Responsibilities of Soccer Clubs' Director of Coaching

In order to be successful, soccer coaches must have a thirst for improvement, knowledge of the game and be able to embrace structure as well as change. In many soccer clubs in the United States, a director of coaching is in charge of making sure coaches fit this profile. The desired result is the same: to create success on the team and player development level through elite-style coaching.

  1. Coaching Education

    • There is more to coaching education than just obtaining U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) and National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) soccer licenses. The director of coaching in most clubs is required to have a USSF A or B license as well as the "director of coaching diploma" from the NSCAA.

      The director of coaching must be able to coach coaches, not just players. The director often finds himself arranging and setting up coaching education sessions, clinics, weekly classes or writing coaching articles to help further the education on all coaches into the club.

      The inexperienced parent-coaches coaching in the recreational division must be able to receive guidance and coaching just as handily as the professional travel coaches in the club. The director of coaching needs to ensure this happens.

    Determining Club Philosophy

    • Every soccer club has set coaching philosophies and guidelines that it expects coaches to follow. These guidelines usually outline expectations as well as topics of focus for each age group within the club. For example, some clubs focus primarily on footwork, dribbling and one-on-one situations between 8 and 10, then start to introduce passing, tactics and defending at 11. By age 14 the club may shift its focus to creating players that can play multiple positions or players who are all good aerially. Determining these goals and methodologies is an imperative part of the director of coaching position.

    Overseeing Player Development

    • The club's director of coaching probably coaches a team within the club himself, but as director of coaching, his reach must be broader than just one team. Often, the director of coaching is called upon to organize clinics, extra training sessions, goalkeeping training, strength and agility sessions and camps that help the players grow in whatever way the club sees fit. Players from all ages develop in different ways, and good clubs must have several mediums on which a player can improve his or her game. It's up to the director of coaching to provide those mediums.