Oliver Germond roams the soccer field at Fresno City College when others are casually enjoying their summer break by sleeping in.
He has no time to rest. It’s shortly before 7 a.m. the young women start to trickle in one at a time and then in groups of two or three before there are about 50 of them. As they’re getting ready, so is he.
He’s walking on a pristine green field, one you would think belonged to a major league team.
This one doesn’t, though. This field belongs to Germond. His teams have owned it for the past decade.
Entering his 10th season,
Germond has compiled a record of 142-44-24 with five Central Valley Conference titles and eight consecutive trips to the state playoffs. The last six years, Germond’s teams have finished the season ranked 20th or higher in the nation.
“He always made sure we improved,” former Rams player Tiffani Moore said. “He stayed after [practice] with us all the time. He was my best coach all around.”
Returning Rams player, Miko Elliot shared the same sentiment about Germond.
“He cares a lot about each player individually on and off the field,” said Elliot. “I think that each one of us has improved a huge amount just because of his confidence in each one of us.
When Germond took over in 2001, things weren’t always easy. Germond was hired a couple of weeks before the start of the season. The late hire didn’t allow him to recruit players for the season and the results showed. Germond’s team went 7-10-5 in his first year, suffering his first losing season ever.
“I went and recruited the best athletes I could find,” Germond said. “The second year, that team probably ran more than any team that I’ve had here because I didn’t want the first season to happen again.”
FCC assistant women’s coach Drew Mattos explained that Germond’s approach to the way the Rams play soccer is important when recognizing the success this program has achieved over the past decade.
“It’s pretty cool because it’s all local kids getting opportunities,” Mattos said. “They’re not just coming here and playing two years, then going back home and not doing anything. It’s cool and I’m honored to be a part of a program like that.”
Germond grew up surrounded by soccer in Neuchatel, Switzerland. His grandfather was president of the soccer team in his city.
“When I first started playing soccer, I wanted to be a goalkeeper,” Germond said. “The problem was I was so short and none of the coaches wanted me playing goalkeeper,” said Germond, with a laugh.
At the age of 10, Germond moved to Santa Clarita, Calif. Speaking only French, Germond turned to soccer to help adjust to his new life in a new country.
“When you’re the only kid that doesn’t speak the language, it’s kind of intimidating,” Germond said. “Soccer came in to play right away. It was an outlet of where I could just play soccer and not worry about speaking English.”
Germond attended Hart High School in Newhall, Calif., before going to college at Cal State Northridge. Soccer followed Germond to college. He loved playing, but he would have to take a different road if he wanted soccer to remain in his life.
“I dealt with a lot of injuries. I could tell my playing career was dwindling down,” he said of his soccer career.
When he was a freshman at Northridge, he started coaching the boys JV team for Canyon High School, his alma mater’s rival. Then, the varsity girls coaching job at Hart High School opened up and Germond never looked back.
He took the school to six straight conference titles. In 1999, the team won the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section title.
Germond left after the championship season to be assistant coach at College of the Canyons under women’s soccer coach Phil Marcellin.
Hart High Athletic Director Linda Peckham said that it was hard to see Germond go on after the 1999 season.
“To this day, Oliver was our most successful coach,” Peckham said.
In 2000, Germond put his name in for the vacant coaching position at FCC.
Canyons soccer coach Phil Marcellin said he had mixed emotions about Germond leaving for the head coaching position at FCC.
“He’s one of those guys you have on your staff and hope the best for his career, but you’d like to see him continue on with you,” Marcellin said.
Germond has contemplated moving to Division I. He applied for Fresno State’s position a couple of years back and though he didn’t get the position, the thought of coaching Division I still intrigues him.
“It would be nice to pursue a four-year job and see how I do at that,” Germond said. “At the same time, I came here to win a state championship and I haven’t won one.”
