Not only do Carrie Barker and Art Turpel have experience in soccer, but they also have expertise from their many years of working with children and programming.
Barker, the SABR Director of Coaching carries a USSF National A License and has been an Olympic Development Program coach. Turpel, the SABR Director of Player Development, holds a USSF National C License in addition to a National Soccer Coaches Association of America coaching license.
The philosophy of both Barker and Turpel and SABR is teaching soccer to individual players and coaches, in addition to life lessons. To accomplish that, SABR offers state-of-the-art training to the volunteer coaches to help them accomplish that throughout the season.
Barker began with SABR in April 2021 and acknowledges there is a plethora of soccer programs within SABR. This is her fourth season with the club.
“We have the after-school program and also the youth development program with 5s and 6s on Saturdays,” Barker said. “All of the programs are very different, but they are all rewarding in several different ways.
“SABR is an incredible club because whoever you are and whatever age you are, there is a place here for you,” Barker beamed. “I have spent time with different clubs throughout the country, but this is the one that I see is the entire package. Whether you are an adult soccer player, a grassroots rec youth soccer player, or a special needs player, it is really rewarding. I always tell people whatever your heart desires, whatever the age and ability, there is a place here for you.”
“SABR began in 1977, and the foundation has been set,” she said. “It’s incredible, actually. I am very, very fortunate to be part of the club.”
Turpel, the SABR Director of Player Development, also serves as Director of Team Boca, the traveling program which is part of SABR. He has been with the club since its inception in 1977.
Last year, SABR had more than 2,200 recreational players. There were also more than 700 Team Boca players, in addition to 170 TOPSoccer members. There are 60 percent boys and 40 percent girls.
“We are the only club in the state of Florida and one of a few in the country that has a specific coach that is the director coaching for recreational players,” Turpel said. “As we all know, everyone starts as a recreational player. As they get to be 8, 9, 10 years old, some of them specialize and they go to the select travel program. Up until that point, they are recreational players.
“Carrie came on board, and she works in several areas,” Turpel added. “We have a soccer after-school program which was kind of the emphasis when we started. The purpose of that was especially for our younger age groups our development program (5 and 6s), and they only practice once a week. They have an activity that they do at the beginning and then they play a game. That has grown from not only 5s and 6s. but now we have 15-year-olds.”
Another task for Barker is overseeing the coaching education. They have a mandatory coaching clinic once a year that lasts between two and three hours. It is held in cooperation with FYSA. Turpel said as in most programs in the country, the SABR coaches are volunteers.
“We try and support them the best we can, and Carrie’s job is education to support them,” Turpel said. “It is not only the one clinic, but she has also set up a library of coaching sessions that they have access to. We also have Carrie and other licensed coaches work with coaches during the year. We try and do that primarily with our youngest coaches starting at U7s because many of them have not coached at all.”
The coaches in the 5s and 6s are trained (not parents) and paid. When Turpel first started many of the parent coaches had never played. Now they are seeing an influx of parents who played along with second and third-generation players.
“What we are seeing now are children of children we coached in the 1980s and that is very rewarding,” he said. “We do a couple of camps during the summer to keep things rolling. Carrie has made herself available to any coach during the season or teams that may have problems.
“The biggest thing when we talk to them each year is, ‘the coach of the year’ is the one who has the most players coming back, not the one who wins the most games or wins the Tom Cup. SABR Youth Rec is a balanced league, and we try and spread the players out. In one division last year, we had the two bottom teams in the standings playing for the championship.”
Barker anticipates there will be close to 60 trainers that will be available for the 5s and 6s in this year’s youth development program. There was a coaching education clinic for them on Oct. 26. The trainers were shown how to organize their sessions, including the structure of what the session should look like.
“On November 2nd, there is an orientation for the parents,” Barker explained. “The following weekend after that we start games. It will run between 10 and 11 weeks. The sessions run an hour, and the first part is an activity and then they will play against a different opponent.
“The grassroots players (ages 7 through 19) had their first training last week,” she said. “They have a jamboree this weekend and start games the weekend after. There is a Tom Cup (Tom Cherubin Cup Program) in February for players 9 and up. The kids are out here to have fun, and we want them to play and use whatever education we can give them.”
With two veterans leading the development of the players, it is no wonder SABR players have moved on to play college soccer and professionally. Several players this season have had exposure to regional and national teams, in addition to committing to colleges.
“We still have senior members on our board, and we have new blood come in every year,” Turpel said. “All board members are volunteers. We have a wonderful group of people on our board who care and want to make it a great experience, and I think that is why SABR is one of the top clubs in the country.
“We are one club,” Turpel continued. “The mission we do is to have the players play at the highest level they can play. The SABR people are very supportive of Team Boca. We are not two separate clubs. They are just as excited that our kids have gone on to college or play professional soccer.”
Turpel said no youth player is born a travel player. He said it takes hard work and dedication, coupled with the proper education and teaching tools.
“There is no 5-year-old who grows up and plays travel soccer,” he said. “They start as a SABR recreational player and then we open all of the avenues. We want them to love the game. Not everyone is going to grow up and become a professional soccer player, but we want them to love the game. I am happy and proud to be a part of this organization because I think we do things for the right reason which is the players.”
“The beautiful thing about it is we use the US Youth Soccer methodology where you train them in stages,” said Barker, who has Santiago Agostinelli, as the SABR U5 &U6 Coordinator. “One of my favorite things that I have seen with this club is when I come on game day, you can see the different phases of youth development right there at Spanish River (Athletic Complex). Not many clubs can show that picture where you walk in and you have the 5s and 6s, then the 7s and 8s, and the 9s through 12. You then have the 13s and up working in a different field, which is pretty incredible.”
