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Handsor returns as Dynamite player-coach
The Denver Dynamite has brought back three-time MISL champion Chris Handsor as player-coach and youth director for the new Dynamite Academy, to be operated in conjunction with the Highlands Ranch Community Association.
John Wells is stepping down as coach for personal reasons after staying with the organization through the summer as the coach of the Dynamite reserves and most of the preseason for the Dynamite.
This will be Handsor’s 14th season as a player and second straight with the Dynamite. He led the team last year in points and assists. He registered 22 goals and 26 assists for 48 points in 17 games.
Handsor started his professional indoor soccer career with the Cleveland Crunch of the National Professional Soccer League in 1995-96, when he won his first championship with the Crunch. Handsor had a career-high 36 goals and 26 assists in 42 games as a member of the Philadelphia Kixx during their 2001-02 campaign. He then returned to Philadelphia for its championship season in 2002-03 and was named MVP of the Major Indoor Soccer League championship series. He won his third MISL championship as a member of the Baltimore Blast the following season.
He has appeared in 336 professional games tallying 244 goals and 199 assists.
As a coach, Handsor holds a 9-5 record with the club, including regular-season and open-cup matches. He took over the Dynamite after their 0-2 start with coach Mike Thompson last season, bringing them to 7-6 in the regular season before having to step down to address some family obligations. He returned as a player for the Dynamite in the playoffs.
“I’m thankful for the opportunity to coach another season of professional soccer in Denver,” Handsor said in a press release. “I am excited and anxious to get to work to improve this season from the last. We have great group of talented players with a full season behind them. Our success will come from commitment and a lot of hard work.”
Assisting Handsor on the bench will be Mark Perdew and goalkeeper coach-technical director Chuck Estrada.
Perdew has been the assistant coach for the PASL-Premier’s Golden Strikers for the past two years. Mark brings his coaching experience as the head coach of both the semi-pro Denver Kicker’s men’s and women’s teams that competed in the MPSL and WPSL leagues, respectively. An All-Star in 1992, Mark also draws his professional indoor and outdoor soccer experience from the Colorado Comets in the United Sates Interregional Soccer League as a player from 1989-2001.
Estrada took over as interim head coach with Handsor’s departure last season, winning two of the last three games to claim the final playoff berth to only fall short 10-9 in a fourth-quarter comeback attempt against Tigres Dorados MRCI Oaxaca. Chuck played for the Colorado Springs Rattlers/X-Men in the Southwest Indoor Soccer League from 1996 to 2000 as a player and co-coach. In 2000, he was drafted by the Utah Freezz in the World Indoor Soccer League but never played because of a heart condition that was discovered during a team physical.
The Dynamite begins its second season in November.
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