There was a time when youth soccer was simple. It wasn’t long ago. It was a time when the neighbor down the street could put on a volunteer hat and coach. Kids ran around playing a game that even the coach perhaps didn’t fully understand, but was fun nonetheless. Parents didn’t have to worry.
But things have changed.
Soccer has changed.
Youth soccer is big business now. The players are better, at a younger age, and coaches are being asked to keep up. Coaching education has come to the forefront. Even a volunteer coach must have knowledge appropriate to the age level
being coached. Licensing ensures that, and also provides a background check to know just who is coaching the kids.
More than half of the states mandate youth soccer coaches at the recreational or competitive level be licensed. Colorado doesn’t. The question is, should it?
“Families invest a lot of time, money and energy, and they demand what’s best for their kids,” said George Pavlantos, Junior Academy director for the Colorado Fusion Soccer Club.
Right now, the demand is for better coaches. In Colorado, coaches are encouraged, but not required, by the state’s governing body, Colorado Youth Soccer, to get further education through licensing. Nate Shotts, technical director at Colorado Youth Soccer (CYS), said he can see Colorado mandating some type of licensing in the next five years.
“I would lean toward having a mandatory licensing program of some type so that they go through some educational process in order to coach teams,” Shotts said.
Mandating licensing is easier done on the competitive levels. Kentucky started mandating that its “select-level” coaches be licensed last fall.
“We basically require players to always make themselves better and improve themselves,” said Adrian Parrish, director of coach and player development for the Kentucky Youth Soccer Association. “So, why shouldn’t we be doing
that as coaches?”
Competitive coaches in many cases are paid. Not so with recreational coaches. Fitting in additional hours to take coaching classes costs more time and money for volunteers.
“These coaching courses that we do for licenses, it all costs money,” said Tony Colavecchia, director of coaching and player development for the Arizona Youth Soccer Association. “So, every time you want to mandate something,
that’s all well and good, but if 95 percent of the coaches that you’re trying to mandate are all volunteers, they can turn and run and say, ‘Who’s going to coach kids then?’ ”
Arizona Youth Soccer, however, is offering two free state license youth courses this month. Shotts said CYS began last year offering free coach education to any club that wants it.
“So now it’s even a noncost for any of the recreational licensing programs,” Shotts said.
Recreational coaches, who can coach kids as young as 4, are crucial to the development of young players.
“I think the challenge is keeping it fun for them,” said Dan Gary, U-6 coach for Real Soccer Club. “I think a lot of times, ingrained in all of us is the competitive nature. But really, when they’re that young, they just want to have fun.”
Licensing is also done to try to ensure safety for the kids by making sure the coach has a clean background.
“Probably our foremost responsibility is to ensure the safety of those kids,” said Brian Crookham, Youth Academy director for the Colorado Rapids.
“Some of that safety is through the way we instruct the players, but this is a safe haven for them. Background checks have to be a part of what we’re doing. The coaches we bring in have to be screened, and should be screened all over
the state, for that matter, for anything that could be a red flag.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
