Rams FC Coaching Staff
Head Coach Boys 2013 and 2015 Teams
Rory Watters – Coach Rory started his journey with Challenger Sports as a coach back in 2020 where he coached in several states such as Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. Rory has also coached for the competitive teams in OSNK and Barrington YSA. He is very excited to take the next level and work with premier players at RAMS FC.
Head Coach Boys 2011/12 and Girls 14/15 Team
Conor Langford – Coach Connor started coaching In 2012 for challenger sports working for several clubs and communities across New England, Texas , North / South Carolina & Florida. Connor has worked with the u15 FC Dallas academy and was fortunate enough to work alongside Tony Dicicco on the soccer plus camps. Connor has a great knowledge and passion for the game across all ages and abilities. Connor recently completed his coaching qualifications and finished his degree is sports, fitness, and coaching. Connor is looking forward to the upcoming season at the Rams.
Head Coach Girls 2011 and Girls 2012
Mark Wholey – Coach Mark has his USC Advanced National diploma, as well as various other USC and US Soccer coaching certificates and licenses. Mark has long been involved in RI Youth Soccer, as a coach, board member, Director of Coaching, and Founder of the Southern RI Futsal program. Coach Mark has been formally involved in soccer since he was 7 years old, beginning right here in South County, RI. Mark played Division I collegiate soccer at the University of Hartford and also played at the Catholic University of America. After college, he continued playing soccer competitively for teams in Western Massachusetts, New York City, and here in Rhode Island. He was also captain of his high school team and appeared in three consecutive RIIL High School State Finals and won a RIIL High School State Championship. Coach Mark has been coaching youth soccer for the last 15 years, and in RI club soccer for the last 8 years. Mark’s favorite professional soccer team is the German soccer team, Hamburg SV, where his family comes from.
Head Coach 2009 Girls
Derek Thayer – Derek Thayer has been with the RAMS for 3 years and been coaching for 18 years. He spent many years coaching in Chariho where he grew up before continuing his career with the Warwick Firefighters Association coaching various age groups and serving as Division Coordinator for the U8-10 age groups. He spent one year with Bruno United and is currently taking over the Exeter-West Greenwich Boys high school team where he was an assistant coach for 3 years. Derek is also a 20+ year teacher at EWG and continues to enjoy playing soccer 2-3 times per week.
Head Coach 2010 Girls and 2012 Boys
Johnny Vieira – JV Played and Coached NCAA D I soccer for Grand Canyon University, based in Phoenix, AZ. Pursued Bachelor’s degree in Exercise Sciences and a Master’s degree in Leadership. While studying for his Master’s program, Coach Vieira was part of the GCU Women’s Soccer staff at the Division I Collegiate level. Over the past decade managed to coach thousands of young athletes from the west coast to the east coast, including unique places like Alaska and Hawaii. Recruited and trained hundreds of Brazilian and European Soccer coaches to run camps, academies, and clinics in the States. Coach JV has been with the Rams since 2016.
Head Coach 2010 Boys
Coach Rushy has been coaching soccer for 30 years now and has coached at almost every level except the professionals. He has his UEFA license from his early days in the UK and has also completed USC advanced national diploma. He lives locally with his wife and two boys. Coach Rushy works closely with Head Coach Gareth to run RAMS FC.
Head Coach 2008 Boys and U19 Boys
Coach Froberg is currently going into his 2nd year as head Coach with the RIC Men’s Soccer team. His previous role was with URI as the Goalkeeping Coach. Froberg – also served on URI staff for five seasons from 1998-2002. Additionally, he played for the Rams from 1992-96 and was Rhode Island Freshman Athlete of the Year in 1992. Froberg coached the boys’ team at North Kingstown High School. Serving as head coach from 2006-2015, Froberg led the Skippers to Division I state titles in 2007 and 2014, and was the state’s Coach of the Year three times (2006, 2007, 2013). Froberg has been with the RAMS FC program since 2013, serving as the goalkeeping coach as well as the head coach of the ’01 and ’03 Boys teams. Kyle has had a number of players from his Rams teams, go on to play at the college ranks.
Head Coach Girls 2013 and Boys 2009
Coach Luke started coaching back in 2011 after achieving his coaching qualifications in sports coaching, he started off by going into primary and secondary schools and coaching the players after school. He then came stateside to work for Challenger Sports. For the last 8 years Coach Luke has been coaching all over New England mainly in southern R.I and parts of CT with town programs like Westerly Youth Soccer, Stonington Soccer, and South County Youth Soccer Club. Coach Luke has been with the Rams for 3 years and recently was awarded Coach of the year withing the club.
Head Coach 2008 Girls Assistant Coach 2011 and 2012 Girls
Coach Kate has been coaching with the Rams for 6 years now. She was raised in Orlando, FL where she played club and high school soccer, scoring over 125 goals for her high school. She played Division 1 soccer at Cornell University. She holds a National F License with U.S. Soccer as well as an 11v11 and 7v7 license within the Grassroots Pathway. She lives locally with her wife and dog. When she isn’t coaching and playing soccer, she is teaching mathematics at South Kingstown High School.
Head Coach 2014 Boys
Coach Gio Riello comes to Rhode Island from Southern New Hampshire, where he spent the 2022 season. While there, he trained the goalkeepers and helped Southern New Hampshire reach the semifinals of the Northeast 10 Championship in his lone year. Riello played collegiately at the University of New Hampshire (2013-14) and Post University (2016-17). At New Hampshire, he started six matches as a freshman and had a 4-2 record with three shutouts. While at Post, Riello started 17 matches and had six shutouts. Gio is super excited to coach at RAMS FC.
