Who is Angelo Schirinzi?

But who is Angelo Schirinzi?
How did he go from the snow-capped mountains of Switzerland to the golden beaches of French Polynesia? And more importantly, how did he take this side out of the group stage to the semi-finals in just two years?
Armed with a UEFA Pro Licence, the Basel-born 40-year-old has been involved in Beach Soccer since 2001 and a FIFA Instructor since 2008.
In May of 2008 he made his first foray into the Pacific leading a FIFA Beach Soccer Coaching Course in Solomon Islands. He returned to the region in November 2010 this time to Tahiti running a similar coaching course.
“Everything began in 2010 with the qualifications for the Beach Soccer World Cup in Ravenne,” Schirinzi says of the relationships early days.
“I arrived as a FIFA Instructor, I did a course to become a coach and almost all of the Tiki Toa took part in this course, after that they trained with the Swiss national team for four or five days.
“We did training during the holidays and after they qualified for the World Cup. They may have had the impression that I had given them a hand, because they won against the Solomon Islands, we became good friends, that’s who we began this beautiful relationship.”
The relationship continued to grow and develop with Schirinzi inviting three stalwarts of the Tahitian side to join his league side in Switzerland. Heimanu Taiarui, Angelo Tchen and player-coach Teva Zaveroni travelled to Zurich to hone their skills in the Swiss Beach Soccer League for two months.
They were then joined by the entire team who spent two weeks in camp ahead of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Italy.
While Tahiti didn’t make it out of the group stages on their first appearance, they cemented a relationship with the FIFA Instructor which would see them embark on the journey of a lifetime.
In December 2012 Schirinzi again found himself in Tahiti, this time for three weeks, to prepare the side for a three-match series against France.
It was the beginning of a year-long journey as the side got ready for their appearance at Tahiti 2013 – the first FIFA World Cup to be held on a Pacific Island.
“We won those matches against France, then three matches against Holland we also won. A lot of training matches, always at a high level,” Schirinzi said of the side’s early friendlies.
Once again, Schirinzi took a number of players back to Zurich to play for the Grasshoppers with Tairui earning the competition’s Golden Boot and the team winning the league.
The remainder of the Tiki Toa squad soon assembled in Zurich as the side continued their build-up with a tour of Europe and a string of friendlies before finally returning home to host the World’s best beach soccer teams.
But it was at Tahiti 2013, in front of the rapturous home fans that Schirinzi’s influence on the side became apparent as they battled their way through the group stage, on to the quarter-finals and into the semi-finals with speed, strength and most importantly – technique.
“The Tiki Toa deserved to go right through to the final,” their Swiss coach says.
“We had some problems with the yellow cards of Heimanu and Raimana [Li Fung Kuee] against Argentina, for me it was already incredible.
“Then, the suspension of Patrick Tepa caused us a lot of damage but against Brazil I was very happy with the efforts of the Tiki Toa. It was incredible, of a very high level, for me this was the final.”
Proud of his charges, Schirinzi some of his habits and quirks may have rubbed off on the players and if not, he has at least taught them a thing or two about the game.
“The players can see that I am ‘crazy’ for this sport, they see that I always want to win, this mentality they may have learnt a bit, but it’s in the heart of the players.
“Even in training, I always want to win. Teva is like this as well. But not a lot of players are like this.
“If you have the ‘fire’ for the game, and you convey that ‘fire’, the players love that, because Tahitians love the battle.”
Schirinzi says with the side behind against Brazil in the semi-final he shared a few encouraging words with the players to ignite that fire and passion – which seemed to have worked.
“I said: ‘you’re broken, they’re giving it to you in your own stadium – but no problem, let them kill you here’. They were angry, but they reacted well. It’s good.
“But it’s them who played the match, it wasn’t me. Yes, maybe they were affected by what I said to them, and I helped them find their aggressiveness. It really was an incredible match of such a high level.
We put on the best offensive show, in my opinion.”
Having led the side along the home straight to glory the question for many is what next for the Swiss wonder-coach?
For Schirinzi that next step has already been taken as he continues to train the Tiki Toa following the conclusion of the World Cup last month.
“I am still coach and player of the Swiss national team but we will continue as we are now. I will help if I can,” he says.
“I remain good friends with Reynald Temarii, with Heimanu, Teva – they will continue to play in my team, they will come to Switzerland and play in the Champions League because we won the Swiss Championship with them.
“If there is a tournament and I can came and help, I will come, if not there will always be Teva as there was before.”
He says what makes the difference for this team compared with others he has worked with is their willingness to learn and their ability to work as a team.
“We have a great team of Tiki Toa with which to work. I like working with them, because they want to learn and have a lot of respect. There are never any problems – either on the pitch or off. They know how to work together.”