Check Out ‘Performance Football Coaching’ at St Mary’s University below:
https://www.stmarys.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/performance-football-coaching
Director of Coach Education at U.S. Soccer, Didier Chambaron joins Gary Curneen on Modern Soccer Coach Podcast for one of the most important conversations we’ve had around coach education, player development, and the future of coaching culture in the United States.
As Director of Coach Education at U.S. Soccer, Didier shares his thoughts on:
Why attending coaching courses alone is not enough
The difference between coach education and coach development
Creating player-centered environments
Building learning cultures inside clubs
The role of humility in elite coaching
Feedback, leadership, and coach behavior
Why top coaches are lifelong learners
The future of coach education in the U.S.
This conversation goes far beyond licenses and curriculum. It gets into identity, leadership, environment design, and what truly impacts player development.
A huge thank you to Didier for such an open and thoughtful discussion.
Make sure you subscribe for more elite coaching conversations, tactical breakdowns, and player development content.
A huge thank you as well to St Mary’s University for supporting the episode. Their fully distance learning Master’s in Performance Football Coaching gives coaches the opportunity to continue developing at a high level while still working in the game day-to-day.
#soccercoach #footballcoaching #ussoccer #coachdevelopment #modernsoccercoach #playerdevelopment #soccertraining #footballcoach #youthsoccer #soccerpodcast
source
58 min 30 seconds man that explanation of arrogant coaches was spot on!!
In my opinion, there are 3 main pillars in a coach’s development.
First is actual coaching experience. Time on the field running sessions, managing players, solving problems, understanding the game tactically, etc. Second is playing experience, because when you’ve been a player, you naturally pick up a lot from coaches without even realizing it. Third is the academic/coaching education side.
Personally, I’d rank them in that order too. Real coaching experience matters the most to me.
That being said, coaching education and licensing are still super important, especially in a country like the US, where soccer is growing, and where a lot of coaches start working with players using methodologies or interventions that just aren’t appropriate for certain developmental ages. Sometimes even the way pressure is applied to young players can be harmful.
At the same time, courses alone won’t solve everything, just like experience alone won’t either. The best coaches usually combine both real field experience and education.
And yeah, playing experience matters too, but it’s not accessible to everyone, so I don’t think it should ever be treated as a mandatory thing to become a good coach.