I am constantly impressed as I see youth soccer coaches and their Directors,  no matter age or shape their in, attend continuing education courses every year. Beyond the NSCAA and USSF licensing courses and local playing leagues that bring in top coaches from all over the world are usually sold out.  It goes to show you the pride and passion that youth coaches have to always “get better” at their craft and use that info to pass down to their players.

So it got me wondering , if their education is important to them why not encourage and offer education to youth soccer parents in their club? 

The number one issue all coaches and Directors say is their main problem in running a team or club is the “parents”.  The oldest joke in soccer coaching is “the best team I ever coached was a team of orphans”.  

It seems so natural that any Club Board or Director would want his or her parents educated on the following criteria to coach their son/daughter in their club:

What is the clubs role in developing their child vs getting them a college scholarship?

What is the coaches role vs the Directors role in the process?

What does their registration fee go to in terms of assistance in the recruiting process?

What is their role as parents in the recruit process?

What is the players role in the recruit process?

What does the club or coaches not do in the recruit process?

How to be a supportive soccer parent thru the process of:

  • Setting up unofficial visits
  • Making college coach calls
  • Reviewing transcripts and test scores to makes sure NCAA compliant
  • Assisting with FAFSA and finding scholarships
  • Assisting with NCAA clearinghouse
  • Keeping a recruit calendar for each family
  • Setting up ID camp calls and eval calls after to college coaches
  • What changes for parents on the 2nd or B team?
  • How to Interview With a College Coach
  • Review social media content

An educated soccer parent that gets all this education as early as u13 in a club will develop over the years as parents who are knowledgeable, respectful of the coaches/directors time/duties and above all create loyalty in families and encourage other families outside of club to come to tryouts as success grows.

There always going to be soccer Boards of clubs and Directors who want to control all aspects of their program which is fine, however if education is so important to them being better at what they do then how can making soccer parents better at what they do hurt?

We, at iSoccerPath and College Soccer Panels provide education to parents and clubs for NO COST and bring the college coaches to your club to teach parents on all of the bullet points above. Please contact us to schedule a time to talk.

Jeff Jaye is Managing Director of iSoccerPath, the top education service for parents and clubs in the US.  Visit www.isoccerpath.com to learn more about our education programs to help in the process of becoming student athletes