Having made a choice 2 years a go to start the transition from being a soccer coach to an Administrator has been a very difficult task. Starting a club like many of you know can be very challenging especially if you are not in an area where there is a soccer history. But, having said that, it seems to me that soccer clubs seem to be popping up every single day around the country. No longer are parents the ones starting these new clubs because soccer in America has evolved to the point where more former soccer players are getting involved with the nature of the business, therefore, it poses the question, can soccer coaches be business people?
Back in the 1980s when soccer really started taking off in America, we saw soccer coaches turned administrators who had the capability to develop soccer tournaments and clubs that generated a large amount of revenue. Due to the soccer coach's expertise and connections, he or she had the ability to work with many coaches around the world and their seemed to be one common goal in mind, help build soccer in America. Back in the 80s those coaches really did a great job by helping to set the groundwork of soccer in America and modern day coaches want to follow in the same step as their predecessors but many have been incapable of doing so because they just don't want to work together.
Having seen two sides of the soccer industry, one as a coach and the other as an Administrator, it is safe to say that very similar to how clicks are formed in high school, clicks are also formed in the soccer industry. In fact, it is safe to say that these same clicks are formed in other businesses, in the workplace, and even in family life. But to me, clicks have no room in the sport of soccer and the reason why these clicks happen is because soccer coaches and administrators have forgotten the reason why they got involved with soccer in the first place. They have forgotten that it isn't about business and making money for one's club as much as its about building and forming relationships across the country.
Last month I met with the President of a club in the Baltimore area and he told me straight to my face that he would not have returned my email and set up a meeting if our club were drawing players from the Baltimore area. This President had been a local soccer player for many years and still had aspirations to pursue soccer overseas, but his attitude proved more evidence as to why soccer people don't work together. Instead of him looking to build a relationship and partnership with me and my club, he decided that he wanted to take over many territories in and around the Washington-Baltimore area and expand into areas that he had no idea about. At the time I recommended to him that instead of thinking like the mouse from Pinky and the Brain, that he focused on forming partnerships with non-compete/stipulations.
Anyhow this is just one of many examples of soccer coaches not wanting to work together. As a country we should put our egos aside and work towards a common goal to produce great youth soccer talent so that one day we can produce our country a World Cup. But this may never happen because everyone wants to take credit.
