Coach Joyce Simonson is retiring after 24 years as the boys’ varsity soccer coach. Over the summer Simonson had hip replacement surgery and her recovery was slower than expected. When the August practice schedule came close, she realized she was not physically ready to return to the pitch.  The new coach is Tombo Berete, an already familiar coach on the field.  He was a player for Simonson in 2000 and then continued to help train the boys as Simonson’s assistant.

             According to Simonson one of the highlights of her long coaching career was being honored by her peers. “Being named sports person of the year in 2007 by SI advance was a wonderful memory,” said Simonson.  Simonson made a speech and she gave credit to the players for their determination, and also to the parents for their role in raising these athletes.   Simonson also  won  the PSAL SI championships seven times. The team under her leadership were in the city playoffs 19 times  making it to the finals once.

            Ms. Simonson  believes that soccer can teach athletes skills on and off the field. She tries to foster a sense of pride in the school and is often heard saying, “the names on the front of the jerseys is more important than the name on the back.” Also she tried to make the team play like a close group and not like a group of boys who kick a ball. She did this by making all of the players focus on one goal and that was winning. Simonson feels a coach should have patience and authority, they should know the rules of the game and understand that soccer is only a small part of the students’ life, school comes first.

The transition of coaching staff have gone smoothly.  Simonson still comes to the games and Coach Tombo has started implementing his own coaching philosophy. According to a junior  forward Alfredo Zapata the two coaches differ, “Tombo is the type of coach that works on strengths, ability and endurance and Ms.Simonson is the type of coach to make the team bond and be like family….Ms.Simonson likes long balls and shooting from distance while Tombo wants us to pass and generate plays.”