World's Youngest Coach Takes On World's Worst Soccer Team
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Pohnpei is a tiny island in Micronesia. While this speck of Earth, with only 34,000 inhabitants barely shows up on the world atlas, it is in the record books for one thing - the State team has never won a soccer match. And now, the team has another first - The world's youngest coach!
25-year old Paul Watson, a freelance journalist and amateur soccer player, first heard about the Pohnpei State soccer team, whilst working on a documentary about the world's weakest teams. An official from Pohnpei mentioned that they were badly in need of a coach, and Paul decided to apply for the position.
After some training sessions with the team and an interview with the Olympic committee, who deemed him suitable for the job despite his lack of experience, Paul was officially hired as head coach of this lagging team - a job that pays . . . . . . . nothing!
The youngster who grew up in Shirehampton has high aspirations for his team. He believes that Pohnpei's football players have a lot of talent and will do extremely well if they receive some coaching.
Besides that the players have another disadvantage that Paul also hopes to resolve. The team is so poor that they don't have even the basic soccer gear. If that isn't enough, some of the team members walk as much as an hour and a half to get to practices - no wonder they are often late.
Paul, who doesn't officially start until September 17th, has already begun fundraising for his team - while he succeeded in obtaining team soccer shirts, he is still looking for sponsors for shoes, gloves and protective gear.
We have a feeling that with a dedicated coach like Paul, the Pohnpei team will soon lose its status as the world's worst soccer team! What do you think? Be sure to add your comments below.
Pohnpei is one of the four states in the Federated States of Micronesia, in the Western Pacific about 1,800 miles north of Eastern Australia. The beautiful lush island has the distinction of being one of the wettest places on earth, receiving more than 300 inches of rainfall a year. To read more about the island's history and its soccer team go to www.pohnpeisoccer.com.
sources: thisisbristol.co.uk,telegraph.co.uk
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41 Comments
- Byeover 8 yearsHe is so nice😍
- wolflixabout 10 yearswow
- joe444555about 10 yearsthats nice of him
- love2swimover 10 yearscool! that guy is like really cool+nice!!!! wish he was my coach!!:D
- awesomeabout 11 yearsthat is really nice
- lber9about 11 yearsthats realy nice of him
- soccer awesomeover 12 yearsthat's nice
- david over 12 yearsthat costs ten cents
- imdabombover 12 yearsThat's cool that he's helping that team...
- soccer starover 12 yearshey am messi and a came to tell u guys to keep up the good work,and to follow ur dream.