Here's why volunteering to coach a youth soccer team is totally worth it

Welcome to our SYSA educational series! This series is where we provide advice, guidance and useful tools for parents, coaches and volunteers within the Seattle Youth Soccer Association.

As recreational neighborhood soccer programs across Seattle start to open up their fall registration, a question comes to mind for a lot of local parents. Should I volunteer to coach youth soccer this year? Should I volunteer to coach my kids team?

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Yes, it can seem like a big commitment, but it’s a commitment that comes with so many benefits. Here's a few of the reasons why volunteering to coach a youth soccer team is totally worth it:

You get to connect in new ways

Volunteering to coach a youth soccer team put you into a position that connects you with your community. Not only does it get you out into your neighborhood for practice sessions at the local park, but it also allows you the chance to interact with the other parents and volunteer coaches. Putting yourself into an environment with like-minded people who share the same values gives you the opportunity to expand your social circle.

Volunteering to coach your kids soccer team also allows you the opportunity to connect with your child in a new and different way. Not only will you get to spend time with them, but you'll be in a new environment together where you are able to learn more about each other and add to your relationship.

You get to play soccer, and soccer is fun!

One of the best reasons to volunteer to coach a youth soccer team is that it's fun! Volunteering to coach youth soccer gets you outside, gets you active and gets you enjoying something new. Coaching can be a refreshing change of pace from your other daily activities and commitments.

{Related read: Keeping soccer fun! Here's why it's so important}

Also, if you have previous soccer experience, volunteering to coach a youth soccer team can help you rekindle your love for the game. Coaching can motivate you and spur your curiosity to want to learn more, further expand your soccer knowledge and become a student of the beautiful game!

You get to see players improve

One of the most rewarding parts about working with kids on the soccer field is seeing them learn something new and grow from it. Over the course of the season, seeing the team and individual players grow and prosper is hugely inspiring. It's fulfilling to see them find success, especially when they worked hard for it.

And we're not talking about success as in only scoring goals and winning games, we're talking about success when it comes to the little things: improving your touch, learning how to pass, learning how to get along and work together with teammates. All those little things that matter and make the game more enjoyable.

You experience personal growth

Volunteering to coach a youth soccer team can be huge for self-development and personal growth. Taking on new challenges like coaching can put you into situations where you have to expand. Here are just a few examples.

Coaching can help you become more self-aware of how your emotions, body language and communication impacts those around you. Coaching can help you develop patience on several fronts: patience for the shorter attention spans of kids, and patience for the process of progression and improvement. Coaching also requires a lot of self-reflection and ability to objectively look at what you are doing and how you might be able to do things differently.

You get to give back

If you are someone who had a positive sports experience in their youth, you might feel drawn to giving back and paying it forward. Coaching allows you that opportunity.

Giving back to your community is really important because good volunteers are the biggest piece of keeping nonprofit sports programs alive and well. Most neighborhood youth recreational soccer programs wouldn't be functional if it wasn't for their dedicated, hard-working volunteers. Volunteers make it possible for kids in the community to have the opportunity to play soccer, have fun and learn valuable life skills in the process.

There are many, many benefits to volunteering to coach youth soccer, even beyond our list here. While it is indeed a time and energy commitment, the return is huge - and not just for the players but for YOU as well. The benefits you get from coaching are really something special that you can't get anywhere else.

5 steps to building great team culture on your SYSA soccer team

Welcome to our SYSA educational series! This series is where we provide advice, guidance and useful tools for parents, coaches and volunteers within the Seattle Youth Soccer Association.

Building great team culture is one of the most important and impactful things that you can do as a youth soccer coach. Taking the time to think about and actively cultivate team culture will help you set your team up for success before you even start the season. It allows you to create an environment, right from the beginning, that fosters growth, teamwork and positivity.

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The culture on a youth soccer team has a massive impact on how players will perceive the season once it's over. If a team wins all of its game, but has a very negative culture, player may not want to return. On the flip side, if a team doesn't win very much but has strong team culture and the players have fun, you can bet they'll be excited to sign up again next year.

{Related read: Keeping soccer fun! Here's why it's so important}

Besides the environment being a more positive one, and the players having more fun, teams also play better soccer when the culture is good. This is because players are better able to connect, work together, and support each other when there's strong team culture on their soccer team. Players learn better, improve more and are more enthusiastic about playing, as opposed to when they are on a team with toxic culture, cliques and lack of trust among teammates.

While you can let team culture develop organically as the coach, taking the time to actively think about and intentionally build great team culture gives you a strong foot to stand on headed into the season. It helps sets the tone and makes the whole process of starting up a new team more enjoyable. As an involved, caring coach, you want to be be an active builder to proactively create and implement the culture.

Here are 5 steps you can take towards building great team culture on your SYSA recreational youth soccer team:

Step 1: As the coach, know your 'why' and be clear on your values

The process of building great team culture starts with self-reflection. Knowing 'why' you have chosen to coach is important when it comes to setting a culture for your team because it helps you define your values and it gives you foot in the game. When you truly believe in the culture you are trying to set, the entire process becomes much easier to create and promote.

Here are some self-reflection questions to ask yourself:

• What is my 'why'? Why do I WANT to coach youth soccer? Why AM I coaching youth soccer?

• What core values am I passionate about, both in soccer but also in my own life?

• What values do I personally feel are the most important things for players to learn and embody?

Step 2: Choose what core values your team culture foundation will be built on

After reflecting, it's time to decide what core values you would like to build the team culture around. While they should include pieces of your own personal values, you will also need to consider what else the team needs, at large, to be successful together.

There are an infinite number of choices that could benefit the team, definitely. But when it comes to building a foundation, it's important to identify just a few CORE VALUES. Having a small number of core values really allows you to emphasize them and go deep with them during your soccer season.

Here are some examples of foundational core values you could consider:

• hard work

• integrity

• respect

• positivity

• accountability

• resilience

• appreciation

• trust

• selflessness

• courageousness

• creativity

• teamwork

Step 3: Be clear about the team's focus and goal for the season

Is the team’s goal for the season improvement, or winning games? When asked, most coaches will say that it is improvement, but then their actions might show that it is not.

Getting caught up in the winning aspect of youth soccer is easy to do, which is why you should make a commitment to yourself and to your team that everyone’s collective group focus will be on improvement. If wins happen along the way then great. Not a requirement for a successful season, but great and fun none the less.

Make sure that at the beginning of the season, you are crystal clear about the team's focus and goals for the year. And that means stating it out-loud to the other parents. Hold the entire group accountable to this by making it public.

Here's a simple thing you can do to cultivate this element of your team culture. Suggest to parents that they start asking their player "how did you play today?" instead of "did you win?" Simple things this will help steer the collective attitude away from a must-win mentality and towards a mindset of self-improvement and progression.

Step 4: Figure out a plan for building the core values into your practices and games

One of the hardest parts of building great team culture on your SYSA soccer team can be actually figuring out HOW to bring these values into the day to day. While this topic alone could be an entire blog post by itself, this list from Psychology Today is an excellent place to start when it comes to actively developing team culture. Here are just a few ideas to get you started:

• Identify leaders on your team that embody the core values and make them captains

• Organize practice activities that contain elements of team culture

• Allocate team responsibilities to create shared ownership amongst everyone

• Create opportunities in which teammates need to collaborate and work together

• Recognize teachable moments and use them to encourage your team culture

• Have frequent, open discussions surround the team's core values

Step 5: Embody the values yourself

Last but not least, if you want to build good, strong team culture on your SYSA soccer team, as the coach you really need to BE that culture. You must embody it and you must be consistent.

This is super important, because in order to unify your players under a common set of values, they need to buy-in. And it's so much easier for them to buy-in to it when they see you leading the way and setting a great example.

Keeping Soccer Fun! Here's Why it's So Important

Welcome to our SYSA educational series! This series is where we provide advice, guidance and useful tools for parents, coaches and volunteers within the Seattle Youth Soccer Association.

In youth soccer these days, it can sometimes feel like fun is no longer a priority. Passion, joy and enthusiasm for the game too often find themselves taking a backseat to winning and being the best. Even when players themselves aren't all-consumed by this, when they are surrounded by a culture of win-at-all-costs mentality, it is very easy for them to feel the impact of expectations and put pressure on themselves to perform well, score goals and not make mistakes or mess anything up. Not only does this take the fun out of the game, it also makes it less likely that players will find success or stick with the game for an extended period of time.

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(It’s important to point out that there’s nothing wrong with winning, absolutely not. Winning is great. Winning is a part of the game. Winning is fun and it gives teams something to strive toward, and a reward for working hard. The problem arises when winning becomes the only thing that matters, and everything else gets sacrificed in the pursuit. What is everything else? Character development, growth-mindset and pure, simple enjoyment of the game to name a few.)

The number one reason that it's important to have fun at soccer is because kids are more likely to participate in activities that they enjoy.

Simple. Having fun on the field keeps kids in soccer, and playing soccer has so many positives. The mental, physical and emotional benefits are extremely high, so keeping kids engaged and wanting to play is the biggest reason why it's so important to keep the fun in the game.

Keeping soccer fun is something that recreational youth soccer is good at, as neighborhood soccer programs are typically centered around that concept. As players start to move into select, competitive, travel and premier programs though, other elements start to come into the picture more and can overshadow or sometimes even replace the 'fun' element for some players. If players, coaches and programs stay diligent to this though, it doesn’t have to be this way.

The truth in the matter is, it is absolutely possible to keep the fun in the game at any level of play. Whether you are playing on your co-ed neighborhood recreational team or on an ECNL team traveling all over the country for games, fun should and can absolutely be a part of the picture. According to this article by author Janis Meredith, a life coach for sports parents, "fun and hard work in youth sports are not mutually exclusive. You can have both."

There are so many developmental benefits to playing youth soccer, not to mention the life skills gained in the process. The level of growth and character development that is available to kids through participation in youth sports is why it's so important that kids are having fun and wanting to play.

When kids are having fun at soccer...

They get numerous physical and mental health benefits

It's important to have fun at soccer because soccer helps kids stay active and get outside! Running around on a soccer field is fantastic physical fitness. And having fun playing soccer is not only good for their physical health, but fun itself is also good for mental health! Smiling, laughing, and feeling joy improves mood, self-esteem and general overall positive mindset and outlook.

They learn better and they develop new skillsets

When kids have fun they learn better! Problem solving and decision making are just some of the many skills they grow at when they are enjoying themselves on the soccer field. They learn to be curious and try to figure things out on their own. Other skills that playing soccer can help develop include focus, patience, perseverance, courageousness and creativity.

They get practice interacting and learning to work as a team

Keeping the fun in youth soccer is also great for kid's social interaction and growth of relational skills. They learn to interact and communicate with other people. Players have to work together as a team and figure things out as a group. They learn to be socially aware, encouraging, empathetic, appreciative, respectful and have trust for others in a group setting. They make new friends and are introduced to different social groups outside of school.

The best part is that to get all of these benefits, the only thing a kid needs is to HAVE FUN when playing soccer. They don't need to win every match. They don't need to play perfectly. They get these extremely valuable developmental benefits if they are finding joy in the process, regardless of the scoreline. While our culture may try to tell us that winning is everything, winning IS NOT everything in soccer. Development, growth and healthy mindset ARE - which is why it is SO important to have fun at soccer.