Shaun Whittington
Shaun Whittington Personal Background My name is Shaun Whittington and I am 28 years old. Currently, I live in Rhode Island with my American wife and I am a resident of the United States. Originally, I was born in Chichester, England, which is about as far south as you can go when it comes to England. Of course, being from England, I was born with a soccer ball at my feet and have been playing and coaching for many years. I started playing for my local youth team when I was 5 years old and learned a lot from the great coaches at the youth level. I went on to play semi -professional soccer for a team in England called Crawley town. In addition, I also represented Chichester High school and Chichester College. I was part of the most successful team at Chichester High! Our team made the National semi-finals! No team since has made it past the regionals!! Coaching and Playing Experience I have been coaching soccer to youth players since I was 15 years old. I hold Level 1, 2, and 3 licenses from the England FA (Football Association). I started coaching at local schools in England and progressed to the club level, which included professional teams like Portsmouth FC. I coached at the high school level, where I took my old high school to the county (state) cup finals. Unfortunately, we lost on penalty kicks. I was also a player and coach for Barnham FC, my local team in England. I had great success here by winning the West Sussex Championship on 2 occasions. In 2008, I wanted a different challenge in my coaching career and I was given the opportunity to come to America with Challenger Sports. I was based in Atlanta for the 1st year and then moved to New England. Coaching for Challenger was a great opportunity for me to help grow the love of the game in this country. I was a summer coach and then after 3 months, I was promoted to Summer Director and a Challenger Club Trainer. As a Club Trainer, I coached many teams around New England from ages 4 to 17. My happiest moment as a Club Trainer was at Attleboro Youth Soccer, where I worked very hard with a U14 girls’ team. This team lost every game for 3 years. I started coaching them a few times but as the season went on, I worked more with them. They went from losing 8-0, 9-0 every week and not scoring any goals to only losing 2-1 and 1-0. I decided to take matters into my own hands and practice 3 times/week.
One Saturday game, we were playing a top team who beat the girls 14-1 earlier in the season. And, yes, in typical movie style, we ended up winning 4-3, scoring a winning goal with the last kick of the game! Seeing the girl’s smile, at last, after a game, made me love what I do even more! Most recently, I have been working for John Smith Soccer Academy (JSSA). My roles at JSSA included: Boys Director, Player Recruitment Director, and Tournament Director. I also coached 4 teams: Boys U12, U16, U18 and Girls U10. Because of my coaching experience, I was given new teams and teams that needed extra development. I was very happy to improve every team I coached. My teams received a few medals and, most recently, the BU12 team were runners up in a local tournament. My BU18 team lost only 1 game last fall. I successfully made all my teams better by working on individual skills, as well as team tactical skills. I believe if we can make every player individually better, then winning will be the natural end result! As the Boy’s Director, I was in charge of managing 17 boy’s teams and coaches. As the Player Recruitment Director, my role was to recruit talented players to the club. In one year, I recruited 29 boys and 31 girls. As the Tournament Director, I organized tournaments throughout the year. Most recently, I managed and recruited 197 teams to the JSSA Memorial Day tournament! I am very excited to bring this experience to BEST Soccer and BEST FC! I look forward to meeting everyone and using my knowledge of the beautiful game of soccer to improve your children and help them love the game as much as I do. Best regards, Shaun Shaun Whittington BEST Soccer and BEST FC
One Saturday game, we were playing a top team who beat the girls 14-1 earlier in the season. And, yes, in typical movie style, we ended up winning 4-3, scoring a winning goal with the last kick of the game! Seeing the girl’s smile, at last, after a game, made me love what I do even more! Most recently, I have been working for John Smith Soccer Academy (JSSA). My roles at JSSA included: Boys Director, Player Recruitment Director, and Tournament Director. I also coached 4 teams: Boys U12, U16, U18 and Girls U10. Because of my coaching experience, I was given new teams and teams that needed extra development. I was very happy to improve every team I coached. My teams received a few medals and, most recently, the BU12 team were runners up in a local tournament. My BU18 team lost only 1 game last fall. I successfully made all my teams better by working on individual skills, as well as team tactical skills. I believe if we can make every player individually better, then winning will be the natural end result! As the Boy’s Director, I was in charge of managing 17 boy’s teams and coaches. As the Player Recruitment Director, my role was to recruit talented players to the club. In one year, I recruited 29 boys and 31 girls. As the Tournament Director, I organized tournaments throughout the year. Most recently, I managed and recruited 197 teams to the JSSA Memorial Day tournament! I am very excited to bring this experience to BEST Soccer and BEST FC! I look forward to meeting everyone and using my knowledge of the beautiful game of soccer to improve your children and help them love the game as much as I do. Best regards, Shaun Shaun Whittington BEST Soccer and BEST FC
