United Soccer Coaches Master Coach diploma project

The United Soccer Coaches Master Coach and Leader diploma, presented jointly with the University of Delaware, is the summit of USC’s coaching education pathway. In addition to coursework performed over a 6-month period and an internship, candidates are required to complete a project based on their interest and organizational needs and present the results of the project at the final course residency.

Due to COVID, my original plan of implementing an on-field athletic development program during fall 2020 fell through. Because of the shutdown and restrictions enforced in California throughout 2020 and early 2021, I began to flesh out 205 Sports as a coaching education and player development website and social media presence. In consultation with my University of Delaware advisor, we agreed to repurpose the work on 205 as the Master Coach project.

In early 2021, the 205 website underwent a significant update with new features and content added weekly (sometimes daily). The 205 Twitter feed became a focal point of outbound efforts to engage a worldwide audience. The publication of weekly session plans and TacticalPad animated activity videos formed a large percentage of published work. In addition, topical coaching education articles were published on the 205 website in 2021 – the 9v9 series, adapting activities, and other subjects.

To wrap up the Master Coach project, I analyzed website and Twitter analytics to determine the most viewed content types that resulted in additional follower and website visits.

The final project presentation includes over 130 slides. The link below contains the content of the “main” slides (approximately 35) without the appendices (most of which include charts, graphs, and screenshots of various elements of the website and social media channels). The format of the slides (topics) is prescribed in the final project assignment.

The 205 website and social media presence in its current form would not have happened without the challenge of the Master Coach diploma project. I want to thank Dr. Matt Robinson (University of Delaware coordinator) and Jeff Schneider (advisor) for their support and encouragement throughout the project.