LSA offers 2 pathways to coaching education one with US Soccer and the other with United Soccer Coaches. To be clear, LSA values both coaching education pathways and will consider the completion of courses on either pathway as satisfying the LSA Policy on minimum coaching education standards to coach in the LCSL.
US Soccer is the governing body for soccer in the United States as recognized by FIFA. They confer what they call the “official licenses” for soccer coaching in the United States. The higher national licenses are generally regarded as the standard for coaching jobs at the collegiate level and above. United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the NSCAA) is a highly respected association of coaches across the world. They have been offering highly respected coaching education courses for over 50 years. While the content along both pathways is similar, the methods of teaching and the learning environment can differ.
US Soccer Policy has prohibited the crossover from USC courses to their own. This means that, while coaches are free to pick and chose which courses to take, they do not get credit for taking the other organization’s courses when pre-requisites are required. This means that a coach should chose his or her pathway from the outset and stay on that particular pathway.
Example: If a coach wants to take a US Soccer D-License Course he or she must first have taken the certain US Soccer courses. If the coach had completed the corresponding courses on the USC pathway, US Soccer would not give the coach credit for having satisfied the D-License course pre-requisites.
A major difference in the 2 patheays is who can qualify