(Story courtesy of Birmingham-Southern College & Southern Jewish Life)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Maccabi USA announced that Preston Goldfarb of Birmingham will be head coach of the United States Open Men's Soccer team at the 19th World Maccabiah Games in Israel, July 2013.
Goldfarb was the head coach for the Open Men's Soccer Team at the Maccabi Australia International Games in 2010 and the head coach for the Juniors Boys' Soccer Team at the 18th Maccabiah Games in Israel in 2009.
Goldfarb is the head men's soccer coach at Birmingham-Southern College. He started his involvement with soccer in Alabama in the early 1970s with the Mid-State Youth Soccer Organization. Since arriving on the BSC campus in 1983, Goldfarb's involvement with soccer has expanded to the Alabama community with the development of youth and adult soccer programs, including the first-ever Alabama amateur soccer team in the U.S. Interregional Soccer League, which he created in 1993.
In 1995, Goldfarb was a driving force behind the city of Birmingham hosting Olympic Soccer for the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games; and in 2000, he was inducted into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame.
Goldfarb has been named Conference Coach of the Year five times, including the 2005 Big South Conference Coach of the Year; Regional Coach of the Year in 1996, 1997, and 1999; and he was named the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's Regional honoree in 1995 and 1997. He also served as president of the NAIA Men's Soccer Coaches Association.
The coaching staff is seeking the best Jewish athletes from across the USA to try out for the team. The tryout is scheduled for Dec. 21 to 23, 2012 in California, and Jan. 4 to 6, 2013 on the east coast, at a location to be determined. All interested athletes, both alumni and new, must fill out an application before trying out for the team. Applications are available at www.maccabiusa.com and can either be filled out on-line or mailed in.
Maccabi USA is the official sponsor of the United States Team to the World Maccabiah Games, the Pan American Maccabi Games and the Maccabi competitions in Europe and Australia, as well as a sponsor of the JCC Maccabi Games for teens in North America.
