Is having a good organization to work with important in sport? At the end of the day, you have to be a good coach to deliver the final product, but back-end support is very helpful, and in some cases necessary, to setting up a proper environment that fosters a quality program. This ties into a previous article I wrote regarding your stakeholders.
Among my many soccer related activities, I have three busier roles right now. I coach Niagara College's Men's and Women's Varsity soccer program, I deliver development programs for the
Welland Soccer Club and I deliver coaching education for the Ontario Soccer Association. All enjoyable and well supported from the back-end.
This is where back-end support makes things easier and allows me to focus on who I am working with.
Niagara College
- Quality facilities for training and games. We don't have a campus field but they've done a great job keeping us on quality fields.
- Bursary money for recruiting
- Set-up of 2 full size, portable goals on a small patch of grass on-campus for specific work with specific players.
- More equipment than I count.
- On-campus and on-site therapist at all training and home/away games.
- Comfortable transportation to away games.
- Meal money for players/coaches for away games.
- Subsidized, college branded clothing for the players and coaches.
- Paid assistant coaches for both teams.
- Paid student manager to worry about uniforms and other team matters.
- Countless services for students to properly support the student half of "student-athlete".
- Strong internal and external media support.
- Access to bursaries for some athletes.
- Full game-day set-up by school staff for home games.
Every night we had 24-26 men and 19 women out to training. The focus was clearly on them and not the business of injuries, organizing the session location or bookings, etc. Everything was there to set the stage for the environment we needed to deliver a competitive and productive program.
Welland Soccer Club
I've been coaching at the Welland Soccer Club since 1988. With each passing year the backend support improves. This is a trend across Ontario with soccer club. The standard for club support continues to rise. We have a new ingredient in our recipe with a private company operating the new city-owned facility, but it's still been good. Different, but OK.
- Paid staff to handle all registration, administration, marketing and equipment needs
- Abundance of equipment, on site and ready to use (balls pumped, pinnies washed, etc)
- Paid staff to maintain grounds/facilities
- Quality facilities for indoor or outdoor soccer
- Large member community to make almost any initiative work.
Competitively speaking, the Welland S.C. is not with the upper tier clubs in Ontario, but we are a club that allows a good coach to coach without having to worry about the minute details of running a team.
Ontario Soccer Association Coaching Department
As a Learning Facilitator in the Coach Education department, we are charged with the duty of delivering coaching education to the masses. The OSA does not send us out there cold and without guidance. As an educator in other situations, I like the support we receive from our employer:
- Proper and thorough training and idea exchange with peers ahead of coaching course season
- Administrative support, on-line and in-person, to handle coach registration, material delivery, answers to questions, etc.
- Professionally prepared support materials (written and digital) for student coaches to take home and use
- Works with course host to ensure facility and equipment are up to standard.
- Clothing to identify us.
Soccer people in Canada have opinions about the direction and quality of certain aspects of soccer, but coaching education for the OSA is supported at a high level.
Does any of this matter? Why couldn't I just cut the grass, wash the uniforms and handle all registrations myself? Why don't I just find a group of willing coaches and teach them for a weekend? Well everybody has something they do best. For me, I am a far better coach than I am an administrator. And I can deliver more coaching hours at a higher quality if the support system behind me is taking care of the non-coaching duties. The club can deliver more soccer to more kids if it has people in place to allow coaches to do more. The college support allows me to have the time and energy to coach, recruit, support our current student-athletes, monitor their academic progress, etc.
How does a properly supported system enhance the soccer experience? YES! You can get your ankle taped before playing. YES! We can get you a tutor for physics. YES! It's not your imagination, the grass is nicely cut and equipment is here. YES! You can phone us while you are at work to see if your daughter's program is running as scheduled. YES! We are so happy you volunteered to coach and can offer you assistance.
All of this is lost without a competent and enthusiastic coach.
There is a reality of a more extensive support system and that is the reality of money. Physical space, equipment, real-estate/rent and expertise all cost money.
"Would I need a better support system if my stakeholders required me to monitor and project my program into other realms? Absolutely"Somebody will argue you don't need all the bells and whistles. Give them a field, a few balls and ambitious players and they will develop them. I know I can do that too, no problem! But how much of that can one coach do? How many players can a club or academy positively affect in its present model? What can it do to deliver more and better programs?
Soccer is a pure game, two players and a ball. But, at some point, if a country wants to move forward, a stronger support system has to exist at more organizations that deliver soccer. The best coaches have to be in a situation to positively influence more players and fellow coaches. Good players have to see more good players. This all happens with multiple groups who are behind their front line people. This happens when qualified front line people do not get burned out from doing too many jobs.
In most cases, support costs money. But the money is a result of an attitude. The support comes in the form of a club telling the coach "We believe in you, we believe in the players, we are behind you and this is what we want to put in place for your program." That attitude, if sincere, will motivate executives and stakeholders to find the resources needed. At the end of the line, the players will know the support is there.
Philosophical support is a broader topic for another day. You will find, however, that most coaches will not get club support if their executive does not buy into their philosophy.
Most of my situations over the past 25 years have involved being self-sufficient for the most part. I don't mind that and it involved giving people a chance to be helpful without having the "pressure" of coaching.
Do I need a better institutional support system to deliver a good program to just one team? No.
Do I need a better support system to adequately support more coaches and teams at our club? Yes
Would I need a better support system if my stakeholders required me to monitor and project my program into other realms? Absolutely
Does our club community need a better support system to put more coaches in a position to deliver better soccer to more players over a longer period of time? Absolutely.
Your improved support system could be as simple as an effective team manager and parent helpers and as sophisticated as competent/paid staff above you at your club or school.