Jim Gabarra

Jim Gabarra
Personal information
Full name James Gabarra
Date of birth (1959-09-22) September 22, 1959
Place of birth Key West, Florida, United States
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position Forward
Youth career
1978–1981 Connecticut College
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1982–1983 Detroit Express
1984 New York Nationals
1984–1985 Louisville Thunder (indoor) 33 (44)
1985 Dallas Sidekicks (indoor) 10 (0)
1985–1986 Louisville Thunder (indoor)
1986–1989 Los Angeles Lazers (indoor) 87 (38)
1989–1990 Los Angeles Heat
1989–1991 San Diego Sockers (indoor) 93 (29)
1991–1992 Tacoma Stars (indoor) 36 (20)
1992–1993 Milwaukee Wave (indoor) 33 (28)
1993 Los Angeles United (indoor)
1996 Washington Warthogs (indoor) 27 (13)
National team
1988–1989 United States 14 (0)
Teams managed
1982–1983 Louisville Thunder
1985–1987 Milwaukee Wave
1994–1997 Washington Warthogs
1994–1998 Naval Academy (assistant)
2001–2010 Washington Freedom
2004 San Diego Spirit
2011 Sky Blue FC
2012 New Jersey Wildcats
2013–2015 Sky Blue FC
2016– Washington Spirit

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

† Appearances (goals)

Jim Gabarra (born September 22, 1959) is a retired American soccer forward who coached the Washington Freedom women's soccer team for ten years. He played professionally in the American Soccer League, United Soccer League, American Indoor Soccer Association and Major Indoor Soccer League and Western Soccer Alliance.

Early career

A native of Key West, Florida, Gabarra attended Connecticut College where he played soccer from 1978 to 1981. In 1989, Connecticut College inducted Gabarra into its Athletic Hall of Fame. After finishing college in the spring of 1982, Gabarra was signed by the Detroit Express of the American Soccer League (ASL). The Express won the ASL championship that season, defeating the Oklahoma City Slickers two games to one to take the title. However, both the Express and the ASL barely made it through the 1983 season before they both folded. Gabarra spent most of his time with the Express on the substitute's bench. In 1984, the United Soccer League (USL) attempted to replace the ASL as the de facto U.S. second division. Gabarra moved to the USL where he joined the New York Nationals. The USL fared little better than the ASL and the Nationals folded at the end of the season. The league itself collapsed during its second season, but by that time Gabarra was establishing himself as an indoor star.

Indoor soccer

In 1984, the Louisville Thunder of the newly established American Indoor Soccer Association (AISA) signed Gabarra. With the move to indoor soccer, Gabarra found his niche. That year he led the Thunder in scoring as the team went to the AISA championship series, only to lose to the Canton Invaders. On September 18, 1985, during the AISA off season, Gabarra signed with the Dallas Sidekicks of Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) as a free agent. He played ten games with the team, assisting on one goal, before moving back to the Louisville Thunder. In 1986, Gabarra and the Thunder finally overcame the Invaders and took the 1985–1986 AISA title. The next season he moved to the Los Angeles Lazers of MISL. He stayed with the Lazers for three seasons. However, the team folded at the end of the 1988–1989 season. Gabarra then moved to the San Diego Sockers where he was a part of the 1990–1991 championship team. He moved once more, this time to the Tacoma Stars for the 1991–1992 season. By the 1991–1992 season, the MISL was on its last legs. At the end of the season, the league and the Stars folded. He then moved to the Milwaukee Wave of the National Professional Soccer League.[1]

During that time, Gabarra also played two outdoor seasons with the Los Angeles Heat. In 1989, the Heat were members of the Western Soccer League (WSL). That year, they lost in penalty kicks to the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks in the semi-finals. At the end of the 1989 season, the WSL merged with the American Soccer League to form the American Professional Soccer League (APSL). The Heat continued its excellent play in 1990, making it to the Western Conference championship series where it fell again to the Blackhawks.[2]

Olympics, futsal and national team

In 1986, Gabarra began playing for the U.S. Olympic soccer team as it began the qualification process for the 1988 Summer Olympics to be held in Seoul, South Korea. The U.S. qualified and Gabarra was part of the team which went 1–1–1 and failed to reach the second round.

Gabarra used his extensive indoor soccer experience to contribute to the U.S. Futsal team. He was the captain of the team from 1986 to 1996, during which he earned 30 indoor caps and scored 17 goals, both U.S. records. In 1989, the U.S. Futsal FIFA Futsal World Championship. Three years later, Gabarra and his team mates took second at the Futsal championship, losing 4–1 to Brazil in the championship game.[3]

Gabarra earned his first cap with the U.S. national team in a May 14, 1988 loss to Colombia. He went on to earn a total of 14 caps in 1988 and 1989, but never scored a goal. During 1989, he usually came on as a substitute. His last match with the national team came on November 5, 1989 in a scoreless tie with El Salvador.

Coaching

Gabarra began his transition from playing to coaching early in his career when he became the player/coach of the Louisville Thunder in 1985. He lasted two seasons as the head coach. After he retired from playing with the collapse of the Tacoma Stars and the MISL, he returned to coaching with the Milwaukee Wave. He lasted only the 1992–1993 season. In 1994, he became the head coach of the Washington Warthogs of the Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) and remained with the team through the 1997 season when the league folded. He also served as a volunteer assistant coach to his wife who is the women's soccer coach at the U.S. Naval Academy.

On August 11, 2000, the Washington Freedom of the Women's United Soccer Association announced it had hired Gabarra as its first head coach. The WUSA was a new league which did not begin competitive play until the 2001 season. That year the Freedom stumbled badly, finishing second to the bottom in the standings and placing no players on the All Star team. In 2002, the Freedom made a complete turn around and made it to the WUSA champsionship only to fall 3–2 to the Carolina Courage. The next year, Gabarra led the Freedom to a second consecutive WUSA championship game. This time it won, defeating the Atlanta Beat 2–1 in overtime.[4] That was the last year for the WUSA as it folded due to financial difficulties. When the WUSA folded in 2003, the Freedom recreated itself as an independent soccer club, the Freedom Soccer Club.[5] Gabarra remained on as its head coach despite briefly coaching the San Diego Spirit during a tournament in 2004. In 2007, Gabarra coached the Freedom's W-League franchise to the W-League championship and was one of three finalists for W-League Coach of the Year.

When the Freedom returned to professional soccer in 2009 as part of the new league, Women's Professional Soccer, Gabarra continued as head coach. The team made the playoffs both that year and in 2010; however, the team suffered a 10-game winless streak in the latter. After losing the first-round playoff game (as happened in 2009 as well), Gabarra resigned, citing "irreconcilable differences" with team management.[6]

Gabarra signed with Sky Blue FC in 2011. After the WPS folded, Gabarra coached the New Jersey Wildcats of the W-League for the 2012 season.[7] Gabarra returned to coach Sky Blue FC in 2013 as part of the National Women's Soccer League.

He became the head coach of the Washington Spirit in October 2015.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "NATIONAL PROFESSIONAL SOCCER LEAGUE FINAL OFFICIAL STATISTICS – 1992–1993". Howesportsdata.com. 2002-07-22. Retrieved 2013-12-27.
  2. ↑ "WSL 1990 Season". A-leaguearchive.tripod.com. Retrieved 2013-12-27.
  3. ↑ http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/timsheldon.geo/milestones.html%23Silver&date=2009-10-25+23:06:49
  4. ↑ http://www.sportsnetwork.com/default.asp?c=nytimes&page=soc-wusa/news/ALN2754590.htm
  5. ↑ https://web.archive.org/20070312224434/http://www.washingtonfreedom.com:80/coaches.asp. Archived from the original on March 12, 2007. Retrieved March 20, 2007. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ↑ "Jim Gabarra resigns as the Washington Freedom's head coach after 10 years with women's club". The Washington Post. 2010-09-28. Retrieved 2010-09-28.
  7. ↑ "New Jersey Wildcats". Njwildcats.com. 2012-04-20. Retrieved 2013-12-27.
  8. ↑ http://www.skybluefc.com/sky-blue-fc-agrees-to-mutual-release-with-head-coach-jim-gabarra/

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, March 24, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.