Remembering Tony DiCicco

To the GOALKING community,

I’m extremely sad to share with you that our good friend and mentor (Olympic gold medalist coach at the 1996 Summer games in Atlanta, and FIFA Champion at the 1999 Women’s World Cup), Tony DiCicco has passed away yesterday.

Tony was our special guest in 2014, running a goalkeeping camp for more than 200 players from our Edmonton region, with Lisa Cole and Tony’s son Nicholas DiCicco as specials guests.  Tony was such an amazing man, a great inspiration to me and to our Canadian GOALKING youth goalkeepers who met him in 2014; Tony visited us every time he came to Canada, including the last time during the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, during which he was working for a TV channel as a special commentator on the games.  At that time he again took time from his busy schedule to get together with me here in Edmonton to chat about international soccer.  I was so lucky and privileged to to be mentored by him, including during my NSCAA National Goalkeeping Diploma in 2016 in Florida.  The majority of my current goalkeeping mentoring in Canada, Elite, Competitive, and Community, comes from the strong fundamentals taught to me by Tony DiCicco, who not only taught me the best of being a goalkeeper, but also about the personal values I need to pass on to my goalkeeper trainees.

May he rest in peace, Tony, my good friend and mentor.  He will always be remembered for his great contributions to the soccer community.

Coach Armando Sanchez

Source: Tony DiCicco (@tonysocc) | Twitter