NASCA...the club that I DO want to be a member of
By IAIN KING, Halifax, Nova Scotia, May 19, 2021
AULD SCOTIA, NOVA SCOTIA...reppin' NASCA on my evening walk along the beautiful beach of Herring Cove
I DON’T care to be a member of a club that would have me as one of its members.
A Groucho Marx quote, a classic and one that at times in my life I have felt drawn to.
Yet for the last four years since I emigrated to Canada to begin my second career as a full-time football coach being part of the North American Scottish Coaches Association (NASCA) has brought me nothing but learning and laughter.
That’s why this morning I’m proud to have been chosen as NASCA’s second President to follow in the footsteps of founder member Eric McAleer who has driven this idea forward for seven years now.
There are 300+ Scottish coaches now spreading our special influence on the game across the USA and Canada.
From guiding youth soccer clubs, to top University jobs to Major League Soccer and the Canadian National Team we fly the flag for our homeland.
In the female and the male game in North America, our depth of knowledge, the coaching education pathway we have come from, our ingrained work ethic are all qualities and attributes that see us sought after and treasured when hiring time comes.
Scottish coaches matter in North America and the cold, hard truth is that the profession of coaching is shown a level of RESPECT here that is not always reflected in our homeland.
Not only in salaries but in the general perception of what it takes to be a coach. What we put into it.
Every NASCA member has a story of working part-time outside their day job back home, racing from work to get to training and games as a volunteer coach.
It can be thankless, it can become a grind, the criticism you get from parents or committees begins to outweigh those rewarding moments of seeing players and teams you have worked with improve.
Full-time jobs are scarce, the culture for coaches in what is a developed European football nation is not conducive to treating this vocation as your job.
That still jars with me. I invested over 20,000 GBP of my own money to become a UEFA A Licence coach in Scotland but the reality is that I could never have made the leap into life as a full-time coach there.
Yet I will always be indebted to those who educated me on the SFA Coaching Pathway.
VOTE OF THANKS...Jim Fleeting (above) and Donald Park put many NASCA members on the right coaching path
To Jim Fleeting, to Donald Park, to Andy Gould, to Tommy Wilson, to Eric Black, to John Robertson, to Jimmy Bone, to Dick Campbell, to John Hughes, to Alex Smith. To too many others to mention.
There is an irony that we produce so many superb coaches and that so many have to leave Scotland to truly show their worth.
Yet that’s why we have NASCA.
Last year during the nightmare of COVID-19 lockdown in Toronto and another enforced absence from the field our committee cooked up the idea of the National Team Speaker Series.
Shelley Kerr, Craig Brown, Gordon Strachan, Alex McLeish, Walter Smith. What a guest list we put together and those five Zooms we held helped draw together the membership.
Many of us were going through some dark coaching times, fearing for our dream jobs, living on reduced wages in cities where rent can be punitive.
Those weekly football get-togethers were a form of therapy to help us through.
Ask any Scot who coaches in North America what they miss most about our homeland and you will get the same answer. THE BANTER.
There is no sense of humour like ours, caustic, self-deprecating, childish, silly, hilarious.
The patter flew back and forth and it’s then, as your speech quickens and your accent thickens, that you realise what has driven Eric to keep this NASCA idea alive these past seven years.
Our challenge now for me as Scottish coaches abroad is to find ways to stay connected week-in, week-out and STILL look forward to our annual night out on the batter at the United Soccer Coaches Convention!
Next year we are in Kansas City from January 19-23, 2022, and plans are already underway to make that a special week for every Scottish coach who attends.
Yet in the months to come we want to keep NASCA relevant in the coaches’ hectic lives with the Coach of the Week Series Powered by Sport Careers Agency that will feature the success story of a Scottish coach from our membership.
In the past month we have seen Kayley Ralton named the Head Women’s Soccer Coach at the University of North Georgia.
Today news broke of Andy McNab’s appointment as Head Women’s Soccer Coach at the University of Asheville in North Carolina.
Across North America we have Scots who continue to put our game on the map and it is one of NASCA’s duties to highlight their achievements.
The Coach of the Week Series, which will be featured on our website and sportcareersagency.com and our social media channels, will help in that regard.
We’ll also have special events and offers, like the Early Bird price for the online Rangers Coaches Convention this week that has proved attractive.
We will enhance our Jobs Board on the Slack platform and look to help boost the careers of coaches already here and those who want to start an adventure in North America.
I’m proud and delighted to be a part of it all. Turns out there are some clubs that I care to be a member of.
