History

1999: At the conclusion of the Ken Aston Cup that summer, Quan approached Brad Bachtelle, Tustin AYSO Regional Coach Administrator at that time, about giving a clinic to interested keepers. In the fall, with Brad's permission, Dan Scinto and Quan gave a 2-hour clinic to about 20 players at Tustin Sports Park.

2000: Brad approved the program in the current format of once-a-week training. There were about 15 trainees, including three from La Habra (Area 11E) AYSO making the weekly trip to Tustin during rush hour traffic. These three La Habra players and two Tustin GU-14 All Star trainees continued to train during the All Star season. The two Tustin All Stars went on to play keeper for Foothill High School. All three La Habra players also made their high school soccer teams.

2001-2003: The program continued with some of the Plus goalkeepers in the fall and the All Stars goalkeepers during the winter, except in 2002. Emily began her training as a GU-14 Gold All Star player in 2003. Katie Anderson, a Foothill H.S. senior, coined the term Torture on Wednesdays.

2004: We started training the Plus keepers full time during the Summer and Fall. Brandon started his training as a BU-14 Plus player. The program expanded to 3 nights a week during the All Stars season to accommodate players in 3 age groups, U10, 12and 14. We admitted trainees from Whittier and South Irvine (Area 11Q) AYSO.

2005: The program matured into the current year round format when Brandon and Emily began serving as trainers. Denise Cooper, a triathlete and founder of Tri Like a Girl Triathlon Club in Tustin, CA, served as the fitness trainer for the summer session.

2006: The program’s current name, Tustin AYSO Goalkeeping Academy (TAGA), was founded to clarify that it’s an independent program that admits selected players from all AYSO programs, not just Plus or All Stars. Brandon helped designed the logo. Steve Scott, the AYSO Fields Director, coined the nickname Martian Defense Force because of their glow-in-the-dark lime green jerseys. Their official name as shown in the region’s directory is My Favorite Martians. Quan was given the nickname Commander.

2007: Nathan began serving as a trainer.

2008: We expanded the program and admitted players from as far as Huntington Beach (Area 11K) and South Gate (Area 11Z) AYSO regions. During the summer we conducted goalkeeping clinics at AYSO Intermediate and Advanced coaching courses in Los Angles and Orange Counties including Beverly Hills, Lakewood, Cypress and Huntington Beach.

2009: Mark Muller, Greg Clarke and Don Duff joined the program as trainers after Brandon and Emily left for college.

As a point of interest, ALL trainees who trained in this program for a year or more made on to their respective high school soccer teams. Many trainees, Brandon, Emily, Sean, Kevin, Nathan, Jennifer, Leslie who became starters at their respective high schools, never played a minute for a club team. Sean and Kevin actually made onto to their school's varsity team as freshmen.