Mark Snell (born February 23, 1958) is an American retired professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. Snell played professionally in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

and the Major Indoor Soccer League and coached in the

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise be ...

youth system for eight years, and is widely considered one of the top youth development coaches in the country for Zone 1 (6–12 yr olds).

Player

Snell graduated from Lockport Senior High School where he was a 1975 High School All American soccer player and held the school record for shutouts (10) in one season for over 30 years. In 2009 Snell was inducted into the Lockport High School Athletic Hall of Fame. He attended

Hartwick College Hartwick College is a private liberal arts college in Oneonta, New York. The institution's origin is rooted in the founding of Hartwick Seminary in 1797 through the will of John Christopher Hartwick. In 1927, the Seminary moved to expand into a ...

where he played for Head Coach Jim Lennox on the school's soccer team from 1976 to 1979. In 1977, Snell and his teammates won the

NCAA Men's Division I Soccer Championship The NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament, sometimes known as the College Cup, is an American intercollegiate College soccer, soccer tournament conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and determines the NCAA Division I, ...

. In 1979 Snell and fellow goalkeeper Aly Anderson set the school record for shutouts (10) in a season with each having five. Snell credits his mentor Jim Lennox as the most influential person in his coaching career as he spent 4 years with him as a player and 5 as an assistant. In 1980, he signed with the Edmonton Drillers of the

who sent him on loan to 1. FC Viersen 05, a 3rd division German team. Kicker Magazine cited Snell as the only American at that time playing in the top 3 divisions in Germany. While there he was able to train with Borussia Monchengladbach In 1981, he joined the

Buffalo Stallions The Buffalo Stallions were a soccer team based out of Buffalo, New York, that played in the Major Indoor Soccer League from 1979 to 1984. Their home arena was Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. It was the last professional club for which the Portugues ...

of the Major Indoor Soccer League before finishing his career in 1985 with the

Wichita Wings The Wichita Wings were a professional indoor soccer franchise based in Wichita, Kansas. The Wings were admitted to the Major Indoor Soccer League as an expansion team on August 21, 1979.

Youth coaching

During his tenure at FC Dallas, Snell developed a curriculum that included teaching age-appropriate tactics through small-sided games for ages U7-U11. Snell's philosophy was that the "best train with the best", and created the Premier team format which grouped all of the top players in each age group into one team. Initially, players of all levels were scattered across many teams within each age group. Snell felt the best development model was having teams made up of "like" talent so that training would be competitive for all teams regardless of talent level. He also authored and managed the street soccer-based "FCD LIGA" which was a 3v3/4v4 house league for FC Dallas players on Sundays. He grew the wildly successful program from 5 teams to over 30 teams to preach the small-sided game's format to all the coaches as the best player development tool. He also organized and managed the FC Dallas Development League which hosted the top U9 teams in the Dallas Metroplex. Snell's training methodology was heavily influenced through TGFU, Constraints Led Approach (CLA) and Games Based Learning.

Coaching career

In 1996, Snell became the freshman team coach at

Canisius High School Canisius High School is a Catholic, private college-preparatory school for young men run by the USA Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus in Buffalo, New York, United States, just north of the Delaware Avenue Historic District. Founded in 1 ...

in Buffalo, NY. That year, he led the freshman team to an undefeated season and the league championship. In 1998, Snell returned to his alma mater and became an assistant with

. and also joined the Region 1 ODP Staff. In January 2003, Jim Lennox unexpectedly resigned as head coach of the Hawks (Warriors) and Snell became the interim head coach. The school chose to hire Ian McIntyre before the 2003 season began and Snell left the school to begin a career in club coaching. After spending time with the

youth teams for eight years, Snell set off on an 18-month sabbatical where he researched and studied youth academies worldwide. Through his research, he befriended coaches around the globe and also studied Pep Guardiola's "Juego de Posicion" (Positional Play) system. Snell discovered that his philosophy of teaching age-appropriate tactics starting at the younger ages through small-sided games was actually based on Positional Play. In 2014, Snell became the inaugural head coach of

Fort Worth Vaqueros FC Fort Worth Vaqueros FC is an American amateur soccer club based in Fort Worth, Texas, which began play in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) in May 2014. The Vaqueros play in the Lone Star Conference of the South Region. The club is based a ...

of the

National Premier Soccer League The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is an American men's association football, soccer league. The NPSL is a semi-professional league, comprising some teams that have paid players and some that are entirely amateur. The league is officially ...

.
FC Dallas: Mark Snell
/ref> Recently, Snell has been named Academy Director of the Fort Worth Vaqueros new youth academy where they are set to announce a free academy in the summer of 2018 for the most talented players in the Fort Worth area. A new Vaqueros Field at Sycamore Park (2400 East Vickery Blvd Fort Worth, Texas 76104) is being built through a partnership with the City of Fort Worth and set to be completed in May 2018. Snell has numerous credentials such as a US Soccer Federation A License, a US Youth Soccer National Youth License and an NSCAA Premier Diploma. Ten of Snell's former FC Dallas players have been called up by the youth national teams of the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

Bosnia & Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

and

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

, while 2 former players have signed professional contracts with FC Dallas. Snell is currently the Academy Director of the Fort Worth Vaqueros.

References

External links

NASL/MISL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snell, Mark 1953 births Living people American soccer coaches American men's soccer players American expatriate men's soccer players Soccer players from New York (state) Buffalo Stallions players Edmonton Drillers (1979–1982) players Hartwick Hawks men's soccer players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Wichita Wings (MISL) players Men's association football goalkeepers Hartwick Hawks men's soccer coaches People from Lockport, New York Sportspeople from Buffalo, New York High school soccer coaches in the United States