Dear Soccer Community,
The messages received and thoughtful conversations had over the weekend are greatly appreciated. Tryout season is always challenging, but I believe a continued willingness to communicate openly and respectfully is important to make certain players/parents are well informed before choosing their right path in soccer.
After hearing some of the different conversations circulating around the community, particularly about what qualifies a “good catch”. I felt it would be helpful to share my perspective on the matter. Like my last communication I have put together a few facts and personal insights that I hope will give families more tools to evaluate what really matters in coaching.
To be clear, the information provided below is not intended to cause disagreement or spark defense. My goal remains steadfast in guiding our community with transparency, clarity, and care for the soccer journey ahead.
My opinion on coaches’ qualifications, experience, and values have been shaped by personal experiences in life, on the soccer field and in the classroom. I hope you find this information helpful as you consider the best environment for your child’s soccer development.
Facts & Opinions on Soccer Coaches
Coaches can positively and negatively affect players’ soccer experience, development, and passion for the sport. For this reason, parents and players should carefully consider various aspects when electing a coach.
Opinion: A quality coach has a proven track record of being able to maximize individual players and/or a team’s potential, but specific context matters (see factors below)!
- Players’ age, maturation, previous soccer experience, and goals matter!
- Some coaches are better equipped to coach youth vs. collegiate or professional level soccer players
- Some coaches are better “practice trainers” than “in-game tacticians”
- Gender
- Coaching male (boys) vs female (girls) is different. Coaches can have their gender preference and be best suited for one or the other.
- Level of Competition
- Coaching recreational, youth academy, middle school, high school, college and professional soccer are not the same job, each requiring respect and a unique skill set to meet players’ needs.
Fact #1: Soccer is played and coached worldwide. Professional coaching licenses are just one aspect to consider in soccer’s vast ecosystem.
Opinion: Soccer is played and interpreted differently across the world. I believe the various interpretations should be shared with coaches and players. Many former international and professional soccer players decide to build families in the United States but often are excluded and devalued in youth soccer by politics (i.e. lack of licensure). My hope is our country considers breaking down these barriers for the betterment of the game and players.
Fact #2: Countries have their own professional soccer coaching license accreditation process and philosophy.
Opinion: The complexity and lack of uniformity in coaching licenses is clear. What is more important is that parents and players pick a coach that is open-minded, a continuous learner, and respects the specific context (age, gender, and level) of players they are entrusted to lead.
Fact #3: In the United States alone there are two primary soccer coaching education governing bodies with distinct certification pathways:
- The United States Soccer Federation
- United Soccer Coaches
https://learning.ussoccer.com/
https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/education/
Opinion: Which of these two coaching education platforms is more impactful is debatable. Certain level youth clubs and MLS academies have prerequisites, minimum standard coaching licenses to coach. Yet, these same clubs and MLS academies have “specialists”, that do not need traditional coaching licenses but rather have more advanced skills and credentials that enable them to lead club wide departments and initiatives. Small and newly formed soccer clubs can indeed set similar license standards from one of the above-mentioned education governing bodies. Yet, doing so would seem to make little sense given these clubs will not be competing against other top-tier clubs or in prestigious league competitions anytime soon. A second shortcoming to this approach – is stagnation in players’ development via the one club doctrine-ideology-curriculum methodology. Successful soccer players play/train a lot in unstructured and structured environments, are coached by a multitude of coaches, experience a variety of soccer methodologies, are adaptable, and will play for multiple teams, clubs, and school/universities over their career.
Fact #4: Coaches work successfully within collegiate and professional-level soccer programs both domestically and internationally without professional soccer licenses.
Opinion: Beware of clubs and coaches that lead with licenses over quality soccer experience and length of time. It should be acknowledged that obtainment of coaching licenses takes time and commitment, but is an “A” license coach vs a former “Collegiate/Professional-Level Soccer Player” truly more qualified to coach? One could argue that achieving a collegiate and professional-level player status is a more stringent accomplishment and of more practical value to the development of our next generation of soccer players. Study the CVs of collegiate to professional coaches and you will find the majority have an extensive soccer playing background. In my opinion, there is much more to soccer than “tactical X’s & O’s” and generalizations found in coaching courses. Soccer is a “Players’ Game” filled with passion, desire, commitment, instantaneous innovation and skill execution! These critical aspects of soccer are not learned or more importantly transferred to developing soccer players by coaching licenses.
Take Home Message
Finding the right soccer coach for your son and daughter is difficult to know and will likely only become apparent after your child’s soccer experience with that coach concludes. As parents, you will know undoubtedly the quality of a coach based on your child’s display of positive emotion upon reflecting on their soccer experience with that coach. At that point, a coach’s license is irrelevant.
If you have any questions or are need of sport science and soccer training services, feel to contact us by phone/text at (470) 409-9393 or email: jvillalobos@synergyathleticsolutions.com
Your trusted sport science and soccer performance training provider,
Synergy Athletic Solutions – Joshua Villalobos PhD
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