How important is it for coaches to continue educating themselves about the game?
“It’s every bit as important for the coaches as it is for the players,” said Larry Sunderland, the FC Cincinnati director of player development. “As coaches, we need to have a growth mindset. So, when we can learn, that’s something that challenges ourselves and it’s something we want to be doing.”
With this mentality, it makes sense why Joshua Neff, the Under-15 Head Coach and Performance Specialist for the FC Cincinnati Academy is currently in France attending courses taught by the French Football Federation at Clairfontaine, the headquarters for the current world champions.
Neff is one of 20 coaches from MLS academies who are in France to study, learn and bring that knowledge back to their respective academies. This is a year-long program that sees Neff stay in France now, where he’s attending classes that French coaches attend, then see ideas implemented on field during training sessions.
Next week, he’ll observe another youth academy at a club in either France, Belgium, Spain, Italy or Portugal, before flying back to North America to implement what he was taught to players and coaches in the FC Cincinnati Academy.
Sunderland is familiar with this type of learning, and embraces the idea of coaches learning. He added that he’s visited 50 academies around the world at this point.
“When you’re doing this, you’re going to these places, talking to new people and getting new ideas,” Sunderland said. “Once someone comes back, they share it and it’s communal learning.
“It’s great Josh is doing this because this filters down to the rest of the staff,” he added. “Whether or not it’s the French methodology, the Spanish methodology or Dutch – or anyone else for that matter – to have all of these at your disposal brings a wealth of experience.”
Neff’s trip to France isn’t the first time FC Cincinnati have hashad team members travel the the world to learn new coaching ideas and methods. Earlier this summer, Dave Schureck, the academy goalkeeper coach, went to Germany to work with and learn from the German National Goalkeeping Staff.
In a press release Tuesday, MLS said this program, which will earn participants an Elite Formation Coaching License, is to “accelerate Major League Soccer’s collective expertise in player development.”
This partnership with MLS and the FFF started in 2013 and has seen 60 coaches graduate, including the head coaches from FC Cincinnati’s last two opponents: Greg Vanney (Toronto FC) and Luchi Gonzalez (FC Dallas).
Academy Update
In the first game in FC Cincinnati Academy history, the U-17’s beat Minnesota United FC this past Saturday in Blaine, Minn. William Bencic, Akinni James and an own goal sealed the first win in for the academy.
Right after, the U-15 side lost 1-0.
“I thought it was a good start for the guys to get on the road and deal with the excitement and the newness of the whole thing,” Sunderland said. “It’s good to get their feet wet and get the first game jitters out of the way.”
The two FCC Academy teams won’t play this weekend, but then play at Chicago Fire Academy and against the Indiana Fire the following weekend.
