Former Philadelphia Union player Fred recently attended a U.S. Soccer National E License Course in Wayne, Pennsylvania. The course is geared toward teaching 9-12 year-old players and is the second step in the ladder that eventually leads to the U.S. Soccer A License. As a former professional player he could have skipped the National F and National E license courses, moving straight into the National C course, but he opted to work his way up from the bottom and earn the licenses by taking each individual course.
Fred's decision to work his way up from the F License shows a great deal of self-awareness from the Brazilian; he realizes that his playing experience does not necessarily make him a great coach and any additional education that he can receive from experienced coaches can only improve his chances of success in the future. It seems like he is eager to learn as much as he can about coaching and is taking it seriously.
MLS has seen many of it's former players go on to become head coaches in the league, with the Union's very own Jim Curtin is being one of them. After seeing Fred's interest in coaching it should be interesting to keep an eye on him and see if he wants to pursue a management career at some point down the road.