US Club Soccer is proud to work alongside Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) as part of the Million Coaches Challenge, a campaign aiming to train at least one million coaches in youth development by 2025, 400,000 of which will be trained by PCA.

This effort, funded by the Susan Crowne Exchange, was designed to capitalize on the simple but critical finding that, for kids who play sports, a good coach can be a transformational figure in their lives.

In order to achieve the ambitious goals of the Million Coaches Challenge, the Susan Crowne Exchange is assembling a coalition of bold and innovative organizations, like PCA, to broaden the definition of good coaching to include youth development and social and emotional learning. 

“There are 36 million youth athletes in the U.S. and 6 million youth coaches, yet just 32.5% of coaches are trained in youth development.,” said Jason Sacks, PCA’s Executive Vice President for Business Development & Philanthropy. “We are honored to be an anchor partner in the Million Coaches Challenge and look forward to building on our longstanding partnership with US Club Soccer to work towards ensuring all member coaches can go through PCA’s coach training.”

Dedicated to leveraging the power of youth sports, PCA and US Club Soccer understand that training coaches to support kids on and off the field helps young athletes develop social and emotional skills like teamwork, empathy and problem solving, significantly impacting academic, career and life outcomes. 

For a chance to receive PCA coach training as part of the Million Coaches Challenge, please fill out this form and a PCA representative will be in touch.

US Club Soccer has partnered with PCA since 2015 and encourages members to take part in PCA offerings to provide a positive, character-building soccer experience for players. PCA helps advance the Players First pillars of Coaching Development, Parent Engagement & Education and Player Health & Safety.

“PCA was a founding partner of the Players First initiative, and they continue to support us by providing excellent resources to develop coaches, parents and players,” said Ashley Lehr, US Club Soccer Senior Manager of Club Development & Outreach. “This specific initiative, providing a free workshop to underserved communities, will allow us to educate even more coaches and enhance the youth soccer experience for players.”

US Club Soccer members have preferred access to PCA’s educational resources. These resources include online courses, Zoom workshops and anti-racism resources.