Salvatore Carmusciano set to commence new era at Illawarra Academy of Sport

With the Brisbane 2032 Olympic on the horizon, Carmusciano said he was gunning to get started in his new role.

Originally from Victoria, Carmusciano started his career at AFL powerhouse the Melbourne Football Club in 2004 before taking up a football role in 2006 to oversee the expansion of the junior development program in Victoria.

In 2013 he was head-hunted by Football Federation Australia (FFA) to lead the development of the MiniRoos program which is now the largest junior program in Australia with over 230,000 participants annually and a net worth over $8m annually to the business.

In 2015 Carmusciano was promoted to the general manager of community football and was responsible for key stakeholder relationships including member federations, governments and professional clubs.

Carmusciano was previously Macarthur Football Association general manager for a period of five years.

With all this experience behind him, he takes over from previous CEO for the past five years in Armstrong. Sharon Wingate has been acting in the role since Armstrong left on June 30.

The new CEO said he was incredibly humbled to get the position and excited to get started.

"I'm just excited to start a new chapter for me personally," he told the Mercury.

"To put my foot in the door of the Academy with such a rich history of producing talented people, not just athletes is really exciting and humbling. I've been in the football bubble for a little while now.

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"But I've seen some talented footballers come through. Just to have a look at the calibre of people coming through the Academy. The diversity of sports we've got and with Brisbane [Olympics] on the horizon, I'm sure we'll see a lot of athletes coming out of this program and out of the Illawarra that will be competing in Brisbane."

He said that his background would set himself up for success with the IAS and put forward his vision for the organisation.

"I think the industry is a small bubble. Everyone knows everyone and I think I've established myself," Carmusciano said.

"I think it's going to hold me in good stead for this, the skills I've learnt are transferable. I think first and foremost it's the quality of people that are coming through the system and that they're developing.

"They're already showing something, they just need a bit of a push to get to that elite status. I think that's where we can bridge that gap. But the role also plays a role in developing the person as a collective holistic development.

"That's where I like to see where we fit. We're supplementary. We help develop a whole round of athlete which is great. It's such an important institution. But I'm looking forward to working with the board and the staff. They are amazing."

Carmusciano said he was walking into a role that was in a decent place thanks to the works of those before him.

"The place is in good shape," he said.

"It's been a tough couple of years there with COVID and everything else. But it's in good shape. It's right for taking it to another level now.

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"John and Sharon have done a fantastic job. Sharon stepped into the role in the interim period and also was president of the Academy. I look forward to working with her and the team to take it to another level."

The new CEO attended the IAS awards evening last week and said he was extremely impressed.

"Grace [Tracey] plus some of the other athletes were lucky enough to receive an award on the night. We're just spoiled for choice aren't we? Hearing them speak, we're talking about 15, 16 year old kids and just hearing them speak publicly like that, you can see all the media training we're putting into these athletes as well."

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