Thank you for coaching with SAM Soccer! We are able to provide opportunities to our players because of the volunteer coaches in our league! We want to help you provide a great learning environment for your team. There are multiple places that you can go as a coach to help with practice plans, how to coach, and even learn the basics of the game.

Grassroots Licenses
The Grassroots Licensing Courses, which replaced the F and E License Courses, offer an a-la-carte approach to empower coaches with education that is relevant to their specific coaching needs. Prospective coaches have the option to take any of the four courses in any sequence. All courses involve a 2-hour online component and then a 2-hour field session.

Never taken a US Soccer coaching course? Start by clicking here to create your free account at the US Soccer Learning Center.

There is a free online introductory course that must be completed before beginning a Grassroots course.

Below is some additional coaching options and education and guidance.

• You can participate in an online course that gives you the starting blocks of coaching. To access that course, click here!
• First-time coaching? No problem at all! US Youth Soccer has many resources for you! Click here, to access that database! or send Gary Burke Questions at gburke@mdsoccerplex.org
• Our Maryland State Youth Soccer Association (MSYSA) has many different plans and tips for you to use as well.
  • To access session plans, click here.
  • To access additional session plans, click here or here
• We also have multiple documents created by our own Gary Burke who is a licensed US Soccer Federation Grassroots Instructor.
  • Coaches How To: Guide and Support
  • Coaches How To: New Coaches Guide
  • Coaches How To: Soft Skills Guide
  • Coaches: 6 elements of a training activity
  • Coaches Guide to Training: Training Session 
  • SAM League Philosophy
• Positive Coaching Alliance is a non-profit that focuses on building better athletes through youth and high school sports. They have topics that are applicable to many sports and it is all free to access! To check it out click here!
• The Aspen Institute Project Play is a program designed to keep children in athletics and build communities in those sports. They have multiple resource centers that are free to access. To see those resources, click here.