The FSA is always seeking new coaches for both the Intramural and Traveling divisions. No experience is required to become an Intramural coach, however, we do expect Intramural coaching prospects to participate in a coaching course. For Traveling division coaches, soccer experience as a coach at the youth level or higher, and/or high level playing (high school, college or professional), as well as participation in a coaching course is required.

Volunteering for Intramural Coaching

If you wish to volunteer as a coach in the FSA Intramural division we will train you. Before you volunteer, however, it is important to understand the commitment you are making, so that no surprises await you.

As an Intramural Coach you will:

• Run practices. Outdoors, practices are scheduled on weekday afternoons after school. Practices last one and a half hours and are generally held twice per week. Indoors, practices are held on weekdays once a week in the early evening and take one hour.
• Coach during games. Outdoors, games are held on Saturdays and Sundays. Most weekends each team will play both on Saturday and Sunday. Periodically teams have one day off per weekend. Games take about and hour and a half including warm-up time and post game time. Indoors games are held on weekdays in the early evening, once per week. Games take about an hour and a half including warm-up time and post game time.
• Act as a referee. Each team is responsible to referee a few games during the season. Each team must provide at least one coach who the Association can certify as knowing the rules well enough to referee. As a matter of fact each coach should be well versed in all the rules for the sake of their competence as a coach.
• Participate in the player draft. All players for each team are choosen in a player draft by the team coaching staff.
• Attend meetings. Meetings are held periodically for a variety of purposes. Generally, there are not more than two meetings or so, per season.
• Attend coaching instructional sessions. Each year we hold at least one instructional session for coaches to review the rules of the game, safety practices, and other important topics.
• Attend a coaching school. This is not required, but we hope that every Head Coach of each Intramural team will want to attend a coaching school. Each year the Association tries to hold a USSF “E” License Coaching in Center City for the convenience of our coaches. The school takes three weekend days (Sunday, Saturday, Sunday) for about 6 hours or so each day. The school is taught by a Nationally Licensed Coach, and covers coaching from top to bottom, including practical lessons and demonstrations taught in the gym. The Association will pay the school fee for every coach who successfully completes the course.
• The Association hopes that our Intramural Coaches will be able to coach both during the outdoor and indoor seasons, although this is not required.

Volunteering for Traveling Coaching

If you wish to be a Traveling Coach you do need some prior experience as a soccer coach at the youth level or higher, and/or high level playing (High School, College, Professional), as well as participation in a coaching course before you can be a Head Coach of a Fairmount Soccer Association Traveling team. We can afford you the opportunity to take a coaching course should you volunteer to be a Traveling Coach. Before you volunteer, however, it is important to understand the commitment you are making, so that no surprises await you.

As a Traveling Coach you will:

• Run practices. Outdoors in the fall, practices are scheduled on weekday afternoons after school. Practices last one and a half hours and are generally held twice per week. Indoors in the winter, practices are held in the evening, one or two times per week and last one hour. Most teams don't practice for play in the spring, although some practice once per week.
• Coach during games. Outdoors in the fall, games are held on Saturdays and/or Sundays or even weeknights according to the league(s) your team has entered. Games are played every week during the season. Games take about and hour and a half to two and one half hours according to the age group you are coaching, including warm-up time and post game time. Outdoors in the spring, the games in the spring league in which we participate are played on Sundays, once per week each week during the season, and take the same amount of time as in the fall. Indoors in the winter, games are generally played on weeknights, but may be played during the daytime on weekends as well. Games take about an hour and a half including warm-up time and post game time.
• Choose the players for your team. It is up to the coaching staff of each Traveling team to choose the players from the FSA player pool for the team's age group. Coaches are free to set their own criteria for picking their players. It is expected that players choosen for a team at the time of the team's formation will generally continue with that team as it moves up through the various youth age divisions in succeeding years.
• Register your team. It is the responsibility of each coach to register their team with the appropriate league(s).
• Attend meetings. Periodically meetings are held of all coaches for a variety of purposes. Generally, there are not more than two meetings or so, per season.
• Play in tournaments. Generally each Traveling team plays in at least one tournament per year, usually during the Labor Day weekend. While this is not mandatory, it is suggested.
• Attend coaching instructional sessions. Each year we hold at least one instructional session for coaches to review the rules of the game, safety practices, and other important topics.
• Attend a coaching school. This is not required, but we hope that every Head Coach of each Traveling team will attend a coaching school. Each year the Association tries to hold a USSF “E” License Coaching in Center City for the convenience of our coaches. The school takes three weekend days (Sunday, Saturday, Sunday) for about 6 hours or so each day. The school is taught by a Nationally Licensed Coach, and covers coaching from top to bottom, including practical lessons and demonstrations taught in the gym. The Association will pay the school fee for each coach who successfully completes the course.
• Get First Aid and CPR training. It is expected that each Traveling Head Coach or their designee will become certified by the American Red Cross in First Aid and CPR. The Fairmount Soccer Association will reimburse the Head Coach or designee for the cost of the course if successfully completed.
• The Association hopes that our Traveling Coaches will be able to coach during the fall-outdoor, winter-indoor and possibly spring-outdoor seasons, although this is not required.

I'm Ready to Volunteer to Coach

If you have decided to become a Head or Assistant Coach and you need our FSA Adult Application Form and the EPYSA Registration Form you can either fill out the Volunteer to Coach Form to request them, or you can download and fill out the Adult Application Form and the EPYSA Registration Form and mail them in or email them info@fairmountsoccer.org.