soccer clubs in louisiana

our core values

We believe humility to be a fundamental value imperative for personal growth and improvement. Our players understanding that everyone has strengths and limitations. We use our strengths to help others and create a positive impact on those around us. We use our weaknesses as an opportunity to grow. For any growth to occur, we must first be able to identify our weaknesses. This is where humility comes into play. While high performing athletes must maintain a positive mindset, humility allows us to have the self-awareness to identify areas where we can improve. It makes us coachable. Humility allows us to embrace our weaknesses as opportunities. Our players and coaches make a commitment to be self-aware and to constantly strive to improve. We also commit to helping each other. We teach that failure is part of life. Dealing with failure is a truly universal feature of success and true happiness. We always approach training with a growth mindset. Our humility allows us to appreciate that we all struggle with individual frailties and weaknesses. It gives us an empathetic appreciation of the struggle of others and of the value they bring to our team. We teach that the opposite of humility is ego. Ego is the destroyer of players, teams and clubs. Coaches, players and parents all have ego as part of our makeup. We strive to be self-aware of the potential negative influence that ego can have on our lives and those around us. We must be ever vigilant to identify it and eliminate it from our words and actions. 

We emphasize hard work as being the foundation of success in life. Success is not handed to us but is earned through relentless dedication, perseverance and discipline. We instill this ethic in our players, coaches and staff. We define excellence as “doing the best with what you have in every given moment.” This sets a high standard of behavior for our teams in training. It necessitates 100% focus and effort. This is non-negotiable. Our players are taught to take full responsibility for their own training and personal behavior. We teach our players to value and cherish those who do the “dirty work” for their team. These are the players that give their energy and effort to the less glorious areas of the game such as tracking back and pressing the ball. They are sacrificing for the team in ways that often won’t get the attention they deserve. Our players understand how crucial “doing the dirty work” is to the success of the team. We emphasize and highlight it when we see it. We feel strongly that this is an important life lesson for our players that can be applied on and off the pitch.  

We recognize that certain qualities make great leaders. These include confidence, decisiveness, and responsibility. These qualities are as vital on the soccer pitch as they are off. From the earliest stages of development, our coaches encourage our players to be brave and confident in their approach to the game. We nurture and develop the “take on” artist, emphasizing an attacking mindset that relishes 1v1 competition. Our coaching methodologies involve competition combined with continuous encouragement and support. Our aim is to develop bold assertive players who don’t shy away from a challenge. Confidence gained on the field translates into confidence in life. Because our training is often confined to tight spaces, it emphasizes quick thinking and decisive action. Players learn to execute with poise under pressure. This same decisiveness and poise under pressure will carry over to other areas of their life. Finally, we teach that taking personal responsibility for our behavior is a vital and irreplaceable characteristic of a leader. Our players to are taught that this applies on and off the pitch. Excuses are not permitted. We teach our players to focus on controlling the controllable. The one thing they have complete control over is their effort and focus. This is always their first and foremost responsibility. It is non-negotiable. We insist that our players all understand and embrace this standard. They are each expected to exercise the leadership necessary to enforce this standard within the team. We teach them techniques and methods of enforcing our “100% focus and effort” standard. The techniques taught are always grounded in the desire to help each other. We insist that our players deliver and receive their messages in the spirit of a genuine effort to help each other. This provides all of them with a true leadership experience. 

Integrity has to be more than a catch phrase. It must be a way of life. Our club is committed to playing the game the way it is meant to be played. We emphasize fair play, sportsmanship, and adherence to the rules ensuring that our players understand the importance of competing with integrity. Winning is important but not at the cost of our values. Our players are always expected to show respect for the game, our opponents and the referees. We win with humility and lose with dignity. We also recognize the value of building relationships with other clubs, players, and coaches. By approaching the game and our opponents with respect, we can create connections that result in lifelong friendships. Our club’s leadership understand that integrity requires continuous self-reflection and accountability. We regularly evaluate our actions and decisions to ensure that they align with our hierarchy of values. We are not afraid to change and make amends when we fall short. By holding ourselves to a high standard, we set an example for our players and community. Together, we strive to create a club that stands for the right values and plays the game in the spirit it deserves.

The team is a safe place for its members. It is a refuge from the trials and tribulations of their chaotic lives. Strong bonds of friendship are forged through shared goals and struggles. Members are encouraged to have their teammate’s back. While competition is fostered, it is always in the spirit of everyone enjoying the sport and making each other better. We play hard and compete because that is what it takes to improve. We develop team leaders who embrace and support new players in a spirit of “welcome to our family.” Our culture of friendship and support is further extended by our parents to our new families fostering a sense of a greater community.  

Our players are taught to be tough and resilient. Anson Dorrance sums this up simply by saying “we don’t whine.” Our players understand that success doesn’t come without a cost, and it doesn’t come over night. We aim to improve our play in every training session. Marginal improvement with each training session are the key to long-term development. This requires focus, effort and a commitment to improve over an extended period of time. Becoming an elite player necessitates years of practice and every success story comes with its inevitable failures and setbacks. The long-term commitment and persistence necessary to be elite is rare. It doesn’t come from a coach or parent. It comes from what Roy Kean calls a “love affair with the ball.” While we can foster the love affair, there is no substitute for a kid’s obsession with the game. The motivation and discipline necessary to train and play at the highest level must be internal. Grit is the term that is used to describe this internal drive that we see in elite athletes. It refers to long-term passion and perseverance in pursuit of a goal. Encouraging and fostering grit in our players is an important part of our mission. Ultimately we understand that grit must come from inside each player. Hence, our coaches will never take credit for the success of our players. We know that this is their stage and their moment. In soccer and in many other areas of life, grit has been shown to me more influential than talent in achieving success.

As coaches it is our mission to first and foremost teach our core values. We are dedicated to embracing and elaborating on our core values in everything we do. We firmly believe that if we teach the correct behavior and values that the desired outcome will follow.