Player/Parent Survey 2007

Communications

There were 50 responses to a question about communication among Staff, Coaches, Players and Parents. The sample size was 235 participants in the survey.

Several of the comments were highly team-specific. Those will be handled on an individual basis. Parents and players need to be aware of the various tools already in place for communications, such as the web site and the Parents Handbook (also on the web site), where the answers to many questions can be found. If you cannot find the answers, please communicate with coaches or Staff or the appropriate Board member via e-mail. We hold eight or more open Board meetings annually. You are always welcome to attend, ask any questions and receive answers. We rarely have membership at our Board meetings, so there would be ample time to answer your questions.

If, after reading this, you feel your question was not addressed, or that you have another one, you may e-mail me, Ross Stonesifer, RAGE Treasurer (and survey administrator) at stone6096@aol.com. I will attempt to answer your question directly or have someone else contact you.

· Communication FROM coaches

· We want to be very frank about communications between coaches and players. Communication is the lifeline of successful businesses and, indeed, nearly every aspect of modern life. The lack of effective communication is a constant source of tension with which your club struggles. Most of our coaches coach as a second job because they are passionate about soccer and love the challenge of developing new soccer players. They do not coach simply for the money. All of our coaches had successful college, and some even professional, soccer careers. Only a few would say that one of their core competencies is written communication. We do not hire coaches for their communications skills, nor do we not hire very qualified coaches because they are terrible communicators (maybe we should). We know that those coaches who communicate well often have more supportive parents and players who are more engaged in the process of learning. That just makes sense. We also know that some coaches find communication from parents to be less than respectful or accompanied by a personal agenda. The RAGE Board pledges to you that we will investigate ways to develop more communication between coaches and families. In return, we ask that you support your coach and team by remaining respectful of the time and means of communicating. Do not expect the coach to be focused on your questions before or after games and practices. Try an e-mail exchange first and then a private meeting. If you came to RAGE from another club, please let us know how that club handled communications.

· Remarks via e-mail from the coach following tournaments and important games

· Good idea. We will try to impress the coaches with the value of such information.

· What is the focus of training each week or month?

· Also a good idea. Please remember that an overview of the age appropriate curriculum is on the web site. We urge you to consider attending practices and watch what is going on, especially if you have a younger daughter new to the program. Ask your daughter what she has been doing at practices if you cannot be there.

· More frequent communication of player shortcomings rather than just during formal evaluations

· 61% of survey respondents indicated “frequent” feedback was provided. Another 28% indicated “some of the time” feedback. Please recognize that your daughter has to share the responsibility of communicating. She should be encouraged to ask her coach questions about her play and how she might improve. The coach is going to be very eager to make observations, especially if that player makes an effort to follow through with suggestions. Please support your daughter’s efforts to seek information.

1. Parent Handbook ideas

· Fund raising

· Please see PIM 016 regarding fund raising. We know competitive soccer is expensive and we support efforts to fundraise. However, much of that effort will be initiated by the various families or as teams.

· Role and openness of Board

· We often hear that the Board is highly political and deals secretively. The Board meetings are open to the public, but we almost never have a single guest of the membership to see how business is conducted. We welcome your attendance AND involvement. Volunteers largely manage RAGE. We have many very active volunteers and we are grateful to them for their time and energy. However, there are lots of important jobs which go undone, or less well done, because of the lack of help from our membership. We expect to involve several new Board members next year, but we are eager to have more help, even if it is to work on specific projects we identify during the year. For example, we need people with marketing skills and those who can help with developing corporate sponsorship ($$$). The notice of Board meetings is posted on the web site, but there may be last minute changes if it is known that a quorum will not be available. If you plan to attend and ask questions, please notify Olga Medina, our club Secretary, to place your name on the agenda. You will be recognized early in the meeting so you will be free to leave if you need.

· High school soccer and other sports

· We will include a commentary on these issues in an updated version of the Parent Handbook well before placements. RAGE supports high school soccer play as a way to enhance the overall high school experience. The playing of other sports is a great way to remain physically fit, enjoy friendships and engage in new pursuits. We hope that players will realize the benefit of maintaining soccer-specific skills by at least practicing on one’s own while playing other sports. At some age, usually around U13, we strongly suggest a more formal commitment to soccer, but if none can be made, that too is fine. Just realize that most players on a team likely will have made a commitment and that may be reflected in their more successful skills development.

2. Costs

· Better communication before placements

· The club Treasurer (yours truly) did a poor job in anticipating the need for pre-placement information. We expected questions at placements, but did not get them. We should have and will be proactive. We will have estimated cost information available prior to placements on the web site and at placements. Parents may always ask questions before or at placements. Overall costs are a function of Team Dues, uniforms and travel costs, with the latter often being considerably greater than Team Dues. Each team will have specific travel plans, which will increase considerably with age group. AC team travel will largely be local. Younger age groups travel largely will be local. Older Premier teams will travel extensively. In 2008, Division 1Team Dues may approximate $700 at U10 and rise to $1800 or more at U18, per player. Division 3 Team Dues may approximate $500 plus (except at older ages because there will be no assigned trainer), depending on whether a coach is paid or is a parent volunteer. You will find more cost information in the Parent Handbook. Please ask financial questions prior to placements if that is important to your circumstances.

· At placements and in announcements of placements, refer to Treasurer’s Annual Report

· There is detailed Club financial information available on the web site and in the California Department of Justice web site (albeit very late, a government problem). You may ask the Club Treasurer (stone6096@aol.com) for specific information but some information about compensation is deemed to be confidential.

3. Communication from Club (the following issues will be addressed in the coming year)

· Better description of the RAGE philosophy: winning, long-term objectives, no guarantees to team placement or playing time for returning players

· Placement reminder post card

· Information flow from Office sometimes is slow or late.

· Newsletter is late

· Staff needs to be more involved with AC teams

· Fields closings (should make people aware of the process and that info is on the web site in addition to the weather line 931-5360).

· Summary of club’s weekend games

4. Showcase

· Make sure of participation of team representatives. Information MUST reach all families.

· In the past, we have not had good attendance at meetings between Showcase management and team representatives. We ask teams to select people who will be faithful in attending monthly meetings and then in relaying information to the teams. If you do not receive monthly updates, please contact your team representative. Remember that the Tournament Director is a volunteer and it is not his responsibility to keep 200 D1 families current; that is up to your team representative. Showcase and Soccer City are extremely important fund raisers for Competitive teams. If you are interested in being the team representative, make sure you notify Marty Florian, Showcase Tournament Director or Jeff Henninger, Soccer City Tournament Director.

5. Trainer

· Eliminated trainers at many teams due to cost and level of coaching expertise.

· In 2006, we assigned trainers to most teams, but at a significant cost to teams. We felt this year we had a number of highly qualified coaches who did not need trainers. In some cases, that decision may have been a mistake. We had a few teams which were not initially assigned a trainer subsequently ask for one, but at an additional cost. We were pleased to find a qualified person. It is our intention to provide a trainer (a second pair of eyes) to more teams in 2008, but not to all teams as we are convinced that some of our coaches do not need that help on a scheduled basis. U11 through U13 teams will have Staff trainer involvement prior to State Cup.

· Benefit of a second pair of eyes (in general, we agree)

· Mentoring of new and less experienced coaches

· The club will attempt to do a better job. We realize that coaching is difficult and that there are huge benefits to all involved if a seasoned professional can assist a newer coach. For your information, the club encourages D1, D3 and D4 coaches to participate in licensing courses. The club spent about $5000 last year on such courses.

· Why trainers cannot be at many games

· The club has three full time trainers on Staff. There are as many as 25 games (half are away) in one day during League. Two of the trainers this year had responsibility for an additional 10 or so U9 games each Saturday. This is an overwhelming burden. Although there is a benefit from a trainer participating at any game, it is often a better use of time for a trainer to participate in a practice session.

6. Technical Director

· More involvement with youngers and AC teams

· RAGE has seventeen Division 1 teams and nine Division 3 teams. Our two trainers, Gordon and Darin, are very involved with seven U10 and U11 teams. Once League is over, the Technical Staff will be involved with all younger teams (U11-U13) in preparation for State Cup. After high school season is over, Staff will focus attention on State Cup preparation for U14 and older teams, Premier and AC.

· In the future, we would like to have more Staff or “Trainer” involvement with teams during League, but this is an expensive proposition. We have felt that many of our D1 coaches are qualified to act as trainers during League.

· RAGE is the only club in Northern California with four full time employees who may serve as trainers (Tamie, rarely because of other club duties), offering the flexibility of spending considerable time with teams needing their attention.

· The selection of coaches and assignment to teams

· The Technical Director interviews many trainer and coaching candidates during the year. In the past several years we have been very fortunate to have more qualified applicants (“A” and more advance-licenses, with more experience). We realize that we need to find coaches who have backgrounds with female players and those with nurturing qualities. For example, Trish Gonzales is a National “A” licensed coach. She is an elementary school teacher, with a very nurturing personality. Trish is passionate about soccer. We would love to have more people just like Trish working at RAGE.

· Trainers and coaches are chosen by the Technical Staff, the club president and competitive teams VP, along with input from interested club officers. Assignment to specific teams is based on team needs as perceived at that time by the selection committee.

· A coach will usually stay with a team for two years. It is possible that a coach may remain with a team for a third year, but having a different coaching approach is vital to player development.