Thank you for your interest in coaching with Milltown. All of our coaches are volunteers, and they are critical to the success of our club.
If you have coached with us in the past: Welcome back! Please follow the steps listed below to register for the upcoming season.
If you are considering coaching with Milltown for the first time: Welcome! We appreciate your interest, and we are always in need of coaches in various age groups. You don’t have to be a professional soccer player, or even have much of a background in soccer, to be an effective coach. It is far more important that you are able to work in a positive way with kids, and are willing to develop your coaching skills and knowledge of the game over time. Milltown is committed to helping coaches of all ability levels be successful so that children and adults alike can have positive experiences. If you have any questions about becoming a coach for Milltown, please do not hesitate to contact us. Or, if you are ready to take the plunge, follow the steps below to register as a coach.
Instructions to Register as a Milltown Coach:
Due to the way the state processes background checks, we ask that you do these steps in order as listed below.
Step 1: Register as a coach in our registration system, DemoSphere
This MUST be done for EVERY season you intend on coaching. (While you are at it, please make sure your email address and contact information are current). This process will take you less than 5 minutes. We need you in our DemoSphere system so we can assign you team information, and this is also how you will be sure to get coaching emails.
Please note; If you are registered in the system as a parent that is NOT the same thing. If you have registered as a coach in a prior season you will still need to register for the current season. Use the link below to login into your registration account where you will be able to register yourself as a coach. The link below will ask you to create an account, if you are already in the system, please use the “Member Login” link in the upper right-hand corner of the same page.
Click here to register with Demosphere Registration System
Step 2: Complete Abuse Prevention Training
In February 2018 Congress passed a bill that was signed by the President bringing into law Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act that makes it mandatory for sports organizations to report the sexual abuse of athletes to law enforcement or social services within 24 hours. This training will affect club administrators, head and assistant coaches, and team managers. The state is requiring a first-time 90-minute online training to completed by all adults in those roles. After the initial 90 minute training, subsequent renewal training is reduced to 20 minutes. We appreciate your willingness to keep children safe. Please use the following link for detailed instructions to complete the abuse training.
Click here to access mandatory online Abuse Training
After completing your abuse training please click here to log in and upload a PDF of your certificate of completion into the Affinity site along with your concussion training (Step 4) and background check.
Step 3: Complete a background check
(Please do not complete this step until you have completed and uploaded your abuse training certificate.) Each year you must complete the background check information in Affinity, the State’s registration system. Coaches will not be assigned to a team without this step complete, with no exceptions. A background check is required EVERY fall session. A fall background check will carry over to a spring season if you coach back-to-back seasons, but a spring registration will not carry into the fall.
Click here for Affinity background check
Step 4: Complete Concussion Training
Beginning January 1, 2014, Oregon law requires coaches to be trained in recognizing signs of concussion and to know how to respond appropriately to concussions when they occur. Milltown stands behind this legislation 100% and requires ALL coaches to complete the concussion training annually. What do we mean by annually? Your training must expire after the scheduled completion date of the current season. If you have registration from another sport that is current, the chance is we will probably accept that if you can provide the proof of completion and date of completion. Please plan on approximately 20-25 minutes to thoroughly complete this important training. Please upload a PDF of your certificate of completion into the Affinity site along with your abuse training and background check.
Access Concussion Awareness Training
After completing your concussion awareness training please click here to log in and upload a PDF of your certificate of completion into the Affinity site along with your abuse training and background check.
*****Please note, until the background check has been cleared you will not be assigned to a roster. And until we have a current concussion training and the abuse verification from all coaches associated with your team, we will not assign your team a practice field. *****
Step 5: Email our Registrar
Once you have completed the registration, email the registrar at milltownregistrar@gmail.com with your intentions of coaching. Many coaches skip this step and this too often leads to confusion. Please mention your full name and the school and age group you would like to coach. Adding the name of your child is also helpful to ensure you end up on the same team. The system cannot actually place a coach on a team until the background check clears. In some cases those coaches are inadvertently not placed at all. Contacting the registrar will ensure you are correctly placed with a team in a timely manner if a position is open.
Finally, a bit of stern fine print…
We do require 100% compliance with these basic steps. Any person found to be on the field without having been background checked or having completed the concussion training will have their privilege of working with the kids suspended and this could affect a team’s play time. This is for the well-being of everyone involved. Thanks for your cooperation. (See, we are stern but friendly about it).
Other things to keep in mind
Every year Milltown offers several coaching clinics to help coaches become familiar and comfortable working with kids, designing age appropriate activities, and learning how to most effectively structure practices. These benefit everyone from the soccer novice to experienced players and coaches. They make designing practices easier, and they are usually targeted to provide specific information that is AGE APPROPRIATE. Even the most experienced coach often needs instruction on dealing with the limited abilities of small children. We will help you in setting your expectations for the age range you will be working with.
We will post clinic schedules in advance of each season on our coaching clinics page. Registered coaches will also receive schedules by email.
We do also offer opportunities to have a licensed coach attend your practices to help give you and the kids helpful tips.
Our website also contains a lot of information about expectations and general structure of the age groups along with some suggested activities.
If you still have comments or questions please email the registrar at milltownregistrar@gmail.com