Travel: Coach Criteria

Selection Criteria by the Club’s Travel Committee

One of the tasks of the NGS Travel Committee is to choose coaches for the teams that play in the BAYS regional travel program. Fortunately, there are a large number of parents and others who wish to coach our girls’ teams. Unfortunately, there are usually insufficient teams to give every interested adult a chance to be a coach. The Travel Committee has developed an application and selection process to choose among those interested.

Each year, the Travel Committee sends a mailing to all NGS families in which it solicits expressions of interest and application forms from potential coaches. The Travel Committee then votes from among the applicants to assign people to the teams at the various age levels and divisions of play. The Travel Committee wishes to offer the NGS community and potential coaches a sense of the criteria by which applications will be reviewed. This document outlines those criteria.

The Travel Committee recognizes that the criteria listed below are somewhat subjective. As a general statement, the Travel Committee believes that prospective coaches should be judged on good character, ability to motivate the girls and make soccer fun, licensing and other training, teaching ability, experience, knowledge, demonstrated success in supporting the goals of NGS or other sporting programs with similar values, organizational skills and commitment. We also want to encourage parents and other adults who might be reluctant to participate in the program to do so and thereby improve their own coaching skills. We point out that different members of the Travel Committee may value the various criteria to different degrees. Also, criteria are likely to be weighted differently for different age groups and levels of play. Ultimately, the choice of coaches represents the cumulative judgment of the Travel Committee members, as applied in a democratic process.

Beyond these general points, specific criteria to be evaluated by the Travel Committee are as follows:

  • Demonstrated commitment to improving coaching skills, as represented by completion of MYSA licensing courses and attendance at coaches clinics.
  • Feedback from knowledgeable observers (other coaches, referees, NGS Board members) during practice and game conditions.
  • Feedback from parents and players.
  • Participation in other coaching experience.
  • Commitment to attending practices and games for the vast majority of the season.
  • Demonstrated respect for the dignity and feelings of the players (including, but not limited to, ensuring that each girl receives a fair share of playing time during each game.)
  • Demonstrated adherence to the rules of the game and the spirit of fair play.
  • Demonstrated respect for the authority of the referee.
  • Demonstrated emotional self control, and management of player parents, during games.
  • Demonstrated ability to meet the administrative requirements of NGS and BAYS (e.g., rosters, pass cards, score reporting).
  • Gender (preference to women as role models for the girls).

In the case of the more competitive travel teams, mainly those playing in Division 1 and 2, there are additional criteria:

  • A commitment to meet a higher level of expectation with regard to player training, specifically two practices per week. (This provision does not apply to high school teams.)
  • A commitment to participation in one or more tournaments in each season.
  • A commitment to coaching in the BAYS playoff games and the MTOC tournament if the team has a record that would lead to these games.
  • An ability to deal with the competitive pressures of parents, players, and coaches, both on the team being coached and those of opposing teams.

Finally, to be chosen as a coach:

  • The daughter’s skill level must be within range of the skill ability of the division of play of the given team.
  • The individual must pass the CORI/Kidsafe background check. Complete the form here.