Men's Soccer

Paolo Carbone was hired as a Cabrillo head women’s soccer coach in 1999. Under his leadership and in its first year, the women’s soccer program won the first Coast Conference title in the school’s history and finished in the top 8 in the State. Carbone added 3 more Coast Conference Championships with the women’s soccer team in 2003, 2005 and 2008. In addition to coaching the women’s soccer team, from 2005 to 2008, Carbone was also the men’s head soccer coach and had double duties during this time. In this period, the Seahawks won two Coast Conference Championships and also participated in two CCCAA State Final IV. In 2008, the team was ranked as high as # 6 in the Nation by NSCAA, and this was also Paolo’s last last year coaching the Seahawks women’s soccer team. In 2009, Carbone took the lead of the men’s soccer alone and added another Coast Conference title in 2011 where the team finished one more time in the top 8 in the State. The Seahawks qualified almost every year to CCCAA Norcal Playoffs. 

Off the field, the Seahawks has a good track record of players graduating and moving on to the next level. The two most recent successful stories are Giovanni Godoy who transferred to UC Irvine and became the player of the year. He then participated in the MLS Superdraft, and now plays professionally in the USL Championship Orange County FC (one level below MLS). Walmer Martinez, after spending two years at Cabrillo College (AS degree in Fire Technology) earned a full soccer scholarship to play at CSUMB where he was an All-Academic team member. Walmer also played with the Pre-Professional Team Santa Cruz Breakers FC in the USL2, and has been invited to train with the MLS San Jose Earthquakes. Walmer is now a professional player with the USL Championship, Monterey Bay FC Union.

At the club level, Paolo has been involved in helping the growth of the game in the United States by contributing in different capacities in the US Soccer Development Academy and at the pre-professional level with the USL2. Paolo co-founded and directed the De Anza Force Soccer Club in 1999 and in 2004 he moved to the Santa Cruz Breakers organization where he covered different roles since joining.  Paolo also collaborated with AC Milan from 1999 to 2004 and was involved with the Italian giant with the organization of the AC Milan Camps in California. During his tenure Paolo also gave talented American soccer players the opportunity to train in Italy. In addition, Paolo brought American teams to compete in prestigious European invitational tournaments. In April 2020, when US Soccer decided to cease the operations of Development Academy, Paolo played a pivotal role in bringing the MLS NEXT to Santa Cruz County and making Breakers FC a founding member of this new youth development platform managed by Major League Soccer (MLS). In February 2022, after 18 years of services to the youth soccer community, Paolo stepped away from Breakers FC.

Paolo holds a US Soccer Federation National A Coaching License and a MA in Health, Physical Education and Recreation from Saint Mary’s College in California. Paolo participated in the USSF International Workshop for “A” License coaches where they visited world class clubs, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, the Spanish FA and also Villareal and Espanyol of Barcelona. Paolo was also hired by US Soccer to be a translator for an USSF International Workshop for "A" License Coaches in Italy. The coaches visited the Italian FA (Coverciano), they also visited the following world-renowned soccer clubs: AC Milan, Inter Milan, AS Roma and ACF Fiorentina. 

In 2017, Paolo completed his USSF Academy Director course. During this year-long invitational and professional development course, Paolo had the opportunity to collaborate with MLS academy directors, current and former MLS  GMs, current MLS Head Coaches and US Soccer National Team Staff members. During the course, Paolo visited the following MLS and European Clubs: FC Portland, Seattle Sounders, Houston Dynamo, Real Salt Lake, Werder Bremen (Germany), FC Midtjylland (Denmark). The candidates also spent one week in Florida at the IMG Academy where they observed the preparation of the U17 US National Team for the U17 World Cup. 

Paolo was born and raised in the “banlieues” of Paris from Italian parents. This is where he started developing his love and passion for the game of soccer. Paolo was lucky enough to grow up in and experience a high-level soccer environment on daily basis. As a matter of fact, Paris and its suburb is the #1 recruited soccer area in the world. Paolo showed talent at an early age and was recruited at the age of 12 by world-renowned youth soccer academy Paris Saint Germain (PSG). During his time at the Camp des Loges (PSG Training Center), Paolo was exposed to some of the best youth coaches in the world and had the opportunity to play against European club giants such as FC Barcelona, Inter Milan, Benfica, AC Milan and many more. In France, Paolo also played at the academy level for Racing Paris (Ligue 1) and AS Beauvais (Ligue 2) where he started training with the pros at the age of 17. Paolo moved to Italy at the age of 18 and was signed by US Civitanovese in 1987 (Serie C), he was also signed by Imola (Serie C) and Jesina. Paolo was about to sign for Serie B team Pescara in 1990 but the deal did not materialize. In the late 90’s, Paolo moved to the US and played for the Monterey Bay Jaguars and the Silicon Valley Ambassadors (USL) before the MLS years. Today, Paolo resides in Scotts Valley with his wife Lori, his daughters Chiara and Alessia and his son Matteo.