| Coaching Education: NSCAA's Lifeblood |
By Schellas Hyndman
As I prepare to become the 57th president of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, I am both honored and humbled to follow in the footsteps of so many great people who have served in this position prior to me.
It is an honor to represent the largest coaching organization in the world. It is humbling to be mentioned and thought of in the legacy of the wonderful coaches and extraordinary people who held this office before me.
In preparing for my duties as president of the NSCAA, I reflected back to 1977, when I was in my first year as a collegiate coach at Eastern Illinois University. As I look back on that time and the early memories of what formed me as a coach, one of the major events that comes to mind is my first NSCAA Convention in 1978.
I remember then-president Joe Bean of Wheaton College, how the Convention was so big and how encouraging it was to be at an event with so many soccer coaches and to see such an event organized purely for the development and growth of soccer.
The NSCAA always has felt like a family atmosphere to me. I feel this way because I know that we all are here for the same reason and with the same interest – the game of soccer, and helping it grow in our country.
In my life, the one constant companion I have had has been soccer. My family came to the United States when I was nine years old, fleeing the communism that was spreading through mainland China at the time. I remember arriving in a strange country that had a different language and was filled with different customs.
I had little to connect me to my new classmates and my new home in Vandalia, Ohio, but I did have soccer. It is what bonded me to my first friends. When I was young, soccer was something I enjoyed, something I was good at. When I was on the field with my new friends, homesickness disappeared and our language barriers were overcome because we were speaking the universal language of soccer. All that mattered was the ball and what I could do with it.
That is the magic of our game. You can be big or small, slow or fast, left-footed or right-footed. All that ever matters is what you can do with the ball at your feet. Soccer always was my passion.
I never planned on coaching soccer for a living – it just seemed like the natural thing to do. We all are fortunate to have the jobs we have, but with that good fortune comes the responsibility to improve the game and make i more accessible to those who come after us. We need to make this game more accessible for our young players, and we must develop and teach our young coaches.
As a young coach, I always brought desire and passion to my work. I loved going to the field to work with my team. I felt then as I do today, that I am one of the luckiest people in the world to have the job I have. My coaching, on the other hand, left a lot to be desired. When I look back on my early days and the things I had my players do, the exercises I put them through, I have to admit that I cringe and ask myself “What was I thinking?”
Most of us coach the way we were coached because it’s what we know. I was no exception. As time went on I wanted to know more and improve my ability to teach my players. I would purchase any and all coaching books available. I would pour over any information I could get my hands on and would seek out older, more experienced coaches and take any nuggets of knowledge I could glean from them.
One of the best things I ever did for my development was to participate in a coaching education course. The knowledge I gained from that course made me feel like a kid in a candy store. The curriculum was up to date and very informative and the entire class was made up of coaches just like me, passionate about soccer and the methodology of how to teach.
This first course made sense of coaching and gave me the foundation to build on. I returned to work with a new passion and excitement, hungry for even more information. Through the years I have continued to take coaching courses, not only in America but also around the world. Coaching education is something I am passionate about – I think it’s vital to the growth of soccer in our country.
I take my responsibilities as a member of the NSCAA National Academy Staff very seriously. I try to bring to the courses that I now teach that same excitement and passion I had as a student in 1978. The NSCAA represents coaches and coaching education, and our academies are built on that philosophy.
The NSCAA Coaching Academy began in 1981 when the Board of Directors took up the challenge of coaching education as part of our mission. The first residential course was held in 1983 at Duke University under our first Director of Coaching Education, Jim Lennox. He was instrumental in developing the NSCAA into the organization it is today, writing the curricula for the National and Advanced National diplomas, curricula that still are used today.
The majority of candidates at that first course was a group of Marines who wanted to become more knowledgeable about soccer but didn’t have much (if any) playing experience. It has become part of the NSCAA legend that those Marines had to pick up and throw the ball to one another to paint a picture of 2 v. 1. (This actually may have been the first goalkeeping course directed by the NSCAA!)
Like any start-up coaching organization, the NSCAA had an idea of what it hoped the Coaching Academy would become. Through the hard work of many extraordinary people, the courses have grown tremendously. It is amazing to see how our organization has grown since its humble beginnings of 1981.
The Coaching Academy’s success is due in large part by our Academy Staff, which is made up of some legendary coaches, including four active staff members who have coached in a World Cup. The NSCAA always will be indebted to our past Directors of Coaching Education: Jim Lennox, Peter Gooding, the late Mike Berticelli and Mike Parsons. It is because of people like these that the NSCAA has grown so much and continues to grow.
Some facts about the NSCAA Coaching Academy:
• 178 residential courses have been taught since 1983, with a total of 8,598 candidates attending
• A three-tiered goalkeeping course has been established, with a fourth level in development
• 14 residential goalkeeping courses have been held, with 804 diplomas awarded
• The first International NSCAA course, awarding a Premier Diploma, was held last spring at the National Sports Centre in Lilleshall, England
• Plans are in motion to hold another international course in Brazil in May.
Peter Gooding and Ron Quinn developed the first nonresidential course in 1985 as a State course. “Having a large national base of nonresidential courses always was the vision we had for the Academy,” says Gooding. “It looks like we finally got what we need.” The Academy’s founders believed it was crucial to create a nonresidential academy system that would feed candidates into the residential courses in a pyramid-type structure.”
• Approximately 36,700 coaches have attended our nonresidential courses since 1992
• Almost 10,000 coaches have attended nonresidential courses since 2002
• More than 500 courses have been scheduled since 2002
Coaching education is the lifeblood and the mission of the NSCAA. Today in the United States, more than 3.2 million young people play soccer, according to statistics from US Youth Soccer. As the number and quality of these players continue to grow, so will the NSCAA. We will be here to grow with and mentor our new coaches. That includes any coach, no matter what level of players they coach or the level they attained themselves as players.
Under the leadership of our Director of Coaching Education, Jeff Tipping (one of the best instructors and coaches I have had the pleasure of working with), the NSCAA Coaching Academy will continue to grow and evolve with the needs of the coach. Jeff has the knowledge and vision to establish the NSCAA Academy as the best coaching education system in the world.
The mission statement of the NSCAA is to educate coaches, encourage excellence and to serve the soccer community. That is exactly what the NSCAA does. I am proud to be a part of the NSCAA, I am humbled to be its president and I will work to make sure that this organization grows and continues to teach and develop this game. I believe in the goal of the National Soccer Academy: “Develop better coaches, who will develop better players, who in turn will develop a better game.”
We have come a long way, but the best is still to come! |
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