Youth Coaching Qualifications

[Anonymous]

It would be interesting to see the results of this survey.

If you are paying $3,000 or more in just club fees before any add-ons;

- Ask your club what youth specific licenses and or certifications does your child's coach have

- Ask your club when last or how often does your child's coach go to seminars or coaching education courses given by qualified coaching education instructors

[Anonymous]

Most clubs list the names of the coaches and their respective certifications and qualifications.

Remember that most coaches are not full-time coaches as they have other full-time jobs/professions. Hence, most don’t have time to attend coaching seminars unless it’s held on weekends during the soccer offseason.

But remember that certifications and/or attending seminars doesn’t make a coach a good/great coach. Heck, even the best former professional or college players aren’t good at coaching/teaching either.

It’s how a coach effectively communicates, teaches and develops players which can’t be determined by certifications, etc.

[Anonymous]

Former coach here. This is such a gray area, at least from my experience. The licensing system in the US has been wacky for a long time. They use to give out B licenses if you had played pro, no course work or classes needed. The content taught has also changed, in terms of how methodology, tactics, etc. Now, licensing at the higher levels is very hard to get into, expensive, and time consuming. For anyone who does it as a part time job, it's very hard to get 2 to 3 weeks off work to go take a class. Continuing education is really up to individuals as most clubs will run one or two a year for their staff. All this to say that someone with an A license from 1995 and someone with a D license from this year will have vastly different knowledge bases. And lastly, I've seen coaches straight up lie about their qualifications. There's actually no way for you to go check if what they list or tell you is true. I would tell everyone to make sure you join a team or club for reasons beyond just the coaching resumes. You need to align your families goals with their goals. For example, don't join a 2nd team which will focus on winning every game if your objective is to have your child develop to play on the 1st team. You want your kid to play in college, then don't join a team which is going to play low level to rack up trophies.

[Anonymous]

Our club hires coaches without a 'D' license, but tries to mentor/ develop them along the way... those that do come into the club seem to start with a lower level team and the Club adjusts from there. However, this only seems well intentioned on paper. Over 3 years with the club, rarely if ever is there much oversight of the coaches once they are assigned to a team.... one coach might be doing very good work, while the next coach is just scrimmaging the kids over and over or lecturing to them and sucking the fun out. Our club does also have 2-3 coaching workshops per year.

[Anonymous]

US Soccer has a directory where you can search for any coach. So you can verify that license.

https://learning.ussoccer.com/directory

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most clubs list the names of the coaches and their respective certifications and qualifications.

Remember that most coaches are not full-time coaches as they have other full-time jobs/professions. Hence, most don’t have time to attend coaching seminars unless it’s held on weekends during the soccer offseason.

But remember that certifications and/or attending seminars doesn’t make a coach a good/great coach. Heck, even the best former professional or college players aren’t good at coaching/teaching either.

It’s how a coach effectively communicates, teaches and develops players which can’t be determined by certifications, etc.

Isn't it lowering and accepting a low bar by diminishing the education and knowledge gained in coaching courses taught by qualified coaching educators?
Coaching formal education teaches you the what, why, where, when and how. Teaches you best practices and the scenarios applications.

Also, coaching, teaching youth is different than coaching adults, no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former coach here. This is such a gray area, at least from my experience. The licensing system in the US has been wacky for a long time. They use to give out B licenses if you had played pro, no course work or classes needed. The content taught has also changed, in terms of how methodology, tactics, etc. Now, licensing at the higher levels is very hard to get into, expensive, and time consuming. For anyone who does it as a part time job, it's very hard to get 2 to 3 weeks off work to go take a class. Continuing education is really up to individuals as most clubs will run one or two a year for their staff. All this to say that someone with an A license from 1995 and someone with a D license from this year will have vastly different knowledge bases. And lastly, I've seen coaches straight up lie about their qualifications. There's actually no way for you to go check if what they list or tell you is true. I would tell everyone to make sure you join a team or club for reasons beyond just the coaching resumes. You need to align your families goals with their goals. For example, don't join a 2nd team which will focus on winning every game if your objective is to have your child develop to play on the 1st team. You want your kid to play in college, then don't join a team which is going to play low level to rack up trophies.

How can you not put the coaching first?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former coach here. This is such a gray area, at least from my experience. The licensing system in the US has been wacky for a long time. They use to give out B licenses if you had played pro, no course work or classes needed. The content taught has also changed, in terms of how methodology, tactics, etc. Now, licensing at the higher levels is very hard to get into, expensive, and time consuming. For anyone who does it as a part time job, it's very hard to get 2 to 3 weeks off work to go take a class. Continuing education is really up to individuals as most clubs will run one or two a year for their staff. All this to say that someone with an A license from 1995 and someone with a D license from this year will have vastly different knowledge bases. And lastly, I've seen coaches straight up lie about their qualifications. There's actually no way for you to go check if what they list or tell you is true. I would tell everyone to make sure you join a team or club for reasons beyond just the coaching resumes. You need to align your families goals with their goals. For example, don't join a 2nd team which will focus on winning every game if your objective is to have your child develop to play on the 1st team. You want your kid to play in college, then don't join a team which is going to play low level to rack up trophies.

How can you not put the coaching first?

I'm just saying to look beyond the resume. It's hard to do sometimes as your child may have limited time with the coach in tryouts and such, but I've seen plenty of "state winning" and "A License" coaches who are hated by players and worthless coaches. I've also seen D license coaches do some of the best work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:US Soccer has a directory where you can search for any coach. So you can verify that license.

https://learning.ussoccer.com/directory

Ok, I'll bite.

https://lmvsc.org/2023-2024-travel-soccer-coaching-slate/
Scroll down to the 2011 Girls White coach
Now check with the directory

So, clearly lying but who's holding them accountable?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former coach here. This is such a gray area, at least from my experience. The licensing system in the US has been wacky for a long time. They use to give out B licenses if you had played pro, no course work or classes needed. The content taught has also changed, in terms of how methodology, tactics, etc. Now, licensing at the higher levels is very hard to get into, expensive, and time consuming. For anyone who does it as a part time job, it's very hard to get 2 to 3 weeks off work to go take a class. Continuing education is really up to individuals as most clubs will run one or two a year for their staff. All this to say that someone with an A license from 1995 and someone with a D license from this year will have vastly different knowledge bases. And lastly, I've seen coaches straight up lie about their qualifications. There's actually no way for you to go check if what they list or tell you is true. I would tell everyone to make sure you join a team or club for reasons beyond just the coaching resumes. You need to align your families goals with their goals. For example, don't join a 2nd team which will focus on winning every game if your objective is to have your child develop to play on the 1st team. You want your kid to play in college, then don't join a team which is going to play low level to rack up trophies.

How can you not put the coaching first?

I'm just saying to look beyond the resume. It's hard to do sometimes as your child may have limited time with the coach in tryouts and such, but I've seen plenty of "state winning" and "A License" coaches who are hated by players and worthless coaches. I've also seen D license coaches do some of the best work.

Okay, you're saying look past just the marketing highlights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:US Soccer has a directory where you can search for any coach. So you can verify that license.

https://learning.ussoccer.com/directory

Ok, I'll bite.

https://lmvsc.org/2023-2024-travel-soccer-coaching-slate/
Scroll down to the 2011 Girls White coach
Now check with the directory

So, clearly lying but who's holding them accountable?

Could be under a different state, different last name, or, as prior coach intimated, it's impossible to know for sure. It is doubtful if someone attained a license in the 80s or 90s that the USSF digitized every license in the history of the USSF.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:US Soccer has a directory where you can search for any coach. So you can verify that license.

https://learning.ussoccer.com/directory

Ok, I'll bite.

https://lmvsc.org/2023-2024-travel-soccer-coaching-slate/
Scroll down to the 2011 Girls White coach
Now check with the directory

So, clearly lying but who's holding them accountable?

Could be under a different state, different last name, or, as prior coach intimated, it's impossible to know for sure. It is doubtful if someone attained a license in the 80s or 90s that the USSF digitized every license in the history of the USSF.

You're a kind person to assume as much. I think the point is more to the fact that there's no actual checks and balances on this. Clubs aren't governed by much more than themselves and there's 0 chance of something like this being caught by someone who doesn't know to look for it. As someone just stated perfectly, look beyond the marketing highlights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most clubs list the names of the coaches and their respective certifications and qualifications.

Remember that most coaches are not full-time coaches as they have other full-time jobs/professions. Hence, most don’t have time to attend coaching seminars unless it’s held on weekends during the soccer offseason.

But remember that certifications and/or attending seminars doesn’t make a coach a good/great coach. Heck, even the best former professional or college players aren’t good at coaching/teaching either.

It’s how a coach effectively communicates, teaches and develops players which can’t be determined by certifications, etc.

Isn't it lowering and accepting a low bar by diminishing the education and knowledge gained in coaching courses taught by qualified coaching educators?
Coaching formal education teaches you the what, why, where, when and how. Teaches you best practices and the scenarios applications.

Also, coaching, teaching youth is different than coaching adults, no?

I’m not saying that education (coaching certifications) are not valuable. What I’m saying is that a coach can have all types of certifications but can still be a jerk, abusive and/or horrible coach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:US Soccer has a directory where you can search for any coach. So you can verify that license.

https://learning.ussoccer.com/directory

Ok, I'll bite.

https://lmvsc.org/2023-2024-travel-soccer-coaching-slate/
Scroll down to the 2011 Girls White coach
Now check with the directory

So, clearly lying but who's holding them accountable?

Could be under a different state, different last name, or, as prior coach intimated, it's impossible to know for sure. It is doubtful if someone attained a license in the 80s or 90s that the USSF digitized every license in the history of the USSF.

Neither is the Tdoc/2010 red boys coach

[Anonymous]

I'd be more concerned if they didn't have their safe sport license. Looks like this database shows safesport with some coaches and not a license