SBF Director of Coaching, Todd Saldana, Selected to Coach at January 2012 Event
South Bay Force Technical Director and Director of Coaching, Todd Saldana, was selected to coach one of the teams at the Major League Soccer (MLS) Combine. This was an invite only event where the 52 players invited were showcased to MLS coaches just prior to the MLS Super Draft. Many would be selected and offered pro contracts for the upcoming MLS season. The event was held in Florida and ran from Thursday January 6th thru Tuesday January 10th 2012 in Ft Lauderdale, FL.
Todd Saldana’s Thoughts on the Combine:
It was an honor for me and the club to be invited/selected. I was assigned to coach and mentor team Prime with University of Washington Head Coach Jamie Clark. This was a trip down memory lane for me, remembering when I was drafted into professional soccer from South Torrance High School in 1980.
My job at the Combine is to organize a team of 18 players to play against the other 3 teams involved and help them perform at their best to enhance their chances of being drafted as high as possible. All teams and players stay at the same hotel, eat meals together, have team and individual meetings with our combine staff, MLS and the MLS coaching staffs for interviews.
All games were evaluated by the all MLS coaching staffs and were streamed live on the Internet. After each match I was given feedback and asked for evaluations of the players on my combine team. Also, the MLS coaching staff would guide us on positions they might like to see a player play for their eval and draft consideration. My Team Prime had the 2nd player drafted by Vancouver in Darren Maddocks.
The Westin Hotel on the beach in Ft Lauderdale was the "who is who" of soccer in America on during the week. The full MLS Coaching Staffs were in town. The President of US Soccer, Sunil Gulati, was there along with Mens National coach Juergen Klinsman (who I worked closely with for adidas ESP), U23/Olpympic Team Head coach Caleb Porter and the u20 and the U18 national Teams were also in Ft Lauderdale training. I was able to watch our club Alumnis Jose Villarreal play in a friendly match with my former youth college coaching collegue and South Bay resident, Seattle Sounders Head Coach Coach Sigi Schmid.
It was just a great week of soccer and brought many memories from my youth.
