Breaking News - AFU announces new coaching staff

BREAKING NEWS

May 1, 2019 | Vol. 1 | Issue 4

AFU ANNOUNCES NEW COACHING STAFF

Atlanta Fire United welcomes Garth Pollonais , Dr. Mike Giuliano , Paul Young and Sara Sanders as new additions to the AFU coaching staff.

Name:

Garth Pollonais

License Level:

USSF A License

NSCAA Director of Coaching Diploma

Coaching Background/

Experience:

25 years of coaching college and youth ranks at various levels

Playing Background/Experience:

Former professional player who played for several professional sides including Tampa Bay Rowdies, Charleston Battery, Raleigh Flyers, etc. Represented his native country, Trinidad and Tobago on international level.

Pollonais, a Hall of Fame inductee at Erskine College has recently served as USDA Academy Director as well as Director of Player Development for Texans SC Houston. Prior engagements include USDA Academy Director at Concorde Fire Soccer Club, Director of Coaching at Clearwater Chargers Soccer Club, as well as Head Coach for the Men’s and Women’s programs at Erskine College. He received his BA in Psychology from Erskine College.

Garth is married to Kim and has one daughter – Alexis.

Name:

Dr. Mike Giuliano

License Level:

NSCAA Advanced National Diploma, Ph.D. in Communication

Coaching Background/Experience:

Current Women’s Soccer Coach at Georgia Gwinnett College.

30 years of coaching college and youth ranks

Playing Background/Experience:

Played four years at Temple University in Tennessee. Giuliano, who possesses nearly 30 years of successful head coaching experience at the NAIA and NCAA levels, has eight various national coach of the year accolades to his name and was the first coach in National Soccer Coaches Association of America history to earn three consecutive NSCAA/adidas National Coach of the Year awards. He received his master’s degree in Education from Northwestern University.

Giuliano has been married to Barbara for 37 years and counting, and has five adult children –Jon, Josh, Linnae, Justin, Jewel.

Name:

Paul Young

License Level:

USSF National B License

CONCACAF Level 2 License

Coaching Background/Experience:

13 years of coaching at professional and youth level

Playing Background/Experience:

86 Caps for the Jamaican National Senior Team from 1987 to

1998. Jamaica's third leading all-time scorer with 28 goals (three World Cup Qualifying goals). Played for the Columbus Crew (MLS) 1996, Tampa Bay Mutiny 1998, Charleston Battery 1994-1995. Spent four years playing at Syracuse University.

Young’s coaching career started in 2005 with Portmore United FC. After a successful spell there, he transitioned into his new role as the Assistant Coach for the Jamaican National Team. In 2015 Young switched into youth ranks coaching at United Futbol Academy and most recently in the ECNL program at TopHat NASA. Young holds a Bachelor of Science Degree

in Retailing.

Name:

Sara Sanders

License Level:

USSF National D License

Coaching Experience/Background:

5 years coaching experience

Specialized in individual training

Playing Background/Experience:

Highly accomplished player at Sandy Creek High School. Due to career ending injury was only able to play for the Women's Club at Kennesaw State University.

Sanders started the middle school soccer program from ground up at Pinckneyville Middle in Gwinnett. In 2018 both the boys and girls at Pinckneyville won the Gwinnett County Futbol Classic. The girls team won county again in 2019 and the boys placed within the final four. Sanders is currently living in Alpharetta and is looking forward to making a club transition

within AFU.

“I’m very excited to add Garth, Mike, Paul and Sara to our coaching staff. Our club and especially our players will greatly benefit from the knowledge and experience all these coaches bring.”

Mirza Mustafic

EDOC – Atlanta Fire United.

Please join us in welcoming all of our new coaches!

AFU ANNOUNCES CHANGES TO STRUCTURE

“I’m very happy to announce that Garth Pollonais is joining Atlanta Fire United and will serve as the Select Director of Coaching. Existing coaches Alex Pineda and Stephen George have been promoted to Assistant Directors of Coaching; Alex coordinating efforts on the boy’s side and Stephen in parallel on the girl’s side.”

“In addition, Dom Martelli will assume the role of Director of College Recruitment, making AFU one of the only clubs in the region who has a dedicated person to mentor and assist players on their recruiting process and support their journey from club to college soccer. All this is part of a restructuring plan to further develop our players and maximize the potential of our club.”

Mirza Mustafic

EDOC – Atlanta Fire United.

As a result of these changes, here is what our current Org Structure looks like:

Name:

Garth Pollonais

Director of Coaching

Garth Pollonais has spent the last two years as the Director of the USDA Program at Texans SC in Houston and is joining Atlanta Fire United to serve in the role of the Director of Coaching. In his role Pollonais will be responsible for developing and implementing club’s curriculum and methodology as well as provide oversight for our Select and ECNL programs.

Name:

Alex Pineda

Assistant Director of Coaching - Boys Program

License Level:

USSF A License

Coaching Background/ Experience:

13 years of coaching at professional and youth level

Playing Background/Experience:

Former professional player who played for several professional clubs including Olimpia (Honduras), LA Galaxy, New England Revolution as well as Miami Fusion. Represented his native country, Honduras on international level with over 50 caps.

Pineda who was the 2001 MLS MVP, was also named to the best 11 in the same season. He won the Golden Boot in 2001 by scoring 19 goals and contributing 9 assists. Alex is married to Rosibel and has two daughters – Paulette and Alexandra.

Name:

Stephen George

Assistant Director of Coaching - Girls Program

License Level:

USSF National C License

Coaching Background/ Experience:

9 years at various youth levels.

Playing Background/Experience:

Played for West Virginia University (Big East Champions 2006, NCAA Sweet Sixteen 2006, 2007) as well as Georgia Southern University.

George, a former AFU player, was named Gwinnett County Coach of the Year in 2016 and is currently the Mill Creek High School Varsity Boys Coach. Undoubtedly one of the best young coaches in the region, George has had great success coaching in the Select, Super Y, and ECNL programs at AFU. He has received his BS in Education from the University of Georgia and is married to Jennifer.

Name :

Dom Martelli

Director of College Recruitment

License Level :

USSF National B License, NSCAA Advanced National Diploma

Coaching Background/ Experience :

26 years of coaching college and youth teams at various levels.

Playing Background/Experience :

Martelli's playing career began on those very same club teams he later coached. He was a member of the Empire State Games Boys Scholastic Team in 1984 and Open Men's squad in 1987, earning a silver medal. His on-field days culminated with a standout career at Ohio State, where he was a four-year team member from 1985 to 1988.

Experienced College coach (West Point, Georgia State University Georgia Gwinnett College), current High School coach and former player at the ODP, College, and Pro levels, Domenic Martelli has been an ECNL head coach at Atlanta Fire United since January of 2015. He is also currently in his 4 ^th year as the Head Boys and Girls soccer coach at Pinecrest Academy. Martelli has a bachelor's degree in business administration from The Ohio State University, and a master's degree in elementary education from Mount St. Mary's College.

Domenic and his wife, Kirsten, are the proud parents of their daughter, Brielle, a Sophomore at the University of North Georgia, and their son, Nicolas, a Junior at Pinecrest Academy and a member of boys 2002 AFU ECNL team.

Please join us in congratulating Coach Garth, Coach Alex, Coach Dom and Coach Stephen on their new roles.

AFU CAMPS, CLINICS + SEMINARS

This Event is for players who are currently U12 and up and are interested in playing in a highly competitive league.

CAMP IS HELD AT GEORGE PIERCE PARK

AFU SUWANEE

SUMMER CAMP 2019

George Pierce Park

4 one week sessions in June
Half day and full day camps
All player levels