After having the class canceled on me three times in the past year, I’m finally off to try and get my soccer coaching ‘D’ license this weekend (and next). Packing a 36 hour class into a weekend is quite a feat! Should be interesting to see what types of coaches are there. I did most of my pre-reading last night, but not sure how much I absorbed. It’s clear the USSF wants kids to play soccer in informal settings until they’re U12’s, but I’m just not sure how realistic that is. Read through the Best Practices for Coaching Soccer in the United States. Do you really think your U6 and U8 players would stick with soccer if all they did was practice and never play in organized ‘matches’? I’m not saying you have to keep score and standings. But part of the fun for them is getting a colorful uniform, coming out on Saturday morning when the older kids play, and playing against another team while the parents cheer. It’s exciting and different than practice, even if practice is full of fun mini games and such. I know what they’re trying to get at with the whole ‘street soccer’ concept, but I’m just not sure they’re going to be able to keep younger kids interested in the US if they don’t play ‘real’ matches until they’re 10 or 12. But I digress. For now, I’m off to be educated and hopefully escape with my State D certificate or if I’m lucky my National D license. Wish me luck!
Off To Try And Get My ‘D’ License
Jul.25, 2008 in
Coaching
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July 25th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Go get ’em Mike.
If there’s any advice I can give, it’s to know your coaching points inside out, don’t ‘over-coach’ and go to learn and absorb as much information as you can.
Oh, and be prepared to play – a lot.
New D License curriculum this year, looking forward to hearing all about it.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Yeah I was surprised at how much we played in E Class. Will be interesting to see what the new curriculum holds.
July 25th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Best of Luck – after you pass – it’s then onto the USSF National Youth License – if you wish…
July 25th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Thanks Bill – that’s definitely the plan. I’d really like to get my NYL next summer. Here’s hoping I can pass my first time through. We’ll see! I love taking any coaching class because it’s always a wake up call, even though you may be doing many things right, as to what you can still improve.
I just hope I don’t get too nervous during my practical exam!
One interesting change in the new curriculum is they have changed the layout of the practice plans. Instead of the old style (Unrestricted/Restricted/Goals-Lines/2 Goals), they’ve moved to a setup that’s more of a ‘building’ towards a game: Warm-up, Small-sided Activity (maybe 3v3, 4v2, etc), Expanded Small-Sided (4v4, 4v4 2, etc), Match Game (6v6)
I’ll keep you all posted. We’re doing most of our field work up front (tonight and in the morning) to avoid the afternoon heat.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Good stuff – I took the “D” in Wilmington 3 years ago and loved it. I know some of it has changed regarding the curriculum. Just keep smiling and work hard – I was given “driven crossed balls” for my practice and test. I was the VERY last person to go on a REALLY HOT AND HUMID late Sunday afternoon (I think there were 15 of us). Anyway, I made it. I just wish I would have been one of the first to go that day and had “short passes”! BTW – I think I met a fellow from Mebane at the NYL this year in Winston-Salem. I forgot his name though!
July 29th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Well, I survived the first weekend with only a tweaked back muscle and LOTS of sore muscles. No blisters (yet). Sunday’s field session went for almost six hours – whew! There’s 28 people in the class – very cool group. My first practice run went well, just a couple dings, so here’s hoping. The new practice template is pretty slick – will have a more detailed post soon, but in short – it’s all about small sided games from start to finish. Takes a while to get your brain around it – but seems like a significant improvement over ‘Unrestricted/Restricted’ and such.
Of course the day of our field exams it’s supposed to be 97 degrees. Should be interesting.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Bill – that was Billy St. Pierre, one of our league’s most experienced coaches and our new DOC. He loved the NYL course. I really hope I can take it next summer! Will know in a few weeks!
July 29th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Glad to hear you’re enduring Mike! 😉
I think small sided games have been the ‘thing’ for the past couple of years – the kids get a lot of touches on the ball and work hard while having fun.
The great thing about doing the licenses is that you get to learn a lot from more experienced and not so experienced coaches – everyone has their own perspective on coaching. I just wish I could read my scribbled notes from last year!
July 30th, 2008 at 10:13 am
That’s right – his name was Billy. He sat a few rows in front of me during the classroom sessions and I saw his Mebane shirt. Very nice guy and quite knowledgeable too. I remember – he did a solid job thoughout the NYL course.
August 5th, 2008 at 8:12 am
It was a great course. I really enjoyed it, but man was I tired! We had a decent number of players come with their coaches the 2nd weekend to let us rest a bit more during the practical sessions, but still – quite a workout! Definitely got my State D as nobody outright failed they told us. Will know if I managed to get the National D in a couple weeks. Not super worried if I don’t, but would be nice to have it out of the way. I think I did well on my final eval compared to my first two practice sessions, but it wouldn’t surprise me if I had one single ‘NR’ out of the five things they look for.