FC Dallas Toyota Stadium

Many of the benefits of being an official affiliate of an MLS club are afforded to the players in hopes that the pathways are clear and evident for their growth and development. However, those benefits aren't solely exclusive to players. Coaches within our FCD-ETX club are afforded unique and exclusive benefits as well. Growing and developing our coaching staff is also a priority and two weeks ago a small cohort of FCD-ETX coaches were able to experience those benefits first hand.

On March 27th-28th, a dozen coaches from FCD-ETX and FCD-ETX Northwest Louisiana spent time observing, collaborating, and learning with and from the FC Dallas Academy staff and first team staff. The aim of this annual coaching education visit is to directly align our coaching staff with the main club staff and their best practices, methodologies, and programming regarding player development. This “vertical alignment” has served our club, players, and coaches immensely in giving all those involved direct pathways for development.

During those two days our coaching cohort watched our Development Academy teams in training, our FCD professional team train, our 2nd division USL team train, and a series of lectures regarding curriculum and programming. Our coaches were able to gain some invaluable information and get a “behind the scenes” look at one of the nation's leading academies, not to mention see some of the nations top talent and facilities.

This unique opportunity is a direct result of the affiliation we here at FCD-ETX have with FC Dallas in Frisco. No other club, in our area, is afforded these chances and we are very grateful to be a part of such an amazing organization that puts development above all else. We are truly a club of development and that means our coaches too.