Passing on the cost of coaching education

If you don't need the money, why ask. I would ask the club before I ask the parents and then club can pass cost onto parents.

The more I think about it, the more I agree with you. But I, too, would be at a loss as to how to approach the idea. I know some parents would be all for donating a few dollars here and there. Others would be sorely opposed.


If the occasional gift card is from the team though, why not ask the parent in charge for money that would help go toward yoour coaching education in lieu of the card?

You might be able to sell it easier if the coaching class is at the beginning of the season. This is your pitch: "In order to help your kids better, I need to take this coaching class. It is $x per player." After you attend, make sure to point out at the end of the each practice and game how you used the newly acquired knowledge and thank the parents. People must feel good about paying.

If you can't do it. Just have the club collect the fees and put your guilt into a closet. Other parents will get the benefit when other coaches attend later.

Why don't you simply add a "miscellaneous fee" to your costs? These costs pay for cones, balls, pinnies, awards, and....coaching education.

$25 of my player's registration costs are for these types of miscellaneous items.

I think this needs to come from a higher authority than the coach. Your club's board should pass a policy addressing paying for coaching courses. Some considerations:

1. Parents are told it will cost $X to play for the season, and they want that cost certainty. Where there is a direct and tangible return on their additional investment, parents are more willing to cough up extra money, e.g., a tournament, or participation trophies/medals, or new uniforms, or team warm-ups. But for something as amorphous and as ill-defined as taking a coaching course ("This course will make me a better coach and improve your daughter's play"), you run the risk of revolt. I would suggest that many parents don't understand the value or need for coaching education, and certainly don't see a need to pay for it. For the more "enlightened" parents, if they want a higher level of coaching education from their kids' coaches, they're going to look for that from Cup teams. Some people drive Chevy Malibus, and some people drive Audi A6's. Chances are, the people who want a "luxury" car are going to drive the A6, and not the Malibu, even if the Malibu comes with every conceivable bell and whistle. And the people who want decent transportation at a reasonable cost are going to buy the Malibu, and aren't going to pay for all those bells and whistles available on the Malibu or standard on the A6. Comparing to soccer, parents who want a Cup soccer experience will pay for a Cup team (including an "educated" coach), and parents who want the experience of playing for their community team won't pay for more than that (and paradoxically hope for much more than that). That's not to say that at the end of the day, the Malibu might not end up being a better option in many instances. It is to say that a Chevy salesperson isn't going to have nearly as much success selling a "luxury car" experience than an Audi salesperson. There's a reason the person is in a Chevy dealership.

2. Along the lines of #1, if the parents are going to be asked to pay extra so you can take a coaching course, they are going to ask questions as to what they are going to get in return, and what kind of commitment you are willing to make to their daughters. The expectation, even if unstated, may very well be that you provide extra training, and that you continue to coach that team for the indefinite future. Neither may be an issue (especially if you have a daughter on the team), but if you have aspirations to another coaching gig, do you want that encumbrance?

3. This is much better handled by your Board. Let them put together a policy on coaching education (even if the policy is just a case-by-case policy). Boards will usually be supportive of a coach's interest in education, although the quid pro quo is usually that the coach makes some kind of commitment to the club, e.g., he/she will continue to coach for X more seasons or pay the Club back (although this type of promise is, practically speaking, very hard to enforce unless a very well drafted contract is executed) (another way of investing the coach is make the coach pay, but reimburse the coach over time; yet another way is a simple cost sharing so both club and coach are invested in the experience). This way, the Club can brag about its commitment to developing its players, and the parents aren't any wiser as to how exactly it achieved that commitment.

4. On a strictly personal level, I just don't like asking for money. I'm a volunteer coach, and I become something else when I ask parents for money to support my own personal agenda. Again, let the Club collect the money and reallocate it. Moreover, by asking for money, it changes the dynamic of the relationship between coach and parent, giving the parent more power (whether perceived or actual). It's good to have invested parents, to be sure, but when that investment is personal in the coach, I question how independent the coach can be.

I think this is a great topic.

First, my club will pay for training as long as it is age appropriate and a coach can show that it is beneficial to the team/club. For example, all travel coaches in my area must have USSF "E" license/equivalent or higher in order to be the head coach. Our club regularly sends out notices that show when/where they are being held and will reimburse coach after successful completion. These costs are just part of registration for the child. This is the EASIEST way to do it.

Now, for your specific example, I think that if the club isn't going to pay your costs, then you should have a discussion with your parents about this issue. I think you will find that most parents are completely unaware that on-going coaching education costs as much as it does and would be happy to pay for some/all of it as long as they know the result is better training for their kids.

I think the best way to approach the subject is at a pre-season meeting. As part of the overall conversation, include costs for tournaments/equipment/uniforms etc. Also talk about costs for coaching classes. Have the information from the class ready to show (for example, you coach U-12's you said - how them the benefit of a D License/Junior Level VI class and how much it will cost). You can say that you/club will cover "$X amount" and will include "$Y amount" as part of team fees. Let the parents have a say and if anyone really doesn't want/cant afford to contribute, then deal with that on a case by case basis.

If you think about it, most parents are more than happy to pay well over $100 to send their kids to a one week camp or 8 sessions of training with 'professional' coaches. Tell them that for a fraction of the cost, they will have a coach with equal applicable credentials every week. In my experience, the parents were able to see the difference in training (if they stayed) or level of play (at games) in just a few weeks.

Good Luck.

Amazingly enough, that is almost exactly the same cost in our club/association. We get approximately 900 kids in the Fall and 600 in the Spring (say around 1500 registrations). In MD, the "E" License is $80 and the "D" License is $180. If the club sends 20 coaches to the "E" and 5 to the "D" each year (not unreasonable), the total cost to the club is $2500 per year, or about $1.70 per registration. Now, these numbers include the U-littles that we run in house. The Coerver group who run their clinics offer coaching training (4 hour course) to our in-house coaches as part of our contract with them, but even if we sent 20 coaches to that type of course (~50 each), that would put us at an extra $1000, making the cost ~$2.30. We joke that if a parent complains, we will just give them 3 bucks to make them happy.

In this way, the cost of the courses are spread among the entire club, but as each team moves into areas where the coaches need that type of education, the kids benefit from the coach being more informed.

One other item that I forgot, if you have enough coaches, you may be able to get some local group to come to your place and run a course. This usually involves a break in the price and you get lots of coaches through at once.

I got my licenses on my own, part of my own hobby...

I have run three travel teams over the years that I have started from scratch. We don't have clubs per se, we have soccer organizations that play one season in the fall. So, I am pretty much on my own. Typically, the cost for the season is about $150 per player, $200 for a siblings. I've been successful getting team parents to solicit 2-3 sponsorships in the $250-300 range. This covers the cost of registration, uniforms, league and ref fees and one tournament per season, end of season awards and our season-starting pizza party. The second year when the girls can still wear the same uniforms, we typically do a ball bag or hoodies. This leaves me about $250, which I have used to purchase pop up goals, a team canopy, training sticks, you know the stuff we need as coaches. These I have kept over the seasons and subsequent teams get the benefits. I also usually have enough left over so the team, in effect, pays my hotel at the tournament and maybe a tank of gas.

While I'm not too explicit about the gas/hotel, when anyone has asked, I've explained the hotel costs and never had anyone take issue. I do break down the costs of a season when we first get together, though I know that I give out a lot of information and the cost breakdown is lost in the fog of talk. By the time we are ordering ball bags and hoodies, the parents know that their money is going for lots of stuff and seem pretty happy.