Recapping Regions 1 and 2 Symposia
Following the success of the first-ever regional symposia earlier this year, NorCal Premier Soccer hosted a second round of regional symposia this August with a series of on field and classroom learning sessions in San Francisco and Saratoga to satisfy the needs of Regions 1 and 2.
The San Francisco Glens hosted the Saturday symposium at their facility on Treasure Island, while Sunday’s event was put on in coordination with Allstars United.
Each event was free of charge for all NorCal Premier Soccer members and formulated with NorCal’s goal of improving the level of education provided to all coaches within the organization and making it more accessible by bringing it to each and every region on a regular basis.
“The goal is to be able to bring coaching education and club development to each region so that we’re not asking people to travel multiple hours to be able to take advantage of these opportunities,” said NorCal Club Services Manager Kevin Botterill. “While we regularly schedule opportunities for all of Northern California to learn from, it’s important to rely on the local experts we have from clubs within the region so that the education is geared towards what the constituents in each region need.”
“It’s also an opportunity for those clinicians to build their coaching education skills and bring back to their clubs,” Botterill added. “Furthermore, one of the most rewarding aspects of these events is seeing coaches who are rivals every weekend on the sidelines learning and sharing ideas with each other, while maybe even watching sessions led by someone from a third club.”
“Overall, these symposia foster learning, bring the community together, and help NorCal achieve its stated goal of improving the level of development for the entire soccer community represented by its 300 clubs,” Boterrill concluded.
Over the course of the two days NorCal provided a series of offerings for all those interested, including a series of training sessions and classroom sessions led by coaches as well as lectures and presentations aimed at helping club leaders develop their skills.
Additionally, there were other elements aimed at teaching club administrators and board members to hone their skills such as how to gain field access, improving marketing, and even an action photography workshop. The US Soccer Foundation also hosted their Coach-Mentor Certification for Addressing Challenging Behaviors.
As part of the effort, NorCal Premier Soccer collaborated with US Soccer to also improve the licensing of each coach in attendance. Throughout the weekend, there were 144 USSF Grassroots Licenses awarded to attendees who participated in the 7v7 and 9v9 Grassroots coaching courses.
With the success of the events, NorCal Premier Soccer has already begun scheduling the next series of regional symposia, due to take place in January and February of 2027, with Regions 3, 6, 7, and 8 expected to host events.
“At NorCal, we’re trying to streamline our education opportunities and make everything more accessible to the entirety of our membership,” Botterill said. “We believe that scheduling more regional symposia is a step forward in that direction and we will continue to build out this programming given the strong feedback we’ve received from our first four events.”
