John Jussen: A Big Heart for Soccer
When I contacted Almaden Valley Youth Soccer League to determine who was leading the league, I had no idea that I was going to meet such a diverse, caring and unique individual as AVYSL President, John Jussen! His story is truly inspiring, and definitely lends itself to portraying the epitome of what our Almaden community is all about! John Jussen has a passion for soccer ingrained in him since early childhood, and the 95120 community benefits from his service, but his dedication doesn’t stop at our zip code borders. It was a pleasure meeting John and receiving the 101 on soccer in our valley!
John’s parents emigrated from Holland, whose national sport was soccer. John shared with us, memories of playing soccer since he was old enough to walk, and happy childhood Sunday’s spent at the Dutch Club in Menlo Park, watching the emigrant Dutch soccer team, against opposing international teams such as Mexico, Portugal, Italy, and so forth. John mentioned playing soccer since he could walk, and to illustrate how important soccer was to his Dutch family, he jokingly added that when Dutch immigrants stepped onto American soil, the first question they were asked was, “Do you play soccer?” John has a found memory of his Father, one time taking him out of school to go to San Francisco and watching the World Cup on satellite, for back then, the game was not aired on regular TV! John proudly proclaims he watched nearly every Earthquake soccer game, since their establishment in 1974! John’s warm and entertaining background clearly explains his adult success and direction, which not surprisingly includes a passion for soccer and family! He brought us up to date, on the structure of the AVYSL league, and other soccer ‘goals’ he is involved with!
As for the AVYSL, John told us that he started coaching in Almaden when his children starting playing seven years ago. After many years of coaching and enjoying the league, John said he wanted to become more involved, and decided to join the board when help was needed. He joined the AVYSL Board as Equipment Director, a position he took very seriously. He worked hard to improve the league equipment, and also handled ball and uniform distribution. There were many new board member position transitions during this time, John recalls. When Frank Ross resigned as AVYSL President last year, John took the reigns to build on his and Terry Thompson’s (League President for many years prior to Ross) foundation. John pointed out that there are 20 board members and he was quick to acknowledge that each position is as important and difficult as his!
There is an incredible amount of effort contributed to make the league run smoothly. Their attention to detail runs right down to the grass the players play on! The league is dedicated to field optimization, to maintain high quality playing fields. John keeps the communication lines open between his staff, the SJUSD and Nancy Pyle’s office. There are also a few changes year. The new Board did add a couple paying positions such as Registrar, Office Manager, and Director of Coaching. These were the most taxing positions and hardest to keep filled, so permanent hires was their solution, and it is working out well. There are 300 coaches, so it is quite a job to keep everyone supported! As opposed to the Competitive and Select Divisions, the recreational coaches are all volunteers.
There are 1400 children in the recreational soccer program, which is managed by Board Volunteers, Denise Shenefield and Tamara Anderson. They implemented rules this year, to avoid ‘team stacking’ a term we learned meant cherry picking team members by friendship and skill level. Coaches can only choose one other child for their team, besides their own, to ensure team equality. Individuals are randomly chosen, to mix player ages, schools, and skill levels. The recreational teams teach soccer rules and skills required to refine each player’s individual game, or to prepare them for Competitive tryouts. In addition to the parent volunteer coaches, each team receives assistance from a paid trainer.
John informed us Andrew Lore manages the Competitive teams and Wendy Stanton manages the Select teams. These total approximately 500 players. A big difference this year, is that for U9, U10, and U11 each team is run by a paid trainer, in addition to a parent coach. AVYSL implemented an unbiased tiered tryout program, as well, to keep kids in their correct playing level. The parent coaches still have to be heavily involved with the team, and work in tandem with the Trainer who is considered Head Coach. The addition of paid coaches should make the volunteer positions easier.
John ensures us he will continue to be involved in soccer. He also wanted to give a big thanks to Nancy Pyle for her part in supporting efforts to build the two turfs at Leland. This allowed some of the spring recreational programs to move to Leland, alleviating neighborhood congestion near Meridian. She continually helps the league work with the school district and the community, for favorable results.
SOCCER AND BEYOND
John Jussen is a busy man! You may have seen him around. His children attend Williams Elementary School and Bret Harte Middle School. John also coaches his 9 and 11 year olds in baseball. His resume doesn’t stop there! By day, John owns and operates Time Deli, and during our interview, we discovered he is the founding member of Soccer Silicon Valley (SSV). SSV is a long term effort to not only keep the Earthquakes local, which although successful, had created many hurdles for John to jump since 2001, but in addition, SSV is advocating politicians to approve the plan to build a state of the art soccer field worthy of our pro team, the Earthquakes! The 75 acre downtown location, the former FMC site, is enough space to house the new stadium, along with many other business and hotel buildings. This anchors SSV’s plan to create a permanent home for professional and recreational soccer in the Bay Area. The stadium is to be privately funded via the Team owners.
When the SJ Earthquake team was in jeopardy of moving, and at one point actually did uproot to Houston, John was instrumental in trying to secure a local owner, however, during his discussions with potentially interested parties, luckily, the San Jose Earthquakes were purchased by Lew Wolff and John Fisher, who understood their vision and the stadium potential. The team was officially announced as a MLS team on July 18, 2007. SSV’s more recent charter, is to promote soccer throughout the Bay Area and the rest of the world, especially to those that can’t afford it. John is a true inspiration for following his passion and making his dreams come true!
John’s parents emigrated from Holland, whose national sport was soccer. John shared with us, memories of playing soccer since he was old enough to walk, and happy childhood Sunday’s spent at the Dutch Club in Menlo Park, watching the emigrant Dutch soccer team, against opposing international teams such as Mexico, Portugal, Italy, and so forth. John mentioned playing soccer since he could walk, and to illustrate how important soccer was to his Dutch family, he jokingly added that when Dutch immigrants stepped onto American soil, the first question they were asked was, “Do you play soccer?” John has a found memory of his Father, one time taking him out of school to go to San Francisco and watching the World Cup on satellite, for back then, the game was not aired on regular TV! John proudly proclaims he watched nearly every Earthquake soccer game, since their establishment in 1974! John’s warm and entertaining background clearly explains his adult success and direction, which not surprisingly includes a passion for soccer and family! He brought us up to date, on the structure of the AVYSL league, and other soccer ‘goals’ he is involved with!
As for the AVYSL, John told us that he started coaching in Almaden when his children starting playing seven years ago. After many years of coaching and enjoying the league, John said he wanted to become more involved, and decided to join the board when help was needed. He joined the AVYSL Board as Equipment Director, a position he took very seriously. He worked hard to improve the league equipment, and also handled ball and uniform distribution. There were many new board member position transitions during this time, John recalls. When Frank Ross resigned as AVYSL President last year, John took the reigns to build on his and Terry Thompson’s (League President for many years prior to Ross) foundation. John pointed out that there are 20 board members and he was quick to acknowledge that each position is as important and difficult as his!
There is an incredible amount of effort contributed to make the league run smoothly. Their attention to detail runs right down to the grass the players play on! The league is dedicated to field optimization, to maintain high quality playing fields. John keeps the communication lines open between his staff, the SJUSD and Nancy Pyle’s office. There are also a few changes year. The new Board did add a couple paying positions such as Registrar, Office Manager, and Director of Coaching. These were the most taxing positions and hardest to keep filled, so permanent hires was their solution, and it is working out well. There are 300 coaches, so it is quite a job to keep everyone supported! As opposed to the Competitive and Select Divisions, the recreational coaches are all volunteers.
There are 1400 children in the recreational soccer program, which is managed by Board Volunteers, Denise Shenefield and Tamara Anderson. They implemented rules this year, to avoid ‘team stacking’ a term we learned meant cherry picking team members by friendship and skill level. Coaches can only choose one other child for their team, besides their own, to ensure team equality. Individuals are randomly chosen, to mix player ages, schools, and skill levels. The recreational teams teach soccer rules and skills required to refine each player’s individual game, or to prepare them for Competitive tryouts. In addition to the parent volunteer coaches, each team receives assistance from a paid trainer.
John informed us Andrew Lore manages the Competitive teams and Wendy Stanton manages the Select teams. These total approximately 500 players. A big difference this year, is that for U9, U10, and U11 each team is run by a paid trainer, in addition to a parent coach. AVYSL implemented an unbiased tiered tryout program, as well, to keep kids in their correct playing level. The parent coaches still have to be heavily involved with the team, and work in tandem with the Trainer who is considered Head Coach. The addition of paid coaches should make the volunteer positions easier.
John ensures us he will continue to be involved in soccer. He also wanted to give a big thanks to Nancy Pyle for her part in supporting efforts to build the two turfs at Leland. This allowed some of the spring recreational programs to move to Leland, alleviating neighborhood congestion near Meridian. She continually helps the league work with the school district and the community, for favorable results.
SOCCER AND BEYOND
John Jussen is a busy man! You may have seen him around. His children attend Williams Elementary School and Bret Harte Middle School. John also coaches his 9 and 11 year olds in baseball. His resume doesn’t stop there! By day, John owns and operates Time Deli, and during our interview, we discovered he is the founding member of Soccer Silicon Valley (SSV). SSV is a long term effort to not only keep the Earthquakes local, which although successful, had created many hurdles for John to jump since 2001, but in addition, SSV is advocating politicians to approve the plan to build a state of the art soccer field worthy of our pro team, the Earthquakes! The 75 acre downtown location, the former FMC site, is enough space to house the new stadium, along with many other business and hotel buildings. This anchors SSV’s plan to create a permanent home for professional and recreational soccer in the Bay Area. The stadium is to be privately funded via the Team owners.
When the SJ Earthquake team was in jeopardy of moving, and at one point actually did uproot to Houston, John was instrumental in trying to secure a local owner, however, during his discussions with potentially interested parties, luckily, the San Jose Earthquakes were purchased by Lew Wolff and John Fisher, who understood their vision and the stadium potential. The team was officially announced as a MLS team on July 18, 2007. SSV’s more recent charter, is to promote soccer throughout the Bay Area and the rest of the world, especially to those that can’t afford it. John is a true inspiration for following his passion and making his dreams come true!
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