To our TPSC Community

We are pleased (very pleased) to announce that the TPSC has a new Director of Coaching.

Two months ago, the board tasked a committee of representatives of the recreational and competitive programs to recruit a new DOC for the club. We embarked on a deliberate and thorough process to further define the role, qualifications and expectations, and set an extremely high bar for anyone taking on the position.

The recruitment for the position was both local and national (including encouraging our own club’s professionals to apply) and we were both surprised and pleased with the quality of the people who applied. We received about two dozen candidates spanning the US and other countries. Most of the candidates were truly "DOC material" with experience, licenses, and a demonstrated passion for the game. From that pool, there were about four or five who clearly had the potential to be the DOC we were looking for.

After phone and in-person interviews with many of the candidates, perhaps the best surprise of all was that the person with the best resume, references, and qualifications was someone we already knew, Michael Sharp.

Before moving to Tiburon from Scotland this past spring (his wife is a Tiburon native and former TPSL player), Michael spent three years with the Scottish Football Association as their S.E. Regional Director. As such he was responsible for helping to develop curriculum at the national level and implementing that curriculum with local associations and professional and recreational coaches throughout the region. The curriculum work that Michael and the SFA did has had an international impact (and, in fact, the recent decision by NorCal to use 8 v 8 small-sided games in our own U-11 playing league next year is a direct result of that work).

Before the SFA, for many years Michael was a project manager and consultant for Accenture in San Francisco and London, working on a variety of "change management" projects. He earned a Master of Science in Sport Management and Administration from the University of Edinburgh.

Michael was a college soccer player and subsequently played on a variety of semi-pro and club teams as an adult. As a coach and trainer, he holds multiple awards and licenses at each of the various coaching levels used by the SFA (they wisely have different coaching licenses for different ages: 5-12 year olds, 12-18 year olds, 18+ players).

Michael’s colleagues were positively glowing about his work with the SFA. However, even more important to us has been our hands-on experience with him over the past eight months. Every evaluation he received talked about his passion, maturity and expertise. His work as the U-12 staff coach in our club is a model for what we hope to incorporate on the recreational side of the TPSC, and he has earned respect and approval from his TPSC professional peers. His inclusive and collaborative management style will serve well as we work towards our club’s objectives on behalf of our children.

He is truly passionate about the game and about the development of soccer programs for children. He has shown himself to be unselfish in sharing both that passion and his resources throughout the club. We feel very fortunate that Michael has accepted a position with us and look forward to the work ahead.

Please join us in welcoming Michael to this important role within our TPSC community.

The TPSC Board

Michael's Bio