Manhattan Kickers FC Director

Curt Rosenthal was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. As a youth player for the East-West Soccer Club and the Olympic Development Program, he competed at the state, regional, national and international level. As a senior in high school he was selected the Ohio High School Division II Player of the Year. He continued his career as a four-year letter-winner at Miami University (NCAA Division I) on a team ranked in the national top twenty-five during his time there. In the summer of 1993 he participated in the World Maccabiah Games in Israel as a member of the Bronze Medal winning United States Men’s Soccer Team. After graduating college he spent a trial period in Holland training and playing with the reserve teams of two Dutch first division clubs – Go Ahead Eagles and F.C. Zwolle. In his first match he scored a goal against Feyenoord Rotterdam. Curt has been coaching youth soccer since the age of fourteen, when he started the first ever U10 developmental team for the East-West Soccer Club. Over the past twenty years he has played and coached throughout North America, Europe and Africa, as well as in Brazil, where he now spends a significant amount of time each year working with CBF (Confederação Brasileira de Futebol). As Director of Manhattan Kickers FC, he has designed the curriculum of the club to replicate a professional youth academy in Europe or South America. Curt holds a National Youth Coaching License from the USYSA. He earned a Bachelors Degree in English Literature from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and a Masters Degree in Writing from Antioch University in Los Angeles, California. He is married to Maria and has a son named PJ.


Phillip Martin was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He moved to Dallas at age eleven, at which point he started training under the tutelage of his dad, Everton Martin, who had brief stints with Arsenal and Everton in England’s First Division. By thirteen, Phillip was playing for a U19 team. From U13 to U19, he played for the Dallas Texans under the direction of Hasan Nazari (Director of Soccer for Dallas Texans, currently America’s #1 ranked youth soccer club), and with them won the U14 Dallas Cup and were Super Group quarterfinalists and semifinalists (playing against UNAM of Mexico, Nacional Uruguay, Monterrey, River Plate, West Ham United, Nantes-France, Boca Juniors). In 1992, Phillip was North Texas Gatorade player of the year and was an ODP Regional team player 1989 to 1992, and in the National Team Pool at U16, U17, and U18. In 1991, Phillip spent time as a youth trainee at Ajax in the Netherlands and PSG in France. From 1992 to 1997 Phillip played for UCLA under Sigi Schmid and Tom Fitzgerald, and in 1992 to 1993 he was a part of the Jamaican U23 Olympic Team. As a professional, he was a member of the Portland Timbers/Seattle Sounders, as well as the Los Angeles Galaxy, where he played in two Open Cup games before sustaining a knee injury. Moving onto coaching, Phillip was with SoCal United from 2001 to 2005, his teams winning various state, regional and national tournaments. He has also coached with the Barcelona Soccer Club, SC Santos Soccer Academy, where he was the Academy Director. From 2004 to 2008, before moving to New York City, Philip interned with the US National Team, at the U17, U18, U20 and U23 levels.


Nick Cooke is originally from Sheffield in England and now resides in Hoboken, New Jersey. In England, he played at professional clubs Sheffield Wednesday FC, who at that time were in the EPL, and Chesterfield FC, who he joined straight after graduating high school as he pursued a full-time soccer career. During his three year stay at Chesterfield, he made numerous appearances for the U19’s and the professional reserve team. He also helped coach the boys U16 team while working on his UEFA coaching license. At age 20, Nick moved to the United States on a soccer scholarship at Lander University in Greenwood, South Carolina, where he would serve as the team captain. At Lander, he was awarded NCAA First Team All-American, NCAA South East First Team All-Region, Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year and MVP honors. In 2007, he was amongst the NCAA top ten leading goalscorers in the country and was awarded the Lander University Male Student-Athlete of the Year. As a coach, he worked at the local club, the Greenwood Toros, from 2006-2007, and was a head coach at Coastal Carolina Soccer Camps from 2005-2007. Nick holds a UEFA and USSF C license, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Economics. Now in New York, Nick coaches the Manhattan Kickers FC ‘98 team and has been with the club since January of 2008. His favorite professional team is Sheffield Wednesday and his favorite player is Cristiano Ronaldo.


Evan Rosenthal is a native of Cleveland, Ohio. He played for the Cleveland United Soccer Club, under coach Joe Raduka, for most of his formative years. The team won numerous State Cups and club tournaments, and advanced to the semi-finals of the Gothia Cup in Sweden in 1994. He was also a part of the Olympic Development Program. As a scholastic player, Evan captained his High School team and later went on to play for nationally-ranked Washington University, where his collegiate career was cut short in 1998 by injury. After two years in the corporate world, he earned a masters degree in Creative Writing from the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland. Since 2003, he has been a coach, working exclusively with Manhattan Kickers FC teams and coaching the current ‘96 squad, winners of numerous tournaments and the first team in the club to capture the ENY State Cup. While Evan grew up in the American system, he is well-traveled and has visited professional youth academies from England to Brazil; he’s watched matches in stadiums such as Estádio do Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro, Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, Abe Lenstra Stadion in Heerenveen, Barcelona’s Estadi Olímpic, and Old Trafford. With these experiences around the globe, Evan brings to American youth soccer a respect and appreciation for the highest levels of the world game.

Dan Segelin was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. His youth club career had stops with Cleveland Internationals and Cleveland United FC, who won four state championships and were national runners-up once. Dan was also selected to the ODP Regional Pool before he matriculated to play for Emory University in Atlanta. While at Emory he was voted team MVP and selected as a first-team all-conference and
all-region performer. The first three years after college were spent covering international soccer as a producer for CNN/Sports Illustrated in Atlanta while also working as an assistant coach for Emory Men’s Soccer. During his tenure, Emory reached the NCAA tournament and won the UAA two times while producing three All-Americans. After his third season with Emory, Dan went to play for the Cleveland Crunch of the old MSL. He spent parts of two seasons (’00, ’01) with the squad before sustaining career-ending knee injuries. Dan has since resumed coaching and training athletes. He’s had the good fortune to work with and learn from Mark Verstegen, the strength and conditioning coach for the German, Turkish, Mexican, and the U.S. men’s national soccer teams. Segelin’s training methods blend a variety of movements and exercises including weightlifting, gymnastics, Pilates, and more. He holds the NSCA-CSCS and NASM-CPT and he is a certified CrossFit instructor. Dan also holds certification in kettlebell instruction, and indoor rowing. Additionally, Dan is a member of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA).

Adam Pullinen grew up in Ludlow, Vermont. As a youth, he played six years for the state team in the Olympic Development Program. While at Adelphi University, Adam played four years of college soccer from 1998 to 2001. After graduating in 2002, Adam played one professional season in the United Soccer League's Second Division for the Westchester Flames. In the spring and summer of 2009, he served as an assistant coach for the Flames, who now compete in the USL's Premier Development League. Since August 2009, Adam has been an assistant coach for the Men's Soccer Team at Columbia University. At the youth level, Adam has coached various teams, academies and camps for nearly 15 years. He holds an NSCAA Advanced National Diploma and an NSCAA National Goalkeeping Diploma. Currently, Adam plays in the NYC Cosmopolitan League of NY Greek American Atlas and in Connecticut for Olympia Stamford.