The Kentucky Youth Soccer Association recently announced Derek Willis will assume the newly created position of Director of Player Development, a move that aims to help KYSA offer more support to its players, coaches and clubs.
Willis has served part-time with KYSA working with the Olympic Development Program (ODP) for 12 years, and was most recently the head coach of the Georgetown College men’s soccer program over the last 10 years.
The move of Willis to a full-time position was discussed last summer as a possible solution to the workload taken on by KYSA’s Technical Director, Adrian Parrish, and was seen as a way to allow Willis to focus on player development and Parrish to focus on coaching education and club development.
“It was becoming too much for Adrian to manage as he could not put enough time on either side.” Willis said. “I agreed to step up my role from staff coach to overseeing all but the two oldest age groups. After several months of doing the role part time, I agreed to step into a full-time role with KYSA.”
Willis will continue to oversee ODP and will take on oversight of the Kentucky Premier League, KYSA’s top club team division. Willis’ responsibilities also include scouting players, helping with player camps and helping with coaching education.
“Derek brings knowledge of player development at all spectrums of the game. From the recreational player through the college players, he’s been involved in the game in Kentucky for over 30 years,” said KYSA Executive Director Kris Zander.
U.S. Youth Soccer is the largest youth sports organization in America and with the continuous growth of soccer in Kentucky, KYSA is seeing a need for it to respond.
“We feel like the move will allow us the opportunity to give our membership more support on the education and player development platforms,” Zander said.
And Willis has some new ideas and goals for player development he intends to explore in his new role.
“I want to get ODP to a more scout-based system so we can identify players in their natural environment in their natural positions,” Willis said. “Overall, I want to help make soccer the preeminent sport in Kentucky.”
