Meet Carl Capellas, Director of Football, AstroTurf, North America
AstroTurf Director of Football talks playing, coaching, turfs and the shape of the game in the U.S.
From the lesser-known playing fields of 80s America, to Major League Soccer and the Greece Super League, AstroTurf Director of Football, Carl Capellas, takes us on a football journey from player, to coach, to turf expert. Along the way he reveals how being a football scout provided the training ground for a later career in sales, how coaching is about so much more than football, and how the college system, turfs and gender parity are all shaping the game in the U.S. today.
Before we start, let’s get one thing straight. Football or Soccer. Which is it?!
Actually, it’s either one. In the U.S. and in many places around the world ‘football’ can also mean other sports such as American football, rugby or Australian rules football but it is probably 50/50 in the USA now.
What is your football background?
It all started with my father. He was from Greece where football is huge and he passed on a love of the game. I grew up in a small town in the U.S. in the 1980s where the standard wasn’t high but there were lots of kids playing.
“Through football coaching, it was very special to be able to help young adults prepare for a full life; to help them figure out who they are and what they want from life”
At that time, there weren’t performance pathways in the U.S. The best players were selected in only four regional teams across the whole country, which meant it was only the top 50 kids or so and I was lucky to be in that group.
After high school I played at Marshall University, West Virginia where I was able to combine football and an education which was a good thing because professional football paid below poverty levels in those days!
I graduated in 1996 which was also the first year of the Major League Soccer (MLS) and I was picked for the DC United Reserves. Over the following years I played and studied in Spain and Greece. In Greece I played for Apollon Athens in the Greek Super League. It was a great experience and the quality was high, especially playing against teams like Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and AEK Athens.
How did you combine football and your early career?
I came home from Greece and got an MBA which led me to consulting work for the U.S. Government. This allowed me to continue playing football for four more years during which time my team won the U.S. Amateur Cup and I managed a short stint for a professional team in the Major Indoor Soccer League.
Tell us about your coaching experience?
My first full-time coaching job was with Hiram College, Ohio – a small college that wasn’t doing well. We quickly moved up to be a top-25 Third Division team. I coached them for 8 years and it was a fantastic experience.
In 2011 I took an Assistant Coach role at the University of Akron, Ohio where I headed up recruiting and on-field coaching for a truly exceptional Division One team. It was my job to convince up and coming players to choose elite football over the bigger, more glamorous schools. This gave me my first taste for sales!
Camping World Stadium, Orlando, Florida, USA
The university produces a lot of professional footballers and I am very proud to see two of our players in action at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. U.S. International, DeAndre Yedlin was at Akron when I was a coach and Richie Laryea for Canada is the last player I recruited.
What did you love about coaching?
Of course, I loved the thrill of competing but mostly I loved working with the players. The reality is that most of them don’t become pros, but it was very special to be able to help young adults prepare for a full life; to help them figure out who they are and what they want from life. I still get invited to weddings and other big life events which is very rewarding.
What’s the football landscape in the U.S. now?
Youth football is the most popular sport in the U.S. and what’s perhaps most striking is the gender parity.
Clubs in the US are different than in Europe or Australia. Here it is split into casual local recreational teams or private club teams.
I’ve travelled around Europe and have seen youth teams in Bayern and Barcelona and up until about the age of 14, the U.S. junior players are on a par. Because of the club structures and elite pathways, the European standard becomes much higher as the players get older, but MLS do have junior teams in the MLS Next League which attract the best young players.
Memorial Field, Seattle, Washington, USA
What are the challenges in USA football?
The popularity of other professional sports is definitely one, but perhaps a unique challenge here is the size of the country. America is so big that the distances clubs and players must travel for the best games and training opportunities can be huge. Figuring out how to capture the best players in such a big country is a tough challenge to tackle. Our scale can mean that players, especially those who develop later, get lost in the system.
University sport is unique in the USA. How does this work for football?
In every country very few players become professional. The U.S. college system means that most players will also get a great education whilst playing the sport they love to a high standard. This is a huge benefit.
David Beckham Field, Los Angeles, California, USA
The MLS is strong. What sits underneath that?
The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began in 2011. It is essentially a Second Division, acting as a feeder to Major League Soccer. The USL also has a Third Division and the leagues are growing which is an important development as it gives players more opportunities if they don’t make MLS as a young player. The professional salaries are also growing, which will help players to build a viable career.
You mentioned gender parity. What’s the shape of the women’s game?
Women’s football has always been very strong in the U.S. It has been professional for 20 years so was ahead of most other countries. The national team have won many Olympics, World Cups and CONCACAF Gold Cups and the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) – the top league - is 12 teams-strong.
Krentzler Field, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
What are the football facilities like in the U.S.?
Unique to the U.S. is the development of huge multifield complexes, often with over 10 football and baseball fields, hotels and restaurants. Because there are so many teams, football is often a driver of these facilities. Each weekend these complexes host leagues and competitions with thousands of people. They serve what is essentially a sports tourism business.
At the club level development continues, as many clubs now want their own turfs rather than sharing a community field.
What attracted you into the turf industry?
Leaving coaching was a very tough decision but the coaching lifestyle was hard. It meant long hours and lots of travel away from my family. I had young kids and wanted to be at home more.
A regional turf company called Pro Grass were looking for a football expert and it was a natural leap for me. They had design-build capabilities and I started working with a crew to learn about the construction and installation of turfs. Pro Grass were then bought by AstroTurf which was my route into Sport Group.
Empire Field, Vancouver, Canada
How is the competition between synthetic turfs and natural grass playing out across the country?
From a playing performance point of view our turfs are so good, that it is nearly impossible for a facility to keep a natural grass field in a similar condition. And if they do, they can only play on it every two weeks or so and maintenance costs are prohibitive.
When it comes to high-level performance, the most important element is consistency. It is very difficult for a grass field to match this consistency so like most elite facilities around the world, the majority of colleges in the USA have turfs, especially for their training fields.
The weather undoubtedly plays a part. For example, we partner with Chicago Fire, and in Chicago, it is hard to maintain a grass field because of the freezing temperatures. However, we also just completed two turfs for LA Galaxy, where the sun shines all the time, so growing grass is no problem, but they also need turf because of the 24/7 performance requirements.
Grass gives you high performance but low utilization. Our turfs provide both - high performance with high utilization. It’s a win/win.