Rahim Mohamed loves everything to do with soccer and juggles multiple jobs all related to his passion. He is the Technical Director of Byron Soccer Club, Manager of Coach Education at APEX International Football Consultancy, Creator and Editor of Coaching the Global Game Magazine, and is also part of the North American Academy Soccer Coach. His main priority is the Byron Soccer Club where he is responsible for all soccer related aspects of the club. Rahim coordinates how the club is run and the current infrastructure for development in Canada. We interviewed Rahim to find out more about his role in the soccer coaching industry and how he manages multiple responsibilities.
The Best Part of Being a Soccer Coach
I love the sport. It’s something that I’ve grown up with. The jobs are an extension of my passion. One of them being the opportunity to work with players on a regular basis and watch them grow over the years. Another one being able to provide information to coaches around the world in the form of a magazine. I’m definitely a technology lover. Having the opportunity to work for the world’s # 1 session planning software for coaches is huge. It allows me to be at the forefront of that as well. Not only do I like working with kids, but I think it’s important to do as much as possible for those who educate the kids.
Most Memorable Moments
I have two moment memorable moments. The first one being when we took a group of 12 year old boys to the Gothia Cup where they did exceptionally well. The tournament had 1600 teams representing approximately 72 countries. The whole build up to it from the training, fundraising, and planning all made it worth while to be able to participate.
Another memorable moment was last year when I was the recipient of an award. I was nominated as one of the Top 30 Coahces Under 30 in the US. There were 15 male and 15 female candidates that were announced. That was definitely one of my favourite moments! It was representative of the work, time, energy, and passion that I’ve put into my coaching.
Managing Coaches and Parents of the Players
It’s incredibly important to understand where people are coming from. A lot of the time issues arise from miscommunication. I think a lot of people don’t take the time to understand where the other person is coming from. You have to listen to what they have to say and understand their point of view. You also need to remain calm and objective while maintaining a dialogue. The respect that you give them will be returned to you. That keeps the conversation at an even level rather than letting temperatures rise and letting emotions get in the way. I found that with coaches and parents of players it is important that they feel respected and understood.
Prioritizing
The club comes first as it is my main priority. When you’re working with a club that has 1400 members, you have to prioritize the players’ development. Whether that’s putting together coaching educational workshops, building curriculum to give to the coaches, or finding unique initiatives to give the players a holistic development process.
How Daylite Helps
Daylite runs my life. Daylite has helped me with my productivity and efficiency. It allows me to always have access to the information I need no matter where I am. The ability to sync over my iPhone, iPad, and my Mac is huge because I don’t have to continually update each device. Nor do I have to re-write anything. If I take notes on my iPad in a meeting it will sync with my iPhone and my Mac, which is a huge advantage.
Favourite Daylite Features
The Daylite calendar is probably the tool I use the most. The second is tasks. I’m definitely a list maker so I like seeing all my tasks and when they’re due. I like the ability to create something in the calendar and set tasks that link to it. If I’m going to be creating a curriculum or have a season plan due during the week, I can set a reminder everyday so at the end of the week I’ll have everything complete.
My third favourite feature is the contacts. I’ve gotten into the habit of going into Daylite on my phone and then selecting a contact so that it is linked as an appointment or task. I like adding my calls as an appointment so when I open the contact, I can see my entire history. It’s a force of habit to call through your native contact app that comes on iOS, but now with Daylite I have a good guide with all the different interactions I have with people I need to speak to.
Other really useful features are the opportunities and projects. I always have projects on the go. I like having an overview of all projects that I’m working on. It helps me with my planning everyday. I look at all my projects prior to making my to-do lists. I’m still a paper and pen person. I always write all my lists down after seeing projects and opportunities and then add them in Daylite. For people hesitant to get away from pen and paper, they still have the opportunity to do that and structure them the way they want. You can brainstorm what you have to do that day and go back in and set when each task is due. You can then link the tasks to the project and opportunity, so they are never disconnected. They’re not different parts. Your contacts are connected to tasks, which are connected to projects, and are in your calendar. Those sorts of things for me make the process seamless and in some ways bullet-proof because you never forget anything.
Before Daylite
I was using iCal and Contacts and at that point I don’t think Apple had a reminders app. At times I’ve had to use PC software for work and I’ve always felt that I was missing out not being able to use Daylite because of the functionality. Other programs on PC or on Mac have not lived up to the same functionality I’ve experienced through Daylite. At the beginning I was simply using Daylite for contacts, the calendar, and tasks. It’s nice to have everything in one place. Initially it can seem scary to link everything. It’s so robust that it can be overwhelming, but when you start to use it you get a lot more familiar and it changes the way you do things. I certainly encourage people to explore the program. Since Daylite, I have become a lot more efficient and a lot more effective in terms of the work I’ve been able to put out.
How Daylite Helps Grow My Business
Being in the soccer coaching industry means being in the customer service industry. If you’re unable to provide for your customer, they will go elsewhere. For a long time soccer hasn’t been the most professionally run sport based on how it has grown in the country. Now with clubs running year round programs with multiple teams and thousands of kids, there’s a different level of professionalism expected. Daylite has allowed me to stay in front of that trend. As other people were becoming more professional, I already had Daylite to help me stay organized. It’s a matter of investing my time in Daylite to now keep me on track and ahead of the game.
