Coaches,

As a doctor, lawyer, teacher or any other career, your ability to stay on top of your profession depends on staying up to date with new ideas and improving your understanding of old ones.  Are you better now at your profession compared to when you first were hired?  Is it in part due to the fact that you have learned and developed over the course of time in your career?  As a soccer coach, continuing education is just as important.

Whether you have been coaching for several years or just volunteered, learning about the game, players, and activities is important to helping keep your sessions fresh, informative, and fun.  While you may have played in your youth, possibly in High School or even college, the game of soccer has certainly changed and evolved over time so learning about the state of the game is invaluable to you as a coach to prepare and develop your players.  Coaching books and videos are good resources, but one of the best resources that you have at your disposal is completely free-observing training or games from the community of coaches here at CASL.

Continuing education could be registering for an NCYSA or USSF coaching course, or just exchanging ideas with other coaches in your association.  It is a great idea to watch sessions run by your director of coaching or other coaches in the club.  Getting out watching college games or older age groups is also a terrific way to learn more about the game.

Try to make a connection with other coaches in the club, even if they are part of a different playing division, as they are usually apt to make arrangements to talk to you and your players before or after a match. 

NCYSA Coaching Education Schedule

NCYSA Coaching Education Descriptions

NCYSA Recreation Symposium January 24, 2013

CASL Recreation Coaching Education Clinics

Ø  Be sure to indicate on the Recreation Blog (right hand side of the page) if you will plan to attend a particular training session on either February 9 or February 16, or both sessions as they are unique to each other.

Bryan Farnsworth

Director of Recreation

Recreation Coaches,

I currently have two coaching education sessions scheduled for February, but I need to know how many coaches are planning to attend.  On the right hand side of the recreation blog there is a poll question.  Please take a moment and indicate whether you will be attending any of the sessions.  Also, you can email me at bryanf@caslemail.com .  If I do not get at least 12 coaches for a particular session, I will need to cancel and reschedule.

I have updated the links in the rules and policies section as it relates to the 4v4 and 6v6 playing formats.  If you are the coach in the U7 through U10 age groups, please read and be familiar with the rules for your particular playing format.

One new and final change of note relates to the 4v4 rules and is reflected in the document posted on the recreation blog and on the CASL website.

• All fouls that occur in the 4v4 playing format will be indirect, so no more direct kicks.  Much of the reason for this final change is that all fouls in the 6v6 playing format are indirect, so it makes the most sense to get coaches and players conditioned to only indirect kicks starting at 4v4.

Bryan Farnsworth
Director of Recreation

Happy Thursday Coaches,

Coaching Education
I want to pass along some important information to you as you are planning your schedules and getting ready for the upcoming Spring season.

There will be two (2) Coaching Education Sessions offered in February that will be run by myself.  These sessions will be held at the WRAL Soccer Center on February 9 and February 16 from 1-4pm.  We will start with the first houor being a classroom session on a particular topic(s) and then we will transition out to the field for the remaining 2 hours for on-field practical sessions and topics.  Both of these education sessions are unique to one another and will be a benefit to a coach of any age team, so please make plans to attend one or both if you are able.

Classroom Topics:  The Recreation Coach, The Training Session, The Games Approach to Teaching

Field Session Topics: Dynamic vs. Static Warm ups, Full session -Turns and Changes in Direction, Numbers up Possession and Games, and How to use Active Neutrals in Game.

Please use the polling tool on the right hand side of the blog to indicate if you will attend a particular session, so I can have an estimate of the number of coaches that will be attending.

Bryan Farnsworth
Director of Recreation

Hello Coaches,

First, I hope everyone had a joyous and safe holiday and happy new year!!!

With the start of the new year, I wanted to start my communication with everyone in advance of the upcoming spring season as there are a few items that I want to pass along.  Over the next month or so, I plan to get out information and will do so multiple times over the upcoming weeks in hopes that everyone is able to get the information.

NC Youth Soccer Recreation Symposium
There is a recreation symposium being hosted January, 26 by the NC youth soccer association.  Please access the information at the following address.

http://www.ncsoccer.org/home/default.asp?menu_category=Home&menuid=771&parholdid=463

CASL Recreation Blog
I am in the process of making a few changes to the recreation blog, with one section to note is the coaching education section.  Posted in this section are 3 power point files on different topics to aid the recreation coach.  I am presently working on putting together a schedule in which I will be offering a 9 hour coaching education seminar series held over 3 consecutive weekends offered prior to the start of the Spring season.  Each session will be comprised of 3 hours, one hour of classroom lecture followed by 2 one-hour field sessions on various field session topics.  Please be on the lookout for additional information relating to these coaching education sessions.

In the rules section, I have posted updated rules for both the U7&8 4v4 soccer and U9&10 6v6 soccer.  If you are a coach of one of these age groups, please have a look at these updated documents.  These changes will be communicated multiple times over the next 2 months in hopes that all coaches are aware and become familiar with the modifications to the rules modifications. 

Bryan Farnsworth
Director of Recreation