as a coach and I regularly communicate with him to ensure I develop as a coach and to get guidance on coaching related matters. He is always able to put things in perpective and help guide me to a solution or way forward.

I had an operation in 2024 and reached out to Phil when I was given the all clear to return to sport. I was in desperate need of ohysical and mental preparation after the frustrating lay off and worked with him to prepare for the Pickleball English Open - without his support and guidance I would not have been in a position to take part.

Phil is an outstanding coach and is also an amazing person, he takes time to listen and understand what I need and tailers his coaching (both physically and mentally) around that. I would highly recommend Phil as a coach, coach developer and trainer.

3 x Olympic Games Commentator

FIS & FISU World Cup Commentator

Team GB Head Coach Baku European Games

International Coach

Having worked with Phil and seen him develop as a passionate and experienced coach, I have been impressed with his dogged commitment to learning and growth. He is always willing to step out of his comfort zone to achieve and experience new things and this has seen him blossom.

What is most evident is Phil's passion for developing people, regardless of the topic, sport or skill, using his extensive knowledge and experience to help them achieve their goals. This is shown in whatever environment he creates whether it is in a classroom, in the gym, on the slopes or in a coffee shop!!

Having personally worked with Phil his commitment dedication and work ethic is second to none and he would benefit any environment or organisation that he steps into.

Scottish International Athlete

Professional Athlete with Karhulan Veikot (FIN D1)

Training Sessions

Phil always made sure that each session led on to each other, and that sessions where evolutionary. Each drill then progressed onto the next drill to ensure a fluid and each movement onto the next activity.

Phil is always clear on the objectives and takes the time to clearly indicate his thoughts on drills if anyways asks ‘why are we doing this?’

Phil ensures that drills are fluid and can quickly identify if there is an issue and always ready with a solution to ensure that the team gets most out of the training.

Game Situations

Extremely passionate but tactical and aware of how to ‘Manage’ Phil is able to lead a team in difficult situations against tough teams, identifying weaknesses in our game and strengths that we are able to exploit. Phil is always not fearful and daring, an example of this would be to move players out of position for the better of the team as well as to allow better connections to be exploited in rotations or against certain teams. He knows exactly how to relay information, where others may get caught in ‘the moment’ he can always make a tense situation on of pleasure and enjoyment – regardless of the on the day result.

Personal (1-to-1) Session

Phil’s interpersonal skills are one that I must compliment most. He is able to talk to, encourage and relay information to a multitude of personalities; shy, confident, frustrated or any others. I believe that Phil would be able to man manage any team extremely well and would be a great individual as well as a coach to any team for this skillset alone. He is able to micro manage movements which can make large changes to an individual’s performance and therefore effect the game and result through various ‘little’ movements. Multiple aspects of individual’s games which they may not be aware of, identified and changed slightly for the better. Phil has seen these and is happy to provide advice to aid in personal growth and improvement.

Overall

Overall Phil is such a great, coach, colleague, analyst, motivator and friend. Is you are willing to give him 100% then he will not disappoint in his returned effort, going above and beyond in his commitment and feedback. He is such a great person and I would be lucky to have the pleasure to play with and for Phil again.