Soccer in the United States at the Youth and College level is increasingly being shaped by UK Coaches. There are so many coaches from the UK here working it is actually changing the landscape of the game in US. The changes are in two major ways: The way the game is being taught and the business model of paid coaching at the youth level. One of the nice things about America is the diversity and people who come here and what they can bring to the culture. I had two UK coaches growing up and it helped give me a different perspective on the game. I also had a Brazilian coach that gave me a different perspective from the UK one. One wasn’t better than the other but both experiences I enjoyed.
Let’s get back to the large number of UK coaches here in America.How did the United States end up with so many coaches from the UK? My theory goes as follows. Back in the 1980’s and who knows maybe before, UK students came over to the United States on soccer scholarships to play in college. Bringing players from the UK was easy because their was no language barrier and the British Education System transfers well into the American College system. That is true currently as well. Once these players graduated college many jumped right into the soccer camp business, college soccer and town club soccer. This trend continued for the next twenty years. Some of those coaches ended up opening massive soccer coaching businesses that have changed the soccer business model. People started paying big money to bring in knowledgeable coaches and that created a large market. That market has continued to grow to epic proportions. The opportunity to make a high income living coaching soccer in America is readily available. I can’t even list all the players that I know who are coaching full time in America making a very good living. Whenever I go to take my soccer licenses the group is at least 60% from the UK. The reason is the more license you accumulate at many private clubs the more money they will pay you. Many of the guys say “we couldn’t have done this back home”. I ask why and they say that the small youth clubs in the UK coaches do not get paid or if they do it is very little. The system here is funny because most of the private youth clubs (not all) pay the most compared to higher level coaching opportunities. The money in soccer in the United States is in the kids game. I could go on and on about this all day with examples that would blow your mind. The market is only going to grow here and the opportunities will only get larger. Being a soccer coach in the United States is a respected career and you can be paid as any other professional skilled worker. If you have some business savvy then the sky is the limit. If you want more information on coaching soccer in the United States I wrote a very small ebook that will give you the basics and few places to apply for work if you are interested in coming over to the United States to work.