Birth date: Feb 6, 1925 Death date: Dec 5, 2018
John Testa, 93 of New Port Richey, passed on December 5, 2018. The family will receive visitors at Trinity Memorial Gardens funeral home on Sunday, December 9th, from 2:00 to 4:00 and from 7:00 to 9:00. A Funeral Mass will be he Read Obituary
When I first started playing soccer I knew nothing about the sport. And for two years, I had coaches that knew nothing about the sport either. When I was 10 years old, I was lucky enough to end up on Johnny Testa’s team. The two years that I played for John were years that I think I had the most growth in becoming the man I wanted to be. I had never seen true passion before, but the love that John had for teaching the beautiful game is something that I have never seen before and likely won’t see again. It’s hard to imagine that he won’t be out running his warm up laps at the Mitchell fields. Or telling kids the importance of “Practicks” as that’s how he would pronounce it. I can still remember him teaching me and Nick Gunther, who is still a good friend of mine, why you should never kick the ball with your toe.
It hurts my heart to know that the future generations of young players coming through the complex won’t get to see the passion and true love for the sport, teaching, and mentoring that John had. When Nick and I heard the news, we started to discuss getting back into playing and potentially even coaching. If we could be half the coach and exhibit half the passion that John had, I know he would be proud of us, because no one loved what they did, and loved the sport, as much as he did.
With how many people he has impacted over the years, he will most definitely be missed by many.
