Soccer coach keeps healthy perspective

Soccer is “the beautiful game” to the globe-trotting former international star Cem Tont, but college is even more so.

Southwestern’s cheerful coach speaks from experience. He was captain of Turkey’s national youth team in 1978 and played for the professional club Galatasary. An injury ended his professional career, but opened the door to a brilliant coaching career in the United States.

“I ended up in the United States because of an injury,” he said. “I came here to learn English and I got a scholarship to play.”

Tont earned a degree in exercise science and coached club soccer for 20 years, he said, before heading to high school programs at Ramona and San Pasqual high schools. He won two CIF championships coaching La Jolla High School.

Tont coached at Palomar College prior to moving to Southwestern College in 2005 to coach the women’s team. He took over the men’s team last year following the retirement of Bob Flores.

Tont said this campus is sometimes taken for granted. “We have great programs here that allow students to get involved in things and the students should take advantage of that,” he said.

Tont said he is a player’s coach and wants his athletes to be both physically and mentally fit.

“We train and have fun at the same time,” said Viviana Martinez, sophomore forward. “Most of the drills he ran were to prepare us for the next game and if we were down 1-0 or 2-0 he would encourage us to keep trying because he had faith in the team.”

Tont said he has the utmost confidence in his players and wants to see his players succeed as athletes and students. He also demands that they respect their opponents and officials.

“Playing at a higher level and lowering your level of citizenship is unacceptable to me,” said Tont. “ You’ve got to work harder and not have any let downs. I try to instill in them that on the field I want to see the confidence so I tell the players if you have the ball at your feet you’re the best player. It’s not Messi, it’s not Pele, it’s not Maradona — it’s you.”

Players say Tont’s upbeat personality and love for soccer are infectious.

“He wants us to feel like we can go out there and play to our highest ability and make our hard work pay off,” said Alan Baca, sophomore defensive fullback. “He helps us improve and gives us that confidence we need to keep giving it our all.”

A methodical approach allows Tont to define his goal each year.

Winning is nice, Tont said, but it is not the most important part of collegiate soccer. Doing well in class and reaching academic goals, he said, is more important than putting the ball into the back of the net.

“We work to put the best possible soccer team out there,” he said. “ We try to get the max out of players yet take the pressure off them related to winning and losing.”

SWC has built a great soccer program, Tont said, and he is looking forward to the new season.

“It’s a war, but there’s all the battles that you have to fight and that’s my job to guide them and take it to them.”