Category: Reflections

Day 2 and we began by splitting into two groups – coach Willie’s Group which consisted of Jose, a few other candidates, and I. And coach George’s group which consisted of John Kokkoris and the other half of the candidates. We split up and reflected on one of our pre-course assignments which was to analyze a NY Red Bulls match (first half) and decide a train session for them. Concluding our analyzation of the match we discussed as a group what we thought the “right” training topic would be for that team. To our surprise…we were all right. In John’s vlog, he said “Nobody was told that their topic was the wrong one,” when he reflected on the candidate centered environment created by our instructors. And that’s truly what this day and every other day was as well. But why was no one wrong?

Because of perspective. Each coach had his own background in the game and saw the game through their own eyes, not through the eyes of the instructor. Of course, if someone with no experience in the game was in the room, then perhaps they would be wrong, but this was not a room filled with non-experienced coaches. This was a room filled with other DOC’s, division 1 college coaches, and coaches from some top clubs around the U.S.

The second part of the day consisted of the live training session. Of our groups – George and Willie’s – half of the candidates in each group had to do two stages of their training sessions while being recorded. What an experience that was! Coaching in front of fellow coaches is one thing, but coaching knowing that every word and step you take is being recorded is a whole new level! My session started and I took a couple of deep breathes. I started with a couple of quick coaching points in the flow to build my confidence and as the session continued I felt much more comfortable. I was prepared. I knew what I wanted to say and when to identify those coaching points. And that was something that I learned that day which I need to take into every single one of my sessions – the importance of preparation.

As a side note, the training sessions we had to do were held at Soccer Association of Columbia, which has 8, turf 11v11 fields and two11v11 grass fields. What an amazing facility they have! SAC hosts games from the recreational level all the way up to the Developmental Academy. Attached is a picture!

To see John’s vlog, click here to catch a better view of just how amazing SAC’s facility is! If you would like to learn about day 3, click through to read my reflections on the USSF C Course – Day 3.

Day 1 of the C Course and after 5 hours of driving we stopped at a local gastropub to watch Manchester City vs Chelsea and Barcelona vs Athletico Madrid. Upon watching those games, we stopped at our Air B&B, settled ourselves in and headed right to the introductory meeting for the C Course.

The one underlying concept we were informed about, was that this course is candidate centered as opposed to being instructor centered. This means that the instructors were here for us. They were here to help us each as individual coaches and not treat us all as one group – similar to how US Soccer asks that we treat our training sessions. A candidate centered course meant that the instructors were not here to lecture us the entire time. They wanted to hear our thoughts, opinions, and reflections on the art of coaching. The beauty of this was that we got to learn from not just two people, but from 22 people in that classroom every single day.

Another interesting topic of discussion was the question of what soccer means to us. George split everyone up and had us discuss with a partner what soccer was to them. After doing so, we gathered again and shared our thoughts and opinions. To me, soccer was my psychiatrist. Soccer was my way of forgetting about all the negativity that went on in my life. From my parents divorce to even the happier times in my life, soccer was always what was there for me. For others, soccer was life. Soccer was where they learned how to deal with certain life situations through the use character and values.

What a great start to the course. If you would like to catch some video footage, John Kokkoris made a vlog for each day just as I have blog for each day. Here it is.

If you have yet to read about my introduction to the course, click here. For Day 2, click through to get to the USSF C Course – Day 2.

Where do I start with this one? This will probably take a couple of posts to truly put my experiences at these courses into words. For starters, let me tell you who went. I, Cristian Velasquez, John Kokkoris, and Jose Lopez – three coaches from the Johan Juniors soccer club. We all live in Long Island, New York, but decided to not take these courses in New York. Why? Networking.

We wanted to expand our network of coaches by taking a course in a state about 5 hours away (driving). But this was not just about meeting people so that we could ask favors of them when needed, this was about learning from people who live in different regions of the United States. There were coaches from Chicago, Delaware, Maryland, and even some from Canada! How great is it to learn about someone who coaches in an environment completely different to yours? Each coach has a different deck of cards that they had to deal with, but together we were able to learn from one another and take what we learned back to our respective clubs.

We also had some top instructors. John Dingle, a USSF B Licensed coach who is also the director of Soccer Source 360. George Mihalopoulos, a USSF A Licensed coach and DOC for Heat United Soccer Club in Chicago. And finally, Willie Ibarra, the director of coaching for Maryland State Youth Soccer Association, also an A Licensed coach. These three have put in a tremendous amount of work to make the D and C courses tremendously impactful for my coaching career.

Click on this link to see my reflection for my first day.