Recreation and Travel Coaching
The WSC Board would like to thank all the coaches for their time and commitment to make this a successful soccer program. ALL coaches for WSC are parent volunteers. Recruiting coaches for our teams, especially for the many needed coaches for recreation, can be the most challenging part of our programs. It is so rewarding to participate in your child's early soccer career. Starting out coaching at the recreation level will give you the basics to grow into a travel coach. Even if you know you will not continue on as a travel coach, we ALWAYS need extra hands with all levels of recreation, so don't hesitate and register now!
“Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they have the heart.” – Elizabeth Andrew
Coach Requirements (ALL coaches - Travel and Recreation):
Once registered, log into your account at system.gotsport.com and view the requirements under the Dashboard tab. All requirements must be done under your exact same legal given first and last name.
1. Heads Up Concussion Training is a one-time only training certification and takes approximately 30 minutes.
2. Background Check takes approximately 5 minutes and only needs to be renewed every two years.
3. Safe Sport is a yearly certification. The first certification takes approximately four hours. Yearly renewal certifications take about 1 hour. Follow the link in the Dashboard for the code to properly link your Safesport training to Gotsport. You MUST use the same email address for both accounts.
4. For travel coaches, a headshot picture is required for the roster.
Coaches Training:
The WSC Coaches Handbook (found here) provides general expectations of coaches and what to expect, fundamental instruction and practice plans.
In addition to the above require training, WSC requires the following basic training for all Travel head coaches. These courses are available for free or for small fees at the U.S. Soccer Learning Center: https://learning.ussoccer.com/coach
1. Introduction to Grassroots Coaching (free 20 minute course)
2. Applicable 7v7, 9v9, 11v11 Grassroots online course completed ($25 - 2 hour) OR a local online/in person version ($85ish 2 hr online/4 hr in person), but we recognize these can be hard to access.
With registration for one of these courses comes an annual subscription to the planning module where you can browse and pull together practice plans, which in addition to our WSC Coaches Handbook, can be really helpful. https://learning.ussoccer.com/coach/user/1737518/subscription
Questions about coaching? Please reach out to the Head of Coaches, Joe Carroll, [email protected]
Questions about the requirements? Please reach out to the Risk Management Officer, Shawn Tardif, [email protected]