The Coaching Manual is delighted to welcome Albion SC Las Vegas on board as one of our newest partners this month, but our relationship with one coach at the club goes back almost a decade.
This week, we spoke with Wayne Attard, a UEFA Pro Licence holder, coach educator at the US Soccer Federation, and Director of Coaching at Abion Soccer Club Las Vegas.
He said: "The Coaching Manual has been a big part of my journey as a coach."
The Coaching Manual was recommended to Wayne nearly 10 years ago by Southampton FC's Andy Martino, one of the first coaches to appear on platform due to the partnership between TCM and Southampton FC's Academy.
Wayne continued: "I was in Malta at the time, when I started to use it. I used it for a number of years and I was fortunate enough while I was working in Malta to do my UEFA courses, and then I was lucky enough to get the u19 National Team job."
Wayne coaching Malta U19s
For many years, Wayne has used The Coaching Manual as an individual subscriber to further his coaching journey, implement sessions from the platform, and build sessions of his own through the site's online tools.
But since moving to Albion SC more than six years ago, he decided that the platform should be adopted by the whole club to deliver their curriculums and pathway programs.
He added: "I find The Coaching Manual very handy. It's a great site, and I've been trying to get it out here (as a club package) for almost six years. I talk about it a lot to a lot of coaches.
"There was a lot of interest from my coaches who want to get on board because I've showed them what I use in coaches' meetings.
"This year was the year where I said, you know what, we've just got to get it done for our coaches because a lot of coaches have been asking me for my log-in! So, yeah, finally we're on board as a club."
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"Relax, we're getting the TCM package!"
Wayne described the moment he realised it was time to sit down the Albion coaches and show them what The Coaching Manual platform can do.
He explained: "About three weeks ago, we had an open season meeting where I bring all the coaches in, and this year, we're up to almost 60 coaches. I took an hour out of the meeting just to talk about coach education.
"I used a lot of stuff from The Coaching Manual, I just put up on the big screen for them and they're like, oh, ok! Within a day or two, one of the coaches signed up for his own membership and I told him to relax, we're getting the club package! He just said, 'it's fantastic, I love it!'
"And then it starts spreading like wild fire. He starts talking to that coach and that coach and this coach and that coach. And they came back to me, so I emailed the whole club and I said, look, this is what we're doing - I've been in contact with The Coaching Manual - we're gonna make it happen. Everyone's just sending me a thumbs up."
Formed in 2017 as part of a merger with Inspirada FC, Albion SC Las Vegas became the first affiliate club of Albion San Diego, built for the purposes of providing a framework for players to grow and compete on an elite level. Since then the program has grown to 17 affiliates throughout the US, from Hawaii to Idaho.
Wayne said: "Albion in San Diego has the identity game model curriculums, which they do share with us. But obviously every market is different, every player pool is different. So you've got to adapt accordingly.
"I love playing around with that sort of stuff and seeing what we have. So this platform gives me the opportunity to then go to San Diego and say, look, I think this is a great way to teach kids - it's methodology we should be using. And they've taken a lot of the stuff we do here in Vegas on board."
From Albion to the MLS
Albion Las Vegas prides itself on its player and personal development - giving players the best environment possible to develop and succeed at whatever level they wish to play, including MLS Next.
One of their key goals is to develop players to their highest potential, ultimately advancing them to the next level of soccer, and to provide opportunities on Olympic Development Programs (ODP), and for players to earn a college scholarship.
The Coaching Manual will be used as part of Wayne's mission to deliver high caliber coaches that fit the makeup of the club and work within the Albion system.
Wayne said: " We have a definite pathway for coaches and players - which is important - and this is what I love about being part of an Albion community. We have moved players on, I had three players last year go to MLS Academies, just from Vegas.
"So we're proud of that and that's our purpose at the end of the day. The Coaching Manual will play a big part in this because our coaches now have their curriculum, and the structure that I've been planning for a number of years, thinking about how I'm going to get it through to our coaches."
Albion's unique full-time Academy
As part of the club's rapid growth, Albion Las Vegas has even started its own full-time Academy - the only one of its kind for MLS Next players in Nevada - teaming up with local indoor facility, Indoor 5. The Coaching Manual will also be used to deliver education at Albion Academy.
Wayne said: "At the moment, I've got 12 full-time students, high potential players, working with Albion. We've got a massive, nice place with an area for strength and conditioning, and five-a-side fields. We've built a classroom in there, and hired a full time teacher.
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"I think the culture we're building is that the kids actually have a smile on their face when they go to school because they come in the first 40 minutes of the day and just play street soccer in a cage and then they're getting in the classroom doing school work.
"And according to their age and ability, they've got set programs, which could be coordination, work, ability work, it could be lower body strength, etc. Then I come in at 1pm and I walk through their Individual Development Plans in groups of three or four and then they're picked up by their mom and dad at 3pm, and by 6.30pm they're back at team training.
"It's something they love, and we've incorporated the educational part as well."
TCM supporting Albion's growth
Partnering with The Coaching Manual could not have come at a better time for Wayne and his coaches, who wanted a way to support the delivery of their pathway programs to their ever-expanding group of players and coaches.
"So, yeah, I'm looking forward to it. It's gonna help a little bit about everything. It's building our culture within the club because we're all talking the same language. So I think that's important - coaches educating themselves because it is an educational tool."
With The Coaching Manual, clubs can build their whole coaching infrastructure into one central platform, using the easy-to-follow Folders function to share the right sessions with the right coaches.
Curriculums can be built from the ground up, using the 4,000+ pieces of professional content on The Coaching Manual, or by creating and incorporating original sessions and guides using the platform's drag-and-drop 'My Content' feature.
One of the best time-saving functionalities of The Coaching Manual is the Season Plan tool, which can either be populated centrally and communicated to teams and coaches within the club, or whole age-appropriate strategies can be generated automatically with just a few clicks.
Wayne said: "Coaches can actually then keep a topic for the duration of a six week, seven week cycle, instead of just going randomly 'I wanna do this session, I'm gonna do that session'. There's more communication, there's more culture, there's more growth because those coaches want to learn.
"Do you find coaches with a closed mindset? 100%. I can't change everyone's mindset, especially the guys who say, oh, 'such-and-such has been working for me for a number of years'. Ok. That's why you're not gonna coach top teams.
"The Coaching Manual is a great tool for the coaches, to be open minded - I'm learning something new because it's a coach educational tool aside from just doing the sessions on the site. Another thing I do like about The Coaching Manual, you actually see the coaches teach the little whiteboard before the actual session starts.
"Coaches must understand what, and who, they have in front of them. That's the number one thing when it comes to coaching, regardless of the level or the age, know your audience, then know how to come across to them. You can use The Coaching Manual on an iPad or laptop to show them the session and paint a picture to give them an idea of what they're doing for the actual session."
Wayne concluded: "Overall, I'm super pleased, I'm very pleased that we're partnered because finally I'm sharing The Coaching Manual with a lot of other coaches.
"I'm very excited because we've already got coaches talking about it on the sideline and I know they're going to improve their sessions which ultimately improves the kids."
To learn more about Albion SC Las Vegas and the wider Albion program in the United States, visit their website here.
To enquire about a club package for your organization, get in touch by filling out our enquiry form below.
Alternatively, sign up for a personal subscription (like Wayne used on his coaching journey for a decade!) here.