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Becoming a coach

Who this is for: parents who'd like to coach, and the team admins who review those requests Applies to: all platforms (Android, iOS, web)

What this page covers

If you're a parent on a team and want to start coaching, you send a coach request from your profile; a team admin reviews it and approves or declines it. This page covers how to send a request, what admins check before approving, what each NICA license level means inside the app, and what happens after a decision.

Before you start

  • To send a request you must be a parent on the team. You can't send one if you're already an active coach on that team, and you can only have one pending request per team at a time.
  • To review requests you must be a team admin (or owner).
  • Have your NICA coach license details handy: your license level and its expiration date. What you enter is self-reported — an admin verifies it before approving. (See the glossary for what the license levels are.)

Sending a request (parents)

  1. Open your Profile and choose Edit profile.
  2. Find the coach request area — it appears for parents on a team.
  3. Choose your NICA license level (None, Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3) and enter its expiration date.
  4. Optionally add a short note for the admins (up to 500 characters) and the group you'd like to coach.
  5. Choose Request to coach.

The coach request area in Edit Profile The coach request area in Edit Profile: license level, expiration, an optional note, and the group you'd like to coach.

What you should see: your request is pending. The team's admins are notified, and your profile shows the request's status — the pending chip with its Withdraw action. While it's pending you can withdraw it from the same place.

A pending coach request on the profile A pending request: the Request pending review chip with the Withdraw action.

Reviewing a request (team admins)

  1. Open the review queue — the same screen that handles group change requests and incident reports — and open the Coach petitions tab. A badge counts what's waiting and updates live.
  2. Open a request. You'll see who's asking, the license level and expiration they entered, their note, and the group they asked for (if any).
  3. Check the license yourself. Confirm the level and expiration against the coach's record on the league's licensing site (Pit Zone). The app never verifies licenses automatically — approving is your confirmation that you checked.
  4. To approve: choose the group to assign them to. Their requested group is preselected, the list shows how many coaches each group already has, and choosing a different group than they asked for shows a note. Confirm.
  5. To decline: a written reason is required (up to 500 characters). Only the requester is told.

Deciding a coach request: the requested group preselected, with coach counts Deciding a request: the requested group preselected, each group's coach count shown, and the Approve/Deny actions.

What you should see: an approved parent appears as a coach on the roster and in the chosen group's coach list. The new coach and that group's coaches are notified; a declined parent is notified with your reason.

What the license levels mean in Groupset

  • Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 are the league's coach certifications — higher levels mean more completed training. None means no current license.
  • Inside the app, license level matters for one thing today: viewing an athlete's medical information needs Level 2 or higher (see Medical and consents). Every assigned coach can use the coaching tools and the performance dashboard at any level.

After the decision

  • Approved: you're a coach. Your license level shows on your coach profile and only a team admin can change it — if your level or expiration date is wrong, ask your team admin to correct it on your record.
  • Declined or withdrawn: you can send a new request any time; each new request starts fresh. A declined request shows the decision and the admin's reason on your profile.
  • The app doesn't set a deadline for reviews. If your request has been pending a while, ask your team admin directly.

A declined coach request showing the admin's reason A declined request: the profile shows the decision and the admin's reason.

Notes and limits

  • One pending request per team at a time; a new request can only be sent after the current one is approved, declined, or withdrawn.
  • The optional note on a request and the reason on a decline are each limited to 500 characters.
  • Approval is always a human check by a team admin or owner — the app never promotes anyone automatically, and coaches can't promote anyone.
  • Team admins are notified as soon as a request arrives.