Coach Of The Year Honorees Announced
PA West Soccer will honor our Coach of the Year winners this Sunday at the annual Awards Luncheon.  The luncheon will begin at Noon in Slippery Rock University’s Boozel Dinning Hall.

Six coaches will be honored this year for their outstanding contributions of the game.  The selections were made from more than a dozen nominations in the five categories.

In-house Coach of the Year – Greg Starcevic, Canon Mac Soccer
Boys Travel Coach of the Year – Riad Asfahani, Seneca Valley
Girls Travel Co-Coach of the Year – Bob Smith, Montour
Girls Travel Co-Coach of the Year – Walt Dukewich, Montour
Boys Classic Coach of the Year – Dan Brower, Arsenal
Girls Classic Coach of the Year – Brian Shrum, Beadling

PA West Soccer annually selects the Coach of the Year in each of these categories.  The awards were established to honor those teaching our children to be good players and good citizens.

New York West To Host C License Course
Coaches interested in taking the C License Course should mark May 3 through 11 on their calendar.  New York West will be hosting this national license course at New York Chiropractic College in Seneca Falls, NY.

The cost of the course is 895.00.  For more information contact New York West Director of Coaching Glen Buckley at gbuc200398@aol.com. 

All applicants must have held a National D License for at least one year prior to the first day of the course.

Mandated training, accountability can help solve problems in youth sports
Pervasive problems in youth sports such as unruly parents and a pressure-filled win-at-all-costs environment – issues identified in the recently released report card on the state of youth sports by the Citizenship Through Sports Alliance – can be attributed to insufficient training and a lack of accountability among volunteer youth sports coaches and parents, and can be remedied in part with training and education programs mandated at the community and state levels, according to the National Alliance For Youth Sports.

“While it is great that individuals and organizations such as the Citizen Through Sports Alliance are investigating and outlining the problems in youth sports, the National Alliance For Youth Sports is working hard to combat these problems with training and accountability,” said Alliance CEO and Founder Fred Engh. The National Alliance For Youth Sports (NAYS), a nonprofit organization, has been offering training and educational programs that improve the youth sports experience since 1981.

Engh said that park and recreation organizations and other groups at the community and state levels must mandate training of volunteer youth sports workers as well as parents, as many of those involved in youth sports are uneducated about the roles and responsibilities they hold. “In the last 60 years, we have built here in the United States a total of 90,000 publicly financed facilities in which children play organized youth sports,” Engh said. “Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of youth sports programs are run by volunteer coaches and administrators with no training or standards to which they are held, so the children suffer.

“If we are going to make changes in youth sports, local and state park and recreation departments must take a firm stand on this issue, and require the volunteers who are running these programs on their facilities to receive proper training and be held accountable for their actions,” he said.

Engh said that while there are big-picture problems in youth sports, many organizations and youth sports leagues at community level are, in fact, working to overcome those issues. “We are finding that an increasing number of park and recreation associations and other youth sports organizations are focusing their efforts on improving the youth sports experience,” he said, “implementing programs that train and educate the major players in youth sports, including coaches, parents, officials and administrators.”

NAYS has developed training programs for those involved in youth sports, including the Parents Association For Youth Sports (PAYS) and the National Youth Sports Coaches Association (NYSCA), to combat the problems in youth sports that threaten to harm children emotionally, mentally and even physically. The PAYS program promotes understanding between coaches, kids and parents, while NYSCA is designed to sensitize volunteer coaches to their roles and responsibilities, and hold them accountable to a strict code of ethics. Violations to this code of ethics is strictly enforced – to date, more than 100 coaches have been banned from membership in NYSCA for behavior considered detrimental to young athletes. Currently, more than 3,000 community-based organizations offer the NYSCA program to coaches of 11 different sports.

“Quite simply, the major problems in youth sports can be overcome if all volunteer coaches and parents commit to improving and educating themselves, and if more organizations require them to do so,” Engh said. “Youth sports organizations are only limited in what they can do by their hesitation to take a stand and implement the highest rules and standards when it comes to the well-being of children.”

The National Alliance For Youth Sports will celebrate 25 years of being America’s leading advocate for positive and safe sports for children. For more information, visit www.nays.org, e-mail nays@nays.org or call (800) 688-KIDS.

Now's the Time to Schedule Licensing Courses
The PA West Soccer Coaching Program's licensing courses are a great for coaches to improve their knowledge and add to the bag of coaching tricks. The best part, your coaches will have fun! Whether it's a Y License course for in-house coaches or an E License for travel coaches, there's a course to help your club provide better coaching to your players. To visit the coaching course descriptions Click Here. To contact Amy Fogle about scheduling a course, email her at afogle@pawest-soccer.org .

• Emphasizing that playing soccer should be made an enjoyable experience.
• Encouraging the creation of age-appropriate environments through the use of small-sided games.
• Asking coaches to utilize appropriate teaching methods (age-appropriate activities and games), whilst letting the game be the teacher.
• Increasing the awareness of safety issues/adult behavior issues.
• Allowing participation in that level of competition that enables players to be challenged at their appropriate level....including the elite player.
• Emphasizing player development over winning/losing, especially amongst younger players.

Coaching Development

• Improve the soccer education of coaches working with recreational players, with specific focus on those coaches new to soccer (U6 and U8).
• Support the development of coaches working with 10-14 year olds, who are emphasizing "technical development in the game," through the provision of PA West Coaching Schools.
• Identify and educate coaches who can enhance coaching development and player development programs.

• Enable 4 to 10 year old children in recreational soccer to have fun, to develop a passionate desire to play and to acquire new skills in age-appropriate environments.
• Enhance the technical development of players by offering player development programs.
• Support the player development efforts of clubs in older age groups by reducing conflicts/overlap with programs like the PA West Olympic Teams.
• Make PA West Olympic Teams identification orientated, competitive and inexpensive.

• Aid in the creation of "Fear Free" and age-appropriate environments for our younger players that prioritize player development over winning and/or large-sided games.
• Develop competitions/awards that encourage/recognize skill development and the promotion of other "task goals" amongst PA West clubs and players.
• Lobby clubs with older teams (U15+) to participate in the highest level of competition available (e.g. for elite players, regular participation in recognized regional leagues/tournaments).
• Help the spread of soccer into all communities regardless of race, gender, disability, etc.
• Encourage and nurture a passion for soccer amongst our member players, so that retention rates improve and the continued growth of the Amateur Division is enhanced.