Anne Moore, recently hired as the Wyoming Director of Coaching (DOC), speaks about being the first female DOC, developing young players, and youth soccer in Wyoming.
"If you can earn the trust of the players, then you will succeed, no matter what your gender." -Moore
Q - You’re the first female Director of Coaching for a state association. Can you put this into perspective at all? What does this mean for other women coaches?
A - Coaching is a male-dominated field, regardless of the sport, which can be intimidating to some women. Especially at the upper levels, it is tough to balance both a family and a full-time coaching career for anybody, men or women. I think a lot of women tend to enter into other fields after finishing their playing careers due to the family component. But there are great opportunities at all levels for females to stay involved with the game, and I would encourage them to find a way to give back this knowledge. I am honored to be the first female DOC in a state that provided women with the right to vote before other states, as well elected the first female governor.
Q - Do you think you bring a unique perspective to the position? How will your approach be similar or different from the DOC’s of other states?
A - I think I will bring a different perspective given my college coaching experience. Wyoming just created the DOC position last year so there hasn’t been a lot of structure or consistency with our ODP programs, coach education or player development. We have a great deal of potential but need to begin at the grassroots level by providing more coach education opportunities. In turn, these will help to raise the level of our players so we can be competitive in our region.
Q - What advice do you have for novice women coaches out there?
A - My advice to other novice female coaches would be to be confident in your abilities and to fight for what you believe is best for you and your players. You earn respect by your actions and it is important for you to set the standard and then lead by example. If you can earn the trust of the players, then you will succeed, no matter what your gender.
Q – Where does your coaching philosophy come from?
A – My coaching philosophy is a culmination of all my lifetime experiences as both a player and a coach. One aspect of coaching I feel strongly about is positive communication. I think most players usually know when they make a mistake and don’t really need to be made an example of in front of their peers. I have had coaches who were yellers and really didn’t provide much insight as to how to fix the problem, so I try to put myself in the player’s shoes and communicate in a way that they will respond to. The coaches I respected the most were the ones that pushed me but provided me with the tools to improve.
Moore has coached at all levels of the game
Q - You have coached soccer at all levels and ages. What aspects of your coaching philosophy translate from coaching college teams to coaching younger, more inexperienced youth sides? What adjustments do you make?
A- For younger teams, I focus on the technical side of the game – passing, receiving, first touch, footwork, moves, defending etc. As the players become comfortable with the ball, I introduce basic tactics with regards to space, movement off the ball, support, and team shape offensively and defensively. For older groups, I do a lot of set plays, patterns of play, and restarts that I used with my college team while continuing with the technique.
Regardless of the players’ age, however, I want to expose the players I work with to all aspects of the game so that they can ultimately make intelligent decisions on the field and learn to read the game for themselves. It is the players’ game and our job as coaches is to create a positive learning environment for them to discover the nuances of the game and to think for themselves.
Q – You know what it takes to develop college level players. What aspects of development will you focus on the most with young players?
A - I tend to really hammer home the technical aspects of the game. I want every player on the field to be comfortable with the ball at their feet and to also be able to defend regardless of the position they play. I always tell teams that all 11 players are defenders when we don’t have the ball and all 11 are attackers when we win it.
Q - What is the soccer landscape like in Wyoming? How do you plan on retaining young players and growing the sport in a state not traditionally known as a soccer powerhouse?
A – Soccer in Wyoming is tough. We aren’t able to play outside year round like other states due to the longer winters and lack of indoor space. I think that soccer is progressing and becoming more popular in the state, especially at the younger ages but the numbers tend to drop off after middle school and into high school. Given the small population, most of the strongest athletes play multiple sports and never really focus on just one expect in unique situations. They move from soccer/football season to basketball to soccer/baseball in the spring, so as a coach you are always competing with other sports. I hope to provide quality training opportunities for the players through ODP and clinics around the state to promote the sport and get the kids excited about the game. I would also like to combine teams from various clubs from around the state to form tournament teams to play in some of the bigger showcase tournaments to expose them to a different level of soccer.
