Sunday April 10, 2022 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
James Merriman is the new head coach of the Pacific FC soccer team here in Langford, BC. He has moved up from being assistant coach for the past three seasons. He’s feeling good about the season.
“I’ve learned every season, as has everybody in this league,” said Merriman on Friday ahead of this weekend’s first game, here on home turf in Langford at Starlight Stadium.
Up against Forge FC:
Today’s first game of the 2022 season sees PFC up against their long-time rivals Forge FC of Hamilton. They know the team well.
“We know who we’re playing. This start date has been in our schedule for a while now,” Merriman said on Friday.
Reflecting back on the somewhat unexpected 2021 season win by PFC against Forge FC in December, Merriman says the #ForTheIsle PFC team did their final play “in a slightly different way”. He muses: “We did defend very well. We took a chance and the players executed it. We adapted and played a different way and got a different result.”
“We know who Forge is and how they play. We expect a good match. We have a group of players who are hungry as well. We want to prove ourselves again,” says Merriman.
In today’s game, it will be the first time that Terran Campbell (Forward) and Alessandro Hojabrpour (Midfielder) — previously with PFC — will be on the opposite team.
Years in the making:
During his time as assistant coach in 2019 Merriman took over for inaugural coach Michael Silberbauer a few times. And in 2022-2021 he learned from now former coach Pa-Modou Kah.
Going into this season, Merriman says he has grown every single season. “We were a brand new club. We had a lot to learn. As staff, players and as an organization. We continued to push our standards and expectation as an organization. Some young players we signed originally have moved on. We are where we want to be,” this year’s head coach said.
“We make improvements everywhere we can.”
Special moment:
Family and friends will be in the crowd today, as they have been since day one, says Merriman. “But it’s a bit different when you’re the head coach,” he admits.
Staying at the top:
As for Pacific FC team this year, starting out against Forge today: “They want to continue to stay at the top, where they put themselves,” says Merriman.
“We have a great fan base here. We’re looking forward to being in front of our fans again,” he says about the April 10 season starter.
No masks required:
COVID is still something to deal with, but as of April 8, 2022 the BC Vaccine Card is no longer required for access to public venues.