New coach senses team hunger
Expectations remain high for Algonquin Thunder
Dom Oliveri says he has no reason to fear the expectations that come with being head coach of the Algonquin Thunder women’s soccer team, and he has a good point.
Oliveri was appointed head coach of the Thunder in early February, joining the college team roughly six months after he coached the Ottawa Fury to a W-League title.
“It’s nothing new for me, and I tend to embrace challenges like that,” Oliveri says. “It makes the game fun when you have expectations.”
The position opened up in December, when Algonquin athletic director Ron Port informed longtime coach Garth Gittens that the college wanted to go in “a new direction” with women’s soccer. The announcement produced a storm of email protests from current and former Thunder player and others close to them.
Gittens had coached the team since 1997, and during that time the Algonquin women’s team won nine Ontario Colleges Athletic Association championship medals, including gold in 2002.
The Thunder was favoured to add another medal in the 2012 OCAA championship, played at Algonquin, but lost both games and left the tournament empty-handed.
Oliveri has met with several team members and conducted a handful of practices. He says he has detected something of a sour taste about how last season ended.
“You can really see a motivation among the players,” he said. “They really want to win provincials, they really want to win a national championship.”
Because of a one-week study break following his appointment, Oliveri hasn’t yet met all potential returnees, but he says he has been led to believe there will be 12-14 of them when preseason camp begins in August.
As for whatever led to the “change in direction” and the end of Gittens’ term as coach, Oliveri says he hasn’t discussed it with Algonquin officials. “I just go about my business the way I like to do that, the way I like to coach,” he says. “What happened in the past is in the past and between the college and the previous coach.
“For me it’s just about trying to get the players to see and understand my vision for the program and how we are going to move forward.”