Longmeadow Soccer Association

Longmeadow Soccer and the Pioneer Valley Soccer Assocation are under the auspices of the Massachusetts Youth Soccer Assocation. Coaches and other parent volunteers must submit CORI forms to Mass Youth Soccer before participating in Longmeadow Travel or In-Town Soccer programs.

During the registration period, parents and high school students can volunteer to coach. On the last weekend of the season, coaches can pick up medals for their players and return the league equipment and balls at the snack bar (Wolfswamp) or trailer (Glenbrook). If a coach did not have an opportunity to return equipment on the last weekend, please send an email to LsaBoard@LongmeadowSoccer.com, so a pickup can be arranged.

Directors of Coaching
Beginning in the 2008 season, the LSA Board brought in two Directors of Coaching, one for the in-town league and one for the travel league. Their jobs are to develop a unified approach to coaching and to help our volunteer coaches implement the approach. Both Directors have agreed to return for the 2010 season.

Our in-town Director is Richard Yam. Coaches can reach him via email at InTownDirector@LongmeadowSoccer.com for any in-town coaching issues. Our travel Director of Coaching is Thomas D'Agostino. Tom can be reached via email at TravelDirector@LongmeadowSoccer.com.

Assignment/Team Problems
If coaches have any problems with team assignments or other non-coaching issues, please contact the LSA in-town coordinator at LsaInTown@LongmeadowSoccer.com for in-town, or the LSA Travel coordinator at LsaTravel@LongmeadowSoccer.com for travel.

About Coaching

Our coaches are parent volunteers, and sometimes high school volunteers. You don't need a soccer resume to coach an LSA team, just a good attitude, a little patience (a lot, really) and the desire to help kids develop soccer skills. As you may have read on our home page, LSA promotes skill development over winning games. Experienced coaches find that the emphasis on winning actually slows player development.

LSA provides assistance to our coaches to help them learn how to improve their coaching skills. First is through the directors of coaching mentioned above. They have developed coaching clinics, curricula and are available for personal help at your training sessons. The second is the Mass Youth Soccer licensing program. We encourage all our coaches to take advantage of these resources. Even if you know the game well, or are an experienced coach, you can improve your coaching skills by taking part in a clinic, or getting licensed.

I'd Like to Coach

If you are interested in volunteering as a head coach or assistant coach, please sign up during our spring registration events at the Community House. If you didn't get a chance to do that, you can fill out a couple of forms (see below) and mail them to:

Longmeadow Soccer Association
785 Williams St., #334
Longmeadow, MA 01106

We have a PDF of the Massachusetts Cori Form that you can print and fill out. You can also fill out and submit the form on line at the Mass Youth Soccer Association web site. And here is the Coaching Volunteer Form. If you have any questions about coaching, please contact the LSA in-town coordinator at LsaInTown@LongmeadowSoccer.com for in-town, or the LSA Travel coordinator at LsaTravel@LongmeadowSoccer.com for travel.

Coaching Clinics

For the 2008 season, our Director of Coaching for the in-town teams, Richard Yam invited all coaches (in-town or travel) to clinics at the Wolfswamp Road Fields. Many new and experienced coaches attended one or more clinics. Several coaches also had Coach Yam at one of their team practices. He is planning to continue this program for coaches in in July and August for the 2010 season. From Coach Yam's 2008 invitation to coaches:

"Content: basic techniques and fundamental skills such as ball handling, dribbling, trapping, passing, juggling, kicking, heading, shooting, 1 v 1, 3 v 1, 3 v 2 etc.; Foot work will be emphasized and other defensive concepts such as ball-U-man, spacing, passing lane, etc will also be taught. Pick up game at the end of each session!

Coach Yam will run one-hour of practice with the coaches and have small sided pick up games. There will be time for sharing drills, coaching tips at the end of each session. Coaches can come to all 6 sessions or whenever they are available."

Please take a look at Coach Yam's Tips for some good coaching ideas on skills and drills.

Any coaches with questions or needing help can reach Coach Yam via email at: InTownDirector@LongmeadowSoccer.com.

Coaching Curricula

The purpose of a curriculum is to help standardize soccer training and set expectations for the players’ development. With the help of our Directors of Coaching, the LSA Board is developing a curriculum that we hope will facilitate this goal. Ultimately, every player should end each season with a skill set that is an improvement over what he or she had at the start.

There are numerous soccer coaching curricula on the web, and you should feel free to use any and all you need. We hope our curriculum will help you meet our “Skill Priorities” goals as stated in the Coaches Handbook.

Here is Coach Yam's Coaching Curriculum and Coach D'Agostino's Travel Curriculum, both in PDF. Either one can be used for teaching in-town or travel teams.

Here is the US Soccer Player Development Guidelines, also as a PDF. And please see the web links below for valuable coaching information on other soccer web sites.

Coaching Licenses

In the summer of 2008, over 30 LSA and area coaches were able to obtain their G Coaching License. At Attain Performance in East Longmeadow, Mass Youth Soccer Instructor Laura Ray showed the U6 to U10 coaches how to keep the players attention while teaching them Technical, Tactical, Psychological and Physical aspects of the game.

The Longmeadow Soccer Association plans to continue organizing and hosting courses for licenses offered by Massachusetts Youth Soccer Association. The cost for all registered coaches will be covered by Longmeadow Soccer Association.

The G course is the beginning course for coaches and is now avaialable on line. It teaches coaching organization and theory. The intention of the course is to help you to become a more resourceful and confident "activity leader". The course covers (amoung others) teaching and correcting dribbling, passing and shooting techniques.

Next is the F license for U10 to U12 players. The license progression is from G to A, in ascending player age group order. An "A" license holder, for example, would be qualified to coach at the college level.

Longmeadow Soccer Association strongly recommends that Travel coaches attend and acquire coaching licenses. The courses will be available and is recommended for In-Town coaches as well.

G License Now On-Line: Mass Youth Soccer also offers an on line G Licence Class for those who can't make it to a "live" course.

Recent F License Course
On May 22, 2010, at at Attain Sports Performance we had the F license course. The F license is targeted at the coaches of U10 to U12 teams, but all coaches were urged to attend because every course has useful coaching tools for all age groups. The course was free to all LSA coaches, and area coaches were invited to attend.

We hope to offer the "E" license course soon.

Web Links

In-Town Coaches Meeting

The in-town coaches' meetings are held in late August in the Longmeadow Community House. K-2nd is usually 6:30-7:00 pm and the 3rd-8th is 7:15-7:45 pm.

PLEASE BE PROMPT. We have intentionally shortened these meetings to just 30 minutes to get coaches in and out as quickly as possible. Coaches will receive a brief presentation on the program's philosophy, coaching guidelines, important differences between age groups, and injury prevention. Rosters, uniforms, schedules and practice equipment will be distributed. Time will also be available for Q&A.

If a parent is coaching a K-2nd team and a 3rd-8th team, we recommend that he or she attend the later meeting. (Equipment for only grades K-2nd will be available at the early meeting.)

Travel Coaches' Meeting

The travel coaches' meeting are also in late August, either at the Community House, or in the Blueberry Hill parking lot - next to Russell field.

Uniforms and equipment will be distributed. If a coach has not already received his or her roster in mid August, please send an email to LsaTravel@LongmeadowSoccer.com.