New coach excited to lead Flames as football program returns after nearly 10 years; “The game of soccer is the quintessential team sport,” he says.
For the first time in nearly a decade, Patrick Fogarty (PF) Catholic High School will offer a soccer program to its students.
Both the junior and senior programs will be led by JP Falacho, who has coached at St. Marguerite d’Youville High School in Brampton for the past 18 years. In 2009, he took over as head coach and led his team to two Peel Region championships.
“My family needed a change from the big city,” he explained. “It was getting overcrowded, and my daughter actually goes to school here.”
Falacho, 43, had intended to move north when he retired, but has since accelerated those plans.
“Up here there is much better air,” he said. “There are many more things outdoors. I feel like the sense of community is really strong, so I feel good here.”
Falacho will also teach math and special education at PF.
“When I was thinking of coming here, I asked if there was football,” he explained. “They told me they hadn’t had football in years.”
He has taken it upon himself to reintroduce the program with the help of school staff, parents, and community volunteers.
“Football is the quintessential team sport,” he said. “I think it teaches you a lot about life, and the bonds that are created through football cannot be broken.”
Falacho played many sports growing up, but not soccer.
“After watching so many years of soccer and loving the sport, I thought I knew a lot about soccer, but I didn’t know anything,” he said. “I learned through many mentors over the years and started playing in the Northern Football Conference at 28 years old.”
Both PF Flames soccer teams will include mostly inexperienced players this year, which is an opportunity Falacho is looking forward to.
“We have a lot of guys that have played different sports here and have different skill sets,” he said. “Everyone can do something that is for the betterment of the team.”
He believes that not having previous soccer experience will make his players more focused on learning.
“They just listen, take in all this information and are willing to work hard,” he said.
Despite the inexperienced roster, Falacho has high expectations for himself and the team this year.
“We just need to know where we start and stick with it,” he said. “We can’t become a champion team overnight.”
Falacho hopes the Flames can successfully execute plays in their first game without missing assignments and receiving penalties.
“If we can make that happen, we will be successful,” he said. “I don’t know what the success will be, but it will be a success, and then we can take whatever we’ve done wrong and learn from it.”
Ultimately, the goal is to win games in Year 1 of the show.
“We are going to be here to compete,” Falacho said. “As coaches, we need to look realistically at what we can do in the next three weeks.”
Already, nearly 80 students have signed up to play this year, but the program still needs a few volunteers.
“The more coaches we have, the better,” Falacho said, noting that volunteers can obtain a vulnerable sector verification form from the school office.
Practices are held on weekdays after 3 pm The program is also in need of some financial donations. For more details, call the school at 705-325-9372.