To coach in PA West or for SVSC (or to volunteer in another capacity if you expect to have regular contact with children other than your own), you are required by state law to have certain clearances if you are age 18 or older.  To review PA West's clearance policy, click on the link below ("PA West Clearance Policy").  To review PA West's Risk Management Page, click on the link below ("PA West Risk Management Page").

You need the following:

a)  A PA State Police clearance (click on "State Police Clearance" link below to access clearance site).  That clearance is free for volunteers and is good for five years.       

b)  A PA Child Abuse clearance (click on "Child Abuse Clearance" link below to access clearance site).  That clearance is free for volunteers and is good for five years.

c)  If you have lived in Pennsylvania for the last 10 years, you must complete (and have notarized) a residency affidavit (click on the "Residency Affidavit" link below to access the affidavit).  SVSC has a notary who can notarize the affidavit for free.  Please contact Mike Pavlick regarding the Club notary ([email protected] or [email protected]).    

d)  If you have not lived in Pennsylvania for the last 10 years, you need an FBI clearance (click on the "FBI Clearance" link below to access clearance site).  That clearance costs approximately $26 and is good for five years.

Once you have obtained the required clearances/affidavits, you need to register with PA West and upload the clearances to the registration site.  Click on the "PA West Risk Management Portal" link below to register.  Click on the "Instructions for Registering as a Volunteer with PA West" link below for instructions on how to register.  Click on the "Tips for Uploading Clearance Documents" link below for tips on how to  upload the clearances.

NOTE: USSF is in the process of changing its coaching license pathways.  The F license and the E license have been eliminated and are being replaced by USSF's new "Grassroots" coaching curriculum.  In general, the new progression will be a Grassroots online module followed by three half-day courses: an 11v11 in-person course, another in-person course (either 4v4, 7v7 or 9v9, depending on the coach's interest), and an online course (again, either 4v4, 7v7 or 9v9).  Accordingly, the information below is obsolete, and will be updated once the USSF's new requirements are clarified by PA West.  In particular, it is not clear what the minimum licensing requirements will be for inhouse and travel coaches. although at least for the foreseeable future, coaches with F licenses or Youth Modules will continue to meet PA West's minimum license requirements, and coaches with E licenses are still eligible to advance to the D license course. 

Finally, if you do not already have one, you need a coaching license if you are a head coach for inhouse or a head or assistant coach for travel.  The entry level license is the F license, which costs $25.  It is entirely online.  The course takes 1-2 hours to complete and you can stop and start.  Click on the "USSF F License" link below for the F license.  The F license is the prerequisite for other coaching USSF coaching license (e.g., E, State D, National D, National Y, National C, National B, National A and National Pro), but you only need the F to coach at this level.  The F license does not expire.