Meet Coach Zen Ward

"You can go fast alone, but you can go far together."

Meet Coach Zen Ward, a thoughtful youth coach who focuses on team unity and encourages players to keep striving beyond their comfort zone.

Hometown: 

New York, NY

Coaching Credentials:

US Youth Futsal Level 2 coaching certificate


FAVORITE SOCCER PLAYER OF ALL TIME: 

Marcelo 

FAVORITE TEAM: 

Real Madrid


FAVORITE MOVE/DRIBBLE: 

The Roulette and Elastico ⤵️

FAVORITE FOOD: 

Seafood 

FAVORITE MUSIC for playing soccer: 

Afrobeat and Reggaeton 


When and how did you start to play soccer and/or futsal? 

My parents signed me up to play youth soccer at age 4. I remember picking the sport up very naturally, and the joy of dribbling around other kids.  As I got older, I learned new skills from watching my favorite players. 

Why did you decide to become a coach?

I’ve always loved soccer, and I realized I’d learn a lot more about it by coaching. Coaches are forced to consider the 'why' behind every drill, instruction and decision. I hope to create a cycle of improving players, and at the same time, learning from them. 

What do you like most about coaching children? 

The challenge of taking a group of kids who don’t know each other and helping them come together into a real team. Finding the right role for every player and helping them grow is a highly rewarding experience.

What is the #1 thing you strive to teach your students?

I want to teach them two things I struggled with as a young player: 

  1. Noticing where you fall short in some aspect, and having the courage to step out of your comfort zone to improve. 

  2. Maintaining that precious, initial joy and love for soccer that can sometimes get lost along the way.  

What is the #1 thing parents can do to help their kids learn soccer and futsal? 

Making sure kids have the time and touches to develop their game. 

Also, fostering an environment where a child can reflect on their game and how to improve, as opposed to simply being told what they did correctly or incorrectly. 

Dani Carvajal, Real Madrid


Who inspires you? 

Dani Carvajal. While Marcelo was my favorite Madrid fullback with his dazzling skills and technical genius, his teammate Carvajal is the other side of the coin. He has an intense work rate, outstanding defensive IQ and he manages to be one of the toughest, most physically dominant players on the field while also being one of the smallest.

If I were in charge of FIFA I would…

  1. Permanently ensure human and labor rights in everything FIFA does, from tournament hosts to sponsors. 

  2. Considerably lower the number of matches teams play, to create a better, healthier, (although certainly less financially lucrative) sport. 

  3. Controversially, I would fix the offside rule. With the adoption of VAR and SAOT we now have millimeter offside accuracy, and frustratingly, attackers are being penalized for advantages that aren't actually there (goals being disallowed for a player having a slightly larger shoe size or a leaning shoulder.) A diligent rework of the rule could better preserve the spirit of the game. 

COACH ZEN’s WORDS OF WISDOM ABOUT TEAMWORK:

"You can go fast alone, but you can go far together." 

And: “Be the teammate you’d want to play next to when you’re having a bad game." 

Photo credits: Dani Carvajal photo, Werner100359, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Franziska Renata