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Mark Kovats

Kovats

Mark

Head Coach

G06/07 Red ECNL RL

G09 Red ECNL RL

U23 Men

Seattle, WA

Birthplace

I was born and raised in Seattle where I spent my early years, and moved to the Eastside in middle school, graduating from Lake Washington HS (Go Kangs!!). I attended Seattle Pacific University where I played soccer for 4 years.  As a youth player, I won 2 state championships my last 2 years with my clubs, won 1 regional championship and competed in the final 4 of youth soccer in 1987 in St. Louis.  Some of my best soccer memories came from those teams, soccer was so different back then.  While I was at Seattle Pacific, we lost in the D2 National Championship in 1990 in PK’s, so close!! I worked as a coach and counsellor at Northwest Soccer Camp (Camp Casey) through HS and college and found a love of teaching kids and being around soccer full time.  

 

I have been fortunate to coach at several local high school boys’ and girls’ programs in the 80’s, 90’s and 00’s and gained valuable experience during that time. During my 16 years as a local high school coach, my teams played in 5 state championship games, winning 3 titles.  I coached at a couple of other clubs during this time but landed at Eastside FC as I wanted to coach for a great club close to home (Issaquah). I received my USSF B license in December 2017 after getting my USSF C license almost 20 years earlier.  In my 20+ years with Eastside FC, I’ve had the privilege to coach many great players and some fantastic teams. While at EFC, I have had the chance to coach in multiple state championship games, winning a few trophies along the way.  EFC’s inclusion in the ECNL has been a great step for our top teams and I love being able to push my players and teams to be their best, competing against the other top teams locally and nationally.  My greatest joy is seeing our players develop and work together to accomplish things that they could not achieve alone. 

   

I am privileged to have been married for 25 years to my fantastic wife Cari, and we have 3 children, Cameron, Cody and Cate, who all play(ed) for Eastside FC. Our dogs, Roxy and Rio, hold down the fort when we are all out and about. I love and support all the Seattle sports teams, Go Sounders! My two favorite quotes from Johan Cruyff: 

 

"Football is a game of mistakes. Whoever makes the fewest mistakes wins." 


"You need both quality and results. Results without quality is boring; Quality without results is meaningless." 


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