Sequim Junior Soccer hires first development director

Board members look to bring players, coaches to ‘next level’

By Matthew Nash • March 12, 2025 5:30 am
Juan Carlos Cisneros-Lopez, Sequim Junior Soccer’s new director of coaching, works with players, such as Barrett Gerdes, 6-and-a-half, at a preseason skills camp on March 1 at the Albert Haller Playfields. In the coming months, Cisneros-Lopez said he plans to develop a curriculum for players and coaches to succeed.
Juan Carlos Cisneros-Lopez, Sequim Junior Soccer’s new director of coaching, works with players, such as Barrett Gerdes, 6-and-a-half, at a preseason skills camp on March 1 at the Albert Haller Playfields. In the coming months, Cisneros-Lopez said he plans to develop a curriculum for players and coaches to succeed.

Sequim Junior Soccer looks to level up its players’ game with support from a local expert.

Sequim High grad Juan Carlos “JC” Cisneros-Lopez, also a longtime local coach, is now the nonprofit’s Director of Coaching and first paid employee.

“It’s a first for us,” said Josiah Bushy, acting president of Sequim Junior Soccer. “We’ve always been parent-volunteer led, but we needed someone to bring us to that next level.”

Cisneros-Lopez will develop the boys and girls’ Select teams U-15 that have been going since 2018.

“I’m going to do a lot of evaluating and then prepare a player pathway and get a curriculum going for when they start from (the recreational league),” he said.

“Once they get into select, then we really give them the tools necessary to be able to succeed.”

Cisneros-Lopez moved to Sequim at age 8 and played for the high school from 1996-2000, and has gone on to coach for nearly a decade, most recently with the Bainbridge Island Football Club as head coach, Peninsula College men’s assistant soccer coach, and the North Peninsula Football Club women’s team.

He also coached at Sequim High and with the Storm King Soccer Club for a few years each.

“My style of coaching is to help players become good teammates and help each other improve,” Cisneros-Lopez wrote in his application packet to the league.

He said his style is to encourage players to “’always give 100% effort of your football ability’ (as) this effort will help your teammates improve and will also help you to achieve 101%, which then becomes your new 100%.”

“Players make players better,” Cisneros-Lopez said.

Along with implementing new player programs, Cisneros-Lopez, who holds European coaching certification and a U.S. soccer coaching diploma, said he plans to start a coaches program.

“You’ve got to have knowledgeable coaches so they can give tools to the players to be able to play the game,” he said.

Finding that drive to excel comes down to each player though, he finds.

“From my experience, an intrinsic environment that teaches players how to be good teammates has provided the best results for players to blossom on many levels,” Cisneros-Lopez said.

In his coaching career, he’s participated in coaching courses across Europe and done online mentorship programs with people all over the globe.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash Sequim Junior Soccer board members Jess Haugen, left, and Josiah Bushy, right, present new Director of Coaching Juan Carlos Cisneros-Lopez his own Sequim Junior Soccer sweatshirt on March 1. He is the nonprofit’s first paid employee as board members look to increase local players and coaches’ skill sets and knowledge base.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash Sequim Junior Soccer board members Jess Haugen, left, and Josiah Bushy, right, present new Director of Coaching Juan Carlos Cisneros-Lopez his own Sequim Junior Soccer sweatshirt on March 1. He is the nonprofit’s first paid employee as board members look to increase local players and coaches’ skill sets and knowledge base.

Sequim Junior Soccer FC

Started in the 1970s, Sequim Junior Soccer Football Club, a 501(c)3 non-profit, hosts about 1,000 children each spring in recreational leagues, and 700 in the fall ranging in ages from 3-18. They play at the Albert Haller Playfields in Carrie Blake Community Park in Sequim.

Bushy said Dave and Erin Henderson developed and led the Select Program the last eight years and with their children aging out of the program, fellow board members felt it was time to bring in another expert like Cisneros-Lopez and keep amplifying the program.

“JC is amazing,” he said. “We were lucky to have him come aboard.”

On March 1, Cisneros-Lopez led two skills camps for the recreational program to help balance teams for the spring season and teach players some new skills.

“It was a win-win,” Bushy said.

Cisneros-Lopez said he’s seen local interest in soccer grow a lot since he was a kid and now he wants to foster that into creating a higher level of success for players.

He hopes to keep locals playing in Sequim rather than traveling to other areas for a more competitive level of soccer.

“I think that’s where S and Storm King and these local clubs play a vital role in helping those players develop here so they don’t have to go to other clubs,” Cisneros-Lopez said.

“Other clubs may have a higher level and more competition, but we can do our best to keep the talent here,” he said.

For the spring, Cisneros-Lopez will work with the recreational leagues before starting with Select Teams and tournaments in the summer. Select play will continue into the fall and recreational play will resume, too.

For current and future registration with Sequim Junior Soccer, visit sequimjuniorsoccer.com.