This week, in the midst of helping to prepare the U.S. Under-18 National Team for Saturday’s showdown against Canada in the North American Championship, National Team assistant coach Lamont Robinson received a bit of good news from back home in South Jersey.

The defensive coordinator at Millville (N.J.) was offered and accepted the head coaching job at Washington Township (Sewell, N.J.).

It’s the first head coaching position for Robinson, a native of Salem, N.J. who played college football at Oklahoma under Bob Stoops.

According to Robinson, his experience with the U.S. National Team program has been a big factor in his development as a coach and helped him land his new role—starting with his résumé.

“Being able to say that you’ve been a part of USA Football, being able to highlight and emphasize those opportunities, and what the program is…what it does…has helped me out tremendously,” he said. “It’s come up in every interview I’ve ever been in.”

But it’s the knowledge that Robinson has gained from being around other top-notch coaches that has really prepared him to take this next step in his coaching career.

Robinson has spent the week in Orlando, Fla. soaking up nuggets of coaching wisdom and strategy from his fellow coaches on the Under-18 National Team staff, featuring the likes of head coach Matt Hennesy and fellow assistant coaches Brandon Younger and Bill Williams, among others.

In particular, Robinson plans to implement a strategy that Hennesy has employed this week: giving each assistant coach an opportunity to speak to the team at the start of a practice.

“One of the things that we did this week here, which was huge, was having a moment for the different coaches to address the team, to give them a message on something,” he said. “To allow it not to be just one voice all the time, to make sure the kids are feeling different energies and different passions.”

Robinson also appreciates the level of coordination and communication he’s experienced with the program, and plans to draw from his National Team experience as he begins to construct the vision for his new high school team.

“The organization. The structure. The efficiency. Just how well things are run when I come to USA Football events,” he said. “It’s all been a big time learning experience for me and I think it’s put me ahead of that learning curve.”