Some News

I have not been looking forward to this post.

You may have seen this article or this one or this announcement or read this post over the past few days. My resignation as head men's and women's soccer coach has been public for some time, but the official announcement was made this week.

When I finished my last season of eligibility as a player at Maranatha in the fall of 1996, I never thought that I would be involved in coaching to any great extent. Little did I know how difficult the following fall would be for me without team involvement. Little did I know that when Coach Morris offered to let me help with the new women's club team in the fall of 1997, that I would find what has been my life's calling for the past 11 years.

I don't know exactly what our future plans hold (do we ever?), but I am confident that God will continue to direct our path. There is potential that God may lead us away from Maranatha, He may even lead us away from Watertown, on the other hand, we might just remain right here for the rest of our lives. I am confident that the college will find a great replacement for me and I look forward to helping them to understand the tradition that is Maranatha soccer.

I want to thank all of the players who have contributed positively to this program and to my experience as a coach. I have enjoyed cultivating relationships with all of you and many of you have earned my respect as godly young people. We have always tried to cultivate an atmosphere of gratitude for the opportunity to play college soccer, an atmosphere oriented toward solutions to challenges and an ethos that encouraged leaders to stand up and act in a positive manner. I been witness to a hundred acts of humility, sacrifice, courage, and thoughtfulness. Another goal was balance. Soccer was not the most important thing in any of our lives, but when you stepped between the lines, the game was on! Today, Maranatha soccer alums are successful in all walks of life, I hope that some of you learned something from your soccer experience that you can apply to real life in ministry, family and vocation.

I possess a thousand memories from the last decade, some of them occupy pictures on my wall, some exist in little notes, some are just memories that resurrect when I hear from former players. Over the next few days, please humor me and allow me to list a few memories off the top of my head. I think that I could fill an entire year's worth of posts if I tried.

If I miss your favorite memory - feel free to add it to the comments on this page.

Plays, Choir, Soccer?

Maranatha women's soccer player, Jennifer Harley just received a feature on the MBBC website. Jenny has been a three year starter on the women's team and a key member of our defense for the last three years.

It isn't mentioned in the article, but Jenny is also one of the toughest and most physical players on the team. Even though I originally thought she was too small for college soccer. . . She never lets me forget that. As you read the article, you realize that Jenny has done a lot more than just play soccer at MBBC.

If you are in the area, stop by and see her in Pygmalian this spring!

Award for Joe Harding

One of my coaching friends and mentors received a much deserved award at the annual NSCAA convention in Baltimore last month. You can read about it here on the NCCAA website, scroll to the bottom of the page. Joe has always done a good job in promoting a balance view of athletics, especially in a Christian context. He has also been a great resource for me as I seek to improve my ability to work with Christian young people through the medium of soccer.

The other reason that makes it easier for me to like Joe is that Maranatha defeated Moody two times this year in men's soccer. . . Of course Maranatha's all-time record against Moody is 7-23. . . but we won't dwell on that. Joe and I are 3-3 against each other over the last four years, but beyond that, he is always willing to respond to an email or take my call and give me his perspective on the challenges of life and soccer.

Congratulations, Joe!

Last night was a lot of fun

Yesterday, the Pioneers from Northland Baptist made the trip down to Watertown for men's and women's NCCAA II Midwest Region games. The gym was packed and the noisiest that I can remember. Check out the pictures here. I was able to run the scoreboard for both games - that way I get a front row seat with an unobstructed view. I enjoy basketball, I've played it and coached it, but I lose patience with the endless timeouts and merry-go-round of substitutions. . . I guess that is why I am more of a soccer guy.

Maranatha won the women's game without too much trouble and two soccer players got into the game. (I always enjoy that) Lisa Collogan played several minutes, grabbed a board and shot a couple of free throws. . . Melissa Nichols received some major time and played great defense on a couple of the Northland guards. . . side on. . .feet staggered. . .wide base. . .eyes. . . on toes. . .etc. Ihose of you who have been to a soccer practice here at MBBC know what I am talking about. you can read more about the women's game here.

The men's game started off with prayer and the national anthem. We were led in prayer by Pastor James Solarek (one of our top 11 men's players) and Hayley McGrail sang the national anthem (Not one of our top 11 women's soccer players, but definitely one of the best singers to play soccer at MBBC). David Esgar (current men's soccer player) had a fantastic game for Maranatha. He had 22 points, 3 assists and 4 steals on the night. Check out the men's write-up here.

When Northland plays Maranatha, the score doesn't matter - there is no lack of passion the competition and we always enjoy catching up with friends from the other team after the game. Check out another account of the night from Melanie Killingsworth, other wise known as "killer".

Catching up. . .

I have not posted much lately and I need to catch up on a few things.There were several weddings over the last month that deserve mention here at Maranatha Soccer.

First, Sarah Beardslee married Cole Gelderneck on December 15th. Sarah is third all-time in goals scored for the women's soccer team and she was a part of one of our best squads that won 13 games in 2003. This was a tough wedding for us to miss, but we enjoyed checking out the pictures on her sister Karen's facebook page.

Emily Yogerst was married to Dave Marriott on December 21, during a huge snowstorm in Wisconsin. Lack of a babysitter and the weather kept us away from this one, although it would have been great to see Travis and Christine and other former soccer players at their wedding.

Erik Eloe and Erika Licht (their first names are not a typo) were married on January 12. We were able to attend this wedding since it was in Watertown at our homechurch and I was an usher and a nursery was provided (Thanks Elise Jones!) It was a beautiful wedding. Both the bride and groom played on the Maranatha soccer teams and each of the bridesmaids were also former Maranatha soccer players: Shasta Mikolowski, Emily (Yogerst) Marriott and Charell Kukowski.

After observing the number of weddings that I have seen over the last 11 years as the women's coach, I have come to some conclusions:

• I am quickly becoming an expert at running wedding rehearsals. Coaching a soccer practice is just like running a wedding rehearsal.


• While you may want me to run your rehearsal, you do not want me to decorate for your wedding.


• I enjoy being the MC at wedding receptions, although you need to prepare to be embarrassed. Boy, I wish I had been on the mike at KJ's wedding. . . I also do bar mitzvah's and sweet 16 parties too.


• It is fun to attend weddings with your spouse, as long as we can leave the children at home.


• If I ever let a guy come near enough to ask one of my daughters to marry him and I say yes, I will strongly suggest that they elope and I might even pay for the honeymoon if they agree to the plan.