Sports Lounge: Bandov making his way in the coaching ranks

Ivan Bandov realized this early on. Bandov, a 2003 graduate of Burlingame, has turned his passion for the game of soccer into his profession. Bandov was the starting goalkeeper for the Panthers his junior and senior seasons and started his coaching career running his own goalie training camp. He later coached the Burlingame boys’ frosh-soph team, and later the Carlmont girls’ frosh-soph team, and has consistently moved up the coaching ladder.

It hasn’t come easy and it’s a lot of hard work and scrambling, but Bandov seems to have found his niche as a youth soccer coach.

“I just feel lucky,” Bandov said. “How many people get to say I love going to work every day and make a living?”

Bandov, 28, has a number of irons in the fire. He coaches the Mountain View High School girls’ varsity squad — which has been among the best in the Central Coast Section the last two years. He is an assistant coach at City College of San Francisco — which is one of the best community college programs in the state. He also coaches four girls’ teams for Redwood City-based Juventus Sports Club, serves as the assistant coaching director for the girls’ teams and has also started helping out on the boys’ side as well.

Talk about having your hands full.

“Everything is going well. It’s nice to see the club really develop over the last two years. … I’ve been there about five years,” Bandov said. “[Juventus is] a good place. It has a good community feel along with the competitive aspirations we’re all trying to achieve. It’s a rare balance you don’t necessarily find at every club.”

Bandov must know what he’s doing as he’s had success at virtually every stop in his coaching career. Granted, every good team has the talent to be successful, but it takes a good coach to get the best out of his players. His Mountain View team advanced to the CCS Division I semifinals in 2013 and was the No. 1 seed this season — although the Spartans were upset in the second round by Santa Teresa.

At Juventus, his under-17 team — the Avanza — captured the State Cup last spring and made the finals of the prestigious Surf Cup last November. Over the next few weeks, Avanza will be participating in the CYSA State Cup as well as the Northern California State Cup.

Despite his success, Bandov is not necessarily looking for bigger and better things. He enjoys where he is right now, helping young players develop.

“Right now, being the assistant director and being able to coach is a perfect fit. Still being young, I love working with the kids on a daily basis. My favorite part is seeing the kids mature both on the field and off the field. I’m still young. I’m still learning every day,” Bandov said. “I feel at home with the Juventus club. I plan to be here for a while.”

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The third annual Cañada College Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Banquet is scheduled for June 7 at the San Mateo Elks Lodge.

This year, Cañada will be inducting eight more Colts alumni, led by longtime Major League Baseball player Moises Alou, who was a first-round draft pick by Pittsburgh out of Cañada in 1986. Alou, who played in the big league for 17 seasons, was a six-time All-Star and won a World Series championship with the Florida Marlins in 1997.

Dennis Trixler was a golf medalist for the Colts in 1977 and went on to play 18 years on the PGA Tour, from 1980 to 1998. He qualified for the U.S. Open five times.

Frank Mangiola coached the Cañada soccer team from 1990 to 2004. He was a five-time conference coach of the year and earned National Junior College Coach of the Year honors in 1999.

Rocky Maguire was a state singles tennis champion in 1974 and was part of the Colts squad that won the state team title that same year. Roger Keilig was part of the Colts’ 1971 state champion baseball team and was a second-round pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Polla Garibay was a soccer All-American in 1975 and a member of the U.S. Olympic Soccer team in 1976. John Defoe was all-state, all-academic basketball selection in 1991 and ’92. Sheryle Cattaneo was a junior college All-American soccer player in 1993.

Reservations for the event can be made through Cañada athletic director Mike Garcia, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame last year. He can be reached at garciamike@smccd.edu or 306-3212.

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Former Menlo-Atherton tennis standout Marietta Tuionetoa was part of BYU-Hawaii’s women’s tennis team that captured its eighth straight PacWest Conference championship.

Tuionetoa, a junior and ranked No. 23 in singles in Division II, won a singles match 7-5, 6-0 and teamed with Marika Kobayashi to win a doubles match as well as the Seasiders defeated Hawaii Pacific 5-3 in the championship match.

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Hillsborough’s Claire Mancini finished third in the women’s division of the 2014 Silicon Valley International Triathlon in Half Moon Bay Sunday.

Mancini covered the 0.93-mile swim, 24.9-mile bike ride and 6.2-run in a time of 2 hours, 23 minutes and 48 seconds.

The event was moved from Morgan Hill to Half Moon Bay because of what race officials said was drought conditions in the South Bay city.

Robin Pomeroy of Folsom won the women’s division with a time of 2:14.54, with Jessica Smith of Stanford second in a time of 2:17.32.

On the men’s side, Orinda’s Scott Frandsen finished first with a time 2:05.20, followed by Ritch Viola of Tiburon just 12 seconds behind. Third-place finisher Eric Clarkson of Santa Cruz finished 15 seconds behind Viola.

All told, the top three men’s finishers were separated by just 27 seconds.

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Hillsdale has an opening for a girls’ varsity soccer coach. Those interested in applying can fill out an application at www.edjoin.org or contact athletic director Brett Stevenson at bstevenson@smuhsd.org.

Nathan Mollat can be reached by phone: 344-5200 ext. 117 or by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com. You follow him on Twitter@CheckkThissOutt.