This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
12/08/2016 11:00 PMSteve Tolley has loved the game of soccer ever since he was young—just like his father. Steve’s father was a soccer coach and, by the time Steve was 15, he was helping his dad coach. Just four years later, Steve had his first head coaching job.
“That hooked me into coaching and now I’m 53 and have been coaching for 35 years,” says Steve, who was born in England, raised in Meriden, and moved to Ivoryton in 1994. “I’ve coached close to 80 different teams over the years. Some people collect stamps. I collect teams. Soccer and coaching is definitely my biggest hobby.”
Throughout the years, Steve has worked in the Valley Soccer Club (VSC) and now coaches a girls’ U-18 team in the spring. He also helped start the TOPSoccer program, which draws athletes and volunteers from around the shoreline area.
In 2010, Patrick Dilger, who was president of the VSC at the time, proposed the idea of starting TOPSoccer and Steve was quick to help out. Steve’s involvement with the program not only entails adapting the game for athletes with a variety of special needs, but also overseeing the “buddies” who assist the athletes with the sport. He works with them on training for soccer-related skills and games, as well as taking care of the field setup.
“We try to get the kids to do as much as possible and really take ownership of the program,” says Steve, who helped his father coach a Special Olympics soccer team in 1985. “Our buddies—we had about 60 this year—are incredible and we couldn’t do this without them.”
Steve notes that each athlete has at least one buddy and some have two or three. One of his biggest goals for TOPSoccer as it moves forward is to boost the number of buddies who get involved with the program. Steve says that volunteers don’t have to be soccer players and he’s planning on reaching out to organizations like the National Honor Society, along with teams and clubs in surrounding towns such as Westbrook and Old Saybrook, in order to draw more buddies to the program. Steve is hoping to get buddies involved when they’re young and says that the group of seniors who just finished the recent TOPSoccer season have been with the program throughout its existence.
“It was bittersweet to see them go because they came in as 6th-graders and we watched them grow up with these kids,” says Steve. “Some of them have had the same buddies that whole time.”
In addition to the buddies, there are a number of women who help Steve with TOPSoccer as physical therapists, occupational therapists, or counselors in school. They work closely together to meet the needs of the athletes.
“They know how to deal with the challenges of special needs kids. It’s a pretty symbiotic relationship. I do the soccer and they help me understand the kids better,” Steve says. “They do an incredible job of matching our buddies’ personalities with the kids.”
Jodi Azzinaro is a longtime volunteer with TOPSoccer who’s been impressed with Steve’s dedication to the program. Azzinaro has seen Steve create new games—like soccer golf, soccer croquet, and soccer bowling—to make the program inclusive for every athlete, while helping them learn soccer skills.
“He totally has the passion for the sport and also is continuously thinking about how to make it meaningful to the kids who participate. He looks for opportunities to make it fun and meaningful for the kids and came up with some really modified drills for our most physically challenged athletes,” Azzinaro says. “Steve puts a lot of thought and heart to make the game work for these kiddos.”
While the TOPSoccer program runs for eight weeks in the fall, Steve is thinking about it year-round when coaching his other teams. Steve has coached a variety of teams throughout his career, from four-year-olds at the youth level to travel and Premier squads to over-40 women’s teams. One of his goals with TOPSoccer is always for the athletes to learn enough skills to be able to play a game.
“This year we really did that and it’s pretty rewarding to watch,” says Steve. “They were playing 6-v-6 and we felt really good this fall about that as we’re getting to the point where the kids are really starting to understand how to play a little bit.”
Steve has met many people while coaching during the years, including his wife Lois, who Steve says has always been “unbelievably supportive” of his coaching career. Steve has two children: a son who recently got married and a daughter who is finishing her physical therapy degree. Steve’s daughter was a senior when TOPSoccer started and she volunteered that year. She has since come back to help when she can and Steve enjoys watching her apply her education to the program. When he isn’t coaching, Steve works as a structural engineer at Millstone Power Station in Waterford.
One of Steve’s favorite parts about coaching is seeing his former players return to the sport as coaches, saying that “quite a few have.” Steve feels happy that he can share his passion for soccer with them, along with everyone else involved in the Valley Soccer Club and the TOPSoccer program.
“I just love soccer. It’s my passion,” he says. “TOPSoccer is not about me. I couldn’t do it without the adult leaders or the buddies. I can’t give them enough credit as they show up every Saturday morning and they’re into it and doing a great job.”