The NSCAA Club Standards Project is an evaluative process focusing on youth soccer organizations that is designed to raise the standards and expectations for coach and player development. Participating clubs receive an in-depth assessment of their current performance in coaching development, player development and administration, and receive recommendations on steps that can be taken to improve. The Club Standards Project is designed to not only provide individual club assessments but also work towards improving the overall standards of all clubs nationwide through a variety of educational resources. The case study below is the first of what will become a monthly feature on NSCAA.com highlighting individual club assessments and providing information that every club can utilize to improve their standards and expectations.

Your club, too, can find out how it scores on measures of player and coach development. Complete the free preliminary assessment now at NSCAA.com/club-standards or by contacting David Newbery (dnewbery@nscaa.com, phone: 860-501-1165) about moving to the intermediate of Advanced Assessments.

Introduction of a Coaching Authority - Focus on Wakefield Soccer Association

About the Club:  Wakefield, Massachusetts (population 24,932) is a town 12.5 miles north-northwest of Downtown Boston and was incorporated in 1812. Wakefield Soccer Association (WSA) is a member club of Massachusetts Youth Soccer Association (MYSA) and is a 501(c)3 charity.  Almost exclusively, players from Wakefield account for the 1,080 players in the organization from 5 years old to 18.

“In the time since receiving the results of the evaluation process, WSA has made significant strides in many of the areas cited in the assessment, and while much work still remains to be done, we are very confident that the organizational roadmap provided in the report will ensure the continued success of Wakefield Soccer Association going forward.” - Michael Boudreau, President, Wakefield Soccer Association

Strengths and Weaknesses: At the time of the assessment in May 2010, WSA was a club administered and coached 100 percent by volunteers. A small amount of professional coaching support was offered to the parent coaches of the U-6 and U-7 program on a Saturday morning. The primary strengths and weaknesses identified in the assessment were:

Strengths
The Association financially supported coaches successfully completing third party licensing courses.

The U-6 and U-7 programs follow activities from the MYSA Curriculum.

The Association recognized the need for improvement in the areas of structure, player development approach, coaching education and administrative systems.

The organization had developed a significant ‘rainy day’ fund over many years, earmarked for field development.

The Association had a tryout process considering performance at tryouts and coach assessments.

Weaknesses
The Association did not have a ‘coaching authority’ leading the direction of coaching and player development. Consistent with the majority of town programs, the responsibility for coaching and player development are mainly administrative positions and to that end require limited coaching experience or qualifications.

There was no in-house coaching education program resulting in no platform to teach and disseminate the objectives of the program.

The Association had no established player development philosophy and the training to game ratios at the youngest age groups were too skewed towards games.

There was no Wakefield Soccer Association player development curriculum.

There was no strategic plan to guide the decisions of the Board. Absence of a long-term strategy limited the Association’s ability to take advantage of new opportunities.

Like so many volunteer based organizations we have assessed, WSA was repeating the same year every year. However, one of the greatest strengths of WSA was the commitment of the Board to seek alternative solutions and an innate belief that more could be achieved for the children by raising expectations of coaches and parents.

"At the point in time when Wakefield Soccer Association (WSA) decided to participate in the assessment process, our soccer organization lacked consistency in the approach, structure and vision surrounding our overall curriculum as well as our coach and player development programs.  After completing the survey and seeing how WSA lined up in a host of areas against best practices within the industry, the resulting report in effect became our organization’s “strategy blueprint”, providing a framework of direction on multiple areas of opportunity for improvement within our program, including “best in class” player and coach development curriculums and training toolsets, and an enhanced focus on volunteerism, fundraising and administrative process efficiencies." - Michael Boudreau

Key Recommendations:

There were a total of 16 recommendations offered in the extensive Advanced Assessment Report. Most notably, two key recommendations have been the key to subsequent successes over the past 2.5 years, namely:

1. Adopting a standardized coaching & player development philosophy and introducing a club wide curriculum built on development stages. The establishment of an in-house coaching education program (including workshops, practical sessions, webinars and 3^rd party licensing), combined with readily available resources for coaches has resulted in a more educationally sound approach and consistently positive outcomes for players and coaches.

2. Introduction of a Coaching Authority. The largely unregulated performance of coaches was cause for concern. WSA moved swiftly to appoint a full time seasonal Director of Coaching, a coaching professional responsible of overseeing the quality of coaching and player development programming. Not only were significant changes noticeable in the way coaches performed, by more parents started to volunteer for coaching given the support function of the DOC.

Results:

According to WSA President Michael Boudreau, the five biggest changes and achievements based on the report recommendations are:

1. Director of Coaching role in place

2. Adoption of higher coach expectations/requirements

3. Significantly heightened enthusiasm across the entire Association about the direction of the soccer program

4. Better quality coaching and results

5. Significant increase in volunteers assisting the program

"Beyond the obvious benefits gained by seeing how our organization “stacked up” against others in the sport, where WSA saw the biggest value was in the extremely insightful and well thought out recommendations that were provided to us to by the consultants, aimed towards helping to move our program in a direction in which every child is given the best possible opportunity to maximize their potential as soccer players, within a fun-filled and positive environment."  - Michael Boudreau

What is next for WSA:

In two relatively short years, the Board of Directors have established WSA as one of the most progressive youth programs in New England, and although it will take time for the 4- and 5-year-old players in 2010 to make their way through the program, there are already many noticeable signs that success on the field will be forthcoming. Now that the organization has a strategic plan and Director of Coaching in position, the Board of Directors can now turn attention to pursuing new fields, providing year round playing and training opportunities and seek collaboration with nearby towns to establish elite level play. These objectives had not been considered attainable by WSA in 2010!

"It’s impossible to overstate the impact that the initial program assessment had on Wakefield Soccer Association.  The assessment provided the needed “springboard” and guidance/structure for our organization to chart and then start implementing needed changes. We are providing the best opportunity for our playing members to maximize their soccer experience and love for the game of soccer.   The feedback from parents, coaches and players has been tremendous – all feel so very excited to be part of such a revolutionary and positive change to our soccer program.  We owe the Assessment Consultant a great deal of gratitude for all that they have done to assist us in this regard." - Michael Boudreau

Contact: Michael Boudreau, President of Wakefield Soccer Association, president@wakefieldsoccer.org

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