Coaches Guide

One of our biggest volunteer needs that we have at Big Sun Recreational League is good coaches. Our League is a developmental program. Most of our kids are starting with little to no soccer experience.If you have a desire to make a positive impact to your kids and other kids in the community, we ask you to consider being a coach. You will not need to know fancy practice drills. You will not need to have experience being a coach either. You can start by being an assistant coach to an experienced coach, or in some cases, we can help you get ready to coach your own team as well.

Expectations

Our expectations of all of our coaches.

    1. Protect all Players
    2. Teach rules and basic skills of soccer
    3. Show up to practices on time. When you can’t be there, have an assistant run practice (parents will usually step up)
    4. Teach good sportsmanship
    5. Build player’s confidence and healthy relationships
    6. Avoid Profanity and vulgar language – set the same expectations for the players
    7. Play each child at least half of the game.
    8. Help the Kids Have Fun!

If you are comfortable with these rules, we invite you to register to be a coach!

Registration

Register from this link at GotSport.

What’s Next – Coaching Requirements

After Registration, All Coaches MUST COMPLETE a background check, “Safe Sport” training, and “Heads Up” training from the GotSport Website.

Here’s how to complete this training.

  1. Go To https://system.gotsport.com
  2. Login with the same login that you registered to become a coach.
  3. Once logged into GotSport as a coach, Click on “Dashboard” (top left menu selection) (or “Profile” from a mobile device).
  4. You will see the REQUIREMENTS and the status of those requirements. The ones that state “Required”, click on the “details” link beside that status, then the training page will appear.
  5. Complete the training.
  6. Start over at 1 until all three requirements are complete.
    1. See THIS SITE for more details, if needed.

All coaches MUST COMPLETE THESE ITEMS in order to coach for the Season.

Coach Perks

We give a few perks to coaches as a Thank You for your service to our children.

  1. We give you the option of picking your practice days and times. Typically these options are Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday.  Practice times are at your discretion from 5:30 – 7:30pm on those practice days.
  2. You have your child or children on your team.
  3. You can get 4 guaranteed players on your team. These players must be from a combination of coach’s children and up to 2 sponsors.
  4. You can influence the team environment.

Coaches may have only 1 assistant coach and up to 2 sponsors. Any other parents may help the team as needed – however, coach and assistant coach perks are only valid for those two official positions.

FYSA

We are affiliated with the Florida Youth Soccer Association and as such must abide by their rules and their bylaws. Please feel free to read and understand these rules below.

FYSA Rules and Bylaws

Player Development Model

Having direction and an understanding of how players develop most effectively will allow you to maximize your coaching potential. USYouthSoccer has released a Player Development Model that we are trying to implement at Big Sun. We encourage all of our coaches to read through this model and become familiar with the stage of development that they are coaching. We need our coaches to try to help apply this model to our teams at Big Sun.  It is a big read, but will greatly expand your understanding of how to best help your team.

USYS Player Development Model