Coaches' Clinics vs Coaching Courses

When I first turned my coaching attention towards soccer over 20 years ago I knew I needed help to do justice to the young players placed in my charge. Although I had coached various sports for a number of years I possessed a rudimentary knowledge of soccer in general. So, I set about educating myself about soccer.

One of the first things I did was to attend a "clinic" presented by the local high school coach. This clinic was part of a coaches meeting for the local recreational league and lasted all of about 30 minutes. Thus armed, I began my career as a soccer coach. We won the league championship that year with a 6-0-1 record!  This had little to do with my coaching acumen and much to do with the fact the biggest, fastest, strongest player in the league played for our team. As a coach, I knew to get the ball to the kid who couldn't be stopped.

What I did not know was how to teach technique. So I went looking for that information. I looked at the local library for books on soccer - there weren't many. So I went to local books stores to look for books only to discover there were none. Not a single book on soccer. I searched out stores that specialized in soccer and found The Soccer House in Ft. Wayne Indiana. It was, at that time, a mom and pop store offering all things soccer. They didn't have many books or videos but what they did have was a gold mine to me!  From there I learned some of the large national chain book stores carried soccer books and videos, As the Internet was just becoming a thing, I learned about sites like Reed Swain, Championship Productions and Kwik Goal which all had educational offerings, As I have reported before, today I have an extensive library of soccer books and videos.

I also learned of coaching courses which I was greatly excited about. I thought, what a great way to learn how to (coach) teach soccer! The first caching course I attended was the State Goalkeeping Course offered by the NSCAA. It was to this date the best soccer coaching course I have ever taken. Tony Waiters, Tony DiCicco and John Murphy were the clinicians. Murphy remains my favorite clinician of all time.  I learned so much from their presentations.   My next venture into the realm of coaching courses was a USSF course which I still view as the greatest waste of money ever spent on soccer education. The USSF course tested what I already knew.  I was not a novice coach, so had an understanding of how to coach. What I needed to learn about soccer was what techniques to coach and how to teach the properly. I was almost completely out of luck in this regard with the USSF course.

I understand today's NSCAA and USSF offerings, at least at the entry levels, do a much better job of teaching coaching fundamentals before testing your knowledge. They also do a better job of instructing how to teach the fundamentals of the game. They have listened to complaints and suggestions from the grass roots of the game. Kudos to both organizations.

Knowing what I do now, I wish I had availed myself of the coaching clinics that were available to me. Quite frankly, I confused the pursuit of knowledge with the pursuit of Diplomas and Licenses.  I have numerous of both and ... well, so what?

I have not attended a coaching course in five years. The last being the NSCAA High School Diploma Course in Georgia which was quite good. Probably second only to the State Goal Keeping course referenced earlier in this article. I did help host an NSCAA Level III coaching course last summer as the DOC for a local club. Our coaches needed diplomas / licenses to meet league coaching requirements so it had to be done.  It was a decent course focused more on how to prepare a practice plan and what to present in that practice plan. Good information for the level of coach targeted.

I have continued to attend (and conduct) coaching clinics.  Yesterday I attend a small and short but sweet clinic at Ohio Northern University. It was a one day clinic consisting of 3 sessions.  I came away with perhaps a dozen different things I will be trying out in the camps I conduct and with the team I will coach next fall. There is some different nomenclature that I believe will benefit the players I work with to better understand the input I am providing them.  Despite specializing inn goalkeeping instruction for two decades I saw a different exercise I think is practical and functional that I will give a try. And  I rediscovered a tactical consideration that I believe the teams I work with might benefit form.  It was a productive use of 4.5 hours on a wintry day.

Today, I view the NSCAA and USSF as necessary evils in the sense most leagues are demanding coaches be "licensed" before they are permitted to coach. Real education in the game remains in the purview of coaching clinics.

At coaching clinics many coaches become engrossed in the drill or exercise being presented. Excitement builds and they want to rush right out to try out the new drill on their own teams. I do not have a problem with this as long as the coach understands the reasons for having the team perform the exercise - the coaching points involved.  The good clinicians explain these things before, during and after their presentations. It is important to grasp these things otherwise we turn it into an effort to train monkeys, so to speak.

The elite clinics, in my opinion, will follow a day's practice plan.  The warm up, individual, small group and eventual full-team or game phase of practice will be presented by a variety of clinicians. There is a flow and structure based around the theme of the sessions. A picture is painted for the coaches in attendance of what a well thought out and organized training session should look like. The exercises and accompanying coaching points are icing on the cake.  The different ways of organizing a team and the nomenclature used are bonuses.

At yesterday's clinic they provided us with a nicely done written synopsis of the what was to be presented, I still ended up with 7 pages of my own notes.  Most of my notes are of ideas the clinicians and or the exercises they presented prompted in my own mind. I diagrammed some variations of the exercises they present that popped into my mind while watching theirs presentations. I jotted down terms and phrases I think may convey my own ideas to teams better than what I have been using. And as noted above, I will be borrowing an exercise or two to use with my teams, if not in there entirety then certainly in there general intent.  Hey, it's what coaches do!

So, my message to you is to know he difference between a coaching course and a coaching clinic. My personal experience has been coaching clinics are far more valuable learning experiences. They have met and continue to meet my needs better that coaching courses that award diplomas or licenses based on what you already know.

April 2015 was the best month ever here at CBA Soccer Blog.

Thank you to our readers for making last month the best ever here at the CBA Soccer Blog. While a majority of our readership continues to be from North America and Europe I am constantly amazed by the far reach we have with readership extending to seemingly every corner of the globe. What started off as a way to publicize our camp programs has blossomed into something much larger thanks to you.!

I will be updating the "most read" articles section shortly.  Position #6 The Holding or Defensive Midfielder continues to be our most popular article of all time.  Surprisingly, three articles from the past found new readership interest in April. It seems the "search function" added to the website has made a significant impact in what you the readers of the blog have been accessing.

I will be moving past articles on the club tryout process to the fore once again.  I am debating whether to place these articles collectively on their own page or simply republish them as part of the main blog.  Which would you prefer?

Coming this week will be my musings on professional athletes making the same common mistakes found in youth soccer.  I was quite perturbed to see the Crew SC allow two goals to DC United on defensive errors one would expect to see in youth soccer.  These are professional athletes for crying out loud!  And I will touch on how the errors that got the Crew SC beat yesterday can be attributed to the system or style they play. Mental mistakes. Mental toughness. Lack of discipline.  Not accepting the responsibilities that come with the freedom the system offers.

For those of you local to me, I am building portable kickback boards.  If interested in purchasing one, please contact me. Pictures and specific pricing will follow later this week. These are incredibly sturdy and relatively lightweight. They will fit in the trunk of most cars.  I have decided to do this because a ball and a wall remains the best self instructional tool I have found for young soccer players. The portable kick back boards can be used by individuals or small groups. Slam! is one of the games kids love to play and requires nothing more than a ball and a wall.

For one of our camps this summer I have been asked to install "our" system of play. That is a lot to ask for in a one week camp but I believe we can provide the basics. I am putting together supplemental practice plans to be used throughout the season to continue honing and building the system throughout the year.  This is my first attempt at laying this all out and trepidation is running amok.  I admittedly form a loose seasonal plan when coaching a team myself. I select 3 parts of play I wish to focus on as a general theme for the season and have specific activities in mind to address these, but am largely adaptable as the season progresses.  So much of what I do is team specific - get to know the players and how they best learn. This varies from group to group, season to season and sometimes day to day. Maybe there is something article worthy here?

The Book:  I have had computer problems the last couple of weeks so the book project was put on hold. I continue to write what I hope will be a manual with basic and fundamental coaching concepts that will be useful for all, but especially those who are embarking on the NSCAA diploma and or USSF licensure routes.  Both organizations have worked to restructure their programs to meet the needs of their clientele, but they both still assume a basic understanding of both the game and coaching is present when such is not necessarily the case with many seeking coaching knowledge. We're going to address that and I believe it be done in a manner that will be helpful to novice coaches through seasoned veterans alike.

Finally, I have one and possibly two openings for camps remaining this summer. If interested, please contact me at tbrown@wcoil.com or by texting/calling 567-204-6083 

Thanks once again for helping us continue to grow!

Yours in soccer,

Coach Brown