A mate of mine recently did not pass his Youth Award Level 4 exam . One of the things he was marked down on was overpraising young players!! Apparently using superlatives like "fantastic" , "superb " , and "brilliant" were frowned upon by his examiner. With Scottish football not exactly at the peak of the world game how are clubs supposed to produce and keep young players if praise is to be discouraged? Not saying tell someone who is obviously not good enough he`s Maradona , but come on ! Hopefully the youth boys at AFC will be men enough not to toe  the line and produce some good young boys in the future . As it is Scottish football has just lost a Level 3 youth coach . Opinions?

Oh buy!

 

And I am 2 weeks away from taking the Canadian equivalent...

 

Our levels are supposed to be in tune with age of playes and such but I started at a point when the system was being adopted.  It used to be based on the competition level.  Used to be that if all you were going to do was coach your kids (even if they were 16) in a recreational league, they suggested you take level 1.  If you were going to coach the all-star team from that league  in a few tournaments, you had to have level 1 or be registered to take it in the next session and again it was strongly suggested you have level 2.  If you were coaching competitive teams you had to have a minimum of level 3.  Next step was a provincial "B" License required to coach Semi Pro or be a Technical Director of a club.  Last step is a National "A" License - FIFA certificate.

 

Now it's better suited by age but has more steps.

Youth 1	Target age group is Under 9	1 day Course - 4 hours in class & 4 hours on the field
Youth 2	Target age group is U9 to U13	Still a 1 day course with the same hours
Senior	Anything U14 and Up - Still the requirement if you are going to coach Competitive teams	2 Day course - 8 hours in class & 8 on the pitch
Pre-B Assessment	Thay found there needed to be a between step to the Provincial "B" Licence - too much new material	4 day course - 2 weekends - 2 Days in class 1 on the pitch & culminating in a mock exam on the same sheets as the "B" License
Provincial "B" License	Same materials as the Pre-B	5 Days in residence culminating with the same exam only the examiner is no longer beside you but off the field
National "A" or FIFA License	Required if you want to be a Professional coach	2 Year Process that I'll look at once I get closer LOL