Longtime Park City Soccer Club and Park City High School coach Anthony DiCicco has been named the club’s new general manager.  The club, which has been around since 1994, oversees over 600 players from Park City, the Wasatch Back and the Salt Lake Valley.  In the general manager role, DiC icco will oversee day-to-day operations and long-term strategy. Lately, he’s been helping the club manage their financial plan, secure a new uniform contract with Adidas and launch this summer’s Extreme Cup tournament.  In addition to his coaching experience in Park City, DiCicco has also coached at the college and international levels. He was also the director of soccer for AstroTurf and the CEO of a soccer club consulting company and nonprofit. DiCicco believes all his past experiences will help him in his new role, though he understands each club has their unique strengths and weaknesses.  “Park City Soccer Club is a special organization in a unique community, built with care and commitment over the past 30 years,” DiCicco said. “By cultivating an environment where players, coaches and parents can become the best version of themselves, we have the opportunity to be a model for grassroots youth sports organizations nationwide.” DiCicco sees opportunity for the club to become an industry leader in a year full of changes in youth soccer. Youth soccer clubs and teams across the nation are reorganizing teams based on school year and not year of birth. He’d like the club to be known for their individualized approach to each player and family, and for Park City to be known for soccer and winter sports.  “Because of the natural disruption of the change, it also is an opportunity for us to reevaluate our team formation and player placement models to ensure that we are serving each individual athlete,” DiCicco said. DiCicco said the club has done a great job helping foster athletes, soccer players and fans for life throughout the past 30-plus years. He believes a more individualized path for players and families will lead to greater team success and long-lasting love for the game. Most youth soccer organizations have taken team-centric approaches in the past.  “The individual player pathway gives each player a clear and targeted journey through the club as part of their soccer experience, whether that ends up with them playing high school, college soccer or going beyond,” DiCicco said.  The club will evaluate other strong clubs and youth sports organizations, even outside soccer, across the country under DiCicco and look to implement some of the things they do well. He wants to tailor them to his players and families however, as they don’t want to take away from the things that make Park City and its players special, like playing multiple sports.  “We’re incredibly fortunate that the organization has been run as well as it has up until this point,” DiCicco said. “It’s not a case of having to build a business or recover the business, it’s simply a case of making sure that the business and soccer decisions are in alignment and that they’re serving the membership to the best of our ability.” DiCicco plans on continuing to coach the high school teams while serving in his new role because of strong support at the club, especially from their new technical director Lee Davis and director of coaching Joel Person. He said support for him taking the position has been overwhelmingly positive so far from former high school players, coaches at the club and parents of former club players.  “It underscores the soccer community being as strong as it is here,” DiCicco said. “We think about Park City as a ski town, but Park City is a soccer town. … The great things that have transpired in Park City in the soccer realm for a long time are the foundation on which we build for this next generation.” DiCicco hopes his players are able to extract lessons from soccer and apply them elsewhere later in life. He’ll look for the club to help players develop skills like resiliency, self-esteem and leadership skills.  “We believe deeply in the unique vision,” said Park City Soccer Club board co-chair Dominic Burchett. “With the strength of our current membership, our talented coaching staff, and DiCicco in this leadership position, we are incredibly excited about the direction we are heading.” The post Anthony DiCicco takes over Park City Soccer Club’s general manager role appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less