Football Partnerships

By Alex Kotler

Coaches and vendors from around the world braved a sweeping Midwestern cold front to attend the 2009 NSCAA Convention this past week from January 14-18.

The event, held at the America’s Convention Center in St. Louis, Missouri, was a combination educational workshop and tradeshow catering to over 4,000 soccer coaches, predominantly from the United States and Canada. For four days, participants attended floor demonstrations and classroom lectures led by some of the world’s top clinicians.

People such as Jorge Barcellos, the Brazilian Women’s National Team Coach, Michael Forde, Chelsea FC’s Performance Director, and Steffi Jones, FIFA 2011 Women’s World Cup Organizing Committee President, left their mark on a city forgotten in football since the United States’ surprising upset over England in the 1950 World Cup. That ‘miraculous’ team included five Saint Louisians.

Topics ranging from the influence of technical work on tactical development to the integration of art, science and culture in football were explored through live clinics featuring young players, and presentations, aided by audio-visuals.

“It’s a fantastic experience,” said one coach. “Learning from the world’s elite is a privilege.” Another, citing the difficulty in following demonstrations via translator in real-time, sympathized saying, “It’s hard for the foreign instructors to get their points across. I understand Portuguese, and it was tough for [Barcellos] to tell the kids what he wanted. They weren’t doing it, and I could see that he was frustrated, and it wasn’t anybody’s fault – not his, the translator’s or the kids.” Still, responses were generally favorable.

Attendees were also invited to participate in soccer history by serving as the audience for the Major League Soccer SuperDraft and the WPS Draft, which were held on Friday the 16th and Saturday the 17th, respectively. New club Seattle Sounders selected the Zaire-born, UK-raised Steve Zakuani as first pick and the Boston Breakers chose Amy Rodriguez from USC as theirs.

Prior to the draft, a spirited group of fans petitioned for a St. Louis-based MLS team, holding scarves high and chanting their requests in the direction of Don Garber. The Commissioner, neither placating nor acknowledging, steered clear of the issue – although there is no doubt that he heard. (St. Louis is one of the cities aspiring for a team by 2011.)

On the evening of the 15th the exhibition hall opened, and registrants flooded the floor for first glimpses and free booze. Budweiser, formerly an Anheuser-Busch brand but now part of the InBev portfolio, sponsored happy hour and attendees stumbling along from booth to booth talking to eager vendors and fellow coaches.

Whether for the beer or the soccer boots, the hall was its fullest opening night. Said one vendor from Calle, a street soccer brand, “I wish we’d anticipated how crowded it would be Thursday. People were buying shirts from us like hotcakes, and we couldn’t get them out of the boxes fast enough.”

Others flocked to the Fox Soccer Channel booth, situated within event-co-sponsor Kwik Goal’s area, where Max Bretos, Bobby McMahon, Christopher Sullivan and company broadcasted live.

For many, the NSCAA Convention was like a camp reunion. Jill Robbins, Executive Director of Soccer in the Streets, mentioned the strong bonds she’d forged with other convention-goers over the years. “There are people I only get to see once a year, and it’s here at the NSCAA.”

Not to mention the networking. First-time registered-company Football Partnerships hosted a mixer for its group members on Friday the 16th. Forty showed and enjoyed a football freestyle performance by champions Abbas Farid and John Farnworth before mingling amidst fellow professionals. John Barata, a member of Football Partnerships and co-owner of Soccer Interactive, praised the “excellent event at the NSCAA Convention.”

From adidas to youth soccer, the NSCAA Convention truly covered the football alphabet. And, for the first time in a long time it felt like, even for a moment, St. Louis had emerged from obscurity.

Based in Kansas City, Kansas, the NSCAA is the largest coaches’ organization in the United States. Since its founding in 1941, it has grown to include more than 26,000 members who coach both genders at all levels of the sport. In addition to a national rankings program for colleges and high schools, NSCAA offers an extensive recognition program that presents nearly 10,000 individual awards every year. It fulfills its mission of coaching education through a nationwide program of clinics and week-long courses, teaching more than 4,000 soccer coaches each year.