Thiago Goncalves
Position: Men's Crusader Soccer Head Coach
Alma Mater: Bryan College, 2006
Beggining 2010 on the right note, Coach Thiago Goncalves has high expectations as he prepares to run a strong season.
Coach Thiago comes from a humble background in Brazil where as a kid, his favorite pastime was playing soccer with his friends in the streets. Coach Thiago dreamed of playing professional soccer and one day wearing the Brazilian national team jersey, but God seemed to have different plans for his life.
In 1999, while playing Futsal for Goias E.C. Thiago was scouted by a Brazilian coach who wanted to improved his soccer team at Saint Joseph’s High School in Hilo, Hawaii. Taking on this opportunity his life took a sudden turn as he embarked on this journey to a whole different world.
In 2001, Thiago graduated from high school and received a full athletic scholarship to study and play soccer at Life University in Atlanta, GA. During that same year, while struggling to adapt to life in a big city, coach Thiago once more had his life dramatically changed as he heard for the first time of Christ’s suffering on the cross. In 2003, Thiago transferred to Bryan College, TN after a tumultuous cancellation of athletics at Life University. At Bryan College, Thiago learned that character and integrity were more important than talent, fame or success in soccer. Further, he began to understand the meaning of playing soccer to worship the Savior. Three years later in 2006, Thiago graduated with a B.S. in exercise health science.
Immediately, he decided that he wanted to further pursue education in ministry. During that same year he took the job as assistant men’s and women’s soccer coach at Southwestern Assemblies of God University; and initiated his quest for a Masters of Arts in theology/missions. In 2008, he founded a Non-profit Missions organization, All Nations Soccer, focused on glorifying God, empowering believers and spreading the gospel to the nations of the world through soccer.
Today, coach Thiago is honored and blessed to be a Crusader and he looks forward to pass on his experience as a soccer player and Christian athlete to the young men in the Dallas Christian College soccer team.