Criss Golden

Criss Golden came to the Tri-Cities in August 2004 to play soccer at King College in Bristol, Tennessee. Criss left Chattanooga where he grew up playing with the Redoubt Futbol Club.  He played his high school soccer at Ooltewah High School. At Ooltewah, he played center midfield and, in his senior year, earned Tennessee All-State awards, MVP of Ooltewah, and was a member of the Chattanooga Times Free Press Premiere Soccer Team.

While at King, Criss played both forward and left back positions within in his four year career. During Criss’s four years at King the team reached the Region XII Tournament four straight years, were the 2005 AAC Conference Champions, and won the 2007 AAC Conference Tournament. As a senior, Criss earned Region and Conference Player of the Week awards and was awarded the prestigious Declan Jogi Tornado Award as voted by his teammates. Criss attributes much of his success in competing and coaching to playing in several different positions on the field. This taught him to fully understand the game.

In 2008, Criss earned the Tennessee State E License and earned the USSF National D License in 2009 after completing soccer coaching training courses.  Probably the most practical coaching course Criss completed was the US-Youth National licensure which taught him a lot about the dynamics of youth learning curves as they pertain to soccer.

Criss has been with the club since 2008. He has done everything from coaching 4 year olds on Saturday mornings to being a head coach for U-13s. In 2008 Criss was the Assistant Women’s Soccer Coach at King College with Michael Swan. For the 2010-2011 season, he was the Men’s Graduate Assistant Coach at King College with Matt Lavinder. Criss is currently the Fusion Futbol Club U-11 Academy Head Coach.

Criss currently lives in Kingsport with his wife, Lindsey Golden.