BY JOHN DECOSTE
Kings County Advertiser/Register
A pair of experienced soccer coaches has been tapped to head up the Valley United senior teams for the 2010 outdoor season.
Findlay MacRae, chair of player and coaching development for the Valley United soccer club, and VDSA technical director Angela Morrison announced April 1 that Jack Simpson of Port Williams will coach the senior men’s team and Bill Reid of Berwick will coach the senior women.
Simpson, a charter member of the Valley Kings Arms senior men’s team from 1987-1989, continued to play senior soccer through 1999. He began his coaching career in Yellowknife in 2002, teaching both the tactical and technical aspects of soccer to a community just starting out in the sport. Simpson coached the Yellowknife United U-16 boys at the 2007 club nationals and the NWT U-18 boys’ team at the 2009 Canada Games.
Simpson enjoys all aspects of coaching and sees coaching the Valley Kings Arms senior men’s team as “a way of giving back to the soccer community that has been very good to me over the years.”
For Reid, 2010 is his second year as head coach of the Valley United senior women. After a successful career that included playing at the CIAU national championships, Atlantic University Sport finals and Canada Summer Games in 1977 and 1987, he started coaching in 1985. He has coached at various community levels, both men and women, including Premier Women, Senior Men, high school and youth community soccer. In 1987, he trained with a third division team in Besancon, France. His successful coaching career with Valley United has included two provincial outdoor silver medals and two provincial indoor gold medals.
MacRae sees the appointment of Simpson and Reid as providing their teams “with significant coaching experience at a high caliber of play.”
Valley United is the premier soccer club in the Annapolis Valley, representing the most highly skilled soccer players selected from the 15 community soccer clubs within the Valley District Soccer Association.
WEBLINK: www.valleyunited.ca
