Owen Flannery grew up in San Francisco and played many different sports as a kid. He says he was not a great soccer player until the age of 14. Soccer then became his main sport, and he put in a lot of hard work to become a stronger player. Owen is a firm believer that hard work extends beyond athleticism. An athletic U8 soccer player tends to be a star in the younger age groups. Hard work and continued practice, however, is what makes a player better over time. Owen has seen that continued hard work pays off by about the U12/U13 age when some hard-working players surpass the skill level of a player who primarily relied upon athleticism.

Playing experience

As a youth soccer player, Owen played for the Vikings Soccer Club in San Francisco. He was selected numerous times to play on the CalNorth ODP team and was recruited to play at San Jose Sate University. Owen won the “Athlete of the Year” award both his junior and senior years at Drew High School in San Francisco. Owen played both forward and defender growing up and in college. In his senior year, the SJSU Spartans went undefeated and were ranked #1 in the country by the NCAA.

Education
Owen received his Master’s Degree in Sports Psychology from John F. Kennedy University, and his Bachelor’s Degree from San Jose State University, were he also studied Kinesiology. He holds a USSF “A” Coaching License, NSCAA Premier Diploma and Positive Coaching Alliance certificate. Owen also holds the NSCAA Director of Coaching License.
 
Coaching experience
  • Owen started coaching at Gunn High School in 2000.
  • Owen was Menlo College women’s soccer head coach from 2003 to 2006. While coaching at Menlo, he also coached boys and girls teams from U8 to U18 in several local soccer clubs.
  • In 2007 he was hired as the Foothill College women’s soccer head coach.
  • In 2007 he was hired as the director of coaching for Alpine FC.
  • In 2009 he was hired as the director of coaching for MP Strikers FC.
  • In 2011 Alpine FC and MP Strikers FC merged and became Alpine Strikers FC — one of the largest clubs in District 2.
Coaching philosophy
 
Owen‘s philosophy is to begin to develop soccer players with good technical skills before introducing game tactics. Coaches in the younger age groups (U7-U9) focus primarily on ball skill fundamentals (first touch, trapping, dribbling, passing/receiving). Teamwork is also a focus along with learning tactical skills. Coaches in the middle age group (U10-12) continue to focus on developing technical skills, but slowly start to work on the tactical side of the game. This is when players learn about positioning, defensive plays, transitions, and offensive plays. Alpine Strikers follows the US Soccer Curriculum. As the director of coaching (DOC), Owen leads the coaching staff to become more innovative with youth soccer development. The coaching staff works together to train each age group. Additionally, off-season training as well as camps in the summer are available to all players.