The Tyrone varsity soccer team will welcome a new head coach for the 2017 season.  Coach Mike Sparacino will take over the Tyrone Lady Eagles varsity soccer program from former Coach Bruce Makin, who stepped down at the conclusion of 2016 season.

Sparacino began playing soccer at eight years old. He played mostly defender for his high school varsity soccer team at Ambridge High School near Pittsburgh.  He also played briefly in college but could not continue due to an injury suffered in high school.

Sparacino has previous coaching experience at the junior high level and was the assistant girls varsity coach at Ambridge High School in the early 2000s. He currently coaches a u12 girls team for the Altoona Soccer Club and he is also the Regional Commissioner for the Altoona AYSO.

According to Sparacino, he has always wanted to be head coach for a varsity team and when the position was offered he jumped at the chance. ¨I love soccer and I try to pass my love of the game to my players. I feel it is my job to give my players as much knowledge and guidance as possible in practice and allow them to make decisions in the game based on what we’ve discussed,¨ said Sparacino.

Sparacino admires the teams’ spirit and is looking forward to getting to know all the girls and begin working toward a successful 2017 season. “[From what I have seen] the team genuinely supports each other and wants to see one another succeed,” said Sparacino.

His main goal for his first season is to get the girls to buy into his philosophy and how he would like them to play the game. He would also like to improve on last season’s win total and hopefully put the girls back into the playoffs next season.

¨I am very excited to be coaching at Tyrone and look forward to helping our players achieve every goal they set for themselves and the goals we set as a team,¨ said Sparacino.

Outside of soccer, Sparacino enjoys watching movies and reading. He lives in Altoona with his wife, two daughters, and a son.