Dan received the NIKE YOUTH COACH OF THE YEAR award at the Anaheim Convention Center in California by CYSA-S. This recognition of his contribution through teaching soccer to the youth of today came on the heels of the new concept, Coaching Kids with Confidence DVD, having designed and produced the training series, Super Soccer Skills.

The future of soccer stars is in the hands of the coaches. “Talent is given to us to develop, and with ever increasing demand for good coaches the Super Soccer Skills series has brought all coaches an exciting opportunity to believe in themselves, their own abilities and to understand and be creative in their soccer teaching.”

Dan played at various English Clubs as a youth player, progressing to playing with the Pros. He was always passionate about learning more about the game itself, learning what made great players great, and top coaches the best. Dan retired from soccer at an early age and moved into show business, starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express.

Dan went England to open Starlight Express in Las Vegas. While there he accepted the Head Coaching position for the Nevada Olympic Development Program team. Dan came to California, as Staff Coach with the REGIONAL Olympic Development Program. He also worked as Head Coach for Cal South ODP teams.

Dan started his own camps, bringing in college coaches to expose players to the highest level, and coaching his club team to the #1 ranking in the USA. As Head Coach of the Cal South ODP boys 87's, Dan trained 18 regional and national team players. He has trained numerous male and female players that now grace the fields representing their country, region, state and college. Dan is proud to have placed players with the English Professional League program, the MLS program at Chivas USA, Kansas City Wizards, the National Teams and Residency Program in Florida, and numerous College teams.

Dan has starred in numerous national and international soccer commercials including MLS All Sport, Nike, Snickers, Champion Sportswear, Reebok and Coca Cola to name a few. He’s the Soccer Choreographer and Specialist for television commercials and feature films. He created the 2002 WORLD CUP commercials for Nike and Yahoo.com, in which he also starred.

Dan was signed by Universal Pictures to run the Soccer Department for the feature movie, KICKING and SCREAMING starring Will Ferrell and Robert Duvall. His position required him to train the Star Actors. These included Josh Hutcherson (Zathura, Little Manhattan) Steven Lawrence (Beans - Evens Stevens), Dylan McLaughlin and Elliot Cho. These actors had never played soccer before and it was Dan's job to get them ready to star as soccer players. Dan also worked closely with Robert Duvall to help the coaching be realistic for the movie. As Mr. Duvall said, "The movie could not have been done without Dan". Dan also had to find over 140 soccer players under the age of 12. These players would make up the 12 teams that would be the backbone of the soccer field. Dan held tryouts throughout Southern California, and received resumes from players all over the USA. Even players from Europe were sending in their tapes and pictures.

The Super Soccer Skills DVD's are featured by Will Ferrell as he hands them out during a slumber party he has for his team. He also talks about SOCCER DAN. That was the name that was given to Dan on set, and is now the Industry Name for Dan Metcalfe.

Dan had the task finding 2 Italian Boys to play the soccer stars of the movie. Universal sent Dan on a worldwide search for the best two Italian looking soccer players available. Again, every soccer player seemed to show up or write in and Dan went trough thousands of players. The final selection came from Italy itself. Francesco Liotti and Alessandro Ruggiero were chosen to play the soccer stars. It was Dan's biggest task, to make sure that these players could perform all the top tricks and plays that the professionals do. Dan worked for over a month every day with these two Italian maestros and it was unbelievable to see how well they progressed. these two small boys became movie stars for a few months, but soccer stars for their lives. You can see a lot of the footage of the camps and filming on the Kicking and Screaming DVD Special Features.

In 2005 Dan finished a feature for DREAMWORKS. The movie, released in 2006, starred Amanda Bynes (The Amanda Show) and Channing Tatum (Coach Carter). Dan worked his magic with these non-soccer playing Actors. He taught the basics in the same way he teaches in the Super Soccer Skills series. Dan also worked with 50 high level players from College and National teams as support for the main actors in the soccer games. You will be able to see more of Dan's training in the special features when the DVD is released.

Dan appeared on Fox Soccer Channel, where he presented his methods for training Amanda and Channing. Dan also had to teach Channing how to teach Amanda for the soccer scenes in which Channing was showing Amanda shooting techniques. He based all his teaching on the information in the Just Kickin It DVD.

In 2007, Dan starred in a new soccer movie, Futbaal. Dan played Coach Ramsey, Head Coach of the LA Vipers professional team. He also directed the second unit, choreographing and coordinating all the soccer scenes and creating soccer training scenes.

Dan’s soccer coaching lead him to the California Championship for CYSA-South with his DMS¹¹ U16 team. They traveled to Idaho, where they defeated northern Californian to win the Western Regional Championships. The team then flew to Iowa, where they represented the Western States for the National Championship. Dan is extremely proud of his players for what they have achieved at such a critical age.

Then came the movie project, GRACIE, starring Elizabeth Shue, Dermot Mulroney, Andrew Shue and Carly Schroeder. He played the head coach of the opposing championship team, Kingston. Dan designed all the plays for the movie, help re-write the soccer scenes and made sure the soccer was honest and true.

During this time Dan flew back each weekend to Coach his team in the Coast Soccer Premier league. All the weekends of red eye flights paid off as his team clinched the Premier Championship against top level opponents, and then to Northern California to win the All State California Championship.

Dan was approached to help create Gatorades soccer coaching program, in conjunction with the GRACIE movie release. Creating the soccer skills and drills for the shoot, Dan worked closely with the onscreen Hosts, Landon Donovan, Kristine Lilly and Abby Wambach. He helped these TOP Soccer Stars with their skills information and delivery.

RELIENT K, with their new song ‘I must have done something right” decided to shoot their video about a girl who plays soccer. Dan was brought to the numerous locations and then designed the story of the words as Matt, the lead singer, ran through town chasing soccer playing locals. Dan appeared in a small cameo role in the Bowling Alley.

He is back teaching the game he loves to the real stars of the game, the young players. He loves the energy, receptiveness and progress that all young players make with his instruction. He just finished shooting the new title in the Super Soccer Skills series, Coaching Kids with Confidence, and the two Goalkeeping DVD's presented by Ian Feuer. As he seeks new and better ways to touch the lives of all those around him, Dan has created, through DMS¹¹, the new mentoring program for the players in the US. He wants to be able to help players, parents and coaches who have hit sticking points, just want advice or feel they have more to give but cannot find the path to get there. Dan is here to help, through personal experience and a caring for anyones dreams, to find the key that unlocks the true potential yet untapped.

If you ever see Dan at the fields, please stop him and say Hi. He loves to hear of all your successes and the fun you have learning the game we all love, Soccer.

Contact Dan Mecalfe