Gary Curreri serves as the President and Camp Director for Simply Soccer after founding the program 40 years ago. He is a 46-year resident of Coral Springs and began coaching soccer in the city of Coral Springs in 1983. He spent 21 years in a variety of capacities with the Coral Springs Soccer Club, including its Director of Coaching, and now serves as the Girls Director of Youth Development for Team Boca.
Gary holds a United States Soccer Federation “B” Coaching License, a United States Soccer Federation National Youth Coaching License, and has been a state staff coach with the Florida Youth Soccer Association for the past 44 years. He has served as a Florida Olympic Development Program coach as well as an FYSA state instructional staff coach. He has also taken FYSA teams to the United States Region III Camps for the top Olympic Development Program players in the southeast United States. He is also a certified referee and CPR-certified.
Gary has written the coaching curriculum for both the Soccer Association of Boca Raton and the Coral Springs Soccer Association’s recreational programs and served as the coaching program coordinator for both programs. It was his responsibility to secure qualified coaches for both the lectures and the field sessions, in addition to contacting all of the coaches registered for the program. He led a Team Boca Under-16 girls team to the state championship and a regional appearance in Texas, where the team came within a goal of reaching nationals.
He currently serves as the Director of Youth Development for Team Boca, one of the most prestigious soccer programs in the Southeast United States, and is primarily responsible for the development of the girls’ academy program. He currently coaches the Under-7 girls team and the Under-16 girls teams in the program.
He holds a career coaching record of 2,021-172-68, including adult and youth league teams. His teams have won nine state championships, 22 regional crowns, and many league and tournament titles. Many of his players have gone on to play in college, professionally, and internationally – a fact he is very proud of. He formed Simply Soccer to offer players the opportunity to develop their soccer skills.
Clovis Cavalcante has served as the co-director of Simply Soccer for the past several years.
Clovis holds several coaching licenses, including the United Soccer Coaches’ Special Topics (Futsal), a Director of Coaching Diploma from the NSCAA, a USSF National D License, and a Junior Level VI Diploma from the NSCAA.
He was also named the Travel Team Trainer of the Year by the EYSA (Eastchester Youth Association) before relocating to Boca Raton. He guided two EYSA teams – the U13 Girls and U13 Boys to the State Cup finals and has led several Team Boca teams to tournament championships.
Last season, he guided the Team Boca 2010s to a state runner-up finish in the FYSA (Florida Youth Soccer Association) President’s Cup final, followed by an appearance at the Southern President’s Cup regional championships in South Carolina.
Ben Sloane was promoted to Lead Coach this year after serving both as a volunteer and a coach.
Ben had been a camper for nearly eight years and won the tournament at the week-ending camp World Cup tournament numerous times.
The Coral Springs-born coach and volunteer, Ben, has worked with every age group and has successfully implemented the camp curriculum. He has taken on more responsibility each year and has handled every task he has been assigned.
Ben is very passionate about coaching and is very interactive with the kids. Sloane, who played high school soccer at Taravella High School, is recently graduated from the University of Central Florida with a degree in kinesiology.
He was named the captain of the Taravella varsity soccer team in his junior year and carried that responsibility through his senior year. He is also part of the reigning intramural soccer champions at UCF, where he is studying both kinesiology and nutrition at UCF.
Noah Sloane has more than 11 years of soccer experience. He played recreational soccer since he was 5, and has gone to Simply Soccer for about seven years as a camper, and for the last four years, he has been a counselor during the summer camp series and also helped at the camp during Spring Break.
Noah looks to help make the campers better and lets them improve on certain aspects of their game. He helps set up games, practices, and mini-games for the kids, but the most important thing for him is that the kids have fun.
The Coral Springs Charter School senior has five years of soccer experience and has made tremendous progress in a short amount of time. During his brief career, he played soccer recreationally, and in his second year, he attended Simply Soccer to hone and practice basic soccer skills that he lacked.
After his first year as a camper, he volunteered as a counselor. The following year, he helped the camp and the main coaches with games, practice, and other tasks. Since that first year of volunteering, he’s been a fixture at the Simply Soccer camp during the summer sessions.
Oscar Alonso was the creative force behind Simply Soccer’s look, including T-shirt designs, certificate and evaluation designs, as well as marketing promos.