The conversation about GPS data in soccer has shifted. It’s no longer a question of whether data belongs in the game. It’s a question of how coaches at every level can use it to make better decisions for their athletes.
United Soccer Coaches is hosting a live webinar that brings together four coaches from across the soccer landscape who use PlayerData in their programs to answer that question honestly. From a girls club program in Indiana to the University of Southern California to the Chicago Fire to the United States Soccer Federation, the panelists represent every level of the game, and every level of the data conversation.
This is not a product demo. It’s a coaching conversation.
The Panelists
- Patrick Mannix is the Senior Manager of Performance Science at US Soccer, where he works across the federation's national team programs. He brings the highest level perspective on what elite performance infrastructure looks like and what it takes to build it.
- Darcy Norman is the Director of Performance at the Chicago Fire, one of Major League Soccer's founding clubs. He operates at the intersection of data, coaching, and player management in a professional environment where the margin for error is as small as it gets.
- Ahmad Brown is an Assistant Women's Coach at the University of Southern California, one of the premier programs in college soccer. He works at the level where recruiting decisions are made and where the physical demands on incoming players are increasingly defined by data.
- Kenrick Ramirez is the Girls Director of Coaching at Indy Premier United, a dominant club program in Indiana. He represents the grassroots reality that many coaches watching this webinar actually live in, and he is proof that data-informed coaching is not reserved for professional environments.
What the Conversation Will Cover
The webinar is structured around four segments designed to be genuinely useful.
- The first segment is human. Each panelist will share how they came into their role, what success looks like for them day to day, and what drives them.
- In the second segment, each panelist will walk through how they actually use GPS data in their specific environment: what metrics matter, how they communicate findings to players and staff, and what decisions look different because of it. You will witness firsthand the similarities and differences across club, college, professional, and national team environments.
- In the third segment, panellists will be open about what does not work. What coaches get wrong when they first start using data. What they wish they had known earlier. This will be especially valuable information if you’re either skeptical or just getting started with GPS.
- The fourth segment looks ahead. Where is the game heading in the next five to ten years? What needs to happen for smaller programs and developing federations to access the same standards as elite clubs? What does modern coaching look like at every level of soccer in a decade?
The webinar closes with an audience Q&A and a final question to each panelist: what is the one thing you want every soccer coach watching to walk away knowing?
Why This Conversation Matters Now
The transfer portal, international pipelines, NIL, and dense schedules have made the demands on soccer coaches greater than they have ever been. The programs navigating this era best are the ones making decisions based on something more reliable than instinct and observation alone.
GPS data does not replace coaching judgment. It sharpens it. It tells you what you would have guessed at before, load, readiness, physical benchmarks, recovery, and it does so objectively, and consistently. The coaches on this panel have built that into how they work every day, and they all use PlayerData. This webinar is their chance to show you exactly how they do it.