Last year PA West started requiring licenses for certain age groups, but beginning with the Fall 2016 season, coaches of all teams up to U12 age groups (2005 birth year) are required to have either the PA Youth Module or the USSF F License before rostering with a team.
Here are the instructions for completing the Youth Module or the F License. You will meet the minimum requirements by completing either of these.
PA West Youth Module
This is now a free online course. Although the minimum requirements no longer include the Youth Module field session, NASC highly recommends the completion of the field session as well. The field session is extremely useful in gaining practical understanding of creating and executing a coaching plan for these young age groups.
For more information on the Youth Module, and to register for the sessions, go to http://www.pawest-soccer.org/coaching/youth_modules/.
Please note, that there are two separate Youth Modules, one for ages U5/6-U8 and another for ages U9/10-U12. If you select the Youth Module option, make sure you complete the course that matches the age group of your team. This also means that if you expect to move from one age group to the other, you will need to complete both modules.
USSF F License
The USSF F License is also an online course. The cost for this license is $25, which will be reimbursed by NASC for active coaches. The fee also includes a one-year membership to the US Soccer coaching platform. For reimbursement requests, click this link.
For coaches, who are planning to continue with their coaching education, the USSF F license is recommended, as it is a prerequisite for higher level licenses.
For more information on the USSF F license go to http://www.pawest-soccer.org/coaching/f_license/.
If you have any further questions, please contact Viktor Götz at [email protected].