Above: TMI head soccer coach Oscar Muñoz, left, receives congratulations from U.S. Soccer Federation Coach Jorge Cruz on earning his “A” license, which recognizes coaches who have achieved the Federation’s highest standards.

Oscar Muñoz, head soccer coach at TMI – The Episcopal School of Texas, has earned his National “A” License from the U.S. Soccer Federation. He qualified by attending the organization’s nine-day course earlier this summer at the Darlington School in Rome, Ga.

The “A” license is the highest awarded by the Federation, soccer’s national governing body, and recognizes an advanced grasp of the technical, tactical, psychological and physical demands of the game as well as problem-solving and analytical abilities.

Coaches who earn the “A” license must write a paper prior to taking a course made up of 30 classroom hours and 40 field-session hours , after which they must pass written examinations. One of the prerequisites is a “B” license, which Muñoz earned in 2009.

“I have been blessed to have been surrounded with good coaches, friends and family who have helped me,” says Muñoz, a former player on the Colombian National Team and in the Colombian Professional Soccer League. “As coaches, we need to be working wholeheartedly at bettering ourselves so we can help our players do the same.”