Wayne Harrison, Total Futbol Academy’s New Director of Coaching
TFA (Total Futbol Academy) is one of the most prestigious and accomplished elite youth soccer clubs in Southern California. Well known for its success at identifying high level talent in youth soccer, TFA has ear of many famous soccer academies in Europe and has helped players sign with Manchester City and Barcelona. Wayne Harrison has now joined TFA as Director of Coaching and looks forward to building the club with founder and president Paul Walker.
Wayne Harrison is a well-known youth soccer coach and a highly respected speaker at NSCAA and other coaching symposiums worldwide. The author of 12 books and 28 eBooks, Harrison is a passionate soccer coach. Harrison’s energy while on the field coaching elite youth players is remarkable. With a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his face, Harrison is devoted to raising the level of the youth game in America. With an unflinching dedication to the “Barcelona-style” of player development, Harrison controls the soccer fields as if he were a conductor of a symphony orchestra.
With decades of practical experience, Harrison is one of the few coaches who communicates well with players on the field and has high-level educational training. Harrison holds an UEFA “A” License and the NSCAA Premier Diploma, as well as degrees in Sports Psychology and Applied Physiology.
One of Harrison’s most zealous goals is to help elite players realize the importance of being a THINKING PLAYER – a player who knows what to do with the ball before receiving it. As anyone who has ever spent time with Harrison knows; he is a coach who is devoted to helping players learn the importance of assessing their options of what to do with the soccer ball BEFORE they receive it. For Harrison, soccer may be played on the field, but first it is played out in the mind.
When Harrison approached Paul Walker, TFA’s founder and president was quick to evaluate the options. Walker created the position of Director of Coaching for Harrison.
“When Wayne contacted me and the opportunity presented itself, it was a no brainer. I knew we needed to find a way to make it work for both of us,” said Walker.
Walker was impressed with Harrison’s knowledge and vast experience. According to Walker, “Harrison brings a wealth of information that, when combined with ours, allows us to take the TFA program to a whole new level.”
“His ability to teach and his professionalism are outstanding,” said Walker. “Wayne wants to share what he knows and even his emails to our staff and coaches have more soccer knowledge than anyone else could possible offer. We really value his information and wisdom.”
Harrison feels that his work fits in well with the TFA’s Barcelona oriented style of play. “The style of play is completely the same and it is built around a pure model of how the game should be played with an emphasis on winning when the time is right,” said Harrison who splits his time between LA and San Diego.
Walker said, “His current role includes the responsibility of mentoring our coaches and teams in San Diego, which will be playing in the Presidio Soccer League this season.”
Walker’s plans include Harrison to be the DOC for the San Diego branch of TFA and Harrison’s goal is to build the same high quality, elite club which exists in LA. Always a force on the field, Harrison will be recruiting top notch players and developing them to be the best they can through TFA’s philosophy of possession soccer.
Total Futbol Academy’s philosophy focuses on an Attack-Defend-Attack style with the player’s soccer IQ being extremely important. “It is vital that a player possesses a high soccer IQ and tactical awareness. Our players must be three or four moves ahead of the game,” said Walker. “Our training emphasis is on how to maintain possession of the ball and the objective of the game is always to score.”
How does defensive maneuvering fit in? “TFA’s philosophy is to be very offensive but we will at times lose the ball. This is when defensive strategy is vital as we have to immediately regain possession to be able to score. Every player is a defensive player when we lose the ball. Harrison’s focus on developing the thinking player fits perfectly.”
While Harrison has never been to FC Barcelona to train with their academy coaches in the “incubator”, Walker looks forward to providing this opportunity.
TFA’s program mentors in Barcelona, Jordi Vinyals (Barcelona’s U19 Head Coach) and Hans Schoenhofer (former Head Coach of Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona – second tier professional club) will be working directly with Harrison. Vinyais and Schoenhofer have worked with Walker for many years and direct TFA’s coaching symposiums in Barcelona, Spain.
Harrison said, “Working with Paul is wonderful. I totally believe in what he is doing and he believes in what I am doing. It is a win-win situation for both of us and very exciting.” Harrison is also very excited to be working side by side as an affiliate partner to grow TFA across the country as well as internationally.
“We are both looking to move ahead and build the future together. One of our goals is to become a USSF Development Academy. Wayne is 150% on board and is learning our TFA culture,” said Walker. “I look forward to working with Wayne and growing our TFA program.”
Wayne Harrison’s soccer site is Soccer Awareness
