Resources and info for Coaches

Thanks for being willing to volunteer as a coach with SCSA! Our goal is for this to be a rewarding and wonderful experience for our players and their families, and coaches are the front lines of that great experience. This page is where you’ll find gathered as much info as possible to empower you to effectively coach and lead your teams.

All coaches and assistants
must do the following each year:

  • Register as a Coach

  • Complete Risk Management Certifications

  • Schedule Practice (times and locations)

  • Communicate with your teams

RISK MANAGEMENT

Detailed instructions for the risk management process are here (updated!). The Risk Management training required by Federal and State law and each portion is linked and tracked through GotSport on your Coach dashboard. The required training consists of several items:

Sexual Abuse Training Federal law now requires all coaches (and board members) to take an online course through SafeSport. The course takes at least an hour; please don’t leave it until the last minute.

CONCUSSION TRAINING: Coaches and Referees: you need to pass a concussion training course approved by the Ohio Department of Health. Certificate is uploaded for validation in your GotSport dashboard.

WATCH A TRAINING VIDEO about sudden cardiac arrest, as required by Ohio law. All coaches watch this every season that you coach.

PRACTICE FIELDS

Teams have two options: free fields at local schools or renting park district fields. School fields are in especially short supply in the spring, due to baseball.

Free Practice Fields use a Google Form at the beginning of each season. The form will have instructions on which fields are available. If you missed the field assignment window, check the link to see what is still available and send a time and place that works for you to fields@scsa-soccer.org to confirm your selection.

When finalized, field assignments for spring will be posted on these Google Sheets: FIELD ASSIGNMENTS FOR FLYERS, WINGS, STRIKERS, KICKERS.
FIELD ASSIGNMENTS FOR DRIBBLERS, TRAPPERS, SHOOTERS, PASSERS.

Information for park district fields.You will need to turn in pages 2 and 3 of the request form along with your team roster. Teams that choose to use these fields must pay the park district themselves; SCSA’s league fee does not cover practices held at APD fields. Make sure your team’s parents are ok with the extra cost. (Team rosters are part of the application, but are usually posted after the form is due. The park district accepts the form and expects the names and addresses to follow)

General rules and info

RULE ON RUNNING UP THE SCORE: When a team has a large lead, the other team will be allowed to add an extra player onto the field without forfeiting the game. (Dribblers and Trappers: we don’t keep standings but please adjust numbers on the field to keep games competitive.) No standings are kept for the spring instructional season.

RULE FOR SHOOTERS AND PASSERS: Goal keepers may not punt the ball, to encourage teams to learn controlled build-up of an attack.

OTHER RULES: Intentional heading is considered a Dangerous Play for Dribblers, Trappers, Shooters, Passers, Flyers, Wings and Strikers. Starting at the Kickers level, heading is allowed in games, but restricted to 10 head balls during practices. Check out the REFEREE DOWNLOAD page for the latest rules and cheat sheets, as well as extra Score Sheets.

THE BOARD: Scott Gillard is President of SCSA, Drew Gilligan and Dillon Hamilton are VPs. The full board includes: Brian Berning, Andrew Greiwe, Chris Hovde, Dan Ilg, Ken Knowlton, Jen McComb (Secretary), Dean Rettig, Heather Topmiller, Paul Topmiller and Todd Zech (Treasurer).

Respecting referees: Please lead by example. You will have issues with bad calls. We don’t think our refs are perfect, and we don’t keep a secret supply of great refs available for when you chase away the ones you have. COACHES-please collect your thoughts or those of the parents on your team and forward to referees@scsa-soccer.org. We promise to keep training the refs and to discuss any misconceptions they have about the rules.

Coaches Clinics and Resources

Ohio Soccer Association has a page with info for coaches: OSA Coach Resources

Sample Letter to parents (Coming soon)

Coaching multiple teams?
If you are crazy enough to be the coach of more than one recreational team (boys or boys and girls), we will do our very best to schedule your teams without a conflict, but each season, please LET US KNOW ASAP at: schedule@scsa-soccer.org