An opportunity to continue playing the game he loved and further his education brought Interim ATL UTD Assistant Coach Henry Apaloo to America. Back in England, he would have had to choose between his playing career and college. Instead, Apaloo signed with Barry University where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
“I learned about an opportunity to come out here and play college soccer from some friends that had been out here and been in similar situations,” Apaloo explained. “I felt it was a really good opportunity to continue playing football and continue playing at a good level while also staying in education and getting my degree to help me in the future.”
Upon completing his undergrad, Apaloo immediately switched over to the coaching side. While getting his Master’s degree in Sports Management from the same university, Apaloo was able to quickly transition into coaching. He always knew he wanted to be able to help athletes.
“Luckily right after I graduated there was a coaching job available as an assistant coach,” Apaloo reminisced. “I was lucky that I didn’t have to wait too long in terms of finishing my degree and finding a job in something that I wanted to do. I was lucky to kind of streamline into it and really get going with my coaching career.”
Apaloo used relationships as the foundation to start developing his coaching style. Every training session and conversation was tailored to each of his players' knowledge and personalities. His early success with this method helped him build relationships with his players and gain knowledge from those relationships. This helped cultivate an understanding of what players needed in order to improve.
“I would describe my coaching style the same way I am as a person. I really value relationships,” Apaloo continued. “I really try to get to know each player I work with and allow players to get to know me. You get to then know how to motivate them, how to push them. I think if you really develop those relationships with the players and develop that kind of trust as well, I think you’re able to push them. They know that everything you’re doing is coming from a good place.”
In fact, building relationships is exactly what brought Apaloo to Atlanta. ATL UTD Academy Director and Interim ATL UTD 2 Head Coach Tony Annan and Apaloo crossed paths when Apaloo would watch the Academy play and speak to Annan about potentially recruiting some of the players. When an opening at the club became available, Annan reached out to Apaloo to see if he would be interested in the position.
“I have to really thank Tony Annan because I’d known Tony from my time in college. I had been recruiting some Atlanta players from the Academy so that actually really helped me in my transition. I’ve known some of the players for quite awhile and had a good relationship with Tony from conversations we have had,” Apaloo emphasized. “Tony alerted me about the position and that Stephen Glass would be coaching as well. I was extremely excited about the opportunity to come and work at a fantastic club with someone who had a great history in the game. I really have to thank Tony for making me aware of the opportunity and putting my name forward. And obviously Glassy and Carlos [Bocanegra] for hiring me.”
Building that relationship with Interim ATL UTD Head Coach Stephen Glass has helped Apaloo since coming to Atlanta. The two have grown close over the past year and a half and recognize in each other the same passion. That foundation will help them seamlessly transition from coaching ATL UTD 2 to being interim coaches for ATL UTD.
“It’s been really great that I’ve had a chance to get to know Glassy over the last year and a half because I think we share similar ideas and he’s another person who really values relationships and is a great coach. We speak every day and discuss things we could be doing with the players and how we can engage them,” Apaloo emphasized. “We called each player every week [during quarantine] just to check in, make sure they’re doing well, make sure their families are doing well. Sometimes we didn’t even talk about football, it’s just ‘How’s life going?’”
From the beginning, Apaloo has tried to use his experiences as a player to further help him as a coach. Growing up playing the game in England then in college in America, Apaloo was taking mental notes on the things that helped him as a player and the things that did not. As he transitioned into coaching himself, he began to reflect on his time as a player in order to better instruct his team.
“I’ve had coaches that I’ve loved and that really taught me a lot in terms of the technical side or tactical side, about the caveats of the game. There’s also been coaches that have discouraged me as a player so as a coach now I want to use both the positive and negative experiences that I had to help the players I work with daily,” Apaloo acknowledged. “You really try to make sure that you plan and execute in a way that they’re enjoying it and getting out of it what they need to improve and develop.”
In their work for ATL UTD 2, Apaloo and Glass were tasked with providing the next step in the pathway from the Academy into ATL UTD. Now in their interim positions, the two have followed the same path as some of their former players in completing the journey to first team. With ATL UTD 2, they had to balance the developmental needs of young players with the needs of ATL UTD players who trained or played with ATL UTD 2. Now they get to see the other side of their hard work.
“It’s been fantastic working with and seeing some of the players from last year really develop and push on into Atlanta United,” Apaloo continued. “Being able to help the club continue to be successful is always the goal.”
In Atlanta, Apaloo has been able to continue to build strong relationships with players and people at the club. As he continues his own growth as a coach, he knows that he is able to help shape young players who dream of playing in front of the 17s at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
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