This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
10/01/2009 12:00 AMPaul Hunter's soccer career has seen him travel many avenues, starting with his time as a player for Staples High School in Westport and then to the University of Connecticut where he was a captain and two-time All-American. Paul then turned professional and played a few years in the North American Soccer League, first for the New York Cosmos and then the Detroit Express and Tulsa Roughnecks.
After his pro career ended, Paul took some time away from soccer, but returned to the sport when his youngest son, Matthew, began playing in the Branford Soccer Club. That prompted Paul to travel down the second avenue of his soccer career as he started coaching at the youth level in town, guiding two teams to state titles before becoming the club's Director of Coaching.
Throughout this journey, Paul, who came from a soccer family as he played with his brother Tim at UConn, also made a brief stop at Branford High in 1997 as an assistant coach for the boys' squad. Now, Paul returns to the Hornets, although in a different capacity as he recently began his first season as the team's head coach.
"I'm excited for the challenge of working with the boys and hopefully taking this team to the next level," says Paul, who lives in Branford with his wife of 30 years, Vicky, with whom he has two sons, Matthew and Tim. "In the short term, I want us to be a possession-based team that has a winning record, which will allow us to make states and have a shot at the Oronoque Division. And as time goes by, I want other teams to respect Branford soccer and even fear us a little as they know it's going to be a tossup every time they face us.
"I also want to build teams that have well-rounded kids who apply themselves and put everything they have on the field, which will help them achieve the things they want to later in life."
Joe Alessi has coached alongside Paul through the past decade in the Branford Soccer Club and feels he's the perfect choice to try and develop his Hornets both as athletes and people.
"Paul's hiring is the best thing that could have happened to the Branford boys' soccer program as he's the right guy to take it in the right direction," Alessi says. "Paul's knowledge of soccer is second to none due to his amount of playing and coaching experience and that brings a lot of credibility to the program. Paul is great at breaking down every aspect of the game and also does an excellent job of communicating it to the kids as he's a straightforward person who has a lot of patience.
"Another good thing about Paul is that he likes to have fun while working hard and playing the game and so you'll often see him running around with the kids during practices. And when kids see their coach having fun on the field, it often carries over to them."
Paul agrees with Alessi's assessment that he's one to communicate directly with his athletes, an approach that's proved beneficial for everyone as Paul's Branford Soccer Club teams have experienced success on the field while he's experienced plenty of joy in coaching them.
"It's been wonderful coaching the kids in town and I still have relationships with former athletes of mine," Paul says. "Branford is a terrific town and all the players, coaches, and parents I've been involved with have been great. It's because of them that I keep coming back for more and pretty much why I applied for the job with the Branford High team."