July 23, 2010 HELPING HAND Kolmel named Sky Blue assistant
Sky Blue FC head coach Rick Stainton named the first member of his staff Friday, bringing on Jesse Kolmel as his assistant coach.
Kolmel has spent the past two seasons as the head coach of the Hudson Valley Quickstrike Lady Blues of the W-League, guiding the team to back-to-back regular season titles and a cumulative 23-1-2 regular season record. Along with the Women's Premier Soccer League, the W-League is one of the top women's developmental soccer leagues in North America.
"I have known Jesse for two years through the W-League, and it is a pleasure to welcome him aboard as assistant coach for our team," Stainton said. "What I find most appealing about Jesse is his ability to manage a team, to unify the players as one in addition to getting them to perform at such a high level."
For Kolmel, a native of Pine Bush, N.Y. getting the invitation to coach at the highest level of the women's game enabled him to achieve a major goal in his professional career.
"To coach at the top level of the game is a dream come true for me," he said. "Needless to say, I was honored when I got the call from Rick. It is humbling to know he has the security and confidence in me to help lead this team to accomplishing its ambitious goals, and I could not be any more excited about joining this staff."
At Southern Connecticut State University, Kolmel helped the Owls to a pair of NCAA Division II championships. After college, he became the founder and program director of Quickstrike FC. The organization runs a soccer development program for boys and girls, starting at Under-9, and it goes all the way up to the W-League level. In addition to the back-to-back W-League regular season championships, Kolmel was named the 2009 W-League coach of the year and has coached his Quickstrike FC youth side to a Super Y-League National Championship. Continuing to show his commitment to youth development, Kolmel still serves on the USL Super Y-League ODP national staff.
"As I have gotten to know Jesse more and more, we have been able to relate with one another very well, and we have the same understanding of what it takes to achieve a common goal," Stainton said. "Our personalities are alike in the aspect of being able to see eye-to-eye, yet different enough to where we have that perfect balance for our team."
Kolmel will join Stainton on the Sky Blue FC bench for the first time this Saturday when the team heads south for a road pairing with the Philadelphia Independence at West Chester University. Kickoff for that game is 7 p.m.
