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From the Pitch - "You Probably Think I'm Crazy"

By RYAN ROUSHANDEL, San Antonio FC, 10/03/18, 5:15PM EDT

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But I love what I do and I wouldn't change a thing

Coaching was always in my future…

Before I explain why and how coaching has become a career path for me, I need to start from the beginning.  

Ever since I could walk, soccer has been life.

My father introduced the game to me as it is his passion and I wanted it to be mine just like it was his. I started playing select soccer at eight years old and immediately fell in love with the game and all that it had to offer. My youth career holds some of the greatest memories and experiences of my soccer career as player, but little did I know it was also the beginning of something more.

You see, my father wasn’t just my father, he also coached my youth team all the way through U-19, along with Alec Papadakis as his assistant (a name you may recognize within our league). As one would guess, soccer was always the main topic of conversation in the household. My father always trying to teach me the game and emphasized not just relying on talent, but also using my brain on the field.

At a young age, he taught me to see the game two or three plays ahead, and through that I was able to help my teammates. At age 14, my father started his own club back home in Alpharetta, Georgia, and that’s when coaching became more of my reality.  

It was a smaller club with no more than 10 to 12 select teams, but we also had to have a rec program per rules of the state association. Our rec program was only going to be young kids who were five or six years old, and my father decided this would be a good opportunity for me to start working with kids and teaching them the game. On top of that, he had two other select teams younger than me in which he made me his assistant, and I would often help him at practices and even covering games from time to time if they overlapped.

From that moment on, I wasn’t just a soccer player anymore, I was well on my way to becoming a coach.

My playing career continued through college and then into the crazy life of being a pro with the ebbs and flows of fighting for a contract, but coaching was always present. I got to the point where I was even taking coaching opportunities over playing ones because those opportunities seemed more appealing to me, but as many of us know, this game can always surprise you with the unexpected, and just when I thought my playing career was over, it was almost like it began all over again.

When I thought my playing career was over, I took a position as an assistant at Oglethorpe University, a DIII school close to my hometown. I spent time playing in adult leagues with my friends at the park that belonged to the pro club Atlanta Silverbacks. Eric Wynalda was their head coach at the time and happened to be at the park one day, and after seeing me play he asked me to come to preseason with the team.  

Long story short, he decided to sign me and allowed me to keep coaching at the university and at the youth club, where I oversaw three teams. Sure enough, I was a pro once again, but was also able to coach at the same time. This would be my life for the next fours years before I made another big move.

When I first joined SAFC, Head Coach Darren Powell had called me a few weeks into their preseason. The club needed depth at a couple of positions and wanted to take a look at me.

Luckily for me, Coach decided to bring me on primarily as a veteran player to help at practice and provide depth on the roster. As I spent more time with all the coaches and the club, our bond really began to grow. I explained to Coach how I had been coaching, and mentioned it was something I would like to pursue when my playing career ended and that I would be interested in helping in a coaching capacity in any way the club needed.

That summer, SAFC decided to pursue their goal of having a Pro Academy and named Nick Evans, who is our first team assistant coach, as the SAFC Pro Academy Director.

The academy was going to start with a U12 team consisting of about 26 players so that the club could start from the beginning along with all its players. Coach Powell, Coach Evans, and Tim Holt approached me about being a coach in the academy and what their plans were for the future. It was an easy decision for me of course, and once again I was both a pro player and coaching at the same time. This time, however, it was for the same club!

Fast forward almost three years and now we’ve added three more teams, and along with our Elite Training Program, over 150 boys form part of the SAFC Pro Academy.

From day one, each kid is taught our core values as a club and they have all bought into them.  They are all very proud to be a part of this club and it shows every day in their hard work and determination. It’s hard to say what my favorite part about working with them is, but I think any coach would tell you that when you see them have success after all their hard work, and seeing the smiles that follow, is a pretty special feeling.  When people hear that I am both a player and coach at the club they think I’m crazy, but it’s helped in my development as a coach and a player.

As a player, no matter what age or level, soccer is the same.  What a player encounters on the field is the same whether it’s a 12-year-old boy or a 32-year-old pro playing. Because of that, as a player I’m able to use what we teach the kids in my own game and as a veteran on the squad with my teammates. The same goes when I’m coaching. Because I experience what they do on the field daily, I’m able to use my experiences on the field to teach them how to succeed in certain scenarios they may encounter on the field.

This is just the beginning for SAFC. Our core values are instilled in everybody who has the honor of representing this club and San Antonio. From the 12-year-old boy to the 32-year-old veteran, and everyone in between, this is what we live by at SAFC.

The fact that I’ve been given this opportunity to learn from coaches like Darren Powell, Nick Evans and the rest of the staff is truly a blessing. They’ve taken me under their wing and challenge me every day to think about football and how to teach the beautiful game to our future SAFC pros.

Am I crazy to wake up at 6 a.m. every day, train with the first team, have academy meetings during the day, coach the academy practices at night, get home just in time to eat dinner, go to bed and do it again the next day?

The answer to most would probably be yes, but I wouldn’t have it any other way, and for me it’s only the beginning!


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