Coaches are the backbone of the Recreational Soccer Program. They are volunteers and they are key to the success of recreational teams. The vast majority of coaches enter the program because one or more of their children play in the Recreational Program. Almost all coaches continue to coach their child(ren) as they migrate through the ages of recreational soccer. Many coach more than one team. Parent involvement (including coaching) is an important aspect of Recreational Soccer.
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Duties that Are Involved with being a PWSI Recreational Coach:
Pre-Season Duties:
A. Attend the Coaches Meeting
Team rosters are normally issued to coaches by the League Directors at the pre-season coaches meeting. You or a team representative must attend to receive this information. If no one from the team can attend you should contact your League Director to make arrangements to receive the information. (Schedules and field permits are posted to the website.)
B. Contact Players Within 48 hours of receiving your roster, you must contact all your players and schedule an initial parents’ meeting.
C. Pick Up Equipment Team equipment for the season (balls, cones, goalie shirt as appropriate), a coach’s shirt, can be signed out at the Clubhouse after the coaches meeting. Return the items when the season is over.
1. Make introductions of everyone – yourself, assistant coach, manager, team parent, all players and all parents.
2. Prepare a contact list that includes names, phone numbers, email addresses.
3. Issue a phone tree and a game schedule. Establish an email group code but be mindful that not everyone has access to the Internet so phone calls may be necessary
4. Discuss your coaching philosophy with your players and their parents.
5. Establish practice times and location and provide that information to the team and the parents. Field permits are issued for each season and are posted on the PWSI website. They designate the fields we have permission to use for practices. Bring the field permit to every practice and every game.
. 6. Ask parents to volunteer to coordinate snacks, trophies, end of season party, etc.
7. Distribute uniforms if necessary.
8. Ask parents to complete the Medical Release Form, collect them, and bring them to all practices and games.
a. The Liability and Conduct/Medical Release Forms are an essential protection for players, parents, coaches, and Courage Recreational Soccer staff . All parents or legal guardians are required to complete and sign these forms for each player. Players who are 18 years of age at the time of registration may sign their own forms. The purpose of the forms is to briefly explain Courage Recreational Soccer policies pertaining to players’ safety, parent/guardian and player conduct and liability, and to authorize emergency medical treatment.
b. While Courage Recreational Soccer strongly stresses safety, there is always the possibility of injury. Therefore, forms must be completed and signed, and coaches must have the completed forms with them at all practices and games. The liability and conduct form must be signed. However, if a parent/guardian chooses not to sign the medical authorization form, he/she must be present at all practices and games in case a need for emergency treatment arises.
Organize for Practices Duties:
The key to a successful season depends on how you conduct your practices.
1. Instructional league teams (U4/5/6) generally do not practice during the week; instead they may arrive about one half hour before their games and use that time to practice. Recreational and Friendship Leagues are limited to no more than two practices per week.
2. There are many valuable websites which contain great information. Check the PWSI Website (www.pwsi.org) for the Byte Size Coaching information that provides many helpful tools for coaches and players.
3. The physical and mental abilities of the average player under 10 are limited. Try to develop your sessions to focus on age-appropriate activities. Following the Byte Size Coaching guidelines will ensure that your practices are effective and fun.
4. Get organized! Have a plan for each session. Avoid the three "Ls" — Lines, Lectures, and Laps. These waste precious time. Focus on skills development: dribbling, passing, turning, etc.
On the Pitch:
The Courage Recreational Program provides the game of soccer to persons of all ages and abilities and is committed to player development at all levels. It is this focus that sets us apart from other clubs. We are driven by the concepts of pride, passion and possibility. Our kids come first and everything we do must be for the good of the game.
A. Playing Time: At the foundation of the Courage Recreational Soccer Program is the mandate that every child will play a minimum of 50% of every game.
B. Game Management: Blowout scores run contrary to the spirit of Courage Recreational Soccer. This is a recreational league and the concept is to make the sport enjoyable for all the players. In no case should the final score differential exceed five (5) goals. Thus, if a team (full or minimum strength) is dominating the scoring, the coach who is leading must put into effect a strategy to create greater equality between the teams. The leading team may rotate their forwards and defenders, put their best scorer in at defense or at goal, or have the players create a passing game (such as aiming for a certain number of passes in a row). Another strategy teams can use is to offer the team that is on the low side of the score the option to add players until a reasonable level of parity is reached. We do not condone the strategy of removing players from the higher scoring team, which decreases playing time and effectively “punishes” a team for its’ effectiveness.
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PWSI Bytesize Coaching Curriculum & Practice Planner
