The GRFC Director of Coaching, Leighton O’Brien, took some time and shared some of his insights about the club’s philosophy, his responsibilities, training opportunities, and more.
Q: What are some of the duties of the GRFC Director of Coaching?
A: I am responsible for the recruiting, hiring, evaluation, and if necessary, termination of coaches. The development of programs that aid and enhance the membership is also a top priority (i.e. camps, clinics, and outreach programs). I attend as many league and tournament games as possible as well as Executive Board and quarterly PDL meetings. I continue to work with and mentor the coaching staff and aid them in the tryout process. These are but a few key responsibilities of the DOC.
Q: Can you elaborate on how you are mentoring the coaching staff?
A: In addition to monitoring practice sessions and matches I try to hold a coaches meeting every quarter. Often times those include individual one-on-ones, indoor tournaments with the coaches, on-field sessions with them, or social gatherings. All of which continue to unite us and allow for good lines of communication. Also, this year I have started the coach evaluations. Each coach is evaluated at training sessions on quite a few items including making correct coaching points, identifying problems correctly, solving the problem by means of demonstration or freeze of play for example. These are just a few of the mentoring points.
Q: What is your philosophy as the DOC and as a coach? Are they different? Are the coaches in the club united in that philosophy?
A: My philosophy as a DOC and a coach are the same. My concept on the field is simple. I want my teams to play attractive soccer by means of keeping possession of the ball, having good technical skills, making quick decisions, working hard and competing for the team and the club but most importantly enjoying the game of soccer! The challenge is to make the club gel together as one unit and not individual teams. This is an ongoing process which takes time to develop. Daily I am emphasizing this concept to the coaches, players, and parents.
Q: What is the clubs relationship with the PDL? Are there any new things coming from the PDL that the club can look forward to?
A: I am really excited with the club being in the PDL. It really is the Player Development League! All Directors seem to have a great knowledge of the youth game and are excited to help the sport grow within the state.
One of my favorite rules the PDL has adopted is the player pass. For example, it allows age and level appropriate players within the club to move to and from different teams to gain experience and playing time they might not otherwise get by moving to a higher level team for a particular match. Many of our age groups have utilized the player pass to the advantage of the player.
This is only our second full year as a club and we’re nearing the end of our first full year as a PDL club. I think most people forget how far we’ve come in such a short time. As the DOC I attend the quarterly PDL meetings and one new thing that’s been proposed is the addition of a Super-Development group. If this is approved, a U9/10 development group may be added.
Q: What direction do you see the club continuing to go in the future?
A: Again, being only in our second full year as a club, we’ve already come a long way. I see the club continuing to grow. We will continue to develop the U11-Develompment and U11 groups with Viet Nguyen’s excellent technical training. I think this will pay off down the road as a club if people within the club continue to be patient. The number of teams in the club continues to increase. We are looking to have around 30 teams next year and that’s exciting.
We will remain focused as a club of coaches, players, and parents behind one uniting vision. We are updating our clubs Mission Statement to reflect the vision and philosophy the club has. This is a key expression of club unity and vital to the successful development of the players and the club itself and will be completed prior to the May tryouts.
Q: Are there training opportunities outside of the individual team practice sessions?
A: Players can continue to look forward to extra training within the club at our free academy sessions. These are run by me, Viet, and other guest trainers on a quarterly basis. Academies are an excellent chance to get extra practice time in along with different coaching from the various coaches we use. We will be hold our annual Summer Camp and details will be coming soon.
I also provide quarterly GRFC Finishing Camps that focus the player on goal scoring techniques. The number of touches and variety of scoring techniques given really do make all players more confident and skilled in the art of goal scoring.
We’ve also added a Fitness Trainer for the parents! His name is Oscar Santana and he will be running a fitness/boot camp at Starfire while your kids are training. Many have already joined the camp and benefited from it in such a short time! Contact Oscar and let him know you are with GRFC at
healthyoscar@gmail.com .
GRFC has added a fantastic new Goal Keeper Trainer in Justin Mak who will begin sessions with the players in May! We are very excited to have Justin on board. He brings a wealth of goal keeping experience with him. He will be encouraged to be hands-on with the keepers by way of personally emailing/phoning the GRFC keepers and parents with their training times along with giving them advice on extra work they should be doing. Communication from Justin to the players along with his technical training will help ensure the players transition smoothly to his system and style and keep improving their game.
On that note, I’d like to thank our previous Keeper Trainer, Ben Dragavon, for his past two years of service to the players within the club. I understand he’s now a part of the MLS pool of goal keepers and has recently been called up as a reserve keeper for the Seattle Sounders FC and has been training with them since January. Congratulations, thank you, and good luck Ben!
Thank you Leighton for answering some questions and we look forward to similar exchanges of information in the future.
