Technical Staff

PRO
PDL
W-League
Super-20
Goalkeepers
Performance

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Sheldon Cipriani

Trinidad and Tobago native, Sheldon Cipriani is a USSF A Licensed coach and also holds a FIFA Olympic Solidarity Certificate. Cipriani is currently holding the role of Director of Coaching for the Gainesville Soccer Alliance and is a part of the Florida ODP (Olympic Development Program) coaching staff.

Former Academic All American, Cipriani has represented Trinidad and Tobago at the youth level and played in the First Division for Maple Football Club, Alcons Football Club, and TSTT Football Club. He has coached various levels of the game, most recently helping the Ocala Stampede PDL team to win their conference in 2012. Cipriani was Head Coach Matt Weston's assistant at the Ocala Stampede before joining the VSI Tampa Bay FC Coaching Staff for the 2013 USL PRO season.

George Fotopoulos

George Fotopoulos joins VSI Tampa Bay FC after a successful run with the Tampa Bay Hellenic.The University of Tampa graduate began his coaching career in 1995 as the Director of Coaching for the Heather Soccer Club and as a member of the Florida Olympic Development Program staff. In his first year, Fotopoulos directed the Tampa Bay Heather to the USYSA National Championship.

Fotopoulos quickly found his way to the college game. In 1997 he would take the lead for the University of Tampa women's program.

The University of Tampa women's soccer program broke into the NSCAA national rankings in the 1999 season; which propelled Fotopoulos' career into the women's head coaching role at Louisiana State University.

Under Fotopoulos' direction the LSU Tigers received the Most Improved Team in the Country award in 2000. During his time at LSU, from 1999-2004, the Tigers earned the NSCAA/Soccer Times Top 25 award, and were SEC tournament Finalists in both 2000 and 2001.

Fotopoulos made the move back to Tampa in 2008 where he stepped into the Head Coaching position of the W-League's, Tampa Bay Hellenic. In 2009, Fotopoulos was a W-League National Coach of the Year Finalist.

Fotopoulos' success in coaching was highlighted again when he was chosen to evaluate as a USL W-League Combine Coach and United Soccer Leagues National ODP Staff Coach.

Currently Fotopoulos works as the Director of Coaching for the Tampa Bay United youth soccer club and as a United States Soccer National Center Staff Coach.

George holds the USSF "A" License, NSCAA Premier Diploma, and USSF National Goalkeeper License.

Fotopoulos states, "I am very excited to be joining VSI Tampa Bay FC and a club that is so committed to the advancement of soccer in the U.S. The W-League is one of the top women's leagues in the world and we hope to field a team that will be competitive. The Tampa Bay area has produced so many of the top, young, female players in the college game and with some quality senior players we hope to represent VSI and the Greater Tampa Bay area with an exciting team."

Sam Mitchell

Sam began his coaching career after graduating in Philosophy at University Kent, Canterbury in England and then went on to pursue his sporting passion for soccer, spending six months coaching youth teams in Connecticut, USA.

Sam is a qualified UEFA B Licence coach and for the last four years has been coaching at the English Championship professional club Watford FC. Much of this work has been around managing the youth development programme for the Watford FC's Centres of Excellence and its soccer Academy.

A keen player, Sam has also played semi-professional soccer in England for the last five seasons after successful playing period in University soccer.

Sam, aged 26, was born in St Albans, England and is now keen to continue pursuing his coaching ambitions and recently decided to return to the US to work in both youth player development as well as with USL soccer franchise sides.

Sam has been appointed Head Coach of VSI Tampa Bay FC Super 20's and will work under the auspices of PDL Head Coach Sheldon Cipriani and PRO Head Coach Matt Weston.

Jorge Zavala

"Yoyo" Jorge Zavala is the current Director of Goalkeeping and Staff Coach for our youth club, VSI West Florida Flames. Prior to serving as Director at VSI West Florida Flames, Zavala coached at several nationally recognized clubs in GA and NJ. He is a product of NJ soccer in the 80's and 90's, playing for Union Lancers under the tutelage of Manfred Schellscheidt. Also, played alongside former National Team stars Claudio Reyna and Gregg Berhalter at soccer powerhouse St. Benedicts Prep.

Zavala is a former goalkeeper in the USL professional leagues and spent time abroad pursuing a professional career within the 1st divisions for several years under the guidance of Chilean legend Hernan Godoy. Before turning professional, he played collegiately under the leadership of Hall of Fame Coach Dr. Dave Masur at Montclair State University and for Charlie Inverso at MCCC. Coach Zavala possesses a USSF National License, USSF National Goalkeeping License, NSCAA Advanced National Diploma and the NSCAA State, Regional and National Goalkeeping Diplomas. He holds an Associate Degree in Business from Shorter College and goes by his long standing nickname, Yoyo.

Coach Yoyo is married to his childhood sweetheart Amy and they have 2 children Jorge IV and Eliana.

Owen "Mac" McCarthy

Owen "Mac" McCarthy will serve as the Head Performance Coach for the VSI Tampa Bay FC. Mac spent two years as the Women's Assistant Coach at the University of Southern Indiana. He was also the Co-Owner/Director of Soccer Performance Training for High Performance Training, an athlete performance center in Indiana.

Mac played collegiate soccer for ARMY at the United States Military Academy (West Point). Mac will use his prior experience as a SPARQ Trainer to provide players and teams with training in all aspects of athletic performance including: Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction, Quickness, Flexibility and Endurance. Mac holds the USSF "D" and USSF Fitness Level 1 Licenses and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). He is also a Performance Enhancement Specialist (PES) through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and has been educated in Human Performance by the premier performance centers Athletes Performance in Phoenix, AZ and the International Performance Institute at IMG Academy. Mac also assists T4 Soccer, a performance assessment company, in performance testing players to evaluate their physical soccer performance.