Youth Club Soccer Spotlight: Meet Michael Duggan - Developing the Carlsbad Lightning Program

Paul Holohan, Lee Bennett of Bolton Wanderers FC and Michael Duggan on a San Diego soccer field.

 

SoccerNation caught up with Michael Duggan and spent some time talking to him about his experience, his time with Carlsbad Lightning, and the direction he sees soccer going at the youth and professional levels. In the first article, Michael talked about his background in English soccer and coming to America. In this second in a series of articles from that conversation, Michael talks about the development of the Carlsbad Lightning club under his direction. 

Michael Duggan is the well-known and respected Director of Coaching with the successful Carlsbad Lightning Soccer Club and has helped to build the program into one of the powerhouses of regional soccer.

When Michael Duggan first started coaching with Carlsbad Lightning, the club’s organization was much different from what it is today. “Basically Carl Higham, Glen Malone and I were brought in to be trainers,” Duggan explained. In fact, Carl and Glen were each working with up to seven teams at a time. “We would just train teams, and each team would have a parent manager. The managers would take the games over on Saturday.”  Of course this system led to certain difficulties and challenges on game day.

“We would basically just go to games, and they [the managers] would do all the substituting. It was a bit strange because there were a lot of parent coaches who didn’t really understand the game that were making decisions on game day about who to put in and who to sub in and what to do. Our job was just to train these guys on the field.”

Back then, Carlsbad Lighting was one of several clubs in the Carlsbad area, along with Carlsbad Wave, Encinitas Express, and Rancho Santa Fe Attack, and Michael felt it was the most under-achieving club at that time. As Duggan explained, “Unfortunately, the structure was wrong.”

A large number of club members were unhappy as they felt they were not getting what they needed, and wanted more of a focus on the recreational program. This group of disgruntled parents attempted to take over the club, planning to disband the competitive division and become a recreational club only. When they were unable to take over, many of these parents left to form the local AYSO club, taking what Michael estimates to be 90% of the recreational program.

“At the time, it seemed a tough situation,” Michael remembers, “but probably the best of all situations because it allowed us, really, to build the club from the ground up. We were left with basically 300 recreational players and about 17 competitive teams, of which the highest team at the time was probably a struggling AAA team.”

Michael attributes a great deal of credit for the Carlsbad Lightning turnaround to Joan Chinn, whose husband Courtney Chinn was, at the time, parent manager of the team Duggan was coaching.  About ten years ago, when the tenure of the previous club administration was up, there was “a huge, huge election for new leadership,” with 800 to 1000 parents voting.

Joan Chinn came up victorious, and was voted president of the competitive soccer club.  Her first action as club president was to name Duggan as Director of Coaching, with Carl Higham and Glenn Malone as girls’ and boys’ directors respectively.

“Without these two,” says Michael, “I never would have been able to build the club into what it is now.” Michael also credits Courtney Chinn, who passed away several years ago, for helping guide the development of the program and for his untiring dedication to the sport. “He was the one who helped guide Carl, Glen, and I” as they developed as directors. “When Courtney passed away, it was one of the greatest losses in San Diego youth soccer. We will never forget Courtney.”

Duggan wanted to develop a club that addressed the real needs of young players, with new focus on both the recreational and competitive programs. Duggan and his team implemented a new curriculum and began working directly with coaches in both youth soccer programs.

One change was to do away with parent managers as coaches, which resulted in several teams leaving the program and moving to neighboring clubs. However, the moves turned out to be beneficial in the long run, and Carlsbad Lightning is currently one of the largest clubs in San Diego County.

When asked what sets Carlsbad Lightning apart from other area clubs, Duggan responded, “I think we’re unique in having three directors who work hand-in-hand together and understand each other; three directors who support each other, no matter what, and who also share the same vision.” He has high praise for his directors, calling Glenn Malone “probably one of the best boys coaches there is,” and commending Carl Higham for his “tremendous job” in what he has achieved with the girls.

Some people in the youth soccer world might find Duggan aggresive and opinionated, but he prefers to call his style “being straight and upfront with people.” He credits his outspoken and direct approach as being a large part of the club’s success.

Being 'straight and upfront,' Michael admits that, “At the end of the day, running a youth soccer club is a business. As much as we don’t like to think it is, but it is.” He explains that he needs to satisfy the customers – the families who sign up their boys and girls to play on a recreational or competitive team. “It’s the product that you put out on the field.” If the program is not meeting a young player’s needs, parents will move to another club. 

Also important to the success of Carlsbad Lightning is the relationship the directors have with the coaches in the programs. “We’ve got fantastic coaching retention. A lot of these coaches in this club have been with us since we started. They’ve grown and they’ve developed through the program like we have. This brings a lot of loyalty, and more than that it brings a stability.” Michael is very clear that stability is a very important factor in developing young players. “Young kids need stability,” he explains. “Having that stability with a good set of coaches and a good model you’re working from helps.”   Because of Duggan's style and partially due to the club's high retention of coaches, the club has a clear and concise message from its coaches to its parents and players. All too often youth soccer clubs have a clear 'club' directive but with so many coaches changing from one club to another, what the Director of Coaching says is not always what the coaches preach.

A third element in the club’s success is its recreational program. In the ten years since Michael and his team took over, the program has grown from the 300 recreational soccer players left over after the crisis of faith to around 1300 this year.

A strong competitive program needs a farm from which to build and develop soccer players.  To improve the recreational program, Duggan implemented an education program for recreational coaches, and worked directly with the team coaches to help them improve skills. The players who begin in the recreational program, and who have the talent and desire to move on to the competitive program, get the training they need to advance. Currently the club has nearly 60 competitive teams, and most of that talent is home-grown.

In building the club to the size and strength it is now, Michael says he insisted on one rule: no poaching. Poaching is an interesting and highly volatile subject in youth soccer.  Players move from one club to another for a variety of reasons and what inducements are offered are always subject to hot debate.  According to Duggan, “We’ve never taken advantage of moving full teams over to Carlsbad Lightning."  While the accusation of poaching, or stealing another club's players is always open to perspective, Duggan has successfully forged relationships with other youth soccer organizations, such as AYSO, and the organizations continue to work together for the benefit of the young players.

In the next article Michael talks about player development and some of the successes Carlsbad Lightning has had and reminisces more on Courtney Chinn.

 

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