A good youth soccer coach is one who can watch your player for ten minutes, name the actual fault, and give cues the kid still remembers on Saturday. Credentials are how you screen for that: ask which U.S. Soccer license the coach holds, by name, and ask what team they are currently coaching and at what level. A coach still working competitively knows what the next rung demands. Drill volume, cone layouts, and distance from your house tell you almost nothing about whether your player will improve.
- Ask which U.S. Soccer license the coach holds, by name, not just “licensed.”
- The USSF B License is the fourth-highest certification in U.S. Soccer, two levels below what is required to coach in MLS.
- Ask what team the coach is currently coaching, and at what level.
- Range across age bands matters more than a specialty in one.
- Judge a first session by whether the coach named a fault, not by how tired your kid was.
You already know something is off
You watch your player on Saturday and something is not clicking. They work hard. They are not slow. But they fade in the second half of a game, or the ball keeps bouncing off them under pressure, and their team coach has 16 other kids to manage.
So you start typing soccer coaches near me and every website says the same three things: passion, experience, results. None of it helps you choose, which is why it helps to know how to judge soccer coaching in Irvine and Orange County before you call anyone.
Here is the belief worth putting down first. Most parents assume the best coach is the one who was the best player. Plenty of good former players can demonstrate a skill beautifully. Far fewer can break that skill into three cues a 12-year-old holds under pressure. That is the difference between running drills and teaching the game.
The second assumption is that a hard session is a good session. A player can sweat for an hour and learn nothing. Sweat is easy to produce. Diagnosis is not.
Criterion #1: the license, named specifically
Ask for a U.S. Soccer license and ask which one. “Licensed” on its own covers a very wide range, and most parents nod at the word and move on.
The license matters less as a wall decoration than as evidence of what the coach was tested on: player development pathways, tactics, and teaching methodology. That is the how of instruction, not just the what.
The U.S. Soccer license ladder, in order
Knowing the order lets you judge a coach who holds a C or a D instead of only recognizing the letters you have heard of.
- Grassroots: the entry level, the tier most volunteer and recreational coaches complete.
- D: the first step past grassroots, common among youth club coaches.
- C: a meaningful step up in tactical and teaching content, typical of experienced club coaches.
- B: the fourth-highest certification in U.S. Soccer, and very few private trainers hold it.
- A Youth and A Senior: the tiers above B, for coaches working at the top of youth and senior levels.
- Pro: the top of the ladder, and what is required to coach in MLS – two levels above the B.
A D or C licensed coach who diagnoses well can absolutely serve your player. The point of asking is not to disqualify anyone, it is to know what you are buying.
Criterion #2: is the coach still coaching competitively?
This is the question most parents skip. A trainer who only runs private sessions has no live feedback loop on what today’s game actually demands.
Ask what team they are coaching right now and at what level. Someone working at a competitive club, a high school program, or the MLSNext tier – the highest tier of youth competition in the country – sees weekly what earns a starting spot and what gets a player subbed off. That knowledge decays fast when someone stops coaching a team.
For your player, it means the feedback is calibrated to the next rung, whether that rung is a stronger club team, a high school starting spot, or a college roster.
Criterion #3: range across ages
A coach who has only ever worked with one age band will teach your kid that band’s session, regardless of what the diagnostic says. Range is what lets a coach meet a player where they actually are.
Ask what ages they have coached outside your child’s. Someone who has worked with first-time beginners and with college-bound competitive players has seen the whole staircase, and knows which step your player is standing on.
If you are unsure what your player needs right now, our breakdown of youth soccer development by age covers what typically matters at 8-11, 12-16, and High School/Elite.
Coach Elmer Chacon holds the USSF B License, the fourth-highest certification in U.S. Soccer and two levels below what is required to coach in MLS. He currently coaches at the MLSNext level with Strikers FC Irvine and is Head Coach at Fairmont Preparatory Academy, where in his first season he took the boys’ program to the CIF quarterfinals for the first time in school history. He has served as Director of Coaching for California Rush and as Youth Director and Technical Director, and across nearly 20 years on the West Coast he has coached first-time toddlers in grassroots programs he built himself through to elite, college-bound competitors. Full background is on the About Coach Elmer page. Apply the same three questions to anyone else you are considering.
How the coaching roles differ
Parents often ask whether they need a private coach, a club coach, or both. They do different jobs, and stacking more of the same job rarely helps.
| Setting | Main job | Feedback per player | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Club or school team coach | Team structure, competition, selection | Shared across a full roster | Game experience and match rhythm |
| Small-group training | Skill work with live pressure from peers | Split across a handful of players | Players who compete better with company |
| Private 1-on-1 | Diagnose and fix one player’s specific faults | Undivided | Fixing a habit that keeps repeating |
Most players benefit from a team plus one of the other two, not from joining a third team. Formats, cadence, and booking are laid out on our private and small-group training page.
What a good coach actually does in the first hour
Here is a composite of a real first session, details anonymized. Ten-year-old boy, competitive club. The dad’s complaint on the phone: “he disappears in games.”
Minutes 0-10 are observation, not conditioning. Simple pass-and-receive work while the coach watches three things: what the first touch does under a little pressure, where the plant foot lands on strikes, and whether the head comes up before the ball arrives.
Two connected faults surfaced. The plant foot was landing behind the ball, so strikes ballooned. And when a defender closed, the first touch died at his own feet. He was not slow. He was stuck.
Three cues followed, not fifteen. Plant beside the ball, not behind it. Touch across your body, into space, away from pressure. Check your shoulder before the ball arrives, not after. A ten-year-old can hold three.
The homework, written out so you can use it without booking anything
This is the between-session block that carried that case, and any family can run it against a garage door or a park wall.
- 15 minutes a day, five days a week. Shorter and daily beats one long weekend session.
- 5 minutes: 40 strikes against the wall, alternating feet, with one thought only – plant beside the ball. Count them out loud so the rep is deliberate.
- 5 minutes: 50 first touches off the rebound, every touch pushed across the body into space, never back into the feet.
- 5 minutes: same rebound work, but a shoulder check before every ball arrives. 30 reps.
- Do all of it at game speed, not comfortable speed. Comfortable speed builds a habit that vanishes under pressure.
- One instruction for the parent: watch the plant foot at the next game, and say nothing about it in the car.
By the end of week two you should see two things. Strikes staying below head height more often than not, and the head turning before the ball arrives instead of after. The shoulder check is the one to watch, because it is a habit rather than a skill, and once it is there the first touch has somewhere to go.
Four weeks later, in that case, his coach thought he had gotten faster. He had not. He had gotten earlier.
That sequence – watch, name the fault, three cues, homework, retest – is the mechanism. Everything else is packaging.
Questions to ask before you book
- Which U.S. Soccer license do you hold, specifically?
- What team are you currently coaching, and at what level?
- What age ranges have you worked with beyond my child’s?
- What will you be watching for in the first ten minutes?
- How will you tell me what you found, and what should we do between sessions?
- How do you measure whether the fix held four weeks later?
Be skeptical of any coach who promises team placement, a starting spot, or a roster outcome. Nobody controls a selection decision. What a coach can control is what your player is taught, how clearly, and whether it holds up under pressure.
Watch for these in the first month
You do not need to understand technique to evaluate a coach. Watch three signals instead.
Can your player tell you in plain words what they are working on? If the answer is “drills,” the cues are not landing. Does the coach ask you about games and school load rather than just taking payment? And is there a retest, so someone checks whether last month’s fix survived?
Top Notch Training has worked with 800 or more youth, club, and high school players as of August 2026.
How our sessions run
Private sessions run 1 to 2 hours, weekly or bi-weekly, in Orange County, with programs based in Irvine. On-field training is based in Southern California, and parent guidance meetings can happen in person if you are local, or by phone or Zoom from anywhere in the world.
You can see current group times on the training schedule, or book a training session here. Questions are welcome by phone at (714) 248-2592.
Whichever coach you choose, you are the one making the call, and the checklist above is enough to make it well. Your player brings the effort and stays coachable. A good coach does the rest of the work in the first ten minutes.
Frequently asked questions
What certifications should a youth soccer coach have?
Ask for a U.S. Soccer license and ask which one by name. The ladder runs Grassroots, D, C, B, A Youth and A Senior, then Pro. The USSF B License is the fourth-highest certification in U.S. Soccer, two levels below what is required to coach in MLS, and very few private trainers hold it. A C or D licensed coach can still be excellent – the license tells you what they were tested on, not whether they can teach.
How do I know if my kid’s soccer coach is any good?
Ask your player what they are working on. If they can name one or two specific things, not just “drills,” the coaching is landing. Then check whether anyone retests the fix a few weeks later. A coach who names a fault, gives a small number of cues, and follows up is doing the job.
Does a private soccer coach need to be close to my house?
Distance should be the last filter, not the first. Diagnostic ability is what changes a player. A coach fifteen minutes farther away who can find the fault in ten minutes will do more for your child than a closer one running a generic session, which is why searches for a private soccer coach near me are better sorted by license and current coaching role than by miles.
Should my child have a private coach and a club coach?
Usually yes, because the two do different jobs. The club or school coach handles team structure and competition, while private or small-group work exists to fix the specific habits that keep repeating in games. Adding a second team instead tends to add fatigue without adding instruction.
Can a coach guarantee my player makes a better team?
No, and be cautious of anyone who suggests otherwise. Selection decisions belong to clubs and school programs. What a coach can influence is technical skill, decision-making, conditioning, and composure, plus whether your player shows up coachable.
What ages do you train in Irvine?
Programs are organized in three bands: Youngers (8-11), Olders (12-16), and High School/Elite, with seasonal camps that have run for boys and girls ages 6-16. If you are weighing camp options, the coach-to-player ratio at each station tells you more than price or hours. If you are still mapping out the local landscape, our Orange County youth soccer guide explains how leagues, clubs, AYSO, and supplemental training fit together.
Reviewed by Elmer Chacon, USSF B Licensed, MLS Next Coach, CIF Coach of the Year, Head Coach at Fairmont Preparatory Academy - last updated August 11, 2026.
Sources for this article
- USSF B License is the fourth-highest certification in U.S. Soccer, two levels below what is required to coach in MLS; very few private trainers hold it
- License ladder order (Grassroots, D, C, B, A Youth/A Senior, Pro) framed from the fact that B is fourth-highest and Pro/MLS is two levels above B
- Ask what team the coach is currently coaching and at what level - a coach working competitively has a live read on the next level
- Coach Elmer Chacon holds USSF B License, coaches MLSNext with Strikers FC Irvine, Head Coach at Fairmont Preparatory Academy, CIF quarterfinals first season, first in school histor
- Director of Coaching for California Rush, Youth Director, Technical Director; nearly 20 years developing West Coast players; range from first-time toddlers to elite college-bound p
- MLSNext is the highest tier of youth competition in the country
- Composite first session: 10-year-old, 'disappears in games,' minutes 0-10 diagnostic, plant foot behind ball, first touch into own feet, three cues, wall homework at game speed, pa
- Private sessions run 1 to 2 hours, weekly or bi-weekly, in Orange County; phone (714) 248-2592
Facts drawn from this site's own documented knowledge and first-hand experience.
