Players Who are Involved

One of the goals of the Maranatha Soccer program is to prepare our players to become excellent soccer coaches. We believe that the NCAA III experience is a key influence in their soccer development, however there are many other ways to learn to work with young people and sports with credibility. Many of our players volunteer to work at the YMCA in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. Some of our players volunteer to work with teams at Watertown High School. Several are involved with the rec league here in Watertown. A large number of our players work as high school and club referees around the area.

Junior midfielder, Melissa Nichols, did both this last semester. She volunteered as the head coach of the Watertown U-11 girls soccer team and spent much of her time on weekends as a referee in the soccer club. A month or so ago, we were driving through Brandt-Quirk Park and saw Melissa as an assistant referee for a boy's U-14 match. I snuck up behind her and took a few pictures without her even knowing. I have posted a couple here. There are several more that are not quite as good. . .you can purchase the entire set in exchage for a small donation to the women's team fund to buy new warm-ups. . . :) - C

Cardinal Stritch

Our first every spring scrimmage went off without a hitch. It was fun to experiment a little and play with two of our graduating seniors - Mark Scally and Justin Monge - one last time. It was even more fun to get all the guys together one more time before the end of the school year. Cardinal Stritch has a strong NAIA program. and about 95% of their team was from the UK. I think we all felt like speaking with an English accent by the end. It took us a while to get our rhythm, a few of our players had not been able to touch a ball since last October. We gave up three goals in the first half, but shut them out the rest of the way and even put together several nice attacks at the end.
I had intended to have some pictures ready, but neglected to bring my camera. The ground was a little soft, but it was a great day for soccer. -C

Game Today!

The men will be playing in their first ever spring scrimmage. The match is at 4:30 pm on the Maranatha campus. We are still in the middle of a record cold spell that has hit the eastern part of the United States, but at least we are not Cleveland or Augusta. Thankfully, the weather report indicates that we will not have to deal with any precipitation. - C