Laurentian University women's soccer head coach Rob Gallo
never stops to rest on his laurels. He's not satisfied with
past successes and is always looking for the best ways to
improve his squad's chances at winning a national championship.
He has been at the helm of the Laurentian women's program since
its inception back in 1999. He has coached the team through the
tough times, the worst times and the best times. Under his
guidance, the women's program has quickly established itself as
a strong contender every year they step onto the fields in the
Ontario University Athletics (OUA).
Gallo's passion to succeed rubs off on the players. He has
coached the team to its best seasons, including the last two
years in which Laurentian earned home playoff games in the
first round. Last season, The Lady Vees forged a record of
7-3-6, good for fourth overall in the OUA East Division. Gallo
is looking to piece together a championship-calibre club, and
since he was born and raised in Sudbury, his roster is jammed
with local talent. Ten players from Sudbury make up a strong
foundation for the program and they all play vital roles. Gallo
attended St. Charles College and then graduated from Laurentian
and Carleton Universities with an honours bachelor of social
work degree. He currently works for the WSIB in town. He's also
the past president of the Ten Rainbows Children Foundation. He
grew up playing soccer for the Italia Flyers and went on to
compete for the Laurentian and Carleton teams. He has coached
high school and college soccer before being the first
Laurentian women's coach in 1999. He's married and has four
children.
Recently, Gallo took some time out to talk to Northern Life
reporter Scott Haddow about Laurentian soccer.
SH: You've been busy, like every summer, recruiting
prospects to play for Laurentian. What's the rundown on this
year's crop of rookies?
RG: Recruiting is a year round job. You are always looking at
one or two years ahead as we cycle players on average every
four years.
We have eight new ladies joining our program this year. Six are
rookies out of high school; one is a transfer from the
University of Windsor and is eligible on Sept. 10, 2007. The
other one is a transfer out of University of New Brunswick and
will not be eligible until the 2008 season. With 17 returnees
we went after depth and some more speed. They are all hard
working and dedicated and should fit in nicely with our
team.
SH: Recruiting players to Sudbury and Laurentian, is it
a tough sell?
RG: Recruiting is difficult because of geography. Most top
level players come out of the Ontario Youth Soccer League
(OYSL) and those teams are in southern Ontario.
These players have 10 universities to choose from within an
hour from their homes. In addition, we are currently not in
position to offer athletic scholarships for first-year players.
This is the first year for the awards, and we hope to be able
to get on equal footing with other schools that have them this
season. What we do offer is the small school with some
excellent programs and good student to teacher ratios, which
they cannot get at the other schools.
SH: What do you feel are Laurentian's best
strengths?
RG: Laurentian's appeal is the small classes; professors know
you, quality education and a family atmosphere.
SH: How much do you want to bring a provincial or
national championship to Laurentian and Sudbury?
RG: As a player I was fortunate to be part of three OUA
Championships and one national silver medal winning team. We
had a great coach in Greg Zorbas. He taught us to win and we
were never satisfied with losing. Laurentian Soccer means
winning. My goal is a provincial and then a National
Championship.
SH: What will it take and is your squad up to that
level?
RG: What separates us from a lot of other university teams is
our work ethic and our desire to succeed. We don't have the
luxury of a player who can dominate a game on this team. Not
one individual will win it all for us. Our team is a collection
of hard workers. They will need to work hard each and every
game; those that come in off the bench will need to do the
same.
SH: Defender Cara Smith will represent Sudbury and
Canada at the world university games in August. What can you
say about this Sudbury girl?
RG: Cara Smith has been recognized for her hard work and
dedication. She is very talented. She defends very well and
brings the added dimension of an offensive threat. She is
excellent to coach and works extremely hard in every game she
plays. She is very deserving of her selection to the national
university team.
SH:What's the biggest challenge facing your squad this
upcoming season?
RG: As much as we have improved so has the rest of the OUA.
With a 16 game schedule, so we need to be consistent. We have
five games in seven days to start the season. Hopefully, the
depth we added will be enough to get us to the end of the
season and a berth in the final four. 
SH: What's the outlook for 2007?
RG: We have a veteran squad. Our goaltending and defence have
carried us over the last few seasons and again they will be
solid. We had six ties last season and certainly if we can
score a few we will be in good shape and turn a few of those
ties into victories.
SH:What have you learned while coaching at
Laurentian?
RG: I don't take myself too seriously anymore. I know I have a
job to do here at Laurentian and that is to win soccer games
and ultimately win a championship. I really enjoy the
development of these young women not only as soccer players but
as people. We want them to win on the field but more
importantly we want them to succeed in the classroom. We want
them to finish their four or five years and feel good about
themselves and their achievements.
SH: How has soccer enriched your life overall?
RG: I look at my coaching job at Laurentian as a privilege. I
have coached some fabulous student athletes, met some great
people on campus and throughout the province and country. I
have a great coaching staff and supportive athletic director.
They make my job as a coach very meaningful and I truly enjoy
reporting for training camp each and every August.
SH: Looking at Sudbury soccer overall, what stands
out?
RG: We're not doing a good job in developing the basic skills
of our children; we do even worse at developing quality
coaches. We must remove our focus on winning at young ages and
encourage skill development and having fun.
SH:Why do you do what you do in soccer?
RG: What I enjoy is watching the evolution of these young women
over their years at Laurentian. Whoever comes into our program
leaves a different person. They are confident and well rounded.
They are great people playing a great game, always exciting
always a challenge, that's why I coach.
