Welcome to coaching!
- Coaches have big impacts on athletes – teaching, building confidence, and fostering teamwork. They teach kids about soccer, and are also cheerleaders, educators, and team administrators, too. Sound familiar? If you can parent, you can coach! If you know kids, AYSO will teach you the soccer part, which is often a smaller part of the job than you might expect.
- Parents can coach, and so can aunts, uncles, grandparents, older siblings, cousins, trusted friends, and neighbors. Region 13 especially encourages women to coach, so that kids can see that women coaching and leading in athletics is normal.
What does the coach role entail?
Team Roles
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- 6U-8U: Both a Head Coach (HC) and an Assistant Coach (AC) are required as the team splits into two smaller squads for games on side-by-side fields
- 10U-14U:Only a Head Coach (HC) is required but it’s a lot more fun to coach with an Assistant.
- HCs and ACs go through the same trainings (see Training section below). While the Head Coach usually takes the lead on planning practice and deciding game lineups, each team can determine how best to structure the partnership. The person designated as HC has primary responsibility for communication with Region staff, such as requesting a practice field assignment, or being notified of schedule changes.
Time Commitment
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- Practice: One 1-1.5 hour practice per week depending on age division. Upper Division may have two practices per week.
- Games: One game a week starting at 16min halves for 6U and going to 45min halves for Upper Division. For 10U and up, in Playoffs and Advanced Play you will have more than one game per week.
- Planning: On average up to one hour per week of planning time
How do I become a coach?
Thank you for volunteering to coach! There are three main steps you need to do to become a coach:
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- Apply to Volunteer through InLeague, choose Head or Assistant Coach in your Volunteer Preferences and select which division(s) in which you would like to coach
- Tell your Division Coach Administrator (DCA) that you would like to coach that season
- Complete your training – details regarding training can be found here: Coach Training
Key Coach Resources
Check the left hand navigation bar for some great links! Below are AYSO and Region 13 specific resources, as well as other resources that our board and volunteers have found valuable for coaches.
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Division Coach Meetings |
Coach Manuals and Guides |
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6U-8U Division Coach Meeting – 6U-8U Slide Deck 10U Division Coach Meeting – 10U Slide Deck |
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Training Plans You Can Use
- Soccer Xpert
- San Carlos AYSO (complete season plans, 6U, 8U)
- Sunnyvale AYSO (complete season plans, 6U – 12U)
- Corona AYSO (complete season, 6U – 19U)
- Ventura AYSO (games for 6U – 10U)
- Whitter AYSO (games for 6U – 10U)
- Soccer Drive (age-specific games)
Recommended Reading
- Shanti’s How to be a “good-enough” coach
- Susan’s and Shanti’s advice for 6U – 8U
- Books at the clubhouse
- Soccer IQ by Dan Blank (grab a copy from the clubhouse!)
- How We Learn to Move: A Revolution in the Way We Coach & Practice Sports Skills by Rob Gray
- Revolution in Soccer by Simon Schröttle Vol 1: Perfect Practice, Vol 2: Principles & Philosophy
- Win the Inside Game by Steve Magness
- Steve Chavez’s recipe to run faster
- Preventing injuries (especially ACL tears)
- Shanti’s dynamic warmup for short attention spans
- PEP
- FIFA 11+
- Adjust the toe position, and the knee will follow. “Try to look down and see your toes and knees lined up”
- Coaching Athletes: A Foundation for Success
- LA84 Soccer Coaching Manual
- Manual de Entrenamiento de Fútbol
- Evidence-based approaches to coaching track and cross-country (start with the Intro to Biomechanics)LA84 Coaching manuals
- LA84 Coaching Athletes – A Foundation for Success
- LA84 Jeff Messer on Endurance Training (Chocolate milk, regular milk, and water are the best recovery beverages. In LA84 archive)