Duluth High School, 3737 Brock Road, Duluth GA 30096
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Duluth High School is proud to have
an exceptional group of coaches leading our teams.

click any coach's name to learn more.

Varsity Wildcats Varsity Lady Wildcats

Gregg Tavani

Head Coach,
Program Dir.

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Vince Hayes

Head Coach

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Kalvens Weah

Assistant Coach

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Lauren Dodson

Assistant Coach &
Keeper Coach

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Jr. Varsity Wildcats Jr. Varsity Lady Wildcats

Coach
to be determined

Tessa Heaton

Coach

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Gregg Tavani - Head Coach Men's Varsity

Coach Tavani is in his ninth year of coaching at both the high school and club levels. He is a Georgia Youth Soccer Association Coach of the Year and holds the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) National “A” Coaching License, the highest license a coach can attain in the U.S. In the summer of 2005 he earned the USSF National Youth License.

2009 will be Coach Tavani's eighth year as head coach at Duluth High School. The 2006 season was possibly Coach Tavani's best as a coach at the high school level. He led the Wildcats to the AAAAA Final Four after not even being projected to reach the playoffs. They finished the season at 15-4-2 and topped the state's #1 team Chattahoochee and the defending state champs, Parkview.

Coach Tavani also guided the Wildcats to back-to-back Georgia Final Four finishes in 2002 and 2003, while advancing to the school's first ever State championship game in 2003. Coach Tavani's Duluth team finished 2003 as the #2 team in Georgia and the #18 team in the nation, their highest ranking ever. His 2002 team was ranked #3 in Georgia and Top 50 nationally. In 2004, the team was ranked as high as #2 in the U.S. Duluth’s five-year overall record under Coach Tavani stands at 68-27-6. His overall high school coaching record includes 84 wins.

Coach Tavani was selected to coach in the Georgia Soccer Coaches Association All Star Game in 2002, 2003, and 2006. He was also selected AAAAA Coach of the Month in May 2003. Prior to Duluth, Coach Tavani spent three years as head boys coach at Redan High School in Stone Mountain, GA , where he guided the team to the state playoffs in 2001 for the first time since 1996. He has also served as a Georgia Olympic Development Program (ODP) Assistant Coach and tryout evaluator.

Coach Tavani annually produces top high school players who go on to earn college scholarships while also developing several players who have become All-County and All-State. Many of his former players who serve as coaches at the camp are currently playing college soccer, including the past two Gwinnett County Players of the Year (2003, 2004). He is also the Atlanta Fire United Soccer Association U-11 Boys Academy Coordinator, where he coaches the top three teams.

Prior to his coaching career, Coach Tavani was a four-year letterman at Flagler College in St. Augustine, FL, where he helped lead the Saints to NAIA national rankings in 1995 and 1996 and Florida Sun Conference Championships in 1994 and 1996. He graduated from Flagler College in 1998 with a BA in Education, and more recently, earned a Master's of Science in Education from Walden University. Coach Tavani grew up in the Atlanta area, and was an All-State player at Dunwoody High School in 1994. He currently resides in Alpharetta with his wife, Tracy, and their daughter Emily.

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Vince Hayes - Head Coach Women's Varsity

Vince Hayes grew up in Gwinnett County, playing both at Dacula High School (4 years Varsity) and Club Soccer at West Gwinnett Soccer Club (now Atlanta Fire United) on their top team ages 11-18.

Vince has coached soccer at Duluth High School since 2002, starting out as the Men's Junior Varsity Head Coach and Varsity Assistant Coach. In those early years, the Duluth Men's program went to state playoffs in all but one year, making it to the state Semi-Finals twice and the State Championship once. In 2007, Vince accepted the position as Varsity Women's Head Coach.

Vince is involved in the sport throughout the year. When he is not at Duluth High School, he coaches Club Soccer. At Forsyth Fusion, he served as a coach for the Girls' Academy for 4 years where he trained several successful elite youth teams. In 2007, Vince moved to the Norcross Soccer Academy where he coaches elite Junior Select teams. During the Summer, Vince coaches at many camps in the area.

Vince was the staff coach for the 1996 Olympic Women's Development Program (ODP). He currently holds a National Youth training license along with a USSF 'B' License. He also holds a Bachelor's Degree in Education from the University of Georgia (2001) and a Master's Degree in Social Science Education from Piedmont College (2006). In 2008, Vince earned the FA Psychology Level 1 Diploma as well as the NSCAA High School Diploma.

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Tessa Heaton - Coach Women's Junior Varsity

Tessa Heaton joined the Duluth Soccer Coaching Staff in 2010. She grew up in Gwinnett County and attended Berkmar High School where she played soccer and was a 4-year starter as the Varsity keeper. While in high school, she earned Gwinnett County Goal Club/All County Player in 2002. She also played competitive Club Soccer at Gwinnett Soccer Association.

Following high school, she attended NAIA Emmanuel College on athletic and academic scholarships. During her 4 years at Emmanuel, Tessa played both as a goalkeeper and field player. Tessa earned honors as a 3-time member on the All-Conference Team and All-Academic Team as well as the team's Most Valuable Player her senior year. In 2006, she received her undergraduate degree in Secondary Social Sciences and finished with a 3.95 GPA.

After graduating from Emmanuel, she attended Piedmont College where she earned her Master's Degree in Early Childhood Education with a Reading Endorsement in 2009 (4.0 GPA). While at Piedmont, Tessa was assistant soccer coach and goalkeeper coach for both the Men's and Women's programs. Additionally, she continues to play competitive indoor and outdoor soccer year-round.

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Kalvens Weah - Assistant Coach Duluth Soccer's Men's team

Kalvens started playing soccer at the age of 9 and played throughout middle and high school as a goalie, a striker, and a right back / defender.

While in high school, Kalvens also played volleyball and basketball. Additionally, he was a member of the high school track and field team. Kalvens won two silver medals and a bronze medal in the javelin, short pull and discuss during the 1989 Liberian National Track and Field competition. After high school, Kalvens played amateur soccer in Liberia (his home country), Sierra Leone, Guinea, Ivory Coast and Ghana before traveling to Europe and finally to the United States in 1997. While in New York, he was the captain for a local soccer club on Staten Island called ROZA.

In 2003, he earned a BBA from the Metropolitan College of New York in New York, New York. In 2005, Kalvens earned his MBA from American Intercontinental University (AIU) Huffman Estate, Illinois, having studied Human Resource Management and Marketing. In 2006, Kalvens Weah became a faculty member at Duluth High School as a Para Pro.

Currently, he is a Special Education Teacher at Duluth High School and continues to play soccer for an Old Timers Club in Lawrenceville, Georgia.

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Lauren Dodson - Women's Varsity Assistant Coach & Goal Keeper Coach

Lauren Dodson grew up in Dekalb County and attended Tucker High School. At Tucker, she was a four-year letter recipient in soccer, basketball, and softball. She also earned all-county goalkeeper honors in 2000.

After high school, Lauren attended Reinhardt College where she was a member of the Reinhardt College women's soccer team from 2002-2006. At Reinhardt, she was a 4-year starter, captain of the squad for 3 years, an All American Scholar athlete for 2 years. Additionally, she earned honors as an All Conference Goalkeeper. She led the Lady Eagles to their first region tournament appearance, was president of the biological honor society Tri Beta, and was a resident assistant. In May 2006, Lauren graduated from Reinhardt with a Bachelor of Science in Biology with the honor of cum laude.

Upon graduation, Coach Dodson returned to be the assistant soccer coach at Reinhardt from 2006-2009, where she primarily focusing on goalkeeper training. Coach Dodson received her Master's of Arts in Teaching in Science Education from Georgia State University in the summer of 2009.

Currently, Coach Dodson resides in Lawrenceville with her husband Shaun.

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