Interfootball

Steve O'Connor

Steve O'Connor played 290 games in the Australian National Soccer League (NSL) and represented Australia in the national team with 44 Socceroo appearances.

Stephen (Steve) joined Revesby Rovers as a 7 year old and played representative soccer for Bankstown at 8 years old and in consecutive years up until the age of 15. Steve was then chosen in the New South Wales team at 16 and also played 1st grade for Bankstown the same year. During this time Steve also played representative basketball and had to make a decision on which sport to concentrate on, choosing soccer.

He then joined the Hakoah Club making his 1st grade appearance as a 17 year old in a team with such players as John Watkiss, Danny Walsh, Ray Baartz, Alan Marnoch and Jimmy McKay. He played with Sydney City (Hakoah) for 15 years in which time the Club won 4 national titles. When Sydney City folded in 1987 Steve was signed by St George and went on to win another National Championship.

Assistant Coach at the Australian Institute of Sport

In 1990 Steve was appointed Assistant Coach at the AIS Men's Football Program where he helped coach the likes of Mark Viduka, Josip Skoko, Josip Simunic, Craig Moore, Kevin Muscat, Lucas Neill, Hayden Foxe, John Aloisi, Clint Bolten to name a few. During this time he completed the Level 3 Coaching Accreditation and the AIS High Performance Coaching Diploma.

From 1994 to '96 Steve became TD of NSW and started the NTC Development Program and Zone Program concept of which he was Head Coach and included a young Brett Emerton and Harry Kewell.

In 1996 Steve returned to the AIS as Head Coach and Program Manager continuing there until 2008. During that time he was assistant coach with the U/17, U/20 and U/23 National Teams at various times and also U/20 National Coach. Between 1996 and 2008 Steve brought into the AIS and further developed Vince Grella, Mark Bresciano, Simon Colosimo, Josh Kennedy, Carl Valeri, Billy Celevski, Nick Ward, Stu Musialik, Alex Brosque, Jobe Wheelhouse, Luke Wilkshire, Ljubo Milicovic, Michael Marrone, Nikolai Topor Stanley, Nathan Burns, Evan Burger, Kofi Danning, Ryan Grant, Nikita Rukavytja, Sebastian Ryall, Tando Velapi, Jimmy Downey, Mitchel Langerac to name a few. During this time Steve got his Community Accreditation Senior Licence and Advanced Accreditation A Licence.

Technical Director & Youth Coach at Sydney FC

In 2008 Steve resigned from the AIS to join Sydney FC as Technical Director and Youth Coach. The youth team won the inaugral National Youth League title and Grand Final, on top of this, five players from the youth team progressed to the U/20 National Team and received senior A League contracts.

"I love helping serious young footballers not only improve their performance but understand what commitment it takes to make it as a professional footballer." The one thing that stands out about all the players mentioned above is not only were they talented but they always wanted to improve and work on their game. Once they understood how, they would constantly evaluate their performance for improvement. The whole process of developing them became very cooperative between the coaching staff and the player. They would set the standards.

International Football Institute

Steve O'Connor is also a qualified Physical Ed. Health and Personal Development Teacher and now runs The International Football Institute which aims to help young players develop their football potential to the highest level possible.