Galaxy Kicks Cancer #MADDIESTRONG

West Michigan Galaxy is experiencing incredible growth and success in its first year after the merger of two long-standing clubs. The club leadership has spent countless hours brainstorming an appropriate way to structure our coaching leadership in order to support the growth and the advanced offerings of soccer in West Michigan right here within Galaxy. We are excited to roll out this next phase of growth within Galaxy for the 2023-24 seasonal year! The first change you will see, we are moving away from the separation of the Director of Coaching (DOC) roles, whereas previously we had one on the girls side and one on the boys side. We are consolidating into one role known as the Club Director. Jordan Haynes will oversee all the Directors and coaches for the entire club. Jordan is a familiar face to all as he is the current Boys DOC and is a club coach. Matt Barnes, the current DOC on the girl’s side, had made it known during the merger that he would give us one year to help through the transition. Unfortunately for all of us, that time has come and he will now be stepping away from the DOC role. We are eternally grateful for Matt’s guidance and wisdom during our first year as WMG and all the years he had served with TASC. Thankfully, he won’t be going too far as he is going to remain with Galaxy as a club coach! The next change you will be seeing is the creation of three new coaching director roles to help support additional offerings and the continued development of our players. These new leadership roles will be known as Technical Director, Tactical Director and a Fustal Director. Dom Hunter should be a familiar name to those within our club as he transitioned over from CATS to WM Galaxy and is currently the head coach of two of our premier teams (U13B Black and U14G Black). Dom will be transitioning into the Technical Director position for the 2023-24 year. Dom’s primary duty as Technical Director will be helping to set and execute the developmental path for the technical skills that the players at each age group should be able to master. He will work with the coaches to create a clear and consistent message as the players advance in age ranks. “We are thrilled to get Dom working with our coaches and more of our Galaxy players. His experience as a player and a coach will be influential in further developing and reinforcing the Galaxy curriculum and development path for our players.” - Jordan Haynes, Club Director. Dom has his USSF ‘D’ coaching license and has not only plenty of playing experience but also hours of coaching at the club level including: 2015-2017 Kalamazoo Kingdom premier and select coach 2019-2022 CATS select head coach 2022-present WM Galaxy premier team head coach Joshua Miller is a new face to WM Galaxy and will be joining us this fall from Midwest United, where he spent the last ten years developing players of all ages. Joshua will be filling the role of Tactical Director, where his primary focus will be club wide curriculum and growth. Josh will be creating growth benchmarks for each age group’s soccer IQ. As a full time educator at East Kentwood High School, with a master's degree in curriculum development, his focus will be on the development of not only the tangible skills but the mental aptitude of the player, increasing their understanding as developmentally appropriate. He will be helping coaches achieve these milestones with their teams. Showing his excitement for the new role, Joshua says, "I've committed my professional career to child development and am excited to continue to support that same development on the soccer field in a leadership role. Each of our coaches will be provided a year-long curriculum, adapted from US Soccer, to make sure they have the tools to make the biggest impact on each player in the club, and I can't wait to be able to support our coaching staff as we strive to be the best in youth development in West Michigan." Joshua currently holds multiple coaching certifications as well as hours on the pitch coaching players of all ages. Some of his coaching experiences include: 2005-2012, Varsity Boys/Girls at Santiago Christian School (Santiago, Dominican Republic) 2012-2013, 2016-2019, Varsity Boys assistant at East Kentwood HS 2012-2018, Varsity Girls assistant at East Kentwood HS 2014-2105, Varsity Boys head coach at Grand Rapids Christian HS 2019-current, Varsity Girls assistant at Byron Center HS 2012-2023, staff coach with Midwest United, U7-U15 boys and girls The final addition to our new coaching leadership staff is Miguel Cervantes. Miguel will be the Futsal Director for WM Galaxy. As futsal is new to WM Galaxy, it is not new to Miguel. He just competed in the NFPL Futsal Championship for the second year in a row as a goalkeeper! He joined ABK in 2012 and has been part of the Latican style Futsal training ever since. Most recently, Miguel was a goalkeeper coach and coach for ABK/OLe Futsal. As a player, he is a 4x Regional Futsal Champion and a 2x National Futsal Champion and the 2022 MLIS National Indoor Champion. Miguel and his team will be working to develop and grow our Galaxy Futsal program. He will not only be developing our players but also training our coaches in the Latican Style of Futsal. Miguel and his team have a pivotal role in helping our players learn the skills necessary to compete at this fast paced, high energy sport known as Futsal. The skills our players develop on the futsal court will translate to the outdoor field and we couldn’t be more excited to have Miguel leading the way for our inaugural year of Futsal.  “Miguel has trained, played and learned from some of the best futsal coaches in the nation. The wealth of knowledge he has and the experiences he can share with our players will be absolutely fantastic for their continued development in both futsal and ultimately when they go back to their regular outdoor season as well. We couldn’t be more thrilled to have him leading our futsal program.” - Jordan Haynes When you see these guys around, help us in welcoming and congratulating each of them in their new roles! We can’t thank all of you enough for your commitment to our club and hope you are as excited to see these changes as we are! Go GALAXY!