Coach John Bussi

In 1993, inspired by his two young children’s interest in playing soccer, John was enlisted by his wife to get involved with their kid’s soccer teams at the local town club. Memories of the first- and second-generation European coaches he had, whose methods of teaching were inspired by their strong and sometimes crazy passion directed as to how Americans can’t really play their game, John certainly didn’t want to be like them. The only other coaches he had were school teachers working for a few extra dollars, throwing out a few balls and then screaming at the players to kick the ball as hard as they could. The life event of meeting Pele twice while an 18-year-old attending Hofstra helped form his philosophy that technical skills are everything. Many days with his young teams were spent dribbling around cones asking them to believe in it, and people took notice and it grew to 150 kids per week. Working with and learning from some of the great coaches and trainers who shared in his beliefs, it’s been going like that since then. Some players reached National levels and received College Division 1 scholarships, and some became moms and dads themselves, who teach their kids the same way they were taught. It’s just about the process…

Coach Bussi is currently trains travel teams and teams in our Developmental program.