Fernando De Barros pictured below wearing his new Impact gear.
Georgia Impact would like to introduce our new Technical Director of Development, Fernando De Barros. Fernando is originally from Caracas, Venezuela and is coming from Rome Arsenal as Director of Coaching & Technical Director.
Fernando's Soccer Career
At the age of 16, Fernando signed his first professional contract in Venezuela. He played professionally from 16-19 he then decided to continue his education in the United States. Fernando attended and played at Radford University where he played Division 1 soccer for two years before transferring to Shorter University. At Shorter, Fernando was able to reach the conference final 2 years in a row.
During this time, Fernando started his coaching career at SSA Rome, then he went on the be the Assistant Director of Coaching. Upon graduating at Shorter University, Fernando became the assistant coach for both Men's & Women's Soccer Programs at Shorter.
Fernando went on to Rome Arsenal as their Academy Director, where they implemented several changes which made it possible them to place many teams into a regional tournament stage. After 2 years at Rome Arsenal, Fernando became the Director of Coaching for the club. Fernando went on to state "he is very grateful for the opportunity the club, players, and families gave him".
Fernando's Opportunity at Impact
Starting in May Fernando will take his role as Technical Director of Development, he will bring his technical expertise and continue to implement innovated ideas for players and staff.
Director of Coaching Rob Roddie said "I am very excited to have Fernando joining our Impact Family. I have been able to watch the wonderful work Fernando was doing at Rome Arsenal over the last few years and can't wait to get him started and introduce him to all our our Impact players and staff."
Fernando will also implement and oversee the year-round Impact Futsal program. Fernando believe this will "impact player development, futsal is a tool used by the main soccer powers in the world; Brazil, Spain, & Argentina rely heavily on futsal as a tool to maximize the technical development of the players. We intend to do the same here at Impact."
Fernando's welcoming message to the Impact Family, "I look forward to getting to meet all the players, families, and the soccer community at Georgia Impact, I'm really excited to join the Impact Family!".
