New Coach, Tryouts Continue for Soccer Club
By Darren Ayotte | Sports Correspondent at March 4, 2024 | 8:45 am | Print
Connecticut United FC, the American Soccer League’s newest addition right here in New Britain, has its first coach. Ted Haley, who just completed his 11th season as Head Men’s Soccer coach at Post University, has agreed to be the first head coach for CT United. Due to eligibility reasons with the NCAA, it will be a volunteer position.
“He’s going to be volunteering his time, and he’s committed to this club.” said Daniel Hoskins, General Manager for CT United FC.
Haley has spent 11 seasons turning the Post University Men’s Soccer team into one of the elite Division II teams in the country. He has led the Eagles to the postseason each and every year. He also coached Post to a 15-3-2 record in 2014, the best in program history. They also knocked off the eventual National Champion Southern New Hampshire that same year.
“Ted has put a heck of a program together at Post University, taking that program to where I don’t think a few years ago anyone would’ve thought it would be. We’re really happy to have him on board,” said Hoskins.
Haley will be joined by Assistant General Manager and Goalie Coach James Perkins, a former member of the CCSU Blue Devils men’s soccer team that won both NEC Regular Season and Tournament Championships. Perkins also provides training for ages 7-16 at Parisi Speed School, a soccer speed and skills training facility in Bristol.
General Manager Daniel Hoskins will also be working the sidelines for CT United. He emphasized the importance of proper methodology, or a system of specific methods, in order to get the most out of this group of talented young stars.
“It’s been a bit of a journey trying to find somebody that is somewhat like-minded as far as training, methodology and things like that, because that is really important to me. I want to give these guys the best environment to develop and move on, and the only way to do that is to obviously train them properly.”
Tryouts are continuing as planned, with the team finalizing its 22-man roster in the next week or two. The final roster will have about a month to play together before their season opener versus Philadelphia on April 2nd at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
New Britain’s professional soccer team will be playing one game a week (mostly Saturdays and some Sundays), totaling four games a month. The ASL in particular stresses the importance of proper recovery, travel and “real world” time for these players. As Hoskins alludes to, there is more to life than soccer.
“Let’s not beat around the bush. A lot of these guys have jobs and do other things, so they need sufficient recovery time, and we need to give them the best opportunity to develop, and doing that is giving them the time to recover, along with all the other things in their lives,” said Hoskins. ““I am not a big believer in ‘you signed a pro contract, you become a robot now.’ We are all humans, we all have emotions, and we all have stuff going on in our lives. We got to make sure these guys have time to recover mentally as well as physically.”
Hoskins and the front office staff are currently working with universities and other professional teams in order to schedule a friendly (an exhibition game). The game will be played March 24th, but the opponent is still to be determined.
“Everyone is on spring break, so we are working through that.” said Hoskins.
He also had something special to say about the city that has now put two professional teams in its market in the last four months.
“I have done this at a lot of places, but nobody has really been as helpful as New Britain has. I can’t thank the Mayor and the Parks & Rec Department enough for what they have done for us.”
As New Britain’s stars of tomorrow took the field on a brisk, windy morning at Chesley Park, soccer balls moved left and right with finesse and ferocity. A series of dribbling drills were followed by situational scrimmaging between the players; half in red pennies, half in blue.
Over 20 different players, all with their own busy, stressful, anxiety filled lives off the field, blended together like the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, each and every move done with ease, with the ball finding our corners of the net.
