Celtics coaches are respected, experienced and have the ability and personality to motivate players to play with conatu et constantia (effort and determination), our club motto. They have extensive soccer and leadership experience, as well as strong emotional and educational beliefs for coaching that they pass onto each and every Celtics player through high level, technical training and commitment to the game. They have a wealth of soccer expertise, professional licenses and exceptional backgrounds.

All Celtics team coaches are certified through at least one of the following accredited organizations: United States Soccer Federation, Illinois State Soccer Association and National Soccer Coaches Association of America (in addition to overseas certifications). And, while we place emphasis on educational value, our coaches are also professional hardworking people with very strong soccer pedigrees. More importantly, they have what it takes to be considered the best coaches around, according to the Illinois Youth Soccer Association.

David Rout  

Celtics Founder
General Manager 
Head Coach: Robondi 2009 & Bibroci 2006

 

Coach Rout started the first Celtics girls team in 2008. He is licensed with both the Illinois State Soccer Association and the United States Soccer Federation. His previous coaching experience was with 12- and 14-year old boys in the Palos area, several of whom went on to represent their varsity team at Marist, Stagg and Sandburg High Schools. Coach Rout has extensive playing experience both in England and in the USA. He retired 8 years ago as the captain and manager of the St. Charles Celtics (over 30) men's team, Illinois State Cup Winner in 2003 and Runner Up in 2004, 2005 & 2013. Coach Rout spends his twilight playing years for Oakbrook based DePaul Alumni FC (40+) and Ferencvaros Fc (48+) in the PSL and of course is a regular for the 'Celtic Dads' at the Max. He served as Treasurer of the Premier Soccer League of Chicagoland (PSL), Chicago's largest mens' amateur soccer league, for 11 years and a further 4 years service on that league's Board of Directors.  Coach Rout learned many of his coaching techniques from Manchester United’s Academy coach Tom Statham. Over the past 19 years the two, together, have run private summer soccer camps in Palos and the La Grange areas. Originally from Derby, England, he feels strongly that although technical instruction is very important in a player’s development, much emphasis should be placed on respect, self-conviction, confidence, team camaraderie and pride in the belief that these character-building qualities enhance a player’s social maturity. “Celtics is in the business of developing soccer players, many of whom have graduated and gone on to play at a very high level, however, what is more important is the positive influence the club provides every player which is at the core of its’ philosophical approach”. 

Andrew Taylor
 

Director of Coaching 
Head coach: Caerini 2010 boys, Luceni 2010 boys, Cauci 2011 Girls, Decantae 2011 girls

Certifications and Licensing:  
USSF National 'B' , USSF National 'C', National 'D' and National 'E' License, US Youth Soccer National Youth License, USSF Grassroots, SFA Level 1 License (Scottish Football Association), Sports Brain Concussion Certified, Livingworks start Certified, Double Goal Coaching Certified and Safe Sports Certified. 
 
Playing experience includes: Greenock Morton Football Club (SFL), St Mirren Football Club (SPL), Stirling Albion Football Club (SFL), Prairie State Junior College (NJCAA), Deportivo Indiana (Ultimate soccer league) and he continues to play in local leagues in the greater Chicagoland area. 

Coaching experience includes:   
Head Coach, Team Chicago, 2008-2014  
Pro Academy Director, Team Chicago, 2009-2014  
Recreational camp organizer and lead trainer, Wheatland Athletic Association  
Feet First Trainer, Wheatland Athletic Association.  
Camp Counselor, PlayUsa   
 
Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Coach Andrew has trained Celtic players for the past eleven years, particularly focusing on foot skills.  
Coach Andrew believes that starting at the younger age and forming a stable and challenging foundation is the key. He draws out kids' strengths and guides them with technical and fundamentally sound skill set in all aspects of the game. "Once you stop chasing the victories and concern yourself more with progress, the victories will then come," says Coach Andrew. Currently residing in Naperville with his wife Lauren and 4 year old daughter Aria, his experience has been elevated by working next to and with some very high-level and experienced mentors. Coach Andrew strongly believes in teams being part of a family and always giving back to the community. With the help of all the parents and staff at his previous club, he raised over $4,000 dollars by shaving his head for St Baldricks. Clearly he believes in leading by example.

Kevin Meek

Director of the First XI Program
Head Coach: 2005 First XI Boys, 2006 First XI Girls, 2009 First XI Boys
Assistant Coach: 2009 Robondi Boys, 2013 Boys 

Certifications and Licensing: USSF National Youth ‘A’, National Senior ‘B’, and National Youth ‘C’ Licenses;United Soccer Coach’s Premier, Advanced National, National, and GK Level II Diplomas; National Sports Performance Association Certified Speed and Agility Trainer; FA Level 1, CPR, Concussion and Safe Sports Certified

Playing Experience includes:
Butler University (NCAA DI), Indiana ODP, Teams USA

Coaching Experience includes:
Head Assistant Coach, Lewis University, 2019 – Present
Head Coach and Director, Elgin Academy, 2018 – 2020
Operation’s Associate, USSF DA Program, 2017 – 2018 
Head Coach, Chicago State University, 2016 – 2017 
Head Coach, Assumption College, 2012 – 2016
Director of AC Elite Soccer Academy and Camps, 2010 - 2016
Head Coach, Oakwood Development Academy, 2014 – 2016
Head Coach, Our Lady of Elms College, 2009 – 2012
Head and Assistant Coach, Massachusetts Olympic Development Program, 2010 – 2012
Assistant Coach, Western MA Pioneers WPSL Team, 2010 – 2012
Director of Coaching, Junior Pioneers Soccer Club, 2007 – 2009
Head Associate Coach, Westfield State University, 2005 – 2009

Born in Indiana, Coach Kevin Meek believes in a guided discovery approach to coaching and teaching that is centered around the individual player. “I believe the individual player’s development outweighs the result,” according to Meek. “I believe in a holistic approach to coaching and teaching I learned from my mother, who was both a teacher and coach; from my many years of international travel; and from my many years of teaching.” Coach Meek hopes to bring his fervent that a community and team in its proper form provides the safe environment individuals require to feel empowered to make individual decisions, take chances, make mistakes, and ultimately create beautiful soccer and graduate as future leaders.

Chris Koenig

Head coach: First XI 03-04 Girls
Certifications and Licensing:  
USSF National 'C', National 'D' and National 'E' License. Coerver Youth Diploma and Safe Sports Certified. 
 


Coach Chris was the program director for Celtics Juniors, which is a critical program for Celtics. He is currently the head coach for the 03/04 First XI team.  Chris has been coaching for Celtics in various capacities for 11 years. Chris was born and raised in La Grange, playing club soccer for 10 years as well as playing each of his four years attending Lyons Township High School. Chris attended and graduated from Coe College, playing soccer for the Kohawks each year, with a Varsity letter each year as well. 

He appreciates his local connection to soccer and fully supports the Celtics culture and vision. He believes that soccer has been and always will be an important aspect of who he is and loves being able to pass that onto to aspiring players

Bill Lanspeary

Head coach, First XI 2007 Girls
 





Bill Lanspeary has been playing or coaching soccer for the past 35 years. 
He grew up playing in Michigan where he played at Schoolcraft College and club soccer at the University of Michigan. 
He has been coaching for 20 years, the past 14 years at Lyons Township High School where he currently coaches the freshman boys and the varsity girls' teams. He has been selected as a region coach of the year twice by his peers in the Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association. Bill lives in La Grange, is married, and has 3 daughters.   

Paul Labbato

Coach Labbato has been coaching soccer for the past 17 years. He has had great success with the Lyons Township High School Varsity Boys team taking them to a State Championship in 2009. In addition to serving as the LT High School Boys Varsity Coach, he also coaches LT’s Girls sophomore team. Previously, he coached at Proviso West High School, West Mecklenburg High School in North Carolina and Miramar High School in Florida. Coach Labbato holds a National 'D' license from the United States Soccer Federation and earned a masters degree in Education and teaches mathematics at Lyons Township High School. His love for the game of soccer is alongside his love for education. He believes in player development, teaching foot skills and, most importantly, helping players to gain confidence both on and off the field.  

Hope Mayer

Head Coach, Vodiae 2010






Coach Hope has been playing soccer for over 20 years and grew up in Western Springs, IL. She played for Lyons Township High School and finished her playing career at Western Michigan University. In 2013, she was a part of an MAC championship team, and the biggest upset in NCAA Women's Soccer history beating the number 2 ranked Marquette in the NCAA tournament. 
She began playing club soccer at the U8 level. Since then, soccer has been an integral part of her life. She is thankful to have made many lifelong friends through soccer and has been teaching Special Education and coaching at Hinsdale South High School for 6 years. Coach Hope is honored to be part of Celtics and to continue to share her passion for soccer with Celtics players and families.

Jordan Stopka 

Head Coach: First XI 2003 Boys
 





Coach Jordan has been playing soccer since he could walk. Growing up in La Grange Park, he began playing organized soccer at the age of 5 and spent his earlier years playing for a local club, Lions Force, before joining LTSC at the age of 13, then took his talents to Ajax F.C. Chicago based out of Naperville, where he played until he attended college at the University of Illinois.  Jordan spent two full (and part of a third) seasons with the varsity team at Lyons Township, captaining the team his senior year. His passion for the game continues to grow every day, evident in a schedule that rarely sees a day off from either playing or coaching the sport.  He continues to play several times a week, in various leagues across the suburbs. Besides coaching at Celtics, Jordan is the head varsity boys soccer coach at York Community High School in Elmhurst. Jordan uses what he has learned as a player to further the development of his teams, and he hopes his love for soccer is passed down to Celtics players so that they continue to learn and grow through the sport

Brian Kapusta 

Head Coach: First XI Boys 2005, First XI Girls 2007
Assistant Coach: First XI Girls 2006
 



Coach Kapusta has an extensive background in soccer. As a young player, he played with the Chicago Magic and Lemont High School where he earned All-Sectional honors. As an adult, he played 12 seasons with the AAC Eagles and Lightning in the Chicago Semi-pro leagues which are known to be amongst the best of their kind in the country. 

Further, he twice trained with professional team Wisloka Debica in Poland. An ISSA and United States Soccer Federation Licensed Coach, Coach Kapusta has coached with the Chicago Fire Youth Camps and Region 300 AYSO. He is a proud member of Celtics Dads and dad to four La Grange kids of his own. 

Elli Stanford

Head Coach: Juniors, Sabrini 2014, Cassi 2013, Silures 2013





Certifications and Licensing:
USSF Grassroots Certifications (F and E License), UEFA C Licence (England), FA Level 1 Licence (Football Association), FA Level 1 - Coaching ‘Footballers’ with Disabilities, Safe Sports Certified, FA Emergency Aid Course, FA Safeguarding Children Workshop, BTEC In Sport - Level 2 Certificate 

Playing Experience includes:
Manchester United Youth Academy, Center Of Excellence (North West England), Greater Manchester County FA Womens, Manchester Metropolitan University (First Team), Curzon Ashton F.C.
Coaching Experience includes:
Academy Director, Challenger Sports, 2019 – 2021
Director of TinyTykes (ages 2-5 years), 2018 - Present
Head Coach, Lac La Biche FC (Alberta CA), 2017 – 2018
Head 2nds Coach, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016 – 2017

Born in Manchester, England, Coach Elli believes in a fun and energetic introduction for our young players into the world of soccer. Her goal is to create an exciting, positive and simply fun environment for our young players, which she believes is key to bonding them to this sport for
life. Coach Elli has been coaching internationally since 2009 in England, Australia, Canada and the United States. Coach Elli moved to La Grange in June 2021 with her wife, Meaghan, who will be teaching 6th Grade Reading in Chicago. “We are both excited to be part of this
community and I feel very lucky that we are part of the Celtics family!”

Anny Bierman

Assistant Coach:
Physical Therapist






Certifications and Licensing:
National "D" License; Board-Certified Specialist in Sports Physical Therapy and Safe Sports Certified. 

Anny started playing soccer because her older sister did, but then she got the bug. During her four years of varsity soccer at Ursuline Academy of Dallas, her team won 4 state championships, and she was all-state for 3 of those. She also had a great club career with Sting Soccer Club of Dallas.  Her senior year, Sting won a state championship and made it to the regional finals. They also had success at the national championships as U19, U20, and U23. Winning all those championships and other tournaments was awesome, but some of her best memories occurred off the field with her teammates. She continued her career at Saint Louis University, where she was named C-USA All-Freshman team then All-Conference and Co-SIDA Academic All-District and All-Region her senior year. More importantly, she got a great education at SLU, where she earned her bachelors, masters, and doctorate. She has been practicing physical therapy in Naperville with Athletico since 2005.  She is married to the original Coach Stinky Feet (Brian) and has three stinky boys (Benjamin, Peter, and William). 

Brian Bierman

Head coach: Brigantes 2013, Carvetti 2012, Belgae 2012, Trebates 2011, and Bibroci 2006
 

Oliver Mayer

Head Coach, Cornovii 2009 and Demetae 2009







Born in England, Coach Ollie has been playing soccer since he could first walk. After moving to the states at a very young age, he was born and raised in Aurora, Illinois. He first began his youth career with Team Chicago, then moving to the Chicago Magic, and finishing with the Chicago Fire Development Academy. Ollie played four years of college soccer at Western Michigan University, serving as team captain for his senior season, where he was selected for All-MAC second team, and All-MAC Tournament team. Currently, Ollie resides in Westmont, IL where he has lived for the past 3 years. He continues to play soccer a couple times a week in multiple adult leagues, one with other members of the Celtics coaching staff. For Ollie, coaching represents an opportunity to stay involved with the game that has given him so much. His soccer philosophy revolves around creating a fun, challenging environment that encourages kids to be brave and get out of their comfort zone to develop self-confidence both on and off the field. 

Peter Follenweider 

Head coach: First XI 2005 Girls
 




Coach Peter is an NSCAA regional licensed coach who has spent more than 25 years coaching at the club, high school, and college level as well as with the Illinois Olympic Developmental Program. In addition to coaching, Peter has a Master's Degree in Education and spent almost 20 years teaching English in the public schools and is now practicing attorney. His love of the Celtics organization is based on the concept of producing well rounded players who thrive not only on the soccer field, but in all aspects of life. It is no coincidence that many of the Celtics' players are involved in orchestra, radio, basketball, and other co-and extra curricular activies and excel academically. His philosophy of coaching is to always attack through short controlled passing and to always play with Conatu and Constantia.  

Jaime Morote

Head coach: First XI 2003-04 Boys, First XI 2002 Boys, Caledones 2008 Girls
 





Certifications and Licensing:  
USSF National 'C', National 'D' and National 'E' License and Safe Sports Certified. 

Coach Jaime Morote is a Chicago native and holds a USSF C license. He played at the high school and college levels in Chicago, and moved on to play professionally for ten years. He has also taught at the grammar school through high school levels for four years.

He believes in coaching the way he learned to play the game. Coach Jaime begins his coaching by providing players with the basics: foundational, fundamental, technical and creative skills. He strongly believes in allowing players to learn from the game itself, by fostering confidence, self-reliance and the use of one’s abilities to problem-solve independently. He guides his players to discover the multiple possibilities that arise at any given moment in a game, and how these offer opportunities to learn important life-lessons

Lorin Spasovici

Head coach: First XI 2006 Boys, Darini 2006-07 Boys
Assistant Coach: First XI 02-03 Boys and 03-04 First XI Boys
 



Certifications and Licensing:  
USSF National “A”, USSF National “B”, USSF National Youth License, FCBESCOLA, the FC Barcelona official football school coaching diploma, and Borussia Mönchengladbach Coaching certificates.

Michael Mossing

Head Coach: 2005 Scotti, 2010 Vellabori

Coach Mike originally a baseball player decided to try soccer out in high school and fell in love with it since. He competed on Nazareth Academy's first ever regional championship teams and went on to play at Augustana College. He has been coaching at Nazareth for five years now and is excited to coach more soccer on the club side. He currently is teaching middle school social studies in Elmhurst. 

Coach Mike believes in developing a players personal responsibility on the field and enabling them to make the quick decisions that come during a game. He teaches the love of the game first and wants all of his players to continue to have a strong passion for soccer as they move on in their lives.  

Andy Newcomb

Coach Newcomb has been coaching soccer since 1993. Before coming to Lyons Township High School in 1999, he started both the boys' and girls' soccer programs at Providence Catholic High School . Since arriving at Lyons he has coached in both the boys' and girls' programs, currently serving as the Varsity Assistant Girls' coach, a position he has held since 2002. Coach Newcomb holds a National ‘D’ license and has coached AYSO and club soccer in the LT community before. Throughout his coaching career, he has been recognized for his efforts and achievements - once receiving the Chicago Catholic League's Coach of the Year Award, once being selected by the Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association as a Region Coach of the Year, and twice being selected as a Region Assistant Coach of the Year. Coach Newcomb is a History teacher at Lyons Township High School and has been an educator for 19 years; he currently resides with his family in La Grange. 

Matthew Sinacore

Goal Keeper Coach