Ephesians 2:10
"For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
What is Rio 40?
Rio 40 is a Christian institution founded to provide skill development and improve the technical ability of each and every soccer player. Rio 40's cornerstone focus is on the Brazilian soccer approach, which is based on the progression of technical skill development and the tactical principles of Brazilian soccer. This very style is based around exuberance, enjoyment and individual brilliance within the team collective. It also involves teaching and exploring creativity, as well as improvisation skills from every single player on the team. We offer programs that cater to players from the age of 2 all the way to college preparation.
Rio 40 was created by former Brazilian U-20 National Team member and Lee University All-American, Marina Lima. After years of playing, coaching and observing coaches in the USA, Marina recognized the need for more technical skills to be taught from an early age. She also believes that the refinement of those same skills are necessary as players continue to grow and play the beautiful game of soccer.
Meet our coaches!
Hayla Stone
Hayla attends Lee University where she graduates this May with a degree in Nursing. Stone is a Tennessee native from the Knoxville area who knows the club competition very well, as she played for Impact from 2005 to 2009 where it transitioned to FC Alliance.
She stayed with FC Alliance until 2011playing several positions such as sweeper, stopper and outside back.
Stone continued to pursue her soccer career in high school playing for Christian Academy of Knoxville (CAK) where she helped the Lady Warriors win State three times (2008, 2009, 2011).
Hayla has coached a U8 Rec Team and a Recreation Camp for kids 10 and under.
Ashley Manning
Ashley attended Virginia Tech where she played from 2010-2013. The Virginia native recently located to Chattanooga after a career at Virginia Tech as a forward where she helped her team to a Final Four appearance in the NCAA College Cup. Manning scored one goal and added an assist in a Final Four appearance her senior year that saw her named to the College Cup All-Tournament team. She holds the No. 8 spot on the Hokies’ all-time list in games played with 83 appearances in her career. She has recently been coaching individual skill sessions for HP Elite and Beyond.
Heather Faasse
Heather attended Colby-Sawyer College in New London, NH (2011-2015). During her college career she appeared in two D3 National Championship Tournaments (2013&2014) and played center back for the Chargers all four years starting in all 86 games. In addition to that, she was elected Team MVP in 2014. Heather is a very versatile athlete who also ran track for Colby-Sawyer College and holds the 400m and 4x400m records. Currently, she plays for Chattanooga Football Club and coaches at GPS Middle School and Lookout Mountain FC.
Kwame Boamah
Kwame was born in Kumasi, Ghana West Africa. Back in Ghana he played for Osika FC growing up. From there he played for King Fiasal FC youth system, which is one of the Professional teams in Ghana that produces most of the young soccer talents.
Upon arrival in the USA, he played for Temple Terrace Spirit Soccer in Tampa FL, then went to Lee University in Cleveland, TN (2010-2012), and later went to Tennessee Wesleyan College in Athens, TN to play for the Bulldogs (2013-2014). Kwame wrapped up many awards during his playing career, as freshman of the year and National tournament appearances with Lee University and TWC.
Kwame brings a wealth of knowledge in the coaching side as he was a volunteer Assistant Coach for TWC Bulldogs men’s soccer program (2014 season), coached at Redoubt Soccer Association U8-U10 boys teams (2015). Currently, he coaches for Chattanooga Football Club Academy U14 boys and is the Assistant Coach at Tyner High School for the boys side.
Nick Davis
Nick was born in England and has a vast experience playing soccer as well as coaching in different levels of the sport. At the moment, he coaches for the Chattanooga Red Wolves Academy. Nick has played for Dereham Education and Soccer Academy from 2012-2014 as well as AUM from 2014-2017 and TWU from 2017-2019. Nick holds a Grassroots 11v11 and 7v7 license as well as a England FA Level 1 license.
Kevin Cardona
Kevin has played for Knoxville Futbol Club Crush at the youth level and later on played for Tennessee Wesleyan University. On the caching side of things Kevin has coached at McMinn United FC from 2015-2018, he was the Student Assistant for TWU in 2015 and currently he coaches at Knoxville FC Crush and is the Graduate Assistant at TWU.
Tyler Robertson
Tyler has an incredible resume as a player and and as a coach and we are fortunate to have him. He has done private and group lessons and has coached at the high school and lower school levels at CCS since 2018. He has coached at the Chattanooga Red Wolves Academy with Pre Academy, Futsal and with the 2010 boys. In addition to that, he has been the assistant coach for the Chattanooga Lady Red Wolves top team as well as their Tier 2 team. He has also coached with Rio 40 taking teams to 3v3 tournaments!
As a player Tyler has played for ER Express, PSA and CFC. He has won several State Championships as a player and won several accolades as All District, All Region, All State and District MVP. Tyler did an outstanding job at TWU where he received the Athletic Director Award and he also played for Knoxville Force FC!
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Zach Crossman
Zach comes to Rio 40 with a vast experience in coaching as well as playing at a high level in our community. Zach cares about children and its passionate about coaching. Rio 40 kids love Coach Zach! He has coached both boys and girls middle school age and high school age at Ooltewah HS, Dade County, Silverdale and Baylor.​
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Michael Clow
Michael has an impressive resume with experience playing in the MLS Next Academy level with PA Classics as well as playing NCAA D1 at the University of New Hampshire, Elon University and ETSU.​
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In 2024, Michael was part of CFC MLS Next Pro pre season and played several professional games.
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Michael has been doing individualized training sessions since 2019 and he is also the current U19 Head Coach at CFCA.
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The kids love Coach Michael style and we are blessed to have him in our Rio 40 family!
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