Greg Henesy - JV Head Coach
I grew up in Leitersburg and graduated from Smithsburg High School in 1990. I was on Coach Bill Fowkes first team that he ever coached at Smithsburg HS in 1986 (Bill just retired from coaching varsity soccer and Coach Terry took over). I went into the Maryland State Police Cadet Program after leaving high school and became a Maryland State Trooper. I am now retired, but work for Hagerstown Fieldhouse and contract to the US Army doing educational programs and events at the Army War College through USAHEC. My first bit of coaching came from hockey. I went to US Hockey schools in hopes of becoming a college coach. However, I had 2 daughters and they liked soccer, so I became a soccer coach. I have certification from US Soccer, AYSO, USC, and NFHS. NFHS governs all high school sports and I acquired a national certification which means I can coach at any high school in the country. That being said, those certifications don't really mean much to me. I learned more spending time at DC United practices and going to games and practices at Messiah College. I base a lot of what I teach from what I learned from Coach Frey at Messiah and speaking to his former players. For those of you who aren't familiar, Messiah College is in Harrisburg, PA, and has had more success than any other college program in the country over the last 25 years. In Coach Frey's 24 years there, he has won 6 national titles, lost in the finals 4 times, been to the final four 5 times, has made the national tournament every year he's been there (they went 0 times prior to his arrival), and has won 21 conference titles (0 times before he arrived). And the thing is, he's not recruiting players from all over the country. 20 players on this past years roster are from Pennsylvania. When I fully implemented parts of his philosophy and system into my U14 club team years ago, my team went undefeated, regular season and tournaments, for an entire calendar year in year 2. It works!
I have coached started coaching U6 at Clear Spring Soccer Club over 20 years ago to help a friend coach. I've coached at Boonsboro AYSO, Greencastle United, and Hagerstown Soccer Club, to name a few. I served as president of Greencastle United and Clear Spring Soccer Club. I was asked to join the staff at Williamsport in 2017 to scout and assist defense. I became the head JV coach and then the varsity coach. After my youngest daughter graduated, I resigned from Williamsport. When Coach Fowkes found out I resigned, he called me immediately and asked me to come to Smithsburg. It's been great coming back to be part of Smithsburg athletics 30 years after leaving.