Coaching soccer players at the Greater St. Albert Sports Academy brings out the kid in Nikola Vignjevic.
“They remind me of when I was a young,” said Vignjevic, who grew up in the former Yugoslavia. “I know what it means for them to have fun in any kind of sport so what I try to do is give them as much fun as possible and make them happy. That is my first concern.”
The former professional soccer player works with 20 students.
“Whatever they do, I do,” he said. “If it’s shooting or passing, I try and play with them, which makes me happy at the same time.”
Soccer is offered at the academy to players in grades 4 to 9.
“You’re dealing with all kinds of kids. Beginners. Somebody who is really talented. Kids that want to play more soccer. Kids who just play for fun and don’t want big pressure,” said Vignjevic, who has provincial and national B coaching licences. “It’s different practices for different kids. They just want to have fun, so you give them some exercise that they enjoy.”
This is Vignjevic’s third year at the academy. He also instructs at Vimy Ridge and is the coaching co-ordinator for the West Warriors Soccer Club.
“I’m doing something which I really like and it’s fun.”
Born in 1971 in Belgrade, Vignjevic’s goal while growing up was to play for his home country.
“What hockey is here, it’s soccer in Europe. We’re watching everything on TV. We’re watching live. We have teams in our own city that we follow. You have your own club and you have a dream, the same as kids here dreaming to play for the Oilers or whoever,” he said. “Unfortunately, here we still don’t have that. With Edmonton FC, it might turn around and kids might be dreaming that one day they can play in their own home city here and be seen on TV and in the newspapers.”
The former Serbian midfielder played for several teams over a 13-year pro career.
“For six or seven years I played in Serbia. I started in the third division and then I moved up to the second division and then the first division. I then moved to North America and played indoor and outdoor in the U.S.A. and Canada,” he said.
“I wasn’t a big superstar but I still played professional and it’s very hard to play at any level professionally.”
In 1998 Vignjevic signed with the Toronto Lynx and spent six seasons in the USL premier development league. His career totals of 29 goals and 24 assists were team highs. He was also named the Lynx’s best offensive player in 1998 and team MVP in 1999.
He also played for the Cleveland Crunch in the National Professional Soccer League, San Jose in the Continental Indoor Soccer League, outdoors in the A-league with the Rochester Raging Rhinos and Staten Island Vipers and indoors with the Edmonton Drillers.
“I played in some finals. Won some titles in the leagues I played in but probably the best thing I did was I played for the Serbian national futsol team. They called it Euro Futsol and it was the best eight teams in Europe,” said Vignjevic, who stays active on the pitch playing with his buddies in the masters division.
Geoff Giacobbo, the academy’s program co-ordinator, is grateful to have instructors like Vignjevic, as well as former NHLers Rob Brown and Chris Joseph, on staff.
“Obviously their experience as professional athletes brings a great deal of credentials from their coaching resumes, but more importantly they are such great role models for the students,” Giacobbo said.
“Every day their students are able to see what respect, honesty and integrity looks like. With their background it means even more because the students look up to them. When parents and students know they are getting the combination of great professional coaching along with a real solid person committed to good values and is respectful of all athletes, everybody wins — the academy, the students and the community.”
