SPRINGFIELD XPLOSION COACHING STAFF
Coaching Philosophy: Sports and winning championships
are not an end in themselves, rather they are the means to reach other, more important ends, such as the development of leaders
and problem solvers.
The Coaches who formed Xplosion were not looking for
the best soccer player, rather responsible athletes who were willing to work as a team and work hard individually to achieve
excellence in their sport. That philosophy has continued in the ensuing seven years. Dedicated and supportive parents are
essential to youth soccer because of the commitment involved.
Achieving excellent soccer skills required excellent
training. The team has hired only top, experienced trainers. The team has also used a variety of different trainers.
The change in staff has exposed the players to a broader view of the game. For example, Bill Creswick and Frank Schoon have
worked primarily with technical skills. Tung stressed attacking tactics and Mark Brotherton taught the team the Brazilian
system to better defend superior opponents. Bobby Garza has been affiliated with the team for years and has concentrated
on different subjects over the years, including agility and fitness, countering physical opponents, and finishing. The team
emphasized heavy training in the Spring of 2005 to heavily concentrate efforts before the players entered high school.
Finally, training is more effective in a proper training
environment. Our goal is to create a positive atmosphere and recognize that mistakes must occur as players strive to improve.
Head
Coach
Joe Wendlberger
Coach Joe Wendlberger is a former collegiate all-American
athlete who has been coaching for twenty years. He played primarily defense in his younger years, but has studied
a variety of offensive systems over the past eight years. "Coach Joe" has coached Xplosion since the first season in WAGS. In addition to soccer he has coached youth softball and basketball and collegiate football and
wrestling. He coached special Olympics in Los Angeles for five years. He believes that just as a player should never be satisfied
with their level of achievement, a coach should likewise never be satisfied with his training methods or knowledge of the
game. Former pro Mark Brotherton attends sessions each season and provides detailed evaluations of the team and the coaching.
Assistant Coach
Todd Calderwood
Coach Todd Calderwood is a leader who can motivate
players and still make the game fun. He is a superb tactician who is a marvel with substitions.
Primary
Trainer
Tung Nguyen
Tung played soccer at Virginia Tech and is a phenomenal
trainer. He has coached professional, collegiate and top club teams. He spent fifteen years working at various collegiate
training camps, including UNC and Va Tech. He worked several stints at the Giva summer camp, which many local coaches consider
to be the most rigorous youth camp on the east coast. He has coached a number of ODP teams and elite youth teams and has a
USSF C-license.
Tung has been praised for his strength at all aspects of coaching:
· Player relations - always constructive; garners immediate
loyalty and commitment
· Practice efficiency - more in 1 hr than most can accomplish
in 5. Skill with creative practice plans comes in part from his work for the ODP program.
· Expertise. Coached at the professional, collegiate, and
ODP (state and regional) level.
· Community service. Runs free sessions throughout the
year
Tung has produced tangible results for the Galaxy. Tung first worked with the Galaxy in the
summer of 2003. The Galaxy attended several week-long camps as they converted from man-to-man defense to a zone defense. Jim
Givargis conducted one of the camps and asked Tung to take the lead role on honing the defensive tactics and individual technique.
Tung has been the team's primary trainer since Winter 2003 and has changed much of the training focus back to offensive tactics.
Bobby Garza
Bobby served as primary trainer in 2002 and continues
to supplement the training. He often brought a volunteer staff of coaching buddies, including professional player Josh Witham.
Bobby has been instrumental in the team's development. He was a club and high school soccer coach for years (Lee H.S.;
formerly at Hayfield) and now is a trainer for the West Potomac boys team. While serving as primary trainer, Bobby focused
heavily on team possession and movement. Bobby also inserted short technical drills into each practice, such as shooting technique
and bending passes. Bobby runs three open summer camps including one camp dedicated to fitness.
Other Trainers
Bill Creswick (Robinson HS) brought to the
team more than 24 years experience at the collegiate, high school and club level. He ran annual winter footskills program
for several years and also conducted several week long camps for the team.
Frank Schoon
Frank served as trainer for Fall 2003 and Fall 2004 and
emphasized one v one skills and technical skills and possession tactics in small areas. Frank also assists Jim Givargis at
the annual summer camp and runs sessions on one v one skills as needed.
Jim Givargis
Jim is not a trainer for the Xplosion but is widely
known for his intense training programs. He runs the elite Giva Soccer Camp each July at Sweetbriar. The entire Xplosion
team attended his camp in 2005. During the school year he trains many of the players privately at his Giva Soccer facility
in Manassas. The results of his private sessions are phenomenal.
