Growing up I was active in youth sports and was fortunate to have some good coaches, and like most players there were some not so good coaches as well. After having 3 kids, all active in sports, I realized just how important a good coach can be on developing the player, not just with sport specific skills, but with life skills as well. As my (volunteer) coaching career began it was apparent most coaches have no training, or even evaluation of their coaching, prior to being handed a roster.

Fortunately, our local soccer club invested in our coaches and taught us, through our co-Directors of Coaching, the focus should be on developing better people, soccer just happened to be the tool. And that has stuck with me. My sons are now fortunate to be playing in a high school program lead by those same former DOCs who had mentored me.

That basic approach of using the sport to help grow, teach, support and love on the kids was the seed that grew into Develop. Our philosophy is simple. Development > Winning. Teaching winning is important, and winning is fun, but if we develop the players, teach them the sport specific and life skills critical to growing as a person, the winning will happen, but they will also be prepared to handle the struggles and challenges along with the victories. Perseverance and hard work should be taught along with how to celebrate the accomplishments.