Coaching Philosophy

As a coach, referee, and former soccer player, there are several important beliefs that affect my coaching. You should know them.

1. Fun is one of the primary benefits of all sports, especially soccer. Practices/games will involve hard work and much teaching, but at the end of the practice, there should have been many smiles and much laughter. Fun and hard work go hand in hand.

2. Soccer should build up your child, not break them down. I do my best to encourage kids both when they perform well and when they make mistakes. All soccer players make mistakes and experience failure. Not only is this to be expected, it is part of the primary lesson we are there to teach: how to learn from mistakes without giving up or feeling as though the end of the world has come.

3. Striving to do our best is our team goal. Competition is not bad. Winning, however, is secondary to all the other benefits of the sport. At the end of each night, I only care that our girls feel proud of themselves for doing their best and for being good sports, whether they have won a game or not. Kids need their coach and their parents to model this from the sideline in the way we refrain from complaining to referees and in the ways we praise them for their effort.

If you have any questions about this, please feel free to talk to me any time.