Flynn was ‘all-in’ for his players

Dave Babb can still envision his colleague Larry Flynn motoring down Walnut Street to Lynn?s Frey Park, sitting atop his Harley Davidson, cigar in his mouth and prepared to run practice ? literallyrunpractice along with his soccer team.
Flynn, who died Dec. 13 at 63, was all about soccer and was all in when it came to the kids he prepared to play. He coached the sport, played the sport and mentored his charges with a soft-spoken style, sage advice and hands-on approach that bred success, on the field and off.
?The word that best describes Larry is ?team,?” said Babb, who met Flynn while coaching Lynn Youth Soccer, then handed him the reins of the St. Mary?s High School boys? program in 1987. “His players all shared that unique team spirit. Though some of them were very good on their own, it was never about any one of them.”
Flynn coached the St. Mary?s varsity during its glory years, earning the Division 3 state championship in 1988 and Division 3 North titles in 1987 and 1989. His son Kelly was a member of those teams. Flynn switched to the girls? program at St. Mary?s when his daughter Amy played there and he guided those teams to the Cape Ann League title in 1992 as well as a Catholic Conference championship and top seed in the 1994 state tournament. He also coached the Lynn Classical girls? team from 1995-97.
Peter Angelli, leading scorer on St. Mary?s 1988 championship team, says the lessons he learned from Flynn helped inspire him to become a high school teacher and to coach soccer at St. Mary?s, Swampscott High School and now, Pentucket Regional.
?He made a big impact on how to look at things ? and not just soccer,” said Angelli, 43. “He taught us to be mature and independent but, at the same time, dependent on your teammates. He coached us to think about how to play the sport, particularly in terms of conditioning.”
A 1969 St. Mary?s grad, Flynn?s coaching style was shaped by his hometown and at least in part by the imposing 200-foot hill near the practice facility at Frey Park. “We called it ?Heartbreak Hill,?” said Babb, noting that conditioning would pay off when the Spartans needed six overtimes and a shootout to defeat Cohasset for the EMass title, then went the maximum six overtimes in their 1988 state championship game against Bromfield.
?There were many practices where we didn?t even touch a ball,” recalled Ryan Davis, goalie for St. Mary?s state champs. “Larry?s practices were very much geared toward endurance and fitness. We?d run up that hill, touch the Little League fence at the top and run back down to do a lap around the field. But it wasn?t just about running up and down a hill four or five times. He?d set up cones and an obstacle course for us to run around and through.
?Larry knew that coming out of Lynn Youth Soccer we had the (soccer) skills. Now it was about making sure we could properly apply those skills by having enough endurance, especially at the end of a game when opponents were exhausted.”
At practice, Flynn was never merely a spectator, blowing a whistle. He was an equal participant, consistently running and challenging his obstacle courses alongside his players.
?He led by example and would never have us do something he couldn?t do himself,” Angelli said. “He was probably in better shape than all of us.”
An employee of the Lynn Schools for 34 years, soccer would come to dominate free time for Flynn, his wife Paula and their family. There were youth soccer trips to Quebec and Connecticut, not to mention hours chalking out the soccer pitch at Holyoke Field.
But Davis recalls that there was always time for fatherly advice.
“Having a conversation with Larry, in school or on the bus, he always made eye contact,” Davis said. “You knew he was listening and actually cared. He wanted to help you, whether it was with a personal issue or a soccer issue. But, even in his coaching, he was never loud or very aggressive. He just had this quiet sense of intensity and sincerity.”
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