Pat McCann has been appointed as the new head coach of the ACT Academy of Sport boys' football program, moving into the role from his previous positions as head coach of Woden Valley in the ACT Premier League and game development manager with Capital Football.
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McCann is looking to take similar philosophies he implemented at Woden Valley into the new role, which will focus on identifying and developing players with the under-17 world cup in mind.
''The basic role of ACTAS is to identify and prepare players for one, the AIS, two the U17 national team and three, to become professional players, so it's a real good challenge … certainly I'm looking forward to it,'' McCann said.
''ACTAS gives you fantastic access to everything from sports psychology, nutrition, sports science, strength and conditioning and sports medicine … so it's an awesome opportunity to have access to those types of resources and it's a big challenge to see what we can come out with at the other end.''
At Woden Valley, McCann took a young Premier League side and made it competitive with the top teams, causing a few upsets during the season, a trend he hopes will continue under the new leadership.
The club has signed Dean Ugrinic, the former head coach of Canberra Olympic, who stepped down mid-season last year for family reasons, to take over as head coach and technical director.
''That makes me pretty comfortable knowing that the club is in some good hands in terms of carrying on some of that work that we'd been doing over the last couple of years,'' McCann said.
In his new role, McCann is looking forward to developing closer ties with Capital Football as well as co-ordinating the interests of Football Federation Australia and the ACT Government.
