COACHES

Volunteers. LHSC has a proud tradition of community-based coaching, primarily by volunteers and a few carefully chosen paid coaches. Our soccer coaches are parents, grandparents, older siblings, and community members. Coaches with an enthusiastic desire to learn will find training and guidance from both Lake Hills Soccer Club and Eastside Youth Soccer Association.

The U8-U19 season runs September through early November. During that time, teams practice for 90 minutes twice a week and play one game a weekend, usually on Saturdays. A head coach should be available to attend and run most practices and games, but assistant coaches can and should fill in and help as needed. Coaches can handle team communications and admin themselves, or “hire” a team manager from the team’s pool of parents. Delegation is a great way to foster team community and share the work.

All U8-U19 head coaches are required to attend a club coaches meeting in late July. U13-U19 coaches must also attend their league meeting in July.

The U6 & U7 Micro Program is a lesser commitment and a great way to try coaching. Just 9 Saturday mornings 9-10:30 and a few emails to the team.

In the interest of the safety and well being of our young athletes, the following are required of all head and assistant coaches:

1. Register on TeamSnap as a coach with full legal name, address, and date of birth. (annually)
2. Apply for and pass a nationwide background check. (annually)
3. Complete Sudden Cardiac Arrest awareness training and submit certificate to registrar (every 3 years)
4. Complete Abuse Prevention training (SafeSport) and submit three certificates to registrar (annually)

Coaching clinics and licensing are strongly encouraged. Coaches can be reimbursed for completed training.

Email Registrar@lakehillssoccer.org

LHSC provides each team with appropriately-sized balls and field markers, access to training and mentors, reimbursement for WSYSA license fees.

Lake Hills Soccer Club utilizes TeamSnap for registration, team organization, and communications.

They have some great online resources to help parents, team managers, and coaches use all of their tools:

https://helpme.teamsnap.com/

 

Lake Hills Soccer Club team names all end with a letter and a two digit number that usually remains the same year after year.

The letter, B or G,  indicates whether the team is a Boys team or a Girls team.

The number indicates the birth year of the players on the team.

Example:

Lake Hills Tornadoes B09  is a team for boys born in 2009.

Sometimes teams and players are referred to by their age level, which of course changes every year. In the example above, the Tornadoes B09 will play at the U11 age level in the 2019-20 season. In other words, in 2019 the Tornadoes will be a U11 team. The age level may also include gender, such as BU11.

Confusion can result when the birth year and play level are similar. In 2017, teams for boys and girls born in 2010 (B09 and G09) played at the U9 age level (BU9 and GU9) The following year, the teams played BU10 and GU10 but their names continued to include B09 or G09 based on the player birth year.

 

The LHSC Equipment Chair distributes equipment from the club storage facility on several different nights in late July and early August. Specific dates and times are communicated at the summer coaches meeting and emailed to coaches.

Email Equipment@lakehillssoccer.org with questions.

Links to local resources: http://www.lakehillssoccer.org/coaches/licenses-and-education/

Once the team roster is released, head coaches seek parent volunteers from the team. If parents know in advance that they want to work together as coaches, the registrar or program chair should be contacted before June 1 so player/team assignments are made accordingly. After rosters are released, players will not be moved to accommodate co-coaching requests.

The Mod Clinic is one of each U8-U10 team’s two weekly practices. All LHSC teams in an age group (U8-U10) gather at one location each week in September and October. Club Clinicians work on skills and drills with coaches and players; Clinicians are also available to answer questions and offer support to coaches.

After rosters are released to coaches in June, the LHSC Competition Chair requests the coach’s input on a survey. Coaches are asked to gauge how well the team did in the past season and to guesstimate whether they believe the team should be moved into a more or less challenging division for the next season. The competition chair, in conjunction with the league use that information along with past season standings and other league data to place all teams in a division to provide them with a FUN and competitive season.

Placing dozens of teams in divisions is a complicated process, as is writing the actual schedules for all of the teams’ games. Moving a team to a different division after the season starts is not possible. The coach should consult with LHSC Competition Chair and/or Rec Program Chair to find ways to maximize player development while still exercising good sportsmanship.

In order to ensure that ALL teams land in a division where they can be as challenged and competitive as possible, coaches need to provide input. In late June/early July coaches are asked to fill out a survey regarding their teams’ relative strength. Coach feedback is important in all cases. Along with feedback, the league takes the past season record into account when placing teams. In general, the top 1-2 teams in a division are moved up and the bottom 1-2 teams are moved down a division WHEN POSSIBLE. The number of teams in an age group changes from year to year, so the number of divisions sometimes does as well. For example: If an age group changes from having three divisions to two, it’s not possible for the team at the bottom of Division 2 to move down, however their division will likely have teams from the previous year’s Division 3, so the placement is likely to be more appropriate. Team-specific questions should be directed to the LHSC Competition Chair so they can be answered in the context of that that team’s age group and divisions.