I recently took the NSCAA Director of Coaching Diploma and enjoyed the 2.5 days of intensive instruction very, very much. The course is full of information and the coaches, both the instructors and the course participants, have a lot of valuable information and perspectives to share. The DOC course is meant for those coaches who [...]

I’ve been talking to parents recently, because tryouts are upon us, and I keep getting the “I thought competitive soccer’s goal is to win.” I love this because the point of playing any sport is to try to win, otherwise why bother playing a game. The difference is the perspective taken by the coaches and [...]

First, the majority of coaches are not charlatans and the charlatan title definitely doesn’t apply to those volunteer coaches out there doing their best. The charlatan tag has to do with coaches that are collecting a fee for their knowledge and expertise. Their hearts are usually in the right place, but they may not be [...]

I just finished the NSCAA National Diploma course and had a great time. What can you say about a week of living and breathing soccer. Five to seven hours a day of soccer, classroom time, some really great people to play the game with, and some very knowledgeable and no non-sense instructors lead to an [...]

Youth soccer has been making the slow progression from volunteer coach to paid coach for awhile now. With the volunteer coach you may not have had the best coaching, but a good coach was one that made it a fun and enjoyable experience for all involved. With paid coaching, is the community and positive culture [...]

Many coaches get a couple of books with a ton of different SSGs (Smal-Sided Games) and/or drills to run for their players and every practice is different. Variety is the spice of life, but it may be hurting your ability to develop your youth players. Academic routines help children learn better, concludes researcher Gaea Leinhardt [...]

A bit of good news for soccer fans and WPS, as the Buffalo Flash will be joining WPS in 2011. After the losses of LA Sol and St. Louis Athletica, you begin to wonder if the women can get a solid league off the ground. I sure hope so, because the more soccer the better. [...]

This year my wife bought our family season tickets to the FC Gold Pride games, which we were all really excited about and have enjoyed very much. The game experience has been great for the entire family. From the autograph sessions to the play on the field, we’ve had a great time. The times that [...]

Many of the U5 and U6 age teams practice at the same school field for our soccer club. So, it’s great to be able to stand in the middle of the field and get an idea of what the coaches are working on and how the players are performing. Unfortunately, what I see too often [...]

In the world of paid coaches at the youth level (U8-U19), how is a parent, league board or Director of Coaching suppose to constructively measure the performance of a coach. Many of these paid coaches use the “we want to win, but development is the most important aspect of what we are doing”, thereby taking [...]