Hi!  I'm Coach Vicky!

I love soccer and have passionately played competetively for over 25 years with teams from Florida and North Carolina. My youth club teams included Sunrise Soccer, K-Land, and FC Miami. As a competitive runner and soccer player, Cross Country, Soccer, and Track & Field were my yearly routine at Piper High and Miami Sunset Sr. High where I graduated in 1989. While studying at Brevard College in North Carolina, I represented the school in Cross Country, Track & Field and Soccer. In the 1990 soccer season, I helped my team get ranked  2nd in the nation in the NJCAA and compete at Nationals in Princeton, New Jersey.  After graduating, I played 1 season for the University of West Florida and left to travel and study.  After continuing my studies in Puerto Rico at The University of Sagrado Corazon and at Florida International University(FIU), I received my Bachelors in Physical Education, emphasis in Sports Management, from FIU. Since then, I have played in any pick-up game I could find and later joined the Broward Women's Soccer League(BWSL) where I still play today.

I look for pick-up games anywhere I travel and have had the good fortune to play with locals in Austria and various Caribean islands, aside from the many "weekend warriors" I have met here in South Florida (some of which are quite the accomplished players and coaches themselves (former Collegiate's, National's, and Pro's). I have also always enjoyed working with kids.  My kid-sitting experience throughout junior and senior high combined with my enthusiasm to teach and some good coaching role models along the way helped guide me from my first professional coaching opportunities (at 19 and 21) as a camp counselor in MetroDade Parks and Rec. and as a soccer coach at Vitor Hugo's camp at American Military Academy in Puerto Rico to my most recent one as a coach at Weston Fury Soccer Club in South Florida. Although the soccer camps, adult teams, school teams, and youth teams I have coached have taught me about people-skills, organization, and management, there is still much more to learn. I find gratification in applying useful ideas from the many contacts I make through coaching courses and have learned first hand how helpful those friendships I have made can be to me and the kids I coach in simply sharing fun ideas, in opening doors and connecting players and coaches at all levels of community, and in educating coaches, kids and parents.  Soccer is such a passion of mine and an immense global connector that I will always be eager to learn something new about playing and coaching Joga Bonito.

Credentials:

• Bachelor of Science in Physical Education emphasis in Sports Management - FIU's Department of Education 1998
• USSF National D Coaching License 2005
• USSF Adult Coaching License 2006
• USSF National Youth Coaching License 2007
• NSCAA Advanced Regional Coaching Diploma 2007
• NSCAA State and Regional Goalkeeping Coaching Diploma 2007

Goals:

• USSF A Coaching License by 2013
• Coach at a University by 2014
• NSCAA National Goalkeeping Diploma by 2009
• Continue advocationg soccer to and for girls and women as a vehicle for fun, fitness, empowerment, and socialization among cultures locally and globally (directly in at least 10 countries by 2018)
• Help coach in the VIP program (formely TOPS) by 2010 (check!...I start 9-21-08!!)
• foot-juggle 101 times in a row by 2010
• head-juggle 101 times in a row by 2010

Tips and questions are always welcome.

"Keep Playing, Keep Sharing"

"You're better than you think!"

Enjoy the site!