The ECNL hosted its ninth annual ECNL Coaching Symposium, powered by US Club Soccer last week in Las Vegas, where a record turnout over 1000 soccer leaders from across the country gathered to align on the vision of the ECNL moving forward, hear from an incredible lineup of guest speakers, and continue to grow and move the sport forward.
The two-day event featured speakers Neil Bath (Former Academy Director, Chelsea FC), Ceri Bowley (Chief Soccer Officer, NC Courage), Amie Bracken (ECNL Director of Brand Services), Thomas Christiansen (Panama Men's National Team Head Coach), Andrea Cortez (ECNL Director of Creative Services), Russel Earnshaw (Former Premiership Rugby Player; Coach Educator), Brent Gleeson (CEO Exceler8; Former Navy SEAL), Doug Lemov (ECNL Coaching Methodology Advisor), Stephen Torpey (Academy Director at Manchester United), and Drew Watson (ECNL Medical Advisor). The speakers touched on topics ranging from technical and tactical development, leadership and personal development, club and organizational development, and more.
In addition to the guest speakers, at the ECNL AGM league leadership discussed the current state of the league, and ECNL President Christian Lavers presented the league's vision moving forward, highlighting where the ECNL plans to go in the coming years.
One of the presentations that stood out to many over the two-day event was former Navy SEAL Brent Gleeson's presentation: ALL IN: How High-performance Teams Lean In and Level Up.
Rio Rapids Director of Coaching Chris Hurst discussed how even though Gleeson does not come from a soccer background, the presentation was still extremely relatable to what coaches are trying to accomplish.
"Even though he has nothing to do with soccer, it's relatable. If you looked around everyone was hanging on every word," Hurst said. "That's real world stuff. How do you get that all in all of the time from your players? That's essentially what you are trying to do when you're coaching is get buy-in from your players, parents, and coaches to create a culture."
While there was lots of soccer discussion and presentations from coaches as well as current and former academy directors at some of the biggest clubs in the world, attendees continued to emphasize how valuable the leadership skills were that they received.
"The most important thing I'm getting out of this is leadership skills," said PacNW SC Boys Director Pedro Millan. "How do we deal with people? It's not just the soccer part. The soccer part is the most fun part, but understanding how to lead people is a very tough job."
Regardless of the topics they spoke on, Millan noted how all the speakers draw you in through their excellent communication, and give you opportunities to apply what they are saying to what coaches do on a daily basis.
"I think the speakers are very good at communicating, regardless of the content, they just attract you. When they attract you then you're trying to link what they are saying to what you do."
Louisiana Fire Director Keir Hannity echoed Millan's thoughts on the importance of learning so much on leadership skills, while also speaking to the wide range of topics that were covered by all the speakers.
"We've really enjoyed the different array of speakers. There's been a lot of different topics, not just on the field, but also leadership skills, the management of a team, club, and personnel has been really good to see."
With this being Louisiana Fire's first season in the ECNL, Hannity was at the Coaching Symposium for the first time, and said they will definitely look to increase the amount of staff they bring next season, due to the valuable experience they received over the two days.
"Going into next year we're definitely going to look at bringing more of our staff," Hannity said. "It would be great for them to be here to not only network and meet other coaches in the ECNL environment, but it would be really important for them to listen to these speakers."
Below are just some of the many insights shared by speakers throughout this year's ECNL Coaching Symposium.
"World class environments for young players to fall in love with the game and hopefully stay in love with the game. Producing the future of society, not only the game of soccer." - Ceri Bowley, on what the ECNL means to him
"Your club is your brand. Now, think of your brand as a person. Your brand isn't what people say about you, it's what they say about you when you're not in the room." - Amie Bracken
"I'm very proud. It has been a big sacrifice to achieve this goal to qualify for the World Cup. Now we want to have a good World Cup and show Panama to the world." - Thomas Christiansen, on qualifying for the World Cup with Panama
"If you don't love and respect your brand, no one else will." - Andrea Cortez, on using your brand as a competitive advantage
"Coaching is a really challenging job and sometimes you can't experiment. Hopefully this has given everyone a chance to get together, share some ideas, and do even better work for the players." - Russell Earnshaw, on helping coaches think differently
"Accountability is known to be the number one most important cultural pillar of any high performing team or organization." - Brent Gleeson
"Perception is important to decision making. We do what we do because of what we see, so we should try to shape what players perceive." - Doug Lemov
"Hire people you can trust. Culture lives when no one is watching." - Stephen Torpey
"If you can reduce injury risk a meaningful amount and increase player availability to train and develop, I don't think it's unreasonable to say that you can move the needle on soccer development across the country and raise the level of youth soccer in America." - Drew Watson, on impact of the injury data collection program
