CHARM CITY WELCOMES eight Coaches to its INAGURAL staff

           With the creation of Charm City Soccer Academy, we would like to introduce our inaugural staff. These seven coaches bring a wealth of experience both playing and coaching collegiately & professionally. As well as having strong roots to Maryland and the Baltimore region. The seven coaches are Pete Caringi II, Emma Kershner, Jereme Raley, Fabio Barros, Kingsley Onwuka, Phil Saunders, Mark Plaissance, and Sumer Rahe.  

              Pete Caringi III, joins us while being in his 7th year as assistant coach at UMBC. Son, of long time Legendary Head Coach Pete Caringi Jr, who led the retrievers for over 30 years. "Petey" brings us D1 coaching and playing experience. He was an All American at UMBC and finished 4th in UMBC History in Goals Scored. He was later drafted 48th overall by the Montreal Impact in 2014 MLS Draft. He would sign with Oklahoma City Energy where he made 11 appearances in the USL. 

            Next up, is Emma Kershner. We are thrilled to have her on board as she was just named Assistant Coach for the Women's Soccer Program at Loyola. Prior, she was an assistant coach at Austin Peay for two years. She played collegiately for Indiana & VCU. At VCU, she was named First Team All-Conference her last two years. As well as Atlantic 10 Midfielder of the Year her senior year. She would go on to attend Preseason with Washington Spirit, where she won the 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup with them before getting into coaching full time. 

               Kingsley Onwuka is our third coach to be announced. Kingsley is originally from Nigeria. He moved to Baltimore at a young age. Playing HS soccer for Kenwood. He would then play two years at CCBC Essex where he made it to two National Finals at the JUCO level. This earned himself a transfer to UMBC. Kingsley played two years for the Retrievers as a forward. After he played professionally in the USL, NISA, and MASL. Before getting into coaching, being named Head Coach of Kenwood in 2021 and most recently being named Head Coach of CCBC Catonsville in 2022 where he remains at the helm. 

                Jereme Raley joins Charm City Soccer Academy with a background in a couple different areas of the game. He is currently the Head Coach of the Women's Baltimore Blast of the UWSL 2 and former Assistant Soccer Coach at St Mary's College, where he spent 5 seasons with his hometown college. As well as playing professionally with the Baltimore Blast. Jereme, who is finishing up his eighth season with the Baltimore Blast, brings a high pedigree of play with him. He played for the nationally recognized Baltimore Bays, alongside Pete Caringi and played at the University of Maryland from 2010 to 2014. Winning multiple ACC & Big Ten championships and appearing in two final fours. He was also a member of the Pittsburgh Riverhounds (USL) prior to signing with the Blast.

                 Fabio Barros comes to Charm City Soccer Academy with a wealth of coaching experience. Currently, going into his third season as Associate Women's Head Coach for Mt St Mary's. He helped lead the program to winning their conference championship in 2023 and appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in over a decade. Prior, he was an Assistant Women's Coach for D1 side St Peter's. Spending three years there from 2019-2021 with Melissa Sherwood who's now the Head Coach at Mt St Mary's with him. Fabio also possesses international coaching experience. Spending time in Portugal working with Portuguese first division clubs CS Maritoma and Boavista in a 3-year span. He also had coaching stints with Harford Community College and Washington Spirit U19. 

               Joining the staff, another member of the Baltimore Blast Coaching Staff is Phil Saunders. Phil will run the goalkeeper academy at Charm City Soccer Academy. Having grown up in Baltimore, Phil played for the Baltimore Bays Chelsea along with Coach Petey and Coach Jereme. He was a member of the UMBC men's program where he started all four years. Leading them to the final four in 2013 and earning second team all-conference his junior & senior year. After college, Phil played professionally in Iceland for two years before returning to Baltimore to play for the Blast. He would later become Head Coach of CCBC Catonsville from 2017-2018 before joining UMBC as a Volunteer Assistant GK coach in 2019. Most recently, Phil was named Baltimore Blast GK Coach and has just finished up his first season with them.

             Assisting Coach Phil with the goalkeeper academy will be Sumer Rahe. Sumer is another strong addition to the coaching staff. She grew up playing for the nationally recognized San Diego Surf and was a member of the youth national team for her age group. She was a three-year starter at Loyola, where she captained the squad her junior and senior year. As well as being named Team MVP and Most Dedicated Player. Sumer continues to play, finishing up as the starting GK for the newly formed Baltimore Blast Women's Team last summer. She is now a part of the GK Coaching Staff for MD ODP as she begins to transition over to the coaching side of the game. 

           Our last coaching announcement goes to Mark Plaisance, who holds vast amount of expertise' in performance coaching and strength & conditioning. Mark grew up in Rockville, Maryland. He played for Mt St Mary's and American University. After, he became certified in Strength and Conditioning. He's had stints at multiple local high level soccer programs in the area including the University of Maryland, DC United Academy and most recently with Loyola University where he currently acts as the performance coach for the women's and men's soccer teams. Mark will primarily run warmups, performance training, conditioning, and help assist with the technical aspects of the open sessions. 
                   
                     We are thrilled to announce these seven coaches to are inaugural 2024 coaching staff. We look forward to working with players across the Baltimore region. We hope we can provide our youth players in an environment where they excel and unlock their full potential while growing their love for the game. Summer Open Sessions will start June 3rd at St Timothy's School beginning at 6pm and finishing at 7:30pm. 

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 CHARM CITY SOCCER OPEN SESSION TRAINING
​2024 CHARM CITY SUMMER SOCCER OPEN SESSION TRAINING (INCLUDES GK TRAINING) (charmcitysocceracademy.com)