Recapping NorCal’s First-Ever Board Member Educational Trip to England
In April, 15 NorCal Premier Soccer board members, presidents, executive directors, and directors of operations traveled to England for the first ever NorCal Board Member Educational Trip, a seven day event designed to expose the group to best practices in community club operations.
Throughout the visit, the group took in learning activities, lectures, and administrative sessions with the stated goals of immersing in football culture, observing best practices, engaging with the game and its practitioners, and learning practical methods to improve club operations.
Styled after NorCal’s popular coaching education series that sees member coaches visit clubs from other parts of the world, this trip was the first time the organization had focused on the action behind the scenes, rather than just on the field.
“We have a mission to grow soccer in Northern California,” said NorCal Club Services Manager Kevin Botterill. “We do that by assisting member clubs in developing their players through NorCal PDP and offering a variety of coach education sessions for coaches of member clubs, but sometimes the limiting factor is the club organization itself. Our philosophy in trying to develop anything is to look at the places that do it well and see what we can learn from them.”
“This was the same idea as our coaching education trips, we found places where soccer clubs were ingrained into the community and looked at their best practices to see what we could bring back and make our organizations in NorCal better,” he added.
The trip, which began on April 7 with a EFL League Two match between Bromley and Shrewsbury Town, featured a variety of visits with Premier League clubs, lower division operations, and a stop at the London FA.
Overall, the 15 stayed in the greater London area, completing stops at Crystal Palace, Slough Town FC, Maidenhead United, Beaconsfield Town FC, Charlton Athletic, AFC Wimbledon, and Hackney Marshes, allowing them to see the game at all different levels in order to for each NorCal member to garner knowledge specific to their club’s needs.
“NorCal education trips expand your understanding of the game beyond your local environment and challenge how you think about player development, structure, and purpose,” said Ravenswood Juniors Girls Director Viviana Puebla-Santoyo. “The board member education trip, compared to other coaching education trips, provided a different perspective with a focus beyond the team and the coach. While coaching education emphasizes player development and on-field details, board-level education expands the lens to the bigger picture: accessibility, including, funding, and the systems that support teams and coaches–all of which directly impact team success and the communities they serve.”
Added California Magic Director of Operations Jack Rozier: “This trip has been highly relational, just seeing the people behind the scenes who are involved in the day in, day out of running organizations. Whether it’s a smaller non-league club, or Crystal Palace or Charlton, the people we’re interacting with are a direct contact point in their neighborhood working on a range of issues like access and participation or violence prevention. Those are things that are highly relatable in our context because we’re working directly with our membership and our community.”
Overall, the trip was met with positive feedback, and Botterill hopes to arrange similar trips in the future as part of his work as NorCal’s Club Services Manager.
However this is just a small part of what Botterill hopes to provide the NorCal community through his department.
“This is just one piece of what we do in club services,” Botterill said. “It’s a new department and we’re still laying the groundwork, but we also provide regional symposia, bimonthly webinars, and anyone can reach out to me if they would like support in their operations.”
