To: John Harvey, Ed Richards, Jennifer
Williams and web site
From: Chris Friant, Williamsburg Soccer
Club
Date: 10/15/03
Subject: Richard Butler, National Soccer
Coaches Association of America Convention, Featured Speaker
The National Soccer Coaches Association
of America (NSCAA) has announced that Richard Butler, Director of
Coaching for the Williamsburg Soccer Club, will be one of the featured
clinicians at this years’ NSCAA Convention to be held in Charlotte,
North Carolina January 14-18, 2004. He will be a panelist at the
convention and speak on the topic of ‘Developing Club Soccer in the
USA’. Alongside Butler will be Derek Armstrong, Director of Coaching
for the La Jolla Nomads, CA, Phil Neddo, Director of Coaching for the
Honolulu Bulls Soccer Club, HI and Jay Howell, Director of Coaching for
Capital Area Soccer League, NC. This will be the second time that Butler
has been a featured clinician at the NSCAA Convention, last appearing as
a speaker on club soccer in the USA in Philadelphia, PA in 1999.
Butler was appointed Director of Coaching
for the Williamsburg Soccer Club in the Fall of 1992. Prior to coming to
Williamsburg, he had been a four-year starter at the University of
Alabama Birmingham (UAB), where he was team captain and a two-year Sun
Belt All-Conference selection. Following his graduation, he served as an
Assistant Coach for the Blazers in 1991. Most recently, in the Fall of
2001, he was named the head coach of the Williamsburg Legacy, the club’s
Premier Development League team that competes in the United Soccer
League. A native of London, Butler played within the England Independent
Schools Team system at both the U-16 and U-19 levels. Upon graduation
from high school, he played one year in the Hong Kong professional
league were he represented Hong Kong at the full-Amateur level. After
leaving UAB and moving to Williamsburg he played in the USISL for the
Richmond Kickers ending his career in 1994.
Butler holds a Premier Diploma from the
National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) being one of only
36 candidates selected in its inaugural year of 1998. He also holds
National and Advanced National Diplomas from the NSCAA. Butler is an
Associate Staff Member for the NSCAA making him qualified to teach State
and Regional coaching courses.
The Williamsburg Soccer Club (WSC) is a
501(c) 3 non-profit organization devoted to promoting soccer to the
youth of our communities in Williamsburg and the surrounding areas. The
club was established in 1974 and continues today as the strongest soccer
organization on the Peninsula dealing in only soccer. Programs are
offered for both boys and girls alike from ages four to twenty three.
Over the past eleven years Butler has built the Williamsburg Soccer Club
into a model for soccer clubs in the USA. He commented on his selection
as a panelist by saying: “One of my major goals when I arrived in
Williamsburg in the Fall of 1992 was to develop a club system. I had
been coaching in the US since 1988 and all I kept seeing were individual
teams coached in very different ways but they had the same club name. I
have tried to impose a training regime that is standard throughout the
Williamsburg Soccer Club and that all our teams can work within. Through
the years, as the system has evolved, my coaches have come to believe in
the system and this has only benefited our players. It is certainly a
great honor to be able to be on the panel at the NSCAA Convention and to
try to educate fellow coaches on what I believe is the correct way to
run a club and teach young soccer players.”
The WSC is staffed by three full time
employees and numerous part time coaches with offices located in
Williamsburg. Programs begin at four years old with the “Shooting
Stars” beginners clinic and go through to the oldest age groups
offering play with the Williamsburg Legacy, the club’s Premier
Development League team competing in the United Soccer League. In
between there are developmental programs for children aged 6 to 11, a
travel team program for players aged 9-18 and a Super Y program for
players aged 14-18. There are also numerous camps conducted throughout
the summer months, a mentorship program, domestic and foreign tours and
a college prep night to help older players enter into college. The WSC
also hosts numerous tournaments and events throughout the year bringing
many people to Williamsburg and the surrounding communities to play
soccer.
