SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP Paying Coaches?

Okay...I assume that your team is a member of the North Charleston Soccer Association. I see that club listed as an SCYSA affiliated club, so it sounds like you've done all of the paperwork and understand all of the SCYSA and associated SCYSA league dues you'll need to pay.

Regarding a coach and a license. If all you're looking for is a licensed coach and you don't care about the quality of the coach (and it doesn't sound like you do), then you shouldn't have to pay to get a coach with an "E" license. Basically, your new coach can be your old one, or a parent, but will need to spend a weekend getting the license and then you'll be set. The SCYSA web site has information concerning the E license and dates on when the E license courses are available.

Best of luck...

When I was coaching, I was getting $2,000 for five months ($400/mos.). That's one of the reasons I stopped coaching! I could not pay my gas bill!

Chico - I think some of the parents want to continue to progress thus the move to Classic. What I believe it will boil down to is do we recruit/pay a licensed reputable guy and go for it or stay with the volunteer(soon to be licensed)and pay nothing.

Not sure if this should be a group/parents decision or not.
I'm sure there will be some that will not even come back in the spring which complicates the matter.

If we paid someone I think there would be an expectation for the team to go to another level. How we would measure that is anyone's guess.

Ham, are you serious? $400/month is a pretty good wage for just coaching and no real accountabilities/goals to speak of.
Are you promising the world to these parents?

Gorooney you are in a tough spot. Most of the coaches are already commited to the season. You may be able to find a collage kid who plays soccer who might be willing to train you players and your coach work the games. If you want a change then you may need to drive to summerville for the spring and see how that goes. But you should expect to pay around 3 to 400 a month. However if you hire a trainer you can pay less and still get good instruction. This may be the way to go. Hope this helps.

gorooney1987: Here are the economics of it:

• $400/month -> $100/week
  
• Assumption: Average 2 practices per week, average 1 game per week
  
• Thus the coach is paid $33.33 per practice and game
  
• Assumption: Practices last 90 minutes, game lasts 60 minutes
  
• Assumption: Practice planning 60 minutes per week, game planning 60 minutes per week
  
• Assumption: 30 minutes round-trip to practice and game
  
• The coach is earning $5.56/hour
  

Clearly, if a coach is in it for the money, then she or he would be better off flipping burgers at McDonalds.

One of the reasons that clubs exist is to leverage an asset (e.g., coaches, fields, etc.) across multiple users of that asset. In other words, if the coach is coaching two teams in the same club, her/his time can be used more effectively and she/he can earn more per hour.

It really comes down to what kids want out of soccer. For most kids, a volunteer coach is great (of course, most kids play recreation). But I've found that you get what you pay for -- and if a kid wants a lot more out of soccer, then you have to take the step up (as you're trying to do.) However, the coaching fees are probably not the major concern here -- you're going to have travel across the state, tournament fees, and the like that tend to overwhelm the $400/month (or $26.67/player/month on a 15-person team) you might pay a coach.

I concur with Chico, but did my calculations differently to make the same point ... read on.

Suppose you get two 1.5 hours training sessions per week, have 10 regular season games per month (2 contact hours/game), and go to two tournaments (16 hours/tournament) over the course of a 4 month (16 week) season. That's 100 hours of labor. But also remember that the coach makes 32 trips to training and, say, 5 local games. Assuming 25 miles per trip (12.5 miles each way), $0.39/mile, that's $360 in travel expenses that he doesn't get reimbursed for. Taking Hammer's $400 monthly salary that works out to 1600 - 360, or $1240 for 100 hours of labor or $12.40/hour. Now divide that by a 15 kid roster and it starts to look like a bargain. (I didn't give the coach any credit for planning as Chico did, but I think you get the point that these coaches are not getting rich or are particularly overpaid.)

Using Hurst66's value of $200/kid and 15 kids, that'll generate $3,000. $1600 for coach, $1,000 to cover registration to two tournaments, $200 for coach hotel room and per diem (assume you go to one in-town tournament and one out-of-town tournament), $200 for (two $100) scholarships to offset some economically disadvantaged players fee, and $420 for referee fees at 10 classic league games and your 420 in the hole ... I would figure that if you make the jump you probably ought to be planning for $250/kid, or cut back on something from the above (i.e., maybe just one tournament instead of two). This all assumes that you dont have other major issues like paying for field/light usage, facilities, or other paid club positions.

There's no doubt that $200-250/kid is a big jump from the recreation fee that your parents pay now. But compare that to what you pay for comparable services. Private music lessons: $15-$30 for 30 minute lesson. Horse back riding: $30 for 45 minutes. Dance class for my 5yr old in a class of 15: $8.5/hour.

Chico's other points of leverage club assets are well taken and valid.

one other thing... Guys correct me if I am wrong.

Once you decide to play in Classic, you would be require to make a field available for SCYSA use. Do you have that kind of pool with the club your in?

I do not know if SCYSa would allow, but you might be playing all your games away. Furthermore, the assumption here is that you know all the requirements. Do you know that you may be traveling to Columbia for a big chunk of your games and potentially MB

You get reimbersed for travel by filling it on your tax return. Keep records of gas and miles driven. The govt has a scale for this I belive it is someting like .36 cent a mile. This is for all the coaches who are not aware of this.

The standard business mileage rate for 2007 has been set by the IRS at 48.5 cents per mile. You can take this as a deduction on your tax return if the employer does not reimburse the expense, but that is not nearly the same thing as being reimbursed dollar per dollar. The coach will generally receive a 1099 for income received, which is treated as self-employment income and subject to the self employment tax rate.