First of all, keep in mind that an academy or school of soccer for children is the place where the youngest children will go to learn correct techniques and tactics to prepare themselves in a professional career of this sport.
The majority of children who enroll in such an academy come for a basic reason, which is to become professional football players.
Concept of a soccer academy or school for children
Creating a soccer academy or school for children is a challenge and therefore you must research and prepare yourself to be able to teach with a lot of energy, enthusiasm, and commitment to establish a well-organized academy that can offer benefits to every child who attends.
You should even consider several important things such as health, safety, and legal responsibility issues, as these are factors that will impact the success of your academy, but don’t worry because if you follow the steps below you will be able to start your academy business in the right way.
Steps to create a soccer academy or school for children
Follow these steps to start your project by opening a soccer academy or school for children to be successful:
Step 1: First of all, you should think about hiring the right people, as it is important for the success of any business including an academy, as they must be people with the right skills and experience to offer effective coaching programs for your academy’s players.
The level of your staff will depend on the amount of money you have available to pay salaries and their costs. However, it is important that you have a minimum of 3 people who fulfill these roles:
Secretary or administrator of the academy
This will be the person in charge of carrying out all the procedures related to the registrations, before the competent authorities.
Secretary of Accounts or Treasurer
The account secretary or treasurer is the person who will be responsible for all money, income, expenses and banking matters.
The assistant or football coach
This is the person responsible for planning, organizing and delivering soccer coaching programs to the academy.
In short, these are the three main roles that you must fill in the first place, then when the academy starts to grow you can hire more staff to fill other roles.
Find the perfect place
You must find the right place for training because if this point is not among your plans, your academy will be doomed to failure.
To do this, you must take into account that the field of play must be suitable for football training, must have safety requirements and an appropriate distance for students.
Recruitment of players
You can start recruiting players locally and if you have money for marketing spending consider placing advertising in magazines and newspapers.
The right team for the football academy
Your recruits will develop the right skills and become professional players if you provide them with the right tools because within the right team you should consider cones, balls, obstacles, bibs, whistles, posts and nets.
However, keep in mind that if you rent land for training sessions, owners can provide you with all the equipment as part of the site lease, but if you use your own land it is important to have your equipment and keep it in good condition.
Generate relationships
It is important that you build relationships with people and organizations in your local area because it is a way to raise awareness of the work you are doing and will attract potential sources of funding, which will help your football academy grow.
Legal aspects to open a football academy or school for children
Like any business, you have to consider the regulation of the authorities in order to obtain permits and operating licenses so that the dream of having your own football academy becomes a reality and stays in time.
Registration
It is therefore very important that you register your academy with the Football Association so that you can enter your players to participate in any competition. This way you will fulfill your legal obligations and create credibility for your academy.
Financing
It should be a priority for you, finding funding sources, because creating a football academy means a wide variety of costs such as registration with the Football Association, renting the land, buying equipment, staff salaries, and possible league positions.
But there are many ways to generate funds for your academy, such as sponsoring local businesses, selling tickets, registering children, advertising on the academy billboards and others that will come up as ideas over time, because you are the one who must decide the way forward to achieve the vision and objectives of your venture.
HEADS UP football
HEADS UP Football is a program that developed USA football for the safety of young players based on the idea that as a coach if you are the one who trains children or the people in charge of this role are educated to protect children from contusions and other brain injuries that can be serious.
Return to Play laws
Thus, the Return to Play laws were implemented as part of prevention in Washington and Massachusetts, because they were the first two to accept Return to Play, but it is a law that is now implemented in all 50 states.
For this reason, you should be aware that you need to investigate your state’s laws because they may vary in terms of training and different requirements so that you can authorize your return to the game after an injury.
You can check the state laws that relate to contusions in sports such as soccer for children and youth, including high school, at www.cdc.gov, on this site you will find the laws and policies of the sport that apply to the state where you will create your academy.