Links - Exclusive QA With General Manager Gerry Marrone O - North River Minor Hockey Association

Exclusive QA With General Manager Gerry Marrone OurSports Central Independent and Minor League Sports News Baseball Basketball Football Hockey Lacrosse Soccer Other WomenMessage Boards Services OSC Radio League Maps At a Glance Search Shopping City Search Scores & Schedule Todays Headlines Todays Releases OSC Originals Team Tryouts Photo Albums Massey Ratings About OSC RSS Feeds Contact OSC InternshipsEmployment Join the OSC Network Advertising Privacy Policy User Survey TeamLeague Services Team Press Releases League Press Releases Tryouts Submission RSS Feeds June 16 2010103Minor League Games TodayBuy MLB Tickets NFL Tickets NBA Tickets NHL Tickets NCAA Tickets UFC Tickets Concert Tickets Exclusive QA With General Manager Gerry MarroneDecember 16 2009 Womens Professional Soccer (WPS) Sky Blue FCA conversation with Sky Blue FC General Manager Gerry Marrone By Gloria AverbuchGerry Marrone is a soccer original He started playing at age 14 and is now the father of three grown children He coached his sons soccer teams for 13 years and was a league and club administrator and travel soccer director He also has previous experience in the business side of the gameQ What exactly is the role of the General Manager (GM)A Every teams GM is different Some of the teams GMs do nothing but the business side some do only the soccer side but I do both the soccer and the business which I think is more traditional in a sports environment Basically everything runs through the General Managers office from overseeing game day operations to running the office and helping the coaching staff to the best of my ability with player issues and hopefully setting the tone of the company from a motivational standpointQ Whats up for you latelyA Right now my main focus is on sponsorship and supporting ticket sales I am also helping to complete the roster by preparing with Pauliina (Miettinen) and her staff to prepare for the draftQ How do you improve on a team that won the first WPS Championship last yearA The beginning stages it is taking an honest look at what team was Just because you won doesnt mean you had the best team What we learned last year is that the team needed help offensively After all our goal production was one of the lowest in league Fortunately we had a great defense and goalkeeping We felt we needed to strengthen the offenseand in many cases that builds from the midfield Similarly going into next season our two center backs we relied on will not be available probably for the first two months of the season (Rampone is on maternity leave Asante is recovering from ACL surgery) So I looked line by line Our goalkeeping is sound but there will be a gaping hole in center of defense Our solution was to acquire Daphe Koster but we also have 6th overall pick in the draft Our midfield created...