Vail Valley Soccer Club has had quite the year!
Vail Valley Soccer Club has hired Travis Yoakum as its new Director of Coaching (DOC) for the club. Yoakum brings a wide array of experience and formal education to the club to benefit players and families, to bring players, coaches and teams to the next level of competition.
Yoakum’s formal education includes a USSF “A” License, and NSCAA Level 1 and 2 Goalkeeper Licenses. Most recently, he has served for the past two years as the Boulder County Soccer Club’s Director of Coaching. Yoakum’s soccer work experience also includes creating an Academy program and he has developed curriculum for players from ages 5-18. With a unique understanding of what it takes to create a love of the game, as well as helping players make it to the next level, he also has experience coaching professional soccer. His professional associations include USSF, NSCAA, the Positive Coaching Alliance 9 (PCA), as well as a T4 Assessment Specialist.
In addition, Yoakum is currently an Olympic Development Program coach and evaluator, as well as being one of Colorado Soccer Association’s trainer coaches. Several of VVSC’s current coaches have attended his “E” license clinics and can speak to his level of content knowledge and passion for the sport.
“We are very lucky to have Travis join our community and hope you join us in welcoming him to the valley,” said Kerri Thelen, president of VVSC. “We are all very excited to have Travis be a part of the growth, both in numbers but also in quality soccer, in our community.”
According to Thelen, soccer is exploding in the Vail Valley, and there are many other exciting things happening with the club. VVSC partnered with the German Bundesliga Soccer Clubs to bring Professional German Coaches from the Mainz 05 Club to train its players in Vail this summer.
“This was an incredible opportunity to be trained by the best coaches in the world and our players loved it,” said Thelen. “We had athletes from around the state and country join in on this fantastic opportunity.”
In addition to VVSC players being offered this training, this past April a group of VVSC players traveled to Mainz, Germany where they trained with the Mainz 05 Academy Coaches, toured the Mainz 05 stadium, and had friendlies with the local clubs and refugee teams. The boys reported the greatest part of the entire experience was meeting and playing with the refugees; it was a life-changing experience to see the world through their eyes. VVSC hopes to continue to expand this soccer cultural training trip to Germany where players can have an experience of a lifetime. VVSC is also currently structuring opportunities for players to live abroad in Germany, wherein they can train for an entire semester with the Mainz 05 Academy.
“VVSC has expanded its Vail Valley Cup and Cindy Eskwith Memorial Tournament to include more teams than ever before,” said Thelen. “The club is excited for another incredible weekend of competitive soccer in one of the greatest settings to play soccer in Colorado, the Vail Valley.”