Ezra Hendrickson joins LA Galaxy as assistant coach

Vincentian Ezra Hendrickson has been hired by LA Galaxy as the franchise’s assistant coach in USA‘s Major League Soccer (MLS).

Hendrickson joins LA Galaxy coaching staff after spending just over three years as the Seattle Sounders 2 head coach, as part of the United Soccer League.

Before, Hendrickson was the Sounders’ first team assistant coach from 2009 to 2014, as the understudy to Sigi Schmid.

Incidentally, Hendrickson and Schmid are re-united at LA Galaxy, in the same roles as they played at Seattle Sounders.

With the combination of Hendrickson and Schmid at Seattle Sounders, the latter were able to pouch four US Open Cup titles, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2014.

In his new status with the LA Galaxy set-up, Hendrickson heads back to familiar territory.

His professional career as a footballer in the MLS saw him spending seven years at LA Galaxy (1997 to 2003), notching up 139 appearances.

Playing in the central defence position, Hendrickson was named LA Galaxy’s Most Valuable Player in 2001.

Used to titles, Hendrickson was part of the Galaxy’s outfit that won the CONCACAF Champions Cup in 2000, the MLS in 2002, as well as the MLS Supporters’ Shield in 1998 and 2002 and the US Open Cup in 2001.

He has also played for DC United and helped them win the MLS Cup in 2004.

His stint with the Columbus Crew, from 2006 to 2008, saw them taking the MLS Cup and Supporters Shield in 2008, his last season.

Hendrickson has represented other MLS teams – the New York/New Jersey Metro Stars, in 1997; Dallas Burn, in 2003, Chivas USA, from 2005 to 2006 and had a very brief stay with USL team Charleston Battery, during the 2003 to 2004 season.

He, however, began his professional career with the New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers in 1995-1996.

Before getting into the full professional sphere, Hendrickson, then a striker, played for Des Moines Menace.

Hendrickson made his debut for St Vincent and the Grenadines in 1995, and rose to captain the senior team on several occasions, before announcing his retirement from national duties in 2008, after counting 123 caps.

He lent his coaching expertise, for a brief period in 2015, to the St Vincent and the Grenadines senior men’s team Vincy Heat, in their preparation for World Cup qualifiers against the USA and Guatemala.

Born in the central leeward town of Layou, Hendrickson attended the St Martin’s Secondary School, before migrating to USA in the 1980s.