Your club, written down.
A practical starting point for a grassroots football (soccer) club: who leads coaching, where your coaches get their sessions, how you know it's landing, and what the club stands for. Start where you are, take the quick actions, and you'll be in the right place for Nexus.
- 3 starting points
- 13 quick actions
- 30 days to get going
- 1 PDF to keep
- TTechnicalWhat every team works on
- AAdministrationWho does what, and when you check
- CCultureHow the club treats its coaches
- PPhilosophyWhat the club stands for
People, then systems, then identity
Most clubs try to write a philosophy before they've worked out who sends the season plan. This page is the middle step. Look after your coaches, put a few simple systems around them, and the bigger questions get much easier to answer.
Volunteer coach guide
Your peopleSix steps across one season, so volunteer coaches know what's expected and get real support.
Read the guide → Step 2 · You are hereClub operating model
Your systemsPick your start point, get coaches onto a learning platform, then work through 13 quick actions.
Start building ↓ Step 3Nexus
Your identityPhilosophy, game model and methodology, built with TCM's coaching team over 12 months.
See Nexus →Where is your club now?
Pick the one that sounds most like you. Be honest: most clubs are the first one, and that's a perfectly good place to start. You get the three things to do in the next 30 days.
No platform, no Nexus
A game model is a few pages of principles. It only becomes coaching when every coach, every week, can open a session that matches it, see what good looks like, and run it. That's the job of a learning platform.
Without one, a club's philosophy stays a document. Coaches can't follow a curriculum they can't see, and nobody can tell whether it's reaching Tuesday's session. That's why we won't start Nexus with a club until its coaches are on one.
It doesn't have to be TCM. If your coaches already use a platform that does the five things listed here, keep it and start building the habit now.
To be straight with you: Nexus itself runs on TCM, because that's where we build each club's curriculum and read its usage data. So a club on another platform would move across when it joins Nexus.
- Sessions for every age group, with videoVolunteers learn by seeing it done, not reading about it.
- A season plan or curriculum the club can setSo every team works on the same things in the same weeks.
- Every coach has their own loginNot a shared password or a PDF in a WhatsApp group.
- The club can see who's using itUsage data is how you find the coaches who need a hand.
- Works on a phone at the pitchThat's where coaches actually need it.
If you can tick all five, you're in the right place for Nexus. If you can't, this is the first thing to fix.
Thirteen honest answers
For each question, pick where your club really is, not where you'd like it to be. Every question has a quick action that takes under an hour. Answers are saved in this browser so you can come back to them. We only see them if you download your PDF.
One page, yours to keep
This fills in as you answer. Download it as a PDF for your next committee meeting, and bring it with you if you apply for Nexus.
Your club
Your answers are saved in this browser. When you download the PDF, we receive your club details and results so we can help with the next step.
Do we need The Coaching Manual to do this?
Not for this page. Most of the quick actions need nothing but a committee and an honest evening. You do need a learning platform of some kind, and it doesn't have to be ours. Nexus itself runs on TCM, so a club joining Nexus would move across then.
Why does a learning platform matter so much?
Because a game model only counts if it shows up in sessions. Volunteer coaches need sessions that match it, with video, on their phone, every week, and the club needs to see who's using them. Without that, there's nothing for Nexus to build on.
Where do our answers go?
They're saved in the browser you used, so you can come back and finish later. When you download your PDF, we receive your club name, contact details and results, so someone from TCM can help with the next step. We don't use them for anything else, and coaching emails are only sent if you tick the box.
Who should fill it in?
Whoever leads coaching, together with the chair or secretary. Doing it together is the point: the gaps are usually between people, not inside one person's head.
What does a low score mean?
That you've found where to start, which is the whole idea. Every "not yet" comes with a quick action you can do this month. Start with the learning platform question, then the rest.
How does this feed into Nexus?
Nexus starts with a TEACUP audit of the same four areas: technical, administration, culture and philosophy. A club that arrives with this page spends the audit building on it rather than discovering it. Nexus is open to TCM club customers.
Want help with the gaps?
A club account covers the technical answers from week one: a season plan for every team, full sessions with video, and reports that tell you who's using it.