Culture Starts With the Coaches
Our 2025 Coach Engagement Program kicked off last week with nearly 50 coaches coming together at SCHEELS Learning Center to align, connect, and raise the standard for the season ahead.
What is the Coach Engagement Program?
Our Coach Engagement Program is rooted in a simple principle: Kaizen — the pursuit of continious improvement.
We are committed to investing in our coaches just as we do with our players. By incorporating workshops, establishing shared standards, providing continuous training opportunities, and fostering collaboration, our goal is to create something meaningful, and lasting.
“We strive to be 1% better always — for our players, and for ourselves.”
The Theme of the Night: Culture
We began the evening with one question: “What is culture?”
Culture isn’t a poster on the wall. It’s what we reward, what we tolerate, how we act, and how we respond under pressure. Culture must be actionable, visible, and lived — not just written.
We explored these questions together:
- What does culture feel like?
- How do we live it?
- How do we sustain it?
“Culture isn’t what we say, it’s what we live.”
Discussing and Defining Our MVP’s
We introduced our Mission, Vision, Values and Principles (MVPs) to define how we lead as a club.
Mission = Our Purpose – This is our North Star, why we exist. Every decision must be guided by this.
“The mission of Dallas Surf Soccer Club is to follow the Surf tradition of creating a Best of the Best soccer environment for all players, parents and coaches in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex.”
Vision = Our Aspiration – Our vision gives us direction. It’s the long-term aspiration of the club we are working to become.
“To be the standard of youth development in Texas. Known for competitive play, player centered coaching, and a relentless commitment to improvement. We aim to develop complete players, outstanding teammates, and future leaders, all while building a strong community rooted in Kaizen and the joy of the game.”
Our core values spell out S.U.R.F:
- Standards
- Unity
- Respect
- Fearless
Principles = Our Guiding Behaviors
Principles are the specific actions and habits that bring our values to life. They’re what you see, hear, and feel when someone is truly living the culture — clear, observable behaviors that guide how we show up for our players and each other.
Bringing Culture to Life
Coaches worked in small groups to define our values. Each group created clear examples for what Standards, Unity, Respect, and Fearless look like on the field, in team behavior, and in communication.
We asked coaches to dig even deeper and define what each principle looks like in action. Not just buzzwords — but Visible, Specific, and Repeatable actionable language and behaviors that reflect who we are.
For example:
Value = Standards – We hold high expectations for ourselves and each other, every day.
Principle = Kaizen
- ❌ “Get better every day”
- ❌ “Work hard to improve”
These are motivational but not measurable. Instead, we encourage language like:
- ✅ Coach: Reflects at least 1x weekly on training sessions
- ✅ Player: Watches and reflects on 1 game/month
- ✅ Parent: Will only give feedback when invited by coach
“Words can be powerful. But values and principles must be seen.”
What’s Next
Each coach was challenged to meet with their teams to define what their team standards look like. Together, they’ll choose three key principles/behaviors to live by this season (from our list). These standards need to not just sit on paper — they must repeated, reinforced, and modeled in training sessions, games, team meetings, and everyday interactions.
A huge thank-you to all our coaches for embracing this process with openness and a growth mindset — the same qualities we expect from our players. Remember, culture begins with the coaches. When we model the values we want to see, our athletes will follow. That’s the heart of the Coach Engagement Program, and thanks to everyone’s commitment, we’re off to a fantastic start this year.
