By Noah Nunez
General Reporter
After serving as assistant coach for the men’s soccer team for three years, Reuben Ayarna has taken over for Kevin Anderson and has kicked off his new role as interim head coach for the men’s soccer team.
Ayarna has had a long history with soccer, from playing to watching, with memories as far back as he can recall.
“I’ve been playing since I was 4. I’ve been watching since I can’t remember. But I started understanding it at the age of 5, 6, like I started understanding what’s going on,” Ayarna said.
Growing up in an environment surrounded by soccer, Ayarna took to the sport over others, knowing that he had a talent for it.
He had an understanding that he had a gift for the sport and had real skill to go along with his knowledge.
With such a long history with the game, Ayarna took his childhood hobby as seriously as he could, joining multiple teams and playing professionally for several years.
Playing for Finland and Sweden throughout 2008 to 2021, his retirement afterwards would lead him into the coaching scene.
“When I retired in 2021, I got into coaching a little bit, in the summer helping a major team in Sweden,” Ayarna said. “When I moved back to the States in 2022, I coached at Vermont Green, and that’s where it took off, so I’ve been coaching, I say, for 5 years now”
After a bit more time spent helping Boston College, Ayarna made his way to the university with the help of Anderson, who gave him a position as an assistant joining the university in 2023.
When Anderson left his position, Ayarna began approaching the game with his own attitude.
“Our mentality is to play to win. Of course, you know you could do it, but the reality is you may not win every game, but if the mentality is there to play to win, that builds character, that builds strength, that builds team, you need team community,” Ayarna said.
Ayarna values the players he coaches above all others, not only as players but also for their performance in school.
Ayarna and the entire athletics team work to make sure students understand the reality of being a student athlete and offer guidance.
“Balance is key; you have to settle practices in a different way because you have to understand any student-athlete, just spend the whole day at practice knowing that the kids got a paper to write, or have to go to the library,” Ayarna said.
