Coach Luka Stevanović

I grew up playing in Serbia from the age of seven, where the coaching is technical, direct and completely unsentimental about what you can and can’t do yet. I came to the US on a scholarship and played four years at Cal State San Marcos in NCAA Division II, where I finished with 15 goals and 12 assists. Then I started coaching, and found out that being good at something and being able to teach it are two entirely different skills.

That’s the part I got obsessed with.

I’m USSF licensed and UEFA Grassroots certified. I’m also an AYSO Coach Instructor, which means I train and certify other coaches. I teach people how to teach this.

Over a decade coaching in North County. I’m a head coach at City SC Carlsbad and a Regional Director for ProTouch Soccer Development, club environments that keep me honest about what actually shows up on game day. And for the last four years I’ve been building the system The Soccer Lab runs on: every player evaluated before anything is recommended, one priority at a time, homework between every session, and everything written down so nobody has to guess whether it’s working.