Mike Carvalho named Men's Head Soccer Coach

Cal Maritime's Director of Athletics and Physical Education Karen Yoder has announced the hiring of Mike Carvalho as the new Head Coach for the Keelhaulers Men's Soccer Program.

Carvalho is a former Saint Patrick-Saint Vincent High School JV Head Coach, an Assistant Varsity Coach for the Bruins, and Assistant Women's Soccer Coach at Cal Maritime.

The Southern Illinois University at Carbondale Alumni has obtained all three United Soccer Coach Credentials (NSCAA National Diploma, NSCAA Advanced National Diploma, and NSCAA Premier Diploma) as well as the highest United Soccer Coaches and University of Delaware certification, the Master Coach Diploma. It is the highest diploma offered by United Soccer Coaches.

"As the new head coach, I am looking forward to leading this fine group of cadets," said Carvalho. "We have many talented and skilled players. I want them to learn how to play together as a team following a predefined game plan. I look forward to teaching our players a game that I truly love and appreciate."

Carvalho will replace George Konstantinopoulos who spent the past four seasons as Head Coach for the men's program. Carvalho has coached hundreds of players in youth and adult competitive soccer, working with over 30 club and high school teams while winning three state cups and several league championships. Carvalho has been the Assistant Coach for the Women's Soccer team here at Cal Maritime under Emily Scheese since the inaugural season in 2018.

"I want to develop a program where I can build on the talents and skills of our new and returning players by building a structured soccer program," the Benicia resident said. "I hope to accomplish this by implementing a methodology of predictive play, constant player communication on and off the field, and to use the best practices in technical, tactical, and systemic soccer training. I believe every player needs to be a student of the game.

"They need to understand not only the roles and responsibilities of each position," Carvalho added. "But how all the positions can work together to defend against opponent attacks and how to transition into an attack to develop scoring opportunities."

Heading into his first season as a Head Coach at Cal Maritime, Carvalho has learned a lot under Women's Head Coach Emily Scheese, noting the obstacles and challenges of developing a new program that has already prepped him for this new role.

"Emily has been a great mentor and she allowed me the opportunity to help develop the women's program with her," said Carvalho. "From the beginning, she encouraged my participation in program planning and in coaching. I still remember our first practice and how excited the players and coaches were to be part of the school's first Women's Soccer Team. I've had the opportunity to integrate all I have learned from Coach Scheese into my coaching philosophy."

"I am excited to see Mike officially on staff as the next head Men's Soccer coach at Cal Maritime," Scheese added. "He has already proven his dedication to the growth of our women's soccer program by his contributions of time and soccer knowledge, and I look forward to what the men's program will be able to accomplish with a mentor that keeps each cadet at the forefront of why we coach here. I'm glad we will be able to continue to collaborate to see both teams improve and grow."

As far as the adjustments for this year with COIVD-19, Carvalho views it as an opportunity to focus on conditioning, fine-tune skill sets, and studying the game.

"During COVID restrictions, training will have to eliminate physical contact and maintain social distancing," Carvalho said. "This is a great opportunity to work on physical fitness, teach offensive and defensive game systems, work on technical and tactical skills, learn how to read the field, and learn tactical soccer patterns using shadow play. This will allow the team to build a solid foundation of soccer knowledge. As soon as COVID restrictions are removed, we can execute all we have learned and increase the level of overall effectiveness."

In addition to his coaching credentials, Carvalho is a Licensed US Soccer Federation Referee and has been since 2007. He also has coursework towards his Master's in Education at Chapman University and when he is not coaching soccer, manages the technology infrastructure team at AC Transit in Oakland.

The Cal Maritime Soccer Programs are currently slated to play their season in March and April of 2021 with a condensed conference schedule.