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Richard Bucciarelli,

July 7, 2015



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Richard Bucciarelli For more information about Soccer Fitness, please visit www.soccerfitness.ca.



A hidden soccer paradise in Canada

On the weekend of June 12th-13th 2015, I visited Winnipeg, Manitoba, to attend some FIFA Women’s World Cup matches and also to visit with my friend and colleague Vanesa Martinez. Vanesa holds a PhD. in sports science, a UEFA “Pro” License in coaching, and is the new Head Coach of the University of Manitoba Bison’s Women’s Varsity Soccer Team. Two months ago, I accepted a position as a Regional Scout for the Bison’s Women’s Soccer Team, so for me this trip was not just to watch World Cup matches and catch up with an old friend – it was also arranged so that I could see first-hand what the school and the Women’s Soccer program is all about. On my first evening in Winnipeg, following two very entertaining World Cup matches (Australia vs. Nigeria and U.S.A. vs. Sweden), I sat at a restaurant with Coach Martinez and others from the school. After a long day of touring the school’s top class soccer and athletic facilities (including the incredible 50,000+ capacity Investor’s Group Field), meeting with their strength and conditioning staff (who are probably the most experienced and qualified in the country), and of course speaking with Coach Martinez and the rest of her staff, I commented to her that the U of M seemed like an unlikely place for such an impressive soccer program, which I referred to as a “paradise.” After all, Winnipeg is not a city known for producing a lot of elite level soccer players, nor, for that matter, is Manitoba as a province. Coach Martinez acknowledged my point and added, “it’s a hidden paradise.” In this article, I have interviewed Coach Martinez, in order to introduce this “hidden paradise”, and to shed some light on the numerous positive aspects of the program. RB: How did you become the Head Coach of the University of Manitoba Bison Women’s Soccer program? VM: The U of M asked the MSA (Manitoba Soccer Association) for help in the recruitment process. Hector Vergara, who is the MSA Executive Director and a long-time member of the FIFA referees’ committee, asked around in FIFA about potential candidates that could be interested and qualified for this position. I was then informed by FIFA about this position opening because of my involvement as a FIFA Women’s Football Instructor and followed a long and detailed interview/selection process to become the Head Coach of the University of Manitoba Women’s Soccer Team. There were about 85 candidates for this position from all over the world and I was the one selected by the University. It took almost 10 months for me and the University to finalize all the required paperwork. When the University brought me down to Winnipeg for an on-site interview I really loved the people, the facilities and the great potential that this place has. Thus, I decided to accept the position and my official start date was in August 2013. RB: Besides you, what are some of the other strengths of the Women’s Soccer program at U of M? VM: I think that out biggest strengths are amazing and talented people (both players and staff), world-class training facilities, and excellent academic programs with some of the most affordable tuition fees in Canada. In terms of our people, we are one of the few soccer programs with an integrated team staff. We are able to offer our players the support of excellent assistant coaches including a goalkeeper coach, strength and conditioning, sports psychology and sports nutrition experts. We have also been able to recruit talented players from within Canada and abroad and we are able to offer them a great environment to continue their athletic and academic development. Facility wise, we have now some of the most beautiful and modern training facilities in the nation. Our brand new Investors Group Field was one of the game venues for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 and our team will now get the chance to play at least one of our league games at this stadium. This is a magnificent honor for our players, staff and fans. We might be the only University in the World that will be able to offer this great opportunity. We also have an amazing brand new high performance and recreational facility called Active Living Center, which just opened in February 2015. It is equipped with state of the art training apparatus and technology devices such as heart rate monitors, GPS units, timing gates, among others. We are taking full advantage of it to improve the athletic performance of our athletes (Further information can be found at: http://news.umanitoba.ca/building-better-bison-athletes/). Additionally, we are able to train our athletes all year round by having access to both outdoor and indoor soccer training pitches that allow us to accommodate our team and position-specific training regardless of the weather conditions. Finally, the U of M offers a wide range of high-quality academic programs that our athletes can choose from at a very affordable price compared to other Canadian Universities. See the University Viewbook for further information. RB: What are your plans for the future of the Bison Women’s Soccer program? VM: Our vision is to become one of the top Women’s Soccer programs in Canada. We need to go step by step to achieve this goal. First, we will need to put the hard work, invest the time, dedication and patience that it will take to get there and then we will be challenged to maintain this status. Year by year our objective is to obtain a better team record than the previous year. Moreover, each year we also want to continue improving the areas of player recruitment at the provincial, national and international level, program infrastructure and training environment, team culture, team budget, and mentoring of players and team staff volunteers to achieve a comprehensive individual development including athletics, academics and community involvement. Richard Bucciarelli is the President of Soccer Fitness Inc., and a Regional Scout with the University of Manitoba Bison’s Women’s Varsity Soccer Team. For more information about Richard and Soccer Fitness, please visit www.soccerfitness.ca