Coach Handbook Review

Coaches Handbook Agenda:

• Start – 7:58 – Introduction & Contact Information
• 7:58 – 28:08 – Coaches Action Checklist, Spring Schedule, & Strategic Plan
• 28:08 – 32:30 – SOCA Youth Program Descriptions
• 32:30 – 44:37 – SOCA Coach’s Agreement
• 44:37 – 56:39 – Instruction for Recreational Program Coaches
• 56:39 – 1:05:30 – Match & Practice Coaching Tips
• 1:05:30 – End – SOCA Recreational Rules of Play: Exceptions & Additions

Coach Review COVID Policy

COVID-19 Policy Review: (Same policy that was in place for the Fall season. No major changes except that 2 spectators per player are allowed to attend the games on Saturday.)

• Start – 12:40 – General Information
• 12:40 – 17:05 – Return to Play Protocols
• 17:05 – 30:34 – Match / Practice Environment
• 30:34 – 33:29 – Guidelines for Players
• 33:29 – 34:35 – Guidelines for Coaches
• 34:35 – End – Guidelines for Parents

VYSA Coach Requirements

SOCA is a club affiliated with Virginia Youth Soccer Association, which is does require that all coaches fill out a Kidsafe form and complete the Safesport Trainging.

SAFESPORT TRAINING INSTRUCTIONS

1. Go to: SAFESPORT TRAINING LINK

2. Applicants may need to create an account and then verify their account with a link emailed to them from SafeSport.

3. On the “Add Membership” form, select ‘U.S. Soccer’ as your organization.

4. Enter Access Code: YC3E-6P5G-YYIL-CS2M

5. There are 3 modules in order for the applicant to be SafeSport trained:

a. Sexual Misconduct
b. Emotional & Physical Misconduct
c. Mandatory Reporting

Once complete, the SafeSport certificate will automatically be uploaded into Sports Connect (Affinity) within approximately 24-48 hours.

6. Have everyone save a copy of their certificate for their own files!

HELPFUL HINTS
Coaches make sure to use the same name and email address as your Sports Connect (formerly Affinity) profile. This is how the SafeSport training certificate will automatically upload to your Sports Connect profile. Manually uploading certificates should not be necessary.

The training will take at least 90 minutes to complete. Applicants can start it and come back to it later.

For technical issues with a SafeSport account, contact their Help Desk at 720-676-6417 or complete the online help form at https://safesport.org/contact

Thank you for your continued hard work to keep our athletes safe! If you have questions for VYSA or Safesport you can contact Kristen Osteen = Kristen@vysa.com

Online Practice Resources

My Top Online Practice Websites:

1. Massachusetts Youth Soccer Association – Has current and past season practice sessions for all age groups. Great resource for having 10 weeks of practice plans. http://www.mayouthsoccer.org/coaches/session-plans/
2. US Youth Soccer – Official US Soccer Website for Coaches, and a great resource beyond just finding practice plans. https://www.usyouthsoccer.org/lesson-plans/
3. Sports Mom Survival Guide – Has different drills and activities that you can search by filters of age or topic. https://www.sportsmomsurvivalguide.com/soccer-coaching-drills/
4. SoccerXpert – Another good site, that has different drills and activities that you can search by filters of age or topic. https://www.soccerxpert.com/fun-soccer-drills.aspx
5. Soccer Drive – Has some free practice sessions to view, but most are locked for members. But a good resource to look through for new ideas. https://www.soccerdrive.com/soccer-drills
6. Soccer Coach Weekly – Has good illustrated drills and activities, can view a few for free but then requires a subscription. https://www.soccercoachweekly.net/soccer-drills-and-skills/

My Top Youtube Channels for Practice Ideas:

1. Soccer Coach TV – Has fantastic practice ideas of what to do. Always adding new stuff. Feel free to use and adjust depending on your age group. Recommend a watch!
2. WA Youth Soccer – Under their playlists, look for “Coach Education” and you will find over a 100 videos that you can scroll through to find your age group. I do recommend the video called “Sideline Development – How parents can improve the game”
3. World Class Coaching – Can be technical but has great insight for the game.
4. SoccerCoaches – Again more technical insight with drills and activities feel free to adjust for your teams age.
5. US Youth Soccer – Look under playlists for “Coaching Education” for several videos that you could use for practice sessions.
6. Fast Feet Home Soccer Workouts – I love this because it is simple. It shows skills by age group. And you can see them demonstrate technique and sometimes mess up but stay with it!

Practice Requests

Practice Requests for varying field availability. Remember practices are flexible, if you are in need of changing something please feel free to reach out to me and I can let you know what options that I have available.

You may have fallen into one of three categories.

1. Have practice request = You have previously given me your practice request and I was able to match it. You are all set!
2. Have practice, but not what was  requested = You had previously given me a practice request, and I gave you as close as a match to your request. (If you need to change it, feel free to reach out)
3. No practice set, Contact Chris = I have not received or have not been able to match your practice request. Please contact me at the SOCA office to discuss available options. 434.975.5025 ext 123

When can practices begin? — March 1st!

If you have your practice request all set, then you are free to get started the week of March 1st. If you need more time while you coordinate your schedule, feel free to communicate with your team to let them know when you intend to start practices.

Team Rosters

This season, the maximum team roster size that I am looking to hold is 11 players per team this should keep crowd sizes down.

1. Current Team Rosters (which you got in an email from me) – Are tentative and Subject to Change.
   1. 1. Mid Year CHALLENGE Tryouts – Have been delayed several times, and we are hoping to get them in soon. This means that you may have players deciding to attend those tryouts and might move off your team roster.
2. Team Change Requests – Some players may move off a roster if they are not able to attend a practice or have another reason.
   1. 1. Starts February 22 and deadline is March 3rd.
      2. You may see some movement on and off your team roster during this time. The goal is to maintain team roster sizes where everyone has a sub.
3. Late Player Registrations and Team Additions – After I have completed Team Change Requests, then I will start to add players on teams where I have room for them to join.
   1. 1. If you have room on your team roster, and a player would like to join. Make sure they have first registered online or through the SOCA office. And then let me know, so I can keep a look out for them. I will keep you posted.

Ultimately, the most current and update Official Team Roster will always be located in your SOCA Account. If you have had some team changes and you are not sure about your players, just re-download the team roster from you SOCA Account for you to review.

Contact My Team?

If you wish to contact your team, you may do so.

• But I highly recommend that you wait until this coming weekend to send out a welcome message to the team!
• Team Roster Assignments will not be made public until Monday, February 22 for everyone else. This will be available in their SOCA Account at that time.
• IF… you send out a message to the team before the weekend, you may get parents emailing you back with lots of questions, because they do not see any information.
• IF… you send out a message to the team, please let them know to remain patient as the official team roster assignment day is on Monday, February 22nd.

Team Gear

Team Bags will be ready for pick up at the SOCA office next week. Please stop by during out office hours (Tuesday thru Thursday 10am to 6pm / Friday 10am to 4pm). 

Expect to see:

• Coach Shirts
• Practice Cones (we can offer more if needed)
• Game Ball
• Team Socks

***Team Bags will be available to pick up on Tuesday, March 2nd at the SOCA Office on Polo Grounds Rd.***

Coaches Clinic

We are looking to offer a couple of opportunities for coaches to attend a clinic ran by one of the SOCA Staff Coaches. This will be a good opportunity to see how to run a practice session for this coming season. As well as get some suggestions that can help to manage the team.

Please come dressed to participate, light activity will be used.

Schedule:   ***UPDATED*** (due to weather conditions, it has now changed)

• Tuesday, March 9th – 5 to 6 pm – At the SOCA Southfork Soccer Park