Ventura County Fusion Names Former Team Member Bryan Hill as Club’s New Goalkeeper Coach

May 19, 2011 - PRLog -- VENTURA, Calif. — May 19, 2011 — The Ventura County Fusion (http://www.vcfusion.com), the region’s first and only world-class, championship-caliber soccer franchise, the 2010 Southwest Division title holder, and the 2009 champions of the Premier Development League (PDL), today announced it has hired former Fusion team member and veteran PDL player Bryan Hill as the club’s new goalkeeper coach. In this recently-created role, Hill will work under the direction of Fusion Head Coach Ole Mikkelsen to provide comprehensive mentoring, training, and technical instruction to the organization’s goalies.

The announcement, made by Fusion General Manager Ranbir Shergill, reinforces the organization’s commitment to identifying and recruiting the highest-quality coaches and roster talent available, and to providing current players with tutelage from proven soccer veterans with over 100 years of combined international playing and coaching experience at the highest levels of the sport. Hill joins Mikkelsen, Director of Soccer Graham Smith, and Director of Player Development Robert McNab as members of the Fusion coaching staff with previous professional playing experience for highly-regarded squads in major soccer leagues throughout the United States and the United Kingdom.

“Bryan is an ideal addition to the Fusion because of his long, successful track record with the organization, his portfolio of coaching experience at the community college and university levels, and his incredible, on-the-field instincts and technically-sound fundamentals — two qualities which made him one of the most feared and victorious goalkeepers in PDL history,” said Shergill. “Bryan’s extensive knowledge of goalkeeping techniques and strategies, culled from his years as a Division I, PDL, USL, and Major League Soccer (MLS) player, rounds out the expertise of our coaching staff, and gives our goalies the tools and confidence they need to thwart almost any offensive threat.”

“In some soccer leagues and organizations, goalkeeping is not regarded as a strategic, critically-important element of the sport, or as a highly-useful weapon that can positively impact the outcome of a game on different levels,” said Hill. “Based on my playing and coaching experience, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Instead, my coaching philosophy and training methodology focus on how goalkeepers can contribute to both offensive and defensive execution, and emphasize the development of techniques that minimize flaws and strengthen protection schemes. The Fusion have always recognized goalkeepers as valuable assets and keys to success, so I look forward to continuing this legacy and mentoring the next generation of Fusion netminders in this exciting new role.”

A member of the Fusion since its inaugural season in 2007, including serving as its starting goalkeeper during the team’s 2009 PDL championship run, Hill joins the organization with over 15 years of combined playing and coaching experience.

A California native born in Livermore and raised in Visalia, Hill earned a scholarship to play on the men’s soccer team at Oregon State University, where he studied kinesiology and sports medicine, and regularly faced some of the most dominating teams in the country as part of the competitive Pac-10 conference. During his college care, Hill received his first taste of PDL competition as a goalkeeper for two seasons with the Corvallis, Ore.-based Willamette Valley Firebirds.

After graduating from Oregon State in 2001, Hill took time off from competitive soccer, but returned to the sport the following year as a goalkeeper for the Central Coast Roadrunners, a two-time PDL championship franchise located in San Luis Obispo, Calif. After the 2002 season, the Roadrunners left the league, and the franchise rights were transferred to the then newly-formed Fresno Fuego, a member of the Southwest Division along with the Fusion. In 2003, Hill moved back to Corvallis to become the goalkeeper coach for two seasons for both the men’s and women’s soccer teams.

In 2005, Hill relocated to the East Coast to become the starting goalkeeper for the Harrisburg (Pa.) City Islanders, a USL Professional Division franchise which reached the playoff semifinals. That same year, he was briefly called up to join the New England Revolution of MLS, but Hill only remained with the team for one month before returning to California. Following a near career-threatening automobile accident in 2006, and months of intensive physical therapy and recovery, Hill declared himself fit again to play in early 2007.

In addition to his new Fusion role, Hill is also the assistant men’s soccer team coach at Oxnard College, and he has been a goalkeeper coach for the Fusion’s youth soccer programs, camps, and clinics since 2009.

“While I thoroughly enjoyed my Division I and PDL playing days, I find coaching to be exceptionally rewarding, and there’s nothing more satisfying to me than passing along some of my wisdom and experience to these highly-talented players to help them be successful and get to the next level in their respective careers,” added Hill. “I am constantly amazed by the size, talent, and abilities of today’s goalkeepers, so I concentrate on offering limited, but important, advice that these competitors have not previously seen or heard. In other words, I simply try to enhance a player’s existing capabilities, not overhaul his complete approach to goalkeeping. I find this method works quite well, especially in preparing goalies to face a broad range of high-pressure game situations.”

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Note to Editors:  High-resolution portraits and action shots of Hill are available upon request by contacting Keith R. Pillow of Caddy Marketing and Communications at (805) 389-1815, or by e-mail at keith@caddymarketingonline.com.

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About The Ventura County Fusion
Based in Ventura, California, the Ventura County Fusion is a successful world- class, championship-caliber soccer franchise and participant in the Western Conference’s Southwest Division of the Premier Development League (PDL), an official operation of United Soccer Leagues (USL). Now in its fifth year of operation, the team enters the 2011 season with three consecutive playoff berths and as the reigning Southwest Division champions. The Fusion’s roster consists of members of the U.S.’s Under 20 National Team, players from well-respected NCAA Division I university programs, and highly-touted standouts from international squads throughout the world. In addition to PDL play, the Fusion competes in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, and in various exhibitions against some of the world’s best professional squads, including Burnley and Everton of the English Premier League, and Chivas USA, DC United, Los Angeles Galaxy, and Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer (MLS). The Fusion is one of the few PDL organizations to offer a broad range of soccer instructional programs, including camps, schools, free clinics, and a youth club academy, specifically designed for players of different experience levels. Fusion fans, sponsors, and journalists can follow the team on Facebook; on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/VCFusion; and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/VCFusion. For more information on the Ventura County Fusion, please visit http://www.vcfusion.com, or e-mail info@vcfusion.com.

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