Pros and Cons of Coaching Soccer for a Recreation League

Coaching soccer in a recreational league is a fulfilling way to stay involved with the sport, and give back to the community. It does not matter if you are a parent, former player, or soccer enthusiast, there are many ways to volunteer your time as a coach, and you can mentor young ballers, create friendships, and experience leadership development.

There are drawbacks, however, such as the time commitment, managing expectations of parents, players and yourself, and various personalities among players and parents. This article assumes a simple role of identifying and weighing the pros and cons of coaching soccer for a recreation league, allowing you the opportunity to see if stepping into this role is comfortable for you.


Pros of Coaching Soccer for a Rec League


Cons of Coaching Soccer for a Rec League

  • Gives back to the community.

  • Builds leadership and communication skills.

  • Strengthens relationships with kids and families.

  • Encourages physical activity and fun.

  • Offers personal fulfillment and pride.

  • Time-consuming and often unpaid.

  • Managing parents and personalities can be tough.

  • Pressure and emotional investment may be draining.

  • Limited resources and support in some leagues.

  • Risk of burnout over a long season.

Pros of Coaching Soccer for a Recreation League

1. Giving Back to the Community
 As a volunteer coach, you are able to help foster a sense of community. You become a role model for the kids, and help foster youth sport opportunities in your community.

2. Building Relationships
 Coaching a team will develop relationships with players, parents, and other coaches. Oftentimes these relationships can extend out of the field into community.

3. Developing Leadership and Communication Skills
 Running and organizing a team requires ability to communicate effectively, be very organized, and motivate players. Coaching will force you to develop and sharpen these skills, which can transfer and you can use in your professional and personal life.

4. Physical Activity/Involvement
 You get to be involved in every practice and game, and not just a spectator. Instead of sitting on the sidelines or in the stands, you can be active, and are part of the process. It’s an enjoyable way to keep moving and enjoy time outside.

5. Chance to teach life lessons
 By coaching soccer you can help kids learn about teamwork, perseverance, and sportsmanship, and goal setting – all of which are lessons applied to the real world beyond the playing field.

6. Builds family relationships
 For the parents who are coaching their child’s team, it can be a fun bonding experience. You share the peaks and valleys and share your children on the same team – nice memories to share in future conversations.

7. Learning and growing with the team
 Although you may not have all of the expertise a coach has, you are also growing as a coach/understanding the game. Many recreational leagues have training resources/information on helping volunteer coaches.

8. Sense of accomplishment
 There is something rewarding about helping young players progress and improve over the course of a soccer season. And seeing the kids progress and build confidence is a motivational factor for everyone involved.

Cons of Coaching Soccer at a Recreation Level

1. Time Commitment
 Coaching a soccer team may take a significant amount of time with practices, games, planning and communicating with parents. With work and family life, balancing all of the commitments can be a challenge.

2. Different personalities
 Being a coach means trying to manage different skill levels, personal styles, personalities and trying to keep everyone engaged in a positive way with limited to no experience.

3. Parental Pressure
 Some parents will have strong opinions about player’s minutes, strategies, or how their child plays (or all three). It’s difficult to navigate through the conversations with parents diplomatically so it can be overwhelming.

4. Emotions of winning and losing
 Sometimes it can be easy to get emotionally wrapped up in how the team is doing or how an individual player is progressing. If things aren’t going in the right directions, it’s easy to feel discouraged, fatigued or overwhelmed.

5. Limited budgeting resources
 Recreational leagues often operate on tight budgets, and you may end up with limited, minimal equipment like flat patches of grass or fields with uneven surfaces and no training resources, dome or lake to have training as a coach.

6. Risk of burnout
 In addition to having a regular job too (especially if you are unpaid), being a soccer coach can create greater exhaustion after coaching a long or competitive season – you also put in time for practices, communication with parents, and games, or you could give up ambulatory time!

7. Conflict resolution responsibilities
 As the soccer coach, you are essentially a team mediator, resolving team conflict with players, parents and regarding the rules of the game, or calming down heated emotions from parents or spectators.

8. Unlimited volunteering experience
 Being a volunteer coach usually comes without monetary pay (or remuneration factor), therefore the verification for the effort or time I had into being a soccer coach will vary. Coaching may not be for everyone, and I want to relice, it’s the difference you can make on the children that ultimately fulfills you — not the praise or money.

Conclusion

Coaching recreational soccer can be fulfilling, worthwhile, and often, you are teaching, learning, and growing along with the kids. While coaching requires patience, time, and problem-solving skills, the value of making a difference in kids’ lives is often greater than the cons of recreational soccer. If you are passionate about the game of soccer and you have the heart to coach, I believe coaching could be one of the most gratifying contributions made in your community!