FRISCO, Texas (Jan. 25, 2016) — The NSCAA presented the 2015 Charlotte Moran Long-Term Service Award to Jacob Daniel, who has been a longtime member of US Youth Soccer while working as the director of coaching for Georgia Soccer and serving as the US Youth Soccer ODP Boys Region III technical director.

The Charlotte Moran Award recognizes long-term service to youth soccer and is presented annually to a person who has raised youth soccer to new heights through his or her long-term dedication to the game. Moran was the executive director of Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer and posthumously inducted into the US Youth Soccer Hall of Fame in 2013.

Daniel said receiving the award was one of the most special moments in his life, and he showed humbleness by quickly thanking his fellow coaches who helped him get the honor.

“Ultimately, I think about thousands of coaches out there who work just as hard and have an impact. Sometimes it’s just a question of some of your peers promoting you because they think you deserve it,” Daniel said. “So I am very appreciative of my peers who did that, but ultimately the most satisfaction I get is from actually doing my job.”

Born in Israel, Daniel moved to Canada when he was 13. While there, he attended high school and college and got into coaching part-time when his days of playing soccer came to a close. His desire to become a full-time coach led him to Georgia Soccer, where he has been the director of coaching for 23 years — making him the longest serving US Youth Soccer State Association DOC in the country.

Daniel said the ability to have an impact with coaches and the youth players they teach is what continues to drive him as a coaching director. In his first 10 years at Georgia Soccer, the state saw coaching course enrollment increase from 250 in 1992 to 2,500 in 2001.

“It’s always fulfilling to hold coaching courses for adults who are committed to coaching education and committed to the players,” Daniel said. “They want to make a difference in their players’ lives, so as a coaching instructor there’s a lot of satisfaction working with such people.”

As an US Youth Soccer ODP coach, Daniel has helped increase the number of Georgia players selected to regional and national pools. At the regional level, he also instituted region-wide playing styles and training curriculum for the US Youth Soccer ODP Region III teams — a practice that has since been adopted by each of the four US Youth Soccer Regions.

Daniel also authored the US Youth Soccer ODP Coaching Manual and the US Youth Soccer ODP Player Manual.

He said when working with players, one of his primary goals is to get players to change their view of soccer from a physical game to a cerebral and technical contest. Meanwhile, he wants his coaches to make sure they’re developing the players for challenges they’ll face both on and off the field.

“The main thing is to try and make coaches understand the balance between development and winning,” Daniel said. “Just developing people and trying to maintain a balance between teaching them soccer and teaching them life lessons.”