I just wanted to take a moment and introduce myself. My name is Nathan Cardoza and I am currently the Assistant Boys and Girls coach over at Glendale. If you have not heard, I recently accepted the position as the new Boys Head Coach at Central! I am excited for the opportunity and I am looking forward to working with your athletes.

A little bit about myself – soccer has been a major part of my life since I was a child. I started coaching in the Springfield area about 10 years ago. I started with coaching club, then moved on to high school with Springfield Catholic, then Republic and currently onto Glendale.

Other than soccer, my wife and I are both teachers in the district. Our kids are in elementary school with her and yes, my son is a typical coach’s kid and plays soccer. My daughter on the other hand found soccer to be too much work and often would rather pick flowers than play the game. Needless to say, she is no longer playing but instead has been trying other sports such as gymnastics and dance.

On top of being a coach for 10 years and teaching for the past five, I am also in my 13^th year of serving with the Missouri Army National Guard. I have been deployed overseas, worked serval flood and riot duties, as well as been on serval training tours in Europe.

Some of you may have questions such as; What are plans for the season? What changes are going to be made? What will remain the same? etc. I want to assure you all that I will be happy to answer any and all questions that you may have.

On February 24^th at 3pm, I plan to host a meeting at Central to be able to meet all the boys. Parents are more than welcome, but we will host an official preseason meeting later on in May.

As a coach in the area, I am familiar with Central and I have been impressed with some of the athletes that have come through the program. One of my goals as the new Head Coach, is to hopefully bring a new spark into the program and help all the boys find more success on and off of the field!

I ask that you all please continue to support you athletes and encourage them to come out again this coming year. If they have friends who have not played but are interested in soccer, please encourage them as well to give our program a chance.

Feel free to pass on any and all information I put out to other families who may be interested in joining. I would love to see a huge group boys come out this summer!

If any of you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me anytime! My email is ncardoza@spsmail.org.