By Dennis Miller
There are a lot of options when it comes to an advanced youth soccer player and his family selecting a club for him to ply their trade.
To further the attractiveness of their program, a club needs to step up and offer an experience above and beyond your standard training and playing that most clubs offer.
The maturation of young athlete must extend to development off the field, as well as on field.
Ballistic United is one of those clubs that have risen above the standard and offer their players much more than on-field learning and experience.
With that in mind, the club started a Leadership Academy.
“When we started it around 2012, we were looking to provide additional education for our players,” said Kevin Crown, the Technical Director for Ballistic United. “It is a good life skill they can carry forward in life.”
The man in charge of the program that is open to Under-12 comp and above players is Ballistic Coach Brady Taylor. As far as Crow is concerned, Taylor is the right fit.
“Brady is a natural leader,” said Crow. “He is the next generation leader.”
The program involves two levels and is structured for potential captains or just players that want to be trained in leadership skills.
The first part is the Leadership Academy that takes place over the course of one year with three meetings taking place in the fall and two more in the spring.
“This is where we look at key leaders in the sport,” explained Taylor. “These are kids that have not been the (leadership) program before. We go through the key leaders and study how they have influenced people around them.”
Once they player graduates from the first level they are eligible to move on to the Captain’s Roundtable portion of the program.
“I really like that we have two levels,” said Crow. “The Captain’s Roundtable allows for the older players to mentor the younger players.”
Taylor agrees with the importance of the Captain’s Round Table.
“Everyone is able to share situations they have faced,” explained Taylor. “We learn about leadership by sharing their stories. As the adult, I help them process what they are learning and help them towards self-discovery.”
Players exit the program with a better understanding of what it means to be a leader.
“We teach them that you want to develop leaders around you,” explained Taylor. “If you are able to do that, then you don’t have to bear the weight of being a leader by yourself.”
The entire program is a cornerstone of what Ballistic believes when they welcome players into the club.
“It is important to recognize and seek out making good people, not just say it, but do it,” explained Taylor. “If we can empower these young adults to recognize these traits of leadership, we have done our job.”
