Richmond, VA Feb 22, 2022
As the Spring season kick offs, the Richmond Kickers Youth Soccer Club demonstrated their ongoing commitment to education and development on Sunday, February 20 with coaching courses to help all of our coaches develop and learn. The morning session was aimed at our more experienced coaches, diving into match analysis and coaching within the game and the afternoon session was a grassroots course for female coaches.
Gordon Miller, Virginia Youth Soccer Association Technical Director, delivered an insightful session for our travel coaches to develop our ability to effectively coach before, during and after the game. The session was titled, "Coaching in the Game: How to read your opponent and make adjustments accordingly in a 11v11 game," and it led to lively discussions among our coaches. Cory Jensen, our U12 Boys Bryan Park coach commented after the session,"This session was one of the most informative and insightful experiences in my education portfolio to date."
The second clinic on Sunday was the field session of our grassroots 7v7 course instructed by Heather Pederson. Candidates completed a two hour virtual session on Friday evening, and then had their first taste of coaching during Sunday's field session. Two of the candidates for this course were Richmond Kickers U17 Elite Red players Grace Glerum and Rachel Webb. "It was really cool to see two of our youth players starting their coaching journey at Ukrop Park," commented Andy McIntosh, Richmond Kickers Girls Director. "Grace and Rachel have always been students of the game, and it was a really special experience to see them taking their first steps as coaches, giving instruction, experience and information to some of our U10 Girls Collegiate players."
The Richmond Kickers continue to commit to coaching education and development for coaches within our community. If you are interested in opportunities for coaching and coaching education, please email Andy McIntosh or Perry Richards (amcintosh@richmondkickers.com / prichards@richmondkickers.com).