The Cochrane Rangers men’s open soccer team acquired two new coaches for the coming season in preparation of gaining promotion back to Division 2 after last year’s relegation.
Last season, the Rangers, which played in Calgary United Soccer Association (CUSA) Division 2, were relegated after an eighth-place finish with a total of five wins over an 18 game season.
“Unfortunately, last year club support was a little bit lacking,” said Gunther Schutterle, one of the new coaches for Cochrane Rangers.
Schutterle, along with Knut Neven, will equally share the coaching duties. The two both bring an extensive resume of previous coaching experience to the team.
“Integrating so many different players will be the challenge this year,” said Neven. “Getting everyone on the same page, that will be the challenge. If coaches don’t succeed at that, then they’ll struggle to have a positive season.”
Both coaches believe that bringing in youth players will help the club move forward in the coming seasons.
Cochrane is growing and it means we could get an influx of young players that are potentially playing men’s soccer in a few years, Neven and Schutterle said.
“We should interest at least some of them to come play for Cochrane, and the key to that is offering a men’s program at the open level that makes it attractive for them to play here,” said Neven.
The club is in an extremely rare situation, as the Rangers own their own soccer fields, which is uncommon in Canada, according to Schutterle. “We just have to find ways and means to get leverage of that opportunity as the town grows.”
Schutterle’s previous experience includes coaching the Cochrane Rangers premier ladies team, who qualified for provincials six times in a row over the course of three years, including outdoor and indoor seasons. Neven coached the Calgary team Callies Samba last year, which also played in Division 2 and won the league, gaining promotion to Division 1, loosing only one of their 18 matches.
This season, Neven will continue his roll at Callies Samba, an advantage for Rangers’ players, as coaching sessions will be merged, meaning more bodies for practice.
“It’s much more competitive and much more interesting for the guys,” said Neven. “They get to look at a team that accomplished something last year, and now it’s up to them this year to follow suite.”
“We’ve stepped up changing things and hopefully it will work out,” said Schutterle.
“The both of us are totally committed – whatever it takes.”
