Stocking Up for the Season: Tips for Coaches

Whether you’re coaching for your school, your local youth league or for a travelling league, it’s important to stock up on cheap soccer balls and basic equipment you’ll need. Cones, balls, netting and other basics will wear by season’s end. Plus, you’ll need more than one ball for practice purposes.

Basics

You can expect your kids to come equipped with soccer balls, except, kids forget things all the time. Take advantage of soccer balls with free shipping by ordering online. Many retailers will overnight them to you, just in time for your next practice. Probably two to four goal nets should do the trick. A good coach also comes prepared with things the players might forget, like an extra pair of keeper’s gloves.

Carry your equipment in a soccer backpack. Your needs will be different from most of your players, because you have more specific equipment you need. You might need pockets for playbooks and guides, or practice manuals, as well as a ball and your basic equipment for the pitch. The more pockets, the better.

Planning

Another concern is planning snacks and drinks for the game days. It’s not a requirement, but a fun tradition to have snacks after each game. Divvy this duty up among the parents, and make sure there is an agreed upon selection of snacks to choose from.

If you can, use an online app like Google Calendar to keep track of all of these changes. This way, everyone has access and can check which day is their day for snacks.