JT's Blog will be a weekly addition to the US Youth Soccer Blog. John Thomas "JT" is the Assistant Director of Coaching Education for US Youth Soccer.
This week I’ve had an opportunity to work with Dr. Ron Quinn in a leadership camp held at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA, and run by Starfinders of Philadelphia. Students who attended received a youth coaching certificate and referee license from Eastern Pennsylvania Soccer Association. The goal of the camp was to teach leadership tools with a hope that the students would take those tools back to their community and pursue ways to assist younger players. The candidates’ ages ranged from 16 to 18 years. There were 53 candidates with 50% of the class being African Americas.
I passionately believe that there are few people in society who have a greater opportunity to help shape and mold the character, values and leadership than that of sports coaches. Starfinders uses the powerful magnet of soccer to draw at risk children and youth to this leadership program.
Participants received information on famous leaders from different countries. In addition they learned valuable lessons on characteristics of a champion. They were also trained by professional coaches and college athletes and motivated to strive for educational, innovative and engaging programming that would stimulate them to educational excellence. By providing the candidates with a inspirational learning environments, like the US Youth Soccer’s State Youth Module, they could coach others how to play to learn and learn through play, building a foundation for strong character and positive outlooks that can last a life time.
If this group of candidates is an example of our leadership to come, we have a bright future. We must continue to encourage them to shine as the next generation of community leadership. They have been taught that the key to commitment is enjoyment.
Soccer has a tremendous potential to help promising young leaders and give them knowledge, encouragement and opportunities to become the next generation of positive role models that are needed for our young soccer players in the USA.
Sam’s Blog will be a weekly addition to the US Youth Soccer Blog. Sam Snow is the Director of Coaching Education for US Youth Soccer.
Quite a body of information is presented in the National Youth License on age characteristics (for more insight into this coaching course click here).Those who attend the course improve their coaching skills and learn a good deal about the makeup of children. When the adults better understand the nature of these young players then they can adapt and interact smoothly with the children. This knowledge of the needs and spirit of kids also influences the decision making of the adults who shape the youngsters’ soccer experience. Most certainly those adults include coaches, but let’s not leave out the administrators, parents and even the referees. These four groups of adults are the pillars of youth soccer. They support, guide and influence the game. So they are obliged to know the distinctiveness and desires of the children whom they impact.
With this knowledge more decisions will be made in the best interest of the players. This outcome should be especially true of the policy-makers, the administrators. Team managers, club board of directors, state and national administrators who have gained a solid knowledge of the characteristics of players will make decisions on by-laws, rules and policies in the best interest of the players.
To be equipped to make such decisions soccer administrators are required to study child development and the basic components of soccer. Indeed as our club, state, regional and national offices become more professional there should be an expectation of professional qualification in order to hold these jobs. The soccer community in America expects the referees to be certified and the coaches to be licensed, so we should also expect administrators to be qualified. After all this is only good business!
The players are our customer base and all businesses have customer service as a core value. But the picture is not quite so clear in youth sports since the parents are the consumer, even though they are not the customer. In this instance the consumer buys the service (sign kids up for soccer), but the child is the customer who receives the service (the chance to play soccer). Both the customer and the consumer have a reasonable expectation here for the providers of the service to have some minimal qualifications. To this end the overwhelming majority of clubs and leagues offer, through the state association, education for coaches and referees. But what about the administrators? Yes, clinics and workshops are offered for the adults in the administrative role, but no formal pass or fail course is currently offered as is the case with the referees and coaches.
As an example at the state association level when a state Technical Director is hired the requirement is a playing and coaching background. Additionally there usually is a requirement of holding the “Y” License and perhaps the “A” License or Premiere Diploma too. In many cases the Technical Director also has a college degree in some field of the sports sciences. So should not the state administrator have a degree in Sports Administration, Sports Business, Sports Management or Sports Marketing? These expectations of professional qualification of fulltime soccer professionals must occur at the club level too. Indeed a growing number of the over 6,000 US Youth Soccer clubs across the nation have already met or exceeded these standards.
We continue to grow and evolve as a soccer nation. The four pillars of youth soccer – administrators, coaches, parents and referees – support and shape the sport. As these pillars of youth soccer come to better understand the players whom they serve then the climate surrounding those players will become healthy and vibrant. This enriching experience is our gift to our children.
JT's Blog will be a weekly addition to the US Youth Soccer Blog. John Thomas "JT" is the Assistant Director of Coaching Education for US Youth Soccer. Looking back at the first weekend of the National Youth License course in Greensboro, N.C., I smile knowing that youth coaching is in the good hands of some great coaches. Although there are still a lot of coaching education opportunities to be taken advantage for the second half of the NYL course.
The thing that stands out about this group of coaches is that they all appear to be open to new ideas. This is the first time the NYL course is being hosted in North Carolina. The class is full with 36 candidates of diverse backgrounds and many years of varied amounts of coaching and playing experience.
Mike Strickler, the DOC for Florida, Jacob Daniel, the DOC for Georgia, Ric Plante the DOC for Montana, Chris Little, the current DOC for North Carolina, and myself are the instructors for this course. The candidates have great questions and the staff has done well answering.
I hope the following article written by Mr. Gary Allen will provide further information relating to the issues of player development.
Youth Soccer Coach Wanted: Only Those with Patience and Perseverance Need Apply By Gary R. Allen, Virginia Youth Soccer Association Director of Coaching Education Click here to read the article.
JT's Blog will be a weekly addition to the US Youth Soccer Blog. John Thomas "JT" is the Assistant Director of Coaching Education for US Youth Soccer. Recently, I assisted in teaching a National Youth License course, which was hosted by Starfinder Foundation in conjunction with the Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer Association (EPYSA), a proud member of US Youth Soccer. About 60 coaches from inner-city Philadelphia and surrounding areas attended.
EPYSA coach Billy Tompkins delivered part of the youth module and Mike Barr the EPYSA State Director of Coaching also was in attendance and conducted several field sessions.
To kickoff what was a fantastic couple of days, I delivered a coaching clinic to Multi-Cultural United, a local Under-16 boys team. The Multi-Cultural team is a diverse group of inner-city youngsters of mostly African decent.
After the clinic, Tony Williams, President and Founder of the Starfinder Foundation invited every player, through a full-scholarship, to attend Starfinder’s Youth Leadership Camp and to become a part of the organization’s exciting and innovative vision.
The week-long program uses soccer to develop character and leadership skills. Participants can also receive coaching and referee certifications. One of Starfinder’s goals is to increase job opportunities by securing referee badges and coaching certifications.
These students will develop the attitudes, characteristics and leadership skills of the next generation of players/leaders living within inner-city Philadelphia.
The next morning, the coaching education got underway with the first 20 coaches working with the Philadelphia Soccer Club Under-6 boys team. That afternoon, 40 coaches who attended the Under-8/Under-10 youth course worked with the Anderson Monarchs, an African-American Girls Club, from South Philadelphia.
The event was a great success with a lot of positive feedback from the coaches involved in the sessions.
