Coach Spain dedicated to soccer teams

49ers soccer coach Jason Spain will be coaching both men’s and women’s soccer this season at Yuba college. Spain hopes to incorporate the “team defense” that carried the women’s team to the playoffs last season into the men’s team this year.

Coaching multiple teams is nothing new to Spain. In fact this year besides coaching both men’s and women’s soccer teams at Yuba college, he will also be coaching both the Yuba City high school girls soccer team and Sutter high school girls soccer team as well as a local youth soccer team.

He admits that this makes for a scheduling nightmare and stated that he spent most of last spring preparing for this fall’s soccer season. Although he will miss seven practices, he does not anticipate missing any games.

Spain’s objective is to make Yuba college a perennial powerhouse in both men’s and women’s soccer. His system stresses team defense, and he said this means “the whole team.”

“We play 90 minutes of high-pressure soccer”, said Spain. This concept allows his strikers to take quality shots at goal without having the pressure of playing catch-up.

Spain, who has played professional indoor soccer, as well as an outdoor season in the minor leagues before embarking on his coaching career, knows what it takes to build a championship calibur team.Participating in the local areas prep and youth programs allows him to recruit players from the entire surrounding area.

“High school players want to come to Yuba”, says Spain, “we hook them up with scholarships”.

His success with the women’s soccer program has already started paying dividends with players coming from as far away as Utah with the hopes of gaining recognition and going on to larger four-year schools. Spain spends several hours a week calling colleges making sure that all the players have a place to go when they leave Yuba. In return, his players are willing to go the extra mile on the field for him.