ELON, N.C. - Leading up to the start of the Elon University women's soccer season, players and members of the coaching staff will share what they have done to prepare for the upcoming season.
 
Leading up to preseason, we will feature a five-part series of Q&As with coaches and players called, "Summer Preparation: Players Get Fit, Coaches Exercise the Brain". Featured in today's edition is assistant coach Sammy Scofield, who begins her second season with the program in 2017. She sat down for a short Q&A to talk about her experience attending Modern Soccer Coach Conference at Wingate University to help her prepare for the season.
 
Question: Explain what the Modern Soccer Coach Conference is?
 
Answer: "It was a conference that talked about how the game of soccer is evolving and how we as coaches have to evolve along with it. Some of the topics discussed were how to plan and prep for the game, how to challenge the status-quo, finding our "why" as a coach, and looking how to adapt our coaching into how the game is evolving and revolutionizing. As a group, we looked at fresher ways to coach by talking about different ways to influence your team, and learning from other coaches about how they coach, format training, and put together their game plans."
 
Question: What was the structure of the entire day of the conference?
 
Answer: "The day was structured with classroom sessions from 8:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. with a variety of coaches speaking about many different topics. That was then followed by field sessions in the afternoon, which covered goalkeeping, building out of the back, as well as a fitness and skill development."
 
Question: What were some of your goals going into the conference?
 
Answer: "Going into the conference I didn't really know what to expect. I started by looking at the presentation topics and seeing what interested me. My approach with coaching is hearing other coach's perspectives and bouncing my ideas off of what they're doing. Chris [Neal] and I talk about learning things in a new way that reinforce what we're doing and making sure we have a fresh look at it. So, I wanted to learn things that are similar to what we are doing, but how to attack it in a different way to make it more impactful for our program."
 
Question: What were some of your favorite presentations during the conference and points they discussed?
 
Answer: "All the sessions were entertaining. There were three specific presentations that I was a big fan of. There was a culture presentation by Jeremy Boone where he talked about what you need to instill in your team culture to make it successful and meaningful. He talked about having a belief in your culture, having open communication, and how important language is in your culture. We always talk as a staff about the verbiage that we use and the body language that we bring to training. So, I think Jeremy's ideas helped reinforce what I already knew was important, but seeing it in a different way, it reminds me to be more conscious of those things to make sure our culture and environment is the way we want it to be."
 
"Also the lecture about the preparation for the U-17 USYMNT World Cup by Erik Imler was interesting, because he talked about how they prepped on a day-by-day basis and what they were trying to accomplish in training. It was interesting to learn about how in the 2011 world cup residential, they did a lot of fitness off of the ball and they made sure they weren't being repetitive. But, in the 2015 world cup residential, almost all of their fitness was on the ball and they would do the same thing on certain days of the week and before games. So it was interesting to see how both squads were successful and that depending on the coach and the players, they instilled a different type of training. It proved that there isn't one single way to do something, it's all about the environment and the players you have."
 
"The last presentation was with Mark Spalding about match preparation. I thought it was interesting learning about how he was working at the professional level in the Scottish Premier League, how they prepped for games, how their days were planned out, and learning that it's not vastly that different from what we are doing."
 
Question: What is the main takeaway you have from the experience?
 
Answer: "I don't think there is a right or wrong way to coach, but I think the more perspectives I can get as a coach, the better. There are a lot of things I learned that we can adapt into our team culture here at Elon. I think there are a lot of things I took away that reinforce what we're doing and gives us a new way of looking at things to implement year-to-year and make our team better."
 

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About Modern Soccer Coach Conference:
Modern Soccer Coach offers a variety of services and products to coaches and players at every level. We aim to provide unrivaled educational opportunities to help coaches and their teams become successful, both on and off the field. Our presentations and sessions are aimed at all aspects of the game, including training, psychology, tactics, sports science, and building team culture. For more information, visit modernsoccercoach.com.