“I think coaching education is very important. And actually, that’s one thing that as a coach I feel I need the most work on. It’s real important to teach them the skills. The winning, I think that’s ingrained. But I notice that as the kids get better at the skills, they tend to have more fun.”
Dan Gary, U6 coach, Real Soccer Club
“Every state has a little bit different situation, so implementing a mandatory situation is always difficult. But in my opinion, yes, I believe some form of mandatory coaching education should be put in (in) every state. It deals with a lot more than just structure and a lot more than coaching of kids. It deals with age-appropriate training and expectations and, more importantly, from a liability side.”
Brian Crookham, Colorado Rapids Youth Academy
“The last five years, they’ve changed the state-level programs to where the coaching education is coaching within the game and breaking it down to certain parts, which I think has been a great benefit. The educational process is even getting better through U.S. Soccer and U.S. Youth Soccer.”
Nate Shotts, Colorado Youth Soccer
“When you turn it around to people, when you say it’s about getting the players better, they start trying to understand a little bit. It’s not a money-maker for us. It’s not an issue of us trying to go out there and make money out of it.”
Adrian Parrish, Kentucky Youth Soccer Association
“What I think I’m going to do is gradually work with the leagues, work more closely with the directors of coaching and get them to really not only endorse the state coaching education programs, but also take some leadership with it by staging the state courses within their own clubs. In other words, they do in-house coaching education, which for me would make a lot more sense, and certainly coaches now would probably be a lot more comfortable.”
Tony Colavecchia, Arizona Youth Soccer Association
“A piece of paper doesn’t make you a good doctor. You have to prove it. That goes for soccer, too. At the same time, saying that, a player can’t necessarily coach because he played the game. I think it’s a combination of people management and kids, what they need, how you get a message across. And it’s getting better.”
Fernando Clavijo, Rapids head coach
