Moving up the Ladder

I decided to say yes. It was a tough decision and I weighed the pros and cons, but in the end I said yes. I am now the Under 13 Boys Provincial Assistant Coach.

The head coach who I work with in a weekly soccer clinic asked me to be his assistant as he is the head coach. My biggest fear is getting burnt out. Last year the indoor season burnt me out. I was coaching the Under 14 boys Silver team, coaching Bethany College men's team, attending numerous soccer clinics put on by the Eastside Technical Director and also attending weekly mentorship sessions. Now don't get me wrong, I loved it all, but by the end I really needed a break from soccer and I ended up not coaching outdoor soccer that summer.

But I think this year will be different. The training sessions for the U13 Boys Provincial team are on the weekend and are all in Saskatoon. (Sidenote: this is actually the U13 Boys Provincial North team. There is also a South team. I don't know why they do that, probably to give more guys a chance. However the head coach told me that our North team is a lot stronger than the South team. So strong, that the guys we end up cutting from our team will probably go down south and be starters for the South team.) This means I don't have to spend time away from Shiela travelling which is nice. I will also be coaching the U11 Boys Gold team for the outdoor season. The plan is to practice with them from 4:30 - 5:45 Mon - Friday with one of those days being a game day. And both of these seasons end at the end in the first week of July. So although I will be very busy for the months of May and June, I will get July and August off to chill out and enjoy the summer...especially since my job ends at the end of July. Maybe I'll just take all of August off...hmmm, sounds like fun!

The fun part of the U13 Provincial team is we get to go to a couple big tournaments. The first one is May 19 - 22 in Surrey, British Columbia. We will be taking a team bus down there and it will be a lot of fun! So for all my West Coast readers feel free to stop on by and say hi...I'll be the assistant coach with the Saskatchewan team. The second tournament is the Rocky Mountain Cup July 5 - 9th somewhere in Alberta. Those tournaments will be a lot of fun. Another little perk is that I will get a bunch of free clothing including a windsuit, shorts, shirt, golf shirt, and fleece. But overall I am just really glad for the experience to be able to coach these kids at this level. I know I will be learning a lot from the head coach and also just how to coach at that level. It should be a lot of fun!

So, is anyone going to be in the Vancouver area on May long weekend?