Sean Paul Jones

My background in soccer, and what brought me to LR:

I grew up in South Africa, started playing at age 4. My father was a very good player and I followed in his footsteps, which included being a true Manchester united fan! In South Africa soccer, or football is it is appropriately called there, is payed all over the place all of the time. We played with the ball before school in the hallways, during recess it was common to see several small sided games going on, and then after school if we didn’t have soccer practice, we were meeting up to play, or playing on our own. There is a strong connection/relationship with the ball, and I didn’t know anything different. This is where my passion and soccer were fused together. I joined a club, and worked my way up to a top club in Johannesburg playing in D1. I was chosen among 1 few players to go tryout for our provincial team, among others from the region at other clubs, and made that team playing in my position as a Center Back. We played against the other 8 provincial teams around South Africa as well as had some friendlies against teams like Orlando Pirates, Wits, and Kaiser Chiefs. 3 of us from this provincial team were selected to attend tryouts for both Ipswitch Town and Manchester City in England. After this my family decided to move to the USA, and I followed along. We ended up in Arkansas first, in Whitehall, surprisingly enough, and Soccer in Arkansas at that time which was 1999, was not where it is today. None of the schools around me had teams, there was no club soccer in Whitehalll. So there I am a senior in Whitehall HS from south Africa, with this crazy accent, and no soccer. I found a league in LR that was called something else at the time, but is now known as Arkansas United. I attempted to make that drive twice a week to train and play, as well as immersed myself in the Mens league at Burns Park as a 17 year old. I started a petition at the school and in the city of Whitehall for soccer. I got over 1000 signatures from other students, and things began to grow and happen there. I met up with someone with connections at the YMCA and we began there, and then I met someone with connections at the Pine Bluff Arsenal, and we began doing things there, and before you knew it a club grew. Soon after I went to college, completed my studies in bible, and began working as a youth minister. During that time, in Santa Clarita California I linked up with Canyon High and coached their varsity team, 1 year later moved to Lafayette Louisiana to work with a church there, and again got involved with soccer, but this time it was a private travel team called the bombers. I coached them for a year winning 6 tournaments including state cup that year. Since then I have been back in Arkansas, finished my PHD in clinical psychology, with a special focus in the area of sports psychology. I linked up with Maumelle Soccer Club at first and trained there for a year, and then we moved to Bryant, so began coaching competitive teams at Bryant Soccer Club, and co-led the academy program. A few years later I moved over to Arkansas United as a competitive team coach of 2 teams and ended up retiring from coaching after a 2 year stint to focus on finishing my PhD. Since then I have opened my own private practice called Livestrong, where I see children through adults for counseling, evaluations, and sports psychology services. I have published work in the area of sports psychology as it relates to optimal performance of athletes and motivation. I have been working with athletes in this fashion for 2 years now since I opened my practice as well as coaches through team meetings and conferences.