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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

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Washington Timbers have new leadership

Janson, Tarr, Jacobs come aboard to lead youth soccer club

By , Columbian Soccer, hockey and Community Sports Reporter
Published:

Sean Janson calls it his dream job. Kat Tarr calls it a perfect place for the next chapter of her life.

Janson and Tarr, who both got their start playing youth soccer in southwest Washington, are new leaders for the Washington Timbers, the area’s largest youth soccer club.

Following a restructuring with the dismissal of its general manager and three coaching directors, Janson is now executive director of the club. Brett Jacobs, who has been an assistant coach in Major League Soccer, has been hired to run the club’s academy programs. Tarr, a Columbia River High School graduate, is the new coordinator of the club’s junior academy program for players 10 and younger.

Jeff Castagnola, who has been with the club for five years, will continue as the director of recreational soccer.

The trio were recently hired after the club’s board of directors in October decided to part ways with general manager Eli Ulvi and with coaching directors Sunny Dulai, Gary Osterhage and Eihab Daoud. Those contracts expired on Dec. 31.

Jay Chester, board president for Washington Timbers FC, said the changes were not performance related, but were made because the club could not afford to pay a general manager and four coaching directors.

“Our structure that we had was not sustainable,” Chester said, noting that the club membership has declined about 10 percent since the merger.

The Washington Timbers FC club includes advanced competition soccer and recreational youth soccer in Vancouver and in Camas-Washougal. One of four youth soccer clubs in Clark County, the club now serves about 3,000 players ages 5-19.

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Under the new structure, Janson will manage the club. As the technical director, Jacobs will develop training programs for academy teams and recruit, train and manage the coaching staff. Tarr will manage the advanced training program for players 10 and younger, where her focus will be individual skill development.

Janson will continue to be the head women’s soccer coach at Clark College, and Tarr will continue to coach with Janson at Clark. Tarr said she plans to be a fill-in player this season for the Portland Thorns of the National Women’s Soccer League, who will need to replace players who are gone during the Women’s World Cup.

Janson said one of his first priorities is to secure funding for lighted fields at the Harmony Sports Complex. The club owns the turf for the new fields, but has been working for more than two years to secure up to $2 million to build fields with lights that Janson noted would provide a year-round training ground for WTFC teams and other area clubs.

Jacobs, the new academy program director, is a U.S. Soccer national staff instructor. Janson said that Jacobs’ will make skill development is the focus for academy players. Tarr said the junior academy will also focus on skill-development in a fun environment. She will be on the field with the players ages 7-10 who are interested in additional training.

Dulai, who for 15 years has been involved with the club once known as Columbia Premier Soccer Club, said he will accept a coaching position with Salmon Creek Soccer Club. Dulai also will work for Vancouver Victory FC as an assistant coach and as the director of operations for that amateur men’s soccer team.

“It’s been an absolute joy being in that club. I have no regrets,” Dulai said.

He added that he is looking forward to again working with Joe Frimpong, the coaching director for Salmon Creek Soccer Club. Frimpong initially hired Dulai to coach for CPSC.

Ulvi said it was an honor to serve as the Washington Timbers general manager, but that he and his family “have been left with a lot of questions and no answers regarding the board’s decision to terminate my contract as I was informed that it was not performance based.”

Ulvi said he knows Janson and Jacobs well and he is confident the new managers will “continue evolving the club into an organization the members can be proud of. Those three will have an outstanding stable of talented coaches, managers, and volunteers to assist in moving this club forward.”

Washington Timbers FC open house

• 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29

• O’Connell Center gym at Clark College

• Public invited to meet the new staff of the youth soccer club.

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Columbian Soccer, hockey and Community Sports Reporter