SNOHOMISH, WA—The Snohomish County FC Steelheads are excited to announce the new head coach and assistant coach for the Steelheads Women of the Northwest Premier League Indoor (NWPLi). The head coach will be Sean Large. He will have Corey Hendrickson as his assistant coach.
Sean has been involved in many levels of soccer (see more below) including coaching at Woodinville High School and being President of the United Club, members of the Northshore Youth Soccer Association. Corey has a long history with indoor soccer as one of the stalwarts of the Snohomish Skyhawks. The two will be on hand to evaluate talent at Steelheads Women Indoor Open Tryouts On Thursday January 6 and Sunday January 9.
Large is excited about building a new indoor program with the Steelheads and taking the momentum from the Lady Skyhawks, who formed just before the pandemic. That team will now play under the Steelheads name and banner.
“I think my main strength is as a players’ coach,” Sean Says. “I try to connect with players individually in order to help them work towards their potential. Over the years, I’ve learned that long term success comes by focusing on development over short-term results. If you’re familiar with the “Way of Champions” podcast, my coaching philosophy aligns very closely. Focus on the player, focus on positive feedback, build trust, and coach from a base of love and empathy. Then you can help push players out of their comfort zone and see real progress.”
Hendrickson is a familiar face at the Snohomish Sports Dome. He’s been competing there for years, mostly with the former Snohomish Skyhawks Men. Corey is ready to bring knowledge and experience of the indoor game. “As far as goals for the team go, obviously I want to WIN!,” Corey says. “But ultimately I want to help teach these great women players more about the indoor game and help them achieve something greater together!”
More About Sean
“I grew up in the mountains, so sports were a little different than we’re used to here. I played soccer for the local club for a while, but once I got a dirt bike that was the end of that. I spent my prime soccer years racing motocross competitively instead. Even though I went to a college with an amazing soccer program (Santa Clara), I didn’t even play intramural – it was all about racing. It wasn’t until my kids started playing that I really discovered a passion for the sport.”
“I only started playing again myself around 5-6 years ago. I even played futsal for the brief period when we had a facility in Woodinville – I was sad to see that fall apart. When my son was U6 is when I started coaching, so that was about 15 years ago! I got involved with my daughter’s team about 10 years ago, and that’s when I got serious about coaching education.”
“I have this thing where I’m always afraid I’m going to be underprepared or not good enough at something, so I tend to overcompensate when I can. I quickly got my “E” and then National “D” licenses; I would have done the “C”, but I already had a career and I couldn’t justify taking a full week of vacation for another badge. So I took as many local clinics as I could – the highlight was probably a 3-day GK clinic run by Franz Hoek (Man U and Netherlands 1st team coach).”
“After my kids aged out of youth soccer, I started coaching the Leota boys’ varsity team in 2019, and then of course Woodinville High School JVC in 2021. I also started refereeing matches about 8 years ago, and I’ve done youth, adult, 6v6 adult outdoor, and some local youth tournaments. I was United Club president for 3 years, and served on the NYSA board during that time. At United, I created and ran a new spring league for U12-U19 players which is still active. I also defined and organized a season-long series of coaching education for United coaches. I currently serve on the WSYSA District 2 board, and I’m the chair of the D2 regional portion of the Rec Cup.
Jurgen Klopp is one of my favorite coaches, and this is one of my favorite quotes from him: “That is the plan: just try. If we can do it, wonderful. If not, then fail in the most beautiful way.”
“Now, you asked me about goals, but that’s really hard to get specific considering I haven’t met a single player yet (well, I’ve met one I guess). Because my goals have to be the team’s goals, and for that we need to be on the same page, so I need to learn what the players want from this. My plan is to figure out what we have to work with, figure out where we want to go, and then help us to get there.”
“Outside of soccer, I just started a new job as Director of HW Engineering for a local startup company.”
More About Corey
“I Started playing soccer in 2006, played 2 years at Mariner High School, 1 year at Edmonds CC and started playing for the Snohomish Skyhawks in the 2009/2010 season.”
“Since then I’ve played for the Arlington Aviators, Sporting Everett FC, back to the Skyhawks and now the Snohomish Steelheads (all in the Western Indoor Soccer League (WISL) or the former PASL.)”
“I love playing soccer (mostly indoor) spending time with my wife and puppy. Hobbies include streaming (content creator) video editing, gardening.”
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