For Coaches
Volunteers Still Needed
We are short on field marshals and concession volunteers for Saturday mornings. Two hours once a month makes a real difference. Fill out the volunteer interest form to help.
Start Here: Your First Season as a Volunteer Coach
What the coaching director wants every new coach to know
If this is your first season, the most useful thing I can tell you is that nobody expects you to be a soccer expert. We expect you to show up on time, know every kid's name by the second practice, and treat the referee the way you would want a stranger to treat your own teenager. Everything else is teachable.Before…
Building a Practice That Works
Structure, timing, and the mistakes that waste an hour
A good youth practice has four parts and almost no standing around. Ten minutes of a warm-up that involves a ball. Fifteen to twenty minutes of technical work with every player on their own ball. Fifteen to twenty minutes of a small-sided game that puts the technical skill under mild pressure. Twenty minutes of scrimmage to finish. Then everyone goes…
Required Certifications and How to Complete Them
What is required, how long it takes, and who pays
Every coach in this association completes the same baseline before stepping on a field: a background screening, an abuse prevention course, and concussion recognition training. Recreational coaches add an introductory grassroots coaching license for their age group. Select coaches complete an additional license level appropriate to the competitive track.All of it is online except the field portion of the higher…
Managing Parents Without Losing Your Season
Set expectations early and most problems never happen
Most parent conflict in youth sports is caused by an information gap, not by bad people. Fill the gap early and you will spend the season coaching instead of negotiating.Hold a Parent Meeting in Week OneFifteen minutes before or after the first practice. Cover the practice schedule, your communication method, the playing time policy, what you expect at games, and…
Equipment, Fields, and Game-Day Logistics
The unglamorous part of the job
Each head coach receives a ball bag, cones, pinnies, corner flags for the older divisions, and a first aid kit at the preseason meeting. All of it is signed out to you and returned at the end of the season. Replacement items during the season come from the equipment shed at the North Complex — contact me for access.You are…
Age-Appropriate Development: What to Teach and When
A rough map from ages four to eighteen
Coaching the same session to a seven-year-old and a fifteen-year-old is the most common mistake I see, and it usually runs in the direction of teaching too much tactics too early.Ages 4–6Everything is individual. One ball per child, lots of dribbling, simple games with a start and a finish. Do not teach positions. Do not teach passing as a system.…
Fifteen European Titles
Real Madrid have won the European Cup and Champions League fifteen times, more than double any other club. They won the first five editions outright between 1956 and 1960.
Why the Ball Has 32 Panels
The classic 20 white hexagons and 12 black pentagons pattern was introduced for the 1970 World Cup so the ball would show up clearly on black-and-white television. Most modern balls use far fewer panels.