2022 Anoka Girls Soccer
Varsity Coach - Lucas Camargo
Email: lcamargo@nscsports.org
My name is Lucas Camargo. I am from Sao Paulo, Brazil. As many children in Brazil, I grew up playing soccer on the street, beach, courts, fields, or anywhere we could set flip flops as nets with anything we could use as a ball! Since childhood, I began playing competitive futsal (5v5 indoor soccer) and soccer. Playing highly competitive soccer required my everyday commitment – some days soccer in the afternoon and indoor soccer in the evening – plus tournaments on weekends. I’ve played for many Development Academies in Brazil, so I can absolutely say that soccer helped me gain discipline, teamwork, commitment, and respect.
Among these opportunities, soccer provided me the chance to come to the United States with a soccer scholarship to play collegiate sports. I played all four years for the same university, which I had the honor to be captain and named All-Conference player. It was an amazing experience to be part of a team with several nationalities, learn different cultures, play competitive soccer, learn a new language, and receive a degree.
Even during my playing days, I was very curious and eager to learn about the coaching side of the sport. I started coaching summer camps while in college, which rouse my interest in coaching and impacting players, so I acquired different coaching licenses and diplomas. After graduating, I was offered the Assistant Coach position by my former college coach, so I became the Men’s and Women’s Assistant Coach for a season. Later on, I moved to Minnesota for a job opportunity as an academy coach and communication coordinator. In the past years, I’ve coached many teams from U9 to U18 and continued to study and acquiring licenses. I decided to enroll in graduate school in 2017 to pursue a degree in Leadership with emphasis in Sports Management and graduated in 2019. Since then, I coached for different clubs and high schools and continued to learn about the sport.
In summary, sports shaped me and provided me with amazing experiences, such as learning two languages, acquiring two degrees, and getting to know many places and people, so my mission is to positively impact players, build leaders, and provide opportunities through sports by passing forward my learning and the opportunities that sports provided me.