The Grasshopper Soccer Instructor Team
TIGHE O'SULLIVAN
Born and raised in Marin County and played at the College of Marin and also Dominican University where he won two Conference Championships. Now plays for Club Marin and coaches the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club who won Championships in both 2009 & 2010.
He has been coaching youth and adult soccer for 20 years and has worked with Grasshopper Soccer since 2000. He spent time in Japan learning and coaching the Grasshopper System in Tokyo. He has been a CYSA staff coach and has coached teams both at the State and District Level. He was the US National Team Assistant Coach for Beach Soccer in the 2006 and 2007 World Cup's in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil as well as the CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championships up to 2008.
His extensive soccer education includes stints at Academia de Tahuichi in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, the Real Madrid Campus de Futbol and an assortment of training facilities. He has studied coaching methodology on four different continents.
He has coached at Marin Catholic High School (10 years), Redwood High School (2 years), and San Marin High School (1 year). His last high school job at Redwood his JV team posted an undefeated record for the fall of 2006. In addition, he has coached select soccer for nearly every league in the Marin County and is currently the director of the U6 program for Mill Valley Soccer Club & coach of the U9 Academy for Dixie Youth Soccer in San Rafael.
MATTHEW ZATTO
Matthew, a Marin native, grew up playing for the Central Marin Rebels and the District V Olympic Development Program. He played his High School ball at Saint Vincent's in Petaluma, where he was an all-league NCSII player 2 of his 4 years playing Varsity. After a stand out performance at the College of Marin, Matthew pursued a shot at the big time in Madrid, Spain with the club Rayo Vallecano in the Liga Segunda B division.
During his time in Madrid, he noticed major differences between the way that American youth players and Spanish youth players were coached. The younger teams at Rayo Vallecano focused on small sided games, lots of ball manipulation exercises and strong emphasis on building the core fundamentals. It is from this experience that tA young player with the right foundation will develop faster into a confident and successful soccer star!
After returning to the United States after his time in Spain, Matthew finished his BA in International Business at the University of San Francisco, playing for the USF Club team.
Tighe has known and coached Matthew since he was 15 years old, playing for Club Marin and now with the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club where he has been twice the Golden Boot Goal Scorer of the League. Matthew looks forward to bringing his international experience to Grasshopper Soccer's Spring Soccer Sessions.