Tony Crocco, the Stamford High girls soccer coach, has been surrounded by soccer his entire life. Growing up in Stamford, he has been within the same community for most of his life, whether it be friends and family or soccer. He started playing soccer at age 4 and is still playing to this day at age 35. Crocco gave us some behind the scenes info into the girl’s soccer team at Stamford High.
This is Crocco’s second official year as the head coach, before he volunteered as the assistant coach under Coach Stephen Buckett. When asked what his favorite thing about being a coach is, Crocco said, “My favorite thing about being the coach is that I have seen these girls develop as players from basically 12 years old until now, almost out of high school. So it’s nice to watch how well they have developed and some have come from the lower level teams all the way up to our premiere teams. Certain individuals are really able to take it to the next level and it is always fun to watch them grow as players and watch them go into college.” Crocco also coaches outside of Stamford High School. He coaches players as young as 4 all the way up into their 20’s within Stamford FC/Stamford Hurricanes soccer teams.
When Crocco was asked about his thoughts on the season, he said, “The season has been going a little rough but the girls have been working hard. The girls are suffering with a lot of injuries. Before the season we were dealing with torn ACLs, health issues and then knee injuries kept on piling up.”
Crocco also spoke about the competition they faced this season, saying, “We are having a lack of depth but we are able to compete with some of the top teams in the league and the scores are much better than they were in the previous years. We’ve been playing better soccer but not getting the results we are looking for.”
No matter the challenges that he comes across, Crocco always has had a good experience with the team. He said his favorite memory is beating Westhill three times last year. Crocco is determined to make the most out of the team and is looking forward to seeing what’s to come for the team in the future.