Coach receives award....school prints his photo.

Cougars women’s soccer coach Tino Fusco was honoured with the Coach of the Year award for Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference (ACAC) Futsal this year. For those who are unfamiliar with Futsal, it is an indoor version of soccer played on a smaller pitch.

This isn’t the first time that Coach Fusco has been honoured by the ACAC with Coach of the Year award.

In 2009, Fusco won Coach of the Year for ACAC Soccer after the Cougars finished that regular season with an 8-1-1 record and closed out the playoffs by winning Silver in the ACAC Finals.

ACAC futsal coach of the year, Tino Fusco.

“Although it is my second time winning Coach of the Year, soccer is unique in that we have two chances to win the award each year with soccer being played in the fall and Futsal played in the winter semester,” Fusco says.

Fusco’s women’s Futsal team finished atop the ACAC in first place during the regular season and then proceeded to win the gold medal and the ACAC Championship earlier this month.

For Fusco whose Futsal team will not be competing in the ACAC next year, it was a nice way to end the Cougars’ run in the league.

“It was nice to win a parting award from ACAC in addition to the ACAC Futsal Championships. We wanted to leave ACAC with a trophy and a banner and we have done that now,” Fusco says.

“This honour is special because we will no longer be participating in the ACAC Futsal league moving forward as we transition to Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS).”

For Fusco, the honour is a reflection of his team’s efforts and his dedication to preparation.

“I think anytime your program wins any award it's a positive for the entire program. I have always said this is a team award because as a head coach I feel people judge your coaching abilities on how your team performs,” he says.

“My success is determined with how the team performs. Each match I try to prepare them the best I can. I am not judged on my training sessions where most of my work is conducted. During the match, the players perform and they deserve the most credit.”

Article taken from the MRU Face Time site: http://www.mtroyal.ca/facetime/FTDATA_memories_032212