ASC-San Diego’s Head Coach Ziggy Korytoski on Becoming The City’s Professional Soccer Team
The 2018 NPSL Season has just kicked off and San Diego’s Albion SC PROS have rebranded as ASC-San Diego with a renewed committed to give back to their community and field an exceptional team. Here is the news on the team that wants to share the glory of the beautiful game with America’s Finest City.
NPSL Soccer News: ASC-San Diego is preparing to take on the other National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) teams and go for the championship this year — and Head Coach Ziggy Korytoski says he is fielding the best team yet.
With the goal of being known as America’s Finest City’s professional soccer team, ASC-San Diego wants to share its passion for soccer with the 2.7 million plus residents who call San Diego home.
Related Article: SOCCER SPOTLIGHT ON SAN DIEGO’S NOAH GINS & ASC-SAN DIEGO
Upcoming Match: ASC-San Diego vs Oxnard Guerreros FC on 5:00 PM – Tickets
SoccerToday’s Diane Scavuzzo spoke with coach Korytoski on the club’s vision and the commitment for this new men’s soccer season.
Diane Scavuzzo: How is this season’s new roster looking?
Ziggy Korytoski: The season’s shaping up well. I really like the team, it’s probably the best team — talent wise — we’ve had in the three years of competing in the NPSL. Our players are really committed to what we’re doing on the field and in the community off the field.
Diane Scavuzzo: What do you see is your greatest challenge?
Ziggy Korytoski: Greatest challenge — that’s a good question.
The greatest challenge is just consistency within the culture. The challenge, early on in the season, is to get results while still building the identity of the team. It is determining the expectations in the roles.
Playing in the NPSL, there is the inability of players to be there every single day, and while we’ve got about 90% commitment, there are some key guys that have previous commitments and this becomes the hurdle.
The guys know that regardless of their status within the group that, if they’re not at practice consistently, then they’re probably not going to be a huge piece of the puzzle.
I’ve never been a coach who builds a team around one guy. I truly believe that sum of the pieces is greater than a part.
What happens if that player becomes injured, or a referee eliminates him in the game? We’ve got to make sure we’ve got alternates. So, that’s why we’ve always trained in the collective and we do have guys who can step up whenever we feel that it’s important.
Diane Scavuzzo: What’s your strategy to go for the NPSL championship this season?
Ziggy Korytoski: Its game by game. We just try to improve day in and day out.
We want the next training to be more efficient and more precise, and ultimately, when we execute on the fields at our high-standard — regardless of what the opponent throws out at us, we will be successful.
The question — our goal — are we capable of living up to our standards? I think that’s where we’ve had a lot of success over the last few years.
Diane Scavuzzo: What’s your preferred style of play?
Ziggy Korytoski: ASC-San Diego style is a short, quick passing team that can move the ball up the field, and really dominate possession and territorial advantage — and create quality opportunities as opposed to quantity.
And we can play as a flexible, versatile team with a lot of different pieces and parts.
Diane Scavuzzo: How many players do you have on your roster this season?
Ziggy Korytoski: Our roster has 26 players.
Diane Scavuzzo: Who is going to be your toughest competition?
Ziggy Korytoski: I think it’s shaping up to be between Orange County FC, and Golden State. And, we will obviously know more within the next couple of weeks.
Diane Scavuzzo: What do you want the name, ASC San Diego to mean the city of San Diego?
Ziggy Korytoski: I hope ASC-San Diego becomes just a brand that represents America’s finest city. Whether that’s our style of play, the commitment that we make day in and day out to be our best — It is not just about us, it’s about something much bigger.
One thing I can’t do is ever promise results, but I can promise you that our team’s going to commit to doing everything that they can to be a winner, and do everything that they can to be the hardest working team on any given day.
Diane Scavuzzo: Is San Diego’s ready for professional soccer?
Ziggy Korytoski: Yes, I believe that San Diego’s ready for professional soccer. Talent’s not an issue, I think if you even put us in the USL, I think we’re probably a mid-table team.
I think that the biggest challenge for San Diego is the need for a soccer-specific stadium where people can truly live the game out to the fullest, with the energy and the passion that exists.
Diane Scavuzzo: How closely do you work with the Albion Soccer Club?
Ziggy Korytoski: Very closely. On our current roster, we have several homegrown players from Albion SC; Sean Callahan, Luis Cardona, and Garrett Heine and I am sure there will be more.
Diane Scavuzzo: What drives your passion?
Ziggy Korytoski: I love what I do. I love the sport. My passion has just always been around the game. I enjoy it, I enjoy teaching, I enjoy instruction, and I enjoy the competition. But more so, I love to see the growth, and being able to put together an idea, and then see if it’s good enough to go out there and execute and succeed, ultimately with a win.
Diane Scavuzzo: What do you look for in a player, when you are scouting players for ASC-San Diego?
Ziggy Korytoski: I look for drive and intent — players that have ambitions, players that have a good technical base. I want players who are intelligent, have a recognition of space and awareness and know how to keep the ball.
And ultimately, players who know to create opportunity and create moments to penetrate. Ultimately, you want a player with a good soccer IQ and one that can perform a skill at an extremely high speed against difficult competition again and again consistently.
