I have been involved in coaching soccer in some capacity since college. Most recently coordinating camp operations for my own company over the last 5+ years. I have thoroughly enjoyed coaching soccer and conducting camps for kids mainly because of all of the smiles you get to witness. However my biggest highlight over the last 15 years of coaching soccer has been my video creation of kids on our camp for a child who was suffering from cancer. To take an opportunity to have the kids at my camp say hi and demonstrate a few skills in order to bring a smile to the face of a child who so desperately needed it is truly all that really matters. My goal is to positively influence children for the better. I hope that those children at our camp took something away from that opportunity to make a difference in a child’s life.
With that being said, I think that coaches should do more than just coach. For those who look at it as a job, shouldn’t look at it as just a job. They should look at it as more than that. Coaches should look at it as influencing kids beyond just the field. Ways beyond the soccer field is something I experienced as a child growing up. My club soccer coach prayed with the team before every match. We would kneel in a circle and pray together before every match. Some of us kids would take turns saying the prayer, or before some games a few of us were allowed to share a prayer. Our team was like a family, vacations together, overnight sleepovers, regular team parties. We were all brothers and our coach was like our dad. A true father figure ensuring that God was the driving force behind everything that we did. Those experiences were my greatest childhood memories.
These days, that is most likely not seen on any soccer field and I would guess most kids most likely don’t get much of what I experienced as a youth soccer player. This is probably because of the nature of club soccer these days. I most recently read an article online about the differences between AYSO and club soccer. Some of it I agreed with and some of it not so much. What you see in club soccer is that it is truly about business in the sense that the majority of the time players don’t have the same coach from 10 or 11 years old up until they are 15 or 16. A coach will come or go, which means the opportunity to truly make a difference so that the child remembers that coach as I remembered mine most likely wont happen. Many coaches these days coach club to make an income and have other jobs and families so that the opportunity to share extra time with their players is virtually non-existent.
From what I experienced as a club coach for 7 years+ is that many parents, and not all, are only concerned about moving from team to team or club to club to find the best team. This is done without any regard to whether the coach they are with fits the role model type. The mixture of coaches not doing it for the “role model type” reasons, and parents not looking for that, equals a recipe for kids to not truly get what sport has to offer.
I think that what you see in AYSO is the opportunity to have players for multiple years, most specifically with post season teams. And AYSO coaches are definitely not doing it for the money. I think AYSO soccer coaches care more about winning for the sake of winning because of their competitive edge and club coaches care more about winning to keep their employment. Moving from team to team if the club continues to have a spot for them to coach happens often. Club soccer has become more about business. There comes a time in a players life when club soccer is all their should be in order to develop the athlete. AYSO should factor in up until the age 11 or 12 for those players who develop into very nice players. At that time the player should transition into club and hope that their investment takes their child to the next level. For those who love to play the game and do not develop into exceptional players should continue to play AYSO if their love for the game of soccer continues. I’ve experienced both levels as a AYSO player, club player at the highest level winning the National Championship at the U16 level, a club coach for many years, and an AYSO coach.
My questions for parents and coaches are: When are the prayers, scripture readings, consistent team parties? Is the coach listed as a role model by your child when asked who they would name? I believe that we all must take the opportunities provided to us by God not for face value, but for what is beyond what we see.
