Dave Fernandez 

Soccer Director

From Granite City, IL, Dave is one of our Soccer Directors and joined Elite FT in 2020. His roles include coaching, writing the soccer curriculum and coaching education. Dave now lives across the river in South County, St. Louis with his wife Clare. They have two children; David (29) and Katie (27). Dave has plenty of experience when it comes to playing and coaching soccer. He played in high school for Granite City South from 1977 to 1980 and again in college for St. Louis University from 1981 to 1984. After that he began his coaching career and coached for club, high school, and college teams for 22 years. He was also a Recreation Program Director for 14 years. One of Dave’s achievements is that he was a part of four Illinois State Soccer Championship teams at granite City South High School! Coach Dave loves working at Elite FT because he “feels that Elite FT is the most dynamic athletic youth development program in the area. It caters to kids of all ages and levels of ability. Who wouldn't want to be part of that?”