LA Bulls hires four new coaches
LA Bulls hires four new coaches.
We are thrilled to announce four of our latest additions to our coaching staff. Welcome to the Bulls family!
Lazaro Morales
Lazaro "Laz" began playing soccer at the age of 8 at CZ Elite FC, where he played for 10 years at the Gold/Premier level. He has joined the LA Bulls to teach the youth everything he has learned throughout his years as an athlete.
Lazaro's coaching experience began at 15, where he was an assistant coach for CZ Elite's "chiquititos", Spanish for "Little Ones." On summer breaks during his undergraduate studies at UC Irvine, he helped coach a local recreational team in the San Fernando Valley, who are now known as TFA SFV. Upon graduating, Lazaro accepted a position with Dynamo SC, where he was the head coach of their Player Development Academy and assistant coach for their B11, B07, and B06 team. He then transferred to the LA Bulls as an assistant coach, and concurrently coaches with the Angel City Street Team to teach and empower the youth through the love of the sport.
Soccer has made a major impact on Lazaro's life both on and off the pitch, and he is excited to create a similar and positive impact on youth players. He has a mission to make players fall in love with the game of futbol, and takes pride in improving a player's ability with every session.
Jonathan Hernandez
Jonathan is a former collegiate and NPSL soccer player who is in the process of obtaining his USSF "C" coaching license. He's joining the LA Bulls with a 10-year coaching career spanning across high school, club, college and, most recently, the LA Galaxy Youth Discovery Program.
Well-known in his community of North Hollywood in the San Fernando Valley, Jonathan led his alma mater, East Valley High School, to its first ever League Championship and CIF Final in his very first stint as head coach. He later went on to be an assistant coach at Los Angeles Mission College before making the move to Harvard-Westlake School.
Jonathan is excited to share his knowledge of the game with the LA Bulls. He prides himself on having worked with players of various levels from vastly different backgrounds and being able to help them find success regardless of their upbringing. His goal is to help improve youth soccer from the ground up, both on and off the pitch, making the player's journey as graceful, enjoyable and respectable as possible.
Saki Watanabe
Saki is a former Division I soccer player. She has joined the LA Bulls to continue and share her passion for soccer.
As an LA native, Saki has played at the ECNL level before starting her college career in Southern Utah. She played in the WPSL during the summers of her college years, and continued to play post-collegiately for LA Villa.
Saki began coaching in high school as an assistant coach for AYSO teams in Culver City, and continued coaching youth players at summer camps. She is currently part of the Community Street Team for LA's NWSL team, Angel City F.C., where she actively engages with the local soccer community to share her excitement, experience, knowledge, and passion.
Currently, she is pursuing a doctorate degree in Clinical and Experimental Therapeutics at USC. She hopes to follow a research career path in mental healthcare while continuing to advance as a coach and player.
Kyle Keenan
Coach Kyle brings over 20 years of both international playing and coaching experience to the Los Angeles Bulls organization.
Born and raised in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA; Coach Kyle has been involved in the Los Angeles soccer community since this age of 4. He played for a variety of youth clubs in Los Angeles County, ultimately finishing with South Bay Force. Additionally, he was a 3 year Varsity starter at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School. Through a strong desire to travel, experience a new part of the world, educate himself and continue to play Kyle moved to Paris, France at the age of 19. He attended The American University of Paris where he captained the Men's soccer team for two years and graduated with a B.A in Literary Studies & the Creative Arts.
After finishing his playing career in 2015, Kyle began coaching full time. However, his interest in coaching was first sparked in 2012 when he went to Ghana for a summer and ran a training program and tournament for the local youth in a small village called Humjibre. It was after this experience he knew his professional pathway was certain.
Kyle began his club coaching career in 2018 with Los Angeles Surf Soccer Club where he coached several boys teams over his three years at the club. In 2019, Coach Kyle joined the Harvard-Westlake Boy's Soccer program as both a JV and Varsity assistant coach. In addition to these ventures Kyle has been privately training and mentoring players since his return to Los Angeles in 2015 as well as running youth camps and a variety of other programs for the LA Galaxy.
Most notably Kyle is a founding member and Assistant Coach for San Fernando Valley Football Club, a semi-professional men’s UPSL team. This is a 501c3 organization committed to providing professional playing and personal development opportunities to youth in underserved communities and under-identified players in the Los Angeles talent pool.
Kyle holds a USSF “C” license as well as a Scouting & Analysis Specialist License from the MBP Coaching School of Barcelona.
Coach Kyle believes whole heartedly in soccer as tool for social change and a vehicle to develop better humans. He is committed to helping each individual player grow and attain their goals as well bringing teams together and helping them reach their collective goals. He feels honored and grateful that his “work” is his life’s passion and is excited to be a part of the L.A Bulls family!