Games soccer co-lead has spent lifetime in sport
The co-lead for soccer at the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games has spent the past 50 years involved in the sport.
Frank DeChellis, a 56-year-old Welland native, started playing the sport when he was six years old and ended up playing for the Mohawk Mountaineers at the college level as well as at the competitive men’s level. He began coaching at age 21 while he was still playing, starting at the youth travel level. He followed up with stints coaching a Niagara district team before joining the coach staff at Niagara College in 2000.
The 2020 Welland Sports Wall of Fame member, who is a professor of electrical engineering technology at the college, has coached the men’s and women’s team at Niagara College and has served as the head coach of the men’s program for the past four seasons.
The Eastdale alumnus coaches because it is fun.
“I like people and it is a good way to meet people.”
He also loves the sport itself.
“It is enjoyable and it is global,” he said. “Whenever I go somewhere and meet someone from another country, our first conversation is about soccer. When I go to Switzerland or Italy, it is soccer non-stop.”
Deciding to share the soccer sports lead duties with Poppy Gilliam was an easy decision for DeChellis to make.
“I used to be very involved in the community on different committees, even outside of soccer. For about five years I wilted away and just kept to myself and this thing came up.”
Michele O’Keefe, Niagara College’s associate director of athletics and recreation, mentioned the job to him and he jumped at it.
“It was a perfect way to get involved again.”
His previous community involvements have included: chair of the Welland Development Commission; president of BitNet Niagara; a municipal councillor for Welland City Council; and, a regional councillor for the Niagara Region.
The preparations for the soccer competition at Youngs Sportsplex in Welland is moving full speed ahead.
“There are a lot of meetings and a lot of tasks that we need to get done,” he said. “It has been a good education. I have been involved with tournaments before but these people, the Canada Games committee, is doing it at another level.
“Anyone involved with a club who runs tournaments should probably get someone involved with this because it gives an insight into a lot of things and it helps elevate the level of the tournament and the presentation,” DeChellis said. “There is a lot of non-soccer stuff going on.”
He loves that the operation of the tournament is broken up into so many parts that it is not vulnerable to someone leaving.
“It’s brilliant. Even at Youngs, we have people in charge of sport, transportation, volunteers, technology and at the venue we even have someone who is bilingual for translation purposes. They have taken care of so many details and they have broken up those jobs. Even our jobs are broken up.”
DeChellis can’t wait for the Games to begin.
“Planning so far ahead is difficult because you really can’t envision the tournament,” he said. “But now that it is getting close, it is getting a little bit more intense and you can tell that by the tone of the meetings. We no longer have two-month deadlines. We have one-week deadlines and we need this and that by the end of the week.”
DeChellis and Gilliam estimate upwards of 400 volunteers will be required to make the men’s and women’s soccer tournaments run smoothly and they are encouraging everyone to volunteer.
“People don’t understand what a big event it is and to step in and be a part of it while it is here will be a lot of fun,” DeChellis said.
Editor’s note: This story in the first in a series on sports leads for the 2022 Games. Up next is Poppy Gilliam.
