Club Mission

The East Bay Eclipse Soccer Club is an independent, competitive youth soccer club, whose mission is to enable youth to reach their highest potential as players and as people in a positive and enjoyable environment. Eclipse achieves its mission through an innovative training program and club structure that allow youth to increase their skill, knowledge and enjoyment of the game, and avoid burnout and overuse injuries.  A child’s healthy physical and emotional development always comes first.

Club Philosophy

The East Bay Eclipse Soccer Club bases its club and coaching philosophy on five P’s: players, people, potential, passion and play.

Players: Players will be trained within the club to improve their technical and tactical skills both as it affects their individual play and their play within the team. Coaches will spend the majority of their time with younger players teaching and correcting the technical skills of soccer (ballhandling, passing, shooting, etc.), while slowly introducing tactical concepts. While drills will be teaching the same skills over and over, the club will ensure that a variety of drills are being used to create new and exciting challenges to the players, despite the repetition of basic skills training. As players become older, coaches will introduce more advanced tactical concepts, once the technical skills have been developed. Players will be trained in a way that they will learn the roles and details of various positions on the field. Specific technical or tactical issues that are holding a player or team back from progressing to the next level will be addressed immediately, so that all players and teams are able to progress and improve, rather than a few players getting left behind. All coaches will use a teaching way of coaching, asking players questions, as opposed to always just telling them. This will for allow for players to learn to analyze their own play and eventually begin to correct their own mistakes.

People: While improvement as a player is of obvious importance, the club will look to improve its players as people as well. A variety of topics will be discussed with players as to how things such as confidence, trust, teamwork and leadership can positively impact not only their soccer experience but their life outside of soccer as well. Participation in the club will allow the kids to not only grow as players but grow as people with the goal of improving in all aspects of their lives (family, friends, school, etc.). The club will organize team-building events for players to participate in with their teams. The closer the bond a team has off the field, the harder they will play for each other on it.

Potential: Each player and team will have a certain potential that the club will keep in mind as the season progresses. Teams will not be judged based on their results in games and tournaments. Result-oriented evaluations can add unneeded pressure on youth soccer players and affect their confidence, which in turn can affect their progression as a player. Players and teams will be evaluated based on their improvement over the course of the season. The club and its coaches will do everything in its means to help each player and team make noticeable improvements throughout the season. The director and/or coach will talk to players and teams about their progress on a regular basis.

Passion: The club will do its best to grow all of its players’ passion and love for the game of soccer. Players who have a strong passion for the game will put more effort into each practice and game and improve at a quicker rate. A player’s level of passion for the game can be grown through enjoying their time at practices, which the club will seek to do, and also through their exposure to higher levels of soccer. The club will look to organize viewing parties of high school, college and professional games on television and/or in person.

Play: A major point of the club is that these are YOUTH players. While being trained by professional coaches and competing at a high level of soccer is a great experience, the kids also need to have fun and be kids. The optional fun practices the club will hold once per week is a way for the kids to still get more touches on the ball but be able to do it without worrying about what coaches are going to say. A common issue with players playing at competitive clubs is the “burnout” factor, which the club will try to avoid. If a team seems tired and worn out after a long tournament or similar situation, the coaching staff will be able to change the practice plan to include more fun drills. While players may be punished for consistent goofing off, coaches in this club will not be “dictators.” Negative coaching, yelling, etc. will not be tolerated from any coaches in the club. Players will be allowed to be themselves, show their personality and enjoy themselves as they are working hard at practices and games.