Jason Brown has been coaching the men’s soccer team for the last eight years and will be taking on the position of head coach for the women’s soccer team for the first time this season. Brown has been playing soccer his entire life, “I coach first and foremost because I love the sport,” he says. He wants to be able to pass on his knowledge and experience to his players.
Brown is working closely with his assistant coach, Rob Mather and they have high expectations for their players. Brown describes what he and Mather want from the team: “We expect the best from our players in every facet of what we do. Their best effort in training and games, their best effort in the classroom, and their best behaviour on and off the field”.
Teaching his players proper athletic habits is one of Brown’s main goals as a coach this year. He says
“Being punctual, being prepared, eating well, getting rest and managing time efficiently are the foundation elements of a great athlete.” After this foundation has been set, Brown wants to develop excellence from his players on the field. This means taking already skilled, creative, intelligent players and teaching them to play together as a cohesive team.
Brown raves about his returning players on the women’s soccer team. He says “Jen Bergeron has been the team’s leading scorer for three years and we will obviously be looking to Jen to score some big goals this year”. Carly Baxter, Alana Mallet and Cara Savoie are all skilful returning players that Brown expects to see grow and become a stronger presence on the field. Rebecca Snow will be returning in goal and Brown believes that she is a keeper who can make a difference in their games.
On the men’s team Tyler Williams, the leading scorer in the league last year and the ACAA rookie-of-the-year, will be returning along with Dave Bitten, Mackenzie Tamblyn and Dotum Olatobosum. New to the field is Patrick Kaine who has some big cleats to fill by replacing the league all star Jason Demerchant.
Brown has high hopes for both soccer teams this year, ”We hope to improve both teams over the course of the season through hard work and dedication” he says, “hopefully that hard work provides us with an opportunity for an ACAA title”.
