Coach Philip Lund has been elected to be the new head coach for the Eastside Catholic varsity boys soccer team. Lund brings a wealth of experience and strong leadership to change the team’s culture.
Coach Lund has years of coaching experience, along with being a professional player for 16 years. His career began in his hometown in Denmark, and he travelled all across Europe and the US, including a stint in Washington for the Seattle Sounders.
Lund has played with many prominent Sounders like Clint Dempsey and Steve Zakuani, describing his experiences with them as, “eye opening,” and he said, “training with these players helped me improve more than any drill or cones”.
After retiring from pro soccer at 33 years old due to injury, he choose to pursue a career in coaching to give back to the game he loves. Prior to his retirement, Lund concurrently coached and played for 4 years at clubs in Washington including Bellevue Rush, Eastside F.C, and along with private coaching.
When asked about coaching club soccer vs. high school soccer, Philip said, “I haven’t coached (EC) for the whole season so I don’t really know it all, but I definitely feel like here I get to see my players more and I get to be a mentor and a coach. During the (Club soccer) season, I am doing more enforcing on my players and I am always coaching, I don’t get to build a relationship with them”.
Philip’s best coaching insight comes from his European soccer experience.
When asked about the difference between European and American soccer Coach Lund says, ” The difference is completely night and day…… When I was your age (16) in Europe football was my job, here I know 19 year old’s that still treat it like a hobby this wouldn’t happen in Europe.” Coach Philip intends to instill the European football ideologies in the young Eastside Catholic team.
Philip and the Crusaders look to start the season with a win on March 26th against West Seattle. Coach Lund says, “I can’t wait to get started to shape and work with the soccer talent we have at EC, and I am grateful for this opportunity”.
