The Premier coaching model
The club is making some changes in the coaching model for the Premier program. These changes are the result of a lot of discussions, research into best practices, and a financial analysis of last year’s costs and the costs in neighboring clubs. The details of the coaching model will be outlined at the Premier Open House on February 25. In this article I will discuss some of the background for the changes and provide my own rationale for moving forward in this direction.
Eliminating divisions
Starting this year, we are dropping the distinction between “Division 1″ and “Division 3″ players. This change aligns us with what is going on in the California Youth Soccer Association (CYSA) and in the NorCal Premier league, which does not have divisions. Teams will be classified by their league placement. In NorCal, these placements have included terms such as “Premier”, “Gold”, “Silver”, “Bronze”. It is likely that CYSA will use similar terms. Placements will be determined by the individual leagues based on past records and recommendations from clubs.
Professional coaching
Over the last few years, the club has trended toward the use of professional coaches in a training role in support of volunteer head coaches. Last year, the club instituted a model in which trainers were selected and hired by the club and assigned to individual teams. Here are the reasons:
- Better oversight and accountability of trainers
- Alignment to club player development curriculum
- Improved financial management
In short, the plan for this year is to reverse the relationship between the professional coaches and the volunteer coaches for the younger age groups (Under-9 through Under-12):
- The professional coach will be titled as the “head coach”
- The volunteer coach will be titled as the “assistant head coach”
- The head coach will be responsible for training and game-day coaching at 2/3 of the sessions
- The assistant head coach will be responsible for training and game-day coaching at 1/3 of the sessions
Teams may have more than one assistant parent coach, but only one will be titled as the “assistant head coach”.
After much discussion, the club has decided to retain the current model (parent volunteer head coaches with professional coach/trainers) for the older age groups (Under-13 and above). If an older team requests to move to the new coaching model, the club will select a professional head coach. Otherwise, these teams will continue with their current structure.
In future years, teams will “graduate” forward with the new coaching model. For example, in 2011 the professional coaching model will extend from Under-9 to Under-13 (including one new age group).
An improved educational experience
In my opinion, a basic goal of the Dublin United Premier program is to provide an advanced player development and education experience. Here is the list of core coaching values (in order of importance) that our Technical Director Nick Lusson has published:
- Fun for the players
- Teaching life lessons through sports
- A focus on player development
- Strive for competitive success
The professional coach brings a background in both coaching and playing the game beyond that of most of our parent volunteer coaches:
- Generally has experience playing at elite levels — in high school, college, or professionally.
- Obtained advanced coaching licenses — at a minimum US Soccer Federation “C” and/or National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) National — requiring extensive on-site training, seminars, and testing.
- Has coached in other clubs, high schools, and/or colleges — exposure to things that have worked (and not worked) in other places.
In short, our professional coaching staff has the educational experience to deliver quality technical and tactical training for our youth players — and in particular, our younger players where training at an early stage is most critical. Our staff also has knowledge of the “next level” — the place where many players (and families) aspire to reach. This knowledge allows the staff to properly direct and instruct players not just for the current season but with an eye to the future.
The parent volunteer coach brings a background with the individual children and families — the glue that holds a team together. The parent assistant head coach has some experience with the game but, just as importantly, a sense of the intangibles and a second coaching voice.
I compare the new club coaching model to the operation of a school:
- The Board of Directors operates like the district school board — setting policy and direction, approving hiring, managing financials.
- The Technical Director is like the principal — defining the parameters of the programs, curriculum development, selecting staff, responsible for quality.
- The head (professional) coaches are like the credentialed classroom teachers — responsible for the day-to-day operation of their class (team), assessment of students (players), implementation of curriculum, working with student-teachers.
- The volunteer coaches are like student-teachers — working with the head coach on the details of the team operation, working with players and families, delivering specific lessons under the guidance of the teacher and principal.
The comparison isn’t quite perfect, but it does demonstrate the importance of all of the elements of the coaching model in delivering a quality education experience.
The financial model
In past years, there was a wide discrepancy in what individual teams/players paid:
- Cost of trainer
- Number of training hours
In the new coaching model, all of our professional head coaches are salaried. This provides a cost certainty to the teams as well as an income certainty for the coaches.
The club did an extensive analysis of the amount of money paid by each team last year, based on the financial reports that were provided by the teams. What we discovered is that we could provide the benefits of the professional educational experience within a cost structure similar to last year for most teams. The new coaching model should also simplify the work of the individual team treasurers. Costs are defined up-front rather than backloaded, based on training hours.
In summary, we think that the new coaching model will provide better visibility around individual player and team expenses while not substantially altering the overall costs that are incurred over the course of a season.
The nuclear arms race
I have used the phrase “nuclear arms race” to refer to the behavior of the clubs in our area in regards to professional coaching. Fifteen years ago, when I first became involved in youth soccer, there were a relatively small number of professional coaches involved in youth soccer in this area. Most clubs relied exclusively on parent volunteer coaches. There were many good players that came out of these systems but the experience varied widely, generally depending on the experience and background of the coaches. The Dublin High Energy team won 3 CYSA State Cups in the early 2000’s with players developed in Dublin United.
Some of the larger clubs began bringing in professional technical directors and coaches. The reasoning was simple — these clubs, with their size, could afford it. The expectation was high with these clubs and they brought in results. The elimination of fixed boundaries (at one time, players could not move outside their city) resulted in a flood of player movement. The best players wanted to play with the best teams (sometimes for college exposure, always with personal development and goals in mind), usually with the best coaches. As a result, the next tier of clubs — the medium sized clubs — brought in professional coaching, to stem the tide of players leaving and to also create the quality teams within their own clubs. In some cases, coaches moved entire teams between clubs as a consequence of the changes going on. All of the changes brought new organizational challenges in clubs, typically the friction between traditionally volunteer parent-lead Boards and a staff of professional coaches who were viewed by some as mercenaries.
Things seem to have settled down over the last few years, as the various clubs have become more collaborative amongst each other. That is not to say that there is not competition — check out club web sites and you will see announcements of hiring of high-profile coaches or directors — but I would characterize it more as “coop-etition”. I think it has taken several years for everyone to process the changes involved in open boundaries. Personally, I count among my friends a number of administrators and directors in neighboring clubs.
The role of the professional soccer coach
Some question the role of the professional soccer coach. I heard this in my previous club, when we went through a similar transition:
“The professional coach is only loyal to him/herself.”
“The professional coach doesn’t have any kids, what does he/she know about kids?”
“I could do a better job than him/her. Why are we paying him/her for that?”
I go back to the school teacher analogy. Not every teacher has kids. As a professional, there is accountability that teachers have in regards to the school administration. The principal and school board are ultimately responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of the teacher and determining whether to retain teachers.
I know a lot of professional coaches — because I’ve taken many of the same courses that they take. I currently have the NSCAA Advanced National diploma and will be applying to the Premier diploma this year — the highest diploma offered by NSCAA. I also received the NSCAA Director of Coaching diploma at a course I took last year. I bring this out because I appreciate the amount of time and effort that goes into the educational part of the coaching profession. It is not as easy as it looks, if done right.
Lessons learned
As a later arrival in the “nuclear arms race”, our club has the opportunity to learn from others’ mistakes and to create a model that fits into our club culture and takes advantage of what has historically worked for Dublin United. The so-called “hybrid model”, with professional head coaches and parent assistant head coaches, solves several problems:
- Provides continuity as we evolve the coaching model
- Connections with players and families
- Administrative and communication support
- Reduces overall coaching expense with parent assistant head coach provides coaching support
We think that an explicit definition of the roles of professional head coach and parent assistant head coach will smooth out some of the bumps that we’ve seen in other clubs as they have gone through their transitions.
A collaborative partnership between the professional head coach, parent assistant coaches, players, and families will give us the best of both worlds — the family-oriented culture that has been an integral part of our club in combination with an improved educational and player development experience.