Paul Trecartin is from a small town just outside of Boston in the US, where he grew up playing ice hockey, and never dreamed that one of his great passions in life would end up being coaching football. Paul and his wife moved to Bondi in 2002 and then to the Northern Beaches in 2012. Like many coaches, Paul started out as a coach for his son’s team.
“I don’t know where he got it from, but as soon as my son could walk and talk he wanted to play football. He was obsessed. The first word he ever said was ball. When we moved to the Northern Beaches, we signed him up to play U6s for Curl Curl even though he was only 4. I don’t remember if it was the 2nd or 3rd season that the team didn’t have a coach, but that’s when I reluctantly stepped up. I’m sure at the time my intention was to coach that one season and then find someone else. To my surprise though, I found that I really enjoyed it.”
Not having a football background, Paul was really keen to learn all that he could. He was lucky to befriend some very experienced coaches at the club who he got to work with, and he also started taking all the MWFA courses that he could, including completing his Youth C-Licence a couple of years ago.
Paul started to coach not only his son’s team at the club, but also his daughters team and his wife’s Over 35 team. He joined the Coaching Committee at the club and was one of the many coaches who helped to set up Curl Curl’s Junior Development Program. In 2016 Paul was the first recipient of the Club Coach of the Year trophy, which each year will have another name added to it, which was unexpected for him but something he will always be proud of.
The teams Paul has coached have had some on field successes over the years, but his personal measure of success and his coaching philosophy have been changing in recent seasons.
“Over the years I’ve had what I considered at the time to be some great successes. However, over the last 2 or 3 seasons my measure of what a successful season is and my personal coaching philosophy have changed quite a bit, especially when coaching youth teams. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still extremely competitive and want to win, I’m just becoming more focused on the road to those wins than the wins themselves. I’m really interested in the culture of the team, of what values the team can embrace, of helping players to compete to be the absolute best that they can be on and off the field. And of course, to have fun and want to come back and play another season the following year. The All Blacks have a saying “Better people make better All Blacks” which I really love. We as coaches have a rare opportunity to be a real positive influence on young players.”
One of the best and most challenging things Paul has done for his coaching was his decision to join the Future Coaches Program.
“I felt a bit isolated as a coach, and I’ve worried that some of the ideas I have would be viewed at best as a little strange and at worst downright crazy. What I’ve found in the Future Coaches Program is an environment similar to what I would like to build in my teams. Coaches questioning and challenging and pushing each other to be the best they can be, to really raise the bar, but with kindness and open minds at the same time as being tough on one another. A culture where we are competing to be the absolute best that we can be on and off the field.”
Paul is looking forward to continuing to challenge himself as a coach, continue his education, and to see where it takes him in the future.
MWFA is looking forward to seeing where it takes him too, and how he can continue to be a positive influence on his players on and off the pitch.
Look out for more articles on other MWFA Future Coaches over the coming months.
