As a soccer coach, you'll quickly find out that your responsibilities start long before your first practice, and extend far beyond the time you spend on the field with your players. There are a variety of off-field tasks that will require your attention. Fortunately, with a little bit of planning, these can be easily handled and assist you in achieving a very smooth season.

I. The Roster
In most cases you'll have a list of the players on your team provided to you by your soccer league or association. I strongly encourage you to complete it as accurately as possible with full contact info. Create a spreadsheet or other document that contains relevant information, and then distribute it to your entire team. Key information includes: Player's Name, Parents' Names, Home Phone Number, and Email Address. Some parents may also want to share work or cell phone numbers. There will be multiple times during the season when players' parents want to contact one another (carpooling, snack schedule, weather cancellations, etc.), so distributing this information is very helpful.

II. Get Help
If you're lucky, one or more assistant coaches will have been assigned to your team. If not, solicit assistant coaches from your players' parents. They're a big help, both in assisting players during your practices as well as covering for you if you have to miss a practice or game. Also, request that a parent volunteer to manage the "snack schedule". With the team roster provided that we discussed above this is not a terribly difficult job, but it's one less thing that you'll have to take care of. You could also consider organizing a "calling tree" should you need to quickly disseminate important information, such as weather cancellations.

III. Season "Kickoff Letter" to Parents
This one is hugely important, so much so that you can find a more complete, separate article on this here. But basically, you'll want to send a letter to your players' parents before the season begins. Some leagues take this even further by having a parents' meeting (which is a good idea as well).

This letter serves several purposes. In it you'll cover various administrative items, such as practice/game schedule and locations, the items each player will need to bring to practice (cleats, ball, water bottle, etc.), distribution of the roster, and any other relevant items.

Aside from these administrative issues, this letter also helps you set the tone for the season by outlying your season goals. These goals will vary by age, but will likely include simply having fun, becoming more comfortable with the soccer ball, and further developing players' skills. As you outline these goals you can also establish some things not to do, such as focusing solely on scoring goals or winning games (again this varies by age). For a more thorough discussion of this topic, as well as to review some sample letters, just click here.

IV. Team Communication
Also as you prepare for your season, establish guidelines on how you plan to communicate with your assistant coaches and players' parents, as well as how you would like them to communicate with you. I find that email works best, but also rely on cell phones as a backup. Whatever works best for you, just have a plan and let everyone know. There will definitely be times when you need to communicate.

So by addressing these items as soon as possible, you'll be well on your way to a successful season. The next step is to prepare for practices!