Soccer in America: Kevin Souter

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On Friday of last week I talked with Kevin Souter and tried to understand a little about him and where he is going on this crazy ball of dust. It was a great talk; Souter is a friendly guy. It is imperative that you read his words in a Scottish accent.

Kevin Souter in the Beginning

What is your first soccer memory?
My actual first soccer memory was when I was really really small. As soon as you started walking [in the UK] you were going to be kicking a ball. I remember being over at my grandparents. I’d be in a hallway in his house just kicking the ball back and forth with my grandpa. We’d do it for a long, long time. Just him kicking the ball and kicking it back to him. It’s something I always remember.

Then I remember playing outside. There was a little parking lot we used to play in. I must have been three years old during that time.

You were in Scotland, how did pick Graceland out of all the American colleges?

Well something I’ve always had an eye on is soccer in the states. My high school PE teacher always said there is opportunity to go and play soccer in the states and get a scholarship and do some schooling over there. So from high school I’d always had it in the back of my mind.

When I was in high school I was picked up by a Scottish Premier League team Aberdeen and I was on their books as an academy player. I was with their youth team growing up. I never really thought about education. I’d always hoped I’d make it with Aberdeen.

That was my dream and boyhood team. As I progressed through there, [some of the] coach’s thought I was doing well with the younger team and the reserves but the head coach didn’t think I was progressing as much as I should have been and decided to part ways.

I took a little knock there and was pretty disheartened and went and played for some part time soccer team and did a college course back home. After a while I thought “I really do love soccer and I want to get back into it and continue with my education as well.”

A guy I was playing with had been over and was at Harvard University, a NCAA school. I talked to him and his coach contacted me and we talked a little bit. By that time he couldn’t get me over so the plan was to go to another school for a year and then transfer as long as my grades were good.

Graceland University contacted me. The coach that called me was the assistant woman’s coach, a goalkeeping coach. His son (Josh Wagenaar) was the goalkeeper at Harvard University. By this point I was ready to go anywhere. So I took the chance right away.

I had never seen the place, never heard of it, and it was an eye opener for sure. The people there were great, the coaching staff was great, and we had a lot of success. I grew a lot as a player and as a person and I have a lot of respect for the organization and the coaching staff there.

Playing in NAIA
How competitive do you think NAIA is?

I was pleasantly surprised by the standard of competition. Our strength was we were a hard team to beat, a hard working team. We played several teams that were better technical with guys from Brazil or South Africa, but our team was very hard to break down. We got goals off of set pieces - breakaways. Wherever it was we worked for it.

In terms of the league we played William Jewel, Benedictine, and Mid America. There was a lot of good team we would consistently play. Then going to the National Tournament as well, there were a lot of good players.

To be honest I think the NAIA is underrated. All the hype is about Division I and NCAA and during the draft all the players come from there, but there are a lot of good players in NAIA who are seemingly overlooked which is a shame but that’s the nature of it.

Current players in NAIA still talk about how good you were. Do you think you were better than the pack?
When I first came I probably lacked self belief. The coach was getting his doctorate in sports psychology and besides the team side of stuff he was probably working on sports psychology stuff. That really helped my game as a player and my confidence. I had experience in the past, professional experience, coming through a youth setup and seeing how it was done so I knew I had ability.

He gave me a license to take charge and the confidence to be a leader on the team and to take games by the scruff of the neck and be in charge. I felt I was a strong competitive player in the league. It’s a testament to the team, we’d go to some teams who’d been scouting us and they’d put two guys on me. That’s says something about me right?

We were a team so if two guys were on me we’ve got one guy spare. I loved my three years at Graceland and I’d never change them. I love the league and I had some great times there and it was defiantly great competition.

I put my head down and worked every spring and summer time. The coach would give me things to work on and I’d work on them and improve on them by the following season. It’s all about progression.

MLS Season One

How do you feel about your first Major League Soccer Season?
It was unexpected to be honest. Going into open tryouts I had that self belief in myself. I got picked up after the tryouts and went to Argentine with the team. As soon as I got myself adjusted to the team and the speed of play I started to understand a bit more what I could do and the potential I had. The coaches liked it and signed me up for the year. My targets for the year was to continually work hard and progress and that meant putting in all the extra time in the gym or after practice.


It was a long road getting to where I was. I wasn’t going to give it up that easy. I was going to do all that extra work. Stick around after practice working on certain things and implement them in the games. I was trying to get to the reserve team for starters. As I got more and more minutes there I would start to show a bit more and hopefully at the end of year to come away having earned a senior roster spot. That’s what I did. On top of that I got to make the A team and play a few games and I made my debut against my long time hero David Beckham.

You stole the ball from him with your first touch didn’t you?
Yeah. That was special. I went in on right side. I figured he’d be on the opposite side. Beckham was on my side for whatever reason and I think it was a corner. He took a bad touch and the ball got away from him and I got in there.

I have a picture sitting up in my room of me shaking hands with him after the game. That’s something I’m going to cherish for a long, long time.

After that things just took off. I got starts. I got a goal the following week when we played Toronto. It was a lucky hit but the records show it was mine so I’m taking it.

I started in Chicago and managed to keep myself in the lineup right through the playoffs. My task is to build off that this season.

2009 Preseason
You just got back from Guadalajara, what is it like?
Well the hotel was nice. We trained at Atlas’ facilities which were nice. They were very hospitable and we went and watched one of their games which they won 2-0. In terms of the city itself there are some nice areas and some rundown areas.

A few of us got a couple of taxis and went to a market. It was very nice and cool to see, a big market, a lot of stuff in there. We did a little sightseeing.

Guadalajara is kinda the same altitude as Colorado. In terms of training we were breathing heavy. Coming back the last couple days everyone is doing great.

No one was cut from the Wizard’s roster. How did that affect the preseason?
For the most part we had meetings before we left and got an idea of where we stood. The coach has enough confidence in all the players here. Certain spots have more depth but we got the majority of the guys back from last year. We didn’t add too much, just a little more depth. The guys like myself, John Leathers, Chance Myers, Marquess, the second year guys gained a lot of experience. Roger Espinoza with the Honduras National Team.

Guys are gaining more experience and on top of that we got a couple good acquisitions, the first year guys, Graham Zusi, and Beasler. We’ve got a pretty solid team. We have 24 but we still have Chance and Kronberg who are injured reserve right now. They are probably going to be added to the team too.

We went down to Florida and saw several teams down there with a lot of players, 40, 50, and it must be hard trying to get them all minutes and assessing all those players. We had maybe 25-30 guys and it was a lot more manageable. We could get straight to business and make more of the preseason this year than we did last year.

Thoughts on the 2009 Season
How will the Wizards do in the upcoming season?
I thought we finished really strong last year and I don’t think it will be any different this year. Our goal is to keep a really good home record which puts us in good stead and pick away at away games and try to get some wins away from home.

The squad is more than capable of getting results. Other teams have been adding to their squads and getting strong as well but I think we’ve got good balance and are gaining more experience. The coach has trust in the guys from last year.

There are no wholesale changes. In practice we’ve been working more on defensive movement and more offensive movements as well. As we play more as a team, we fight as a team, we win as a team. I think it’s going to show this year.

Our goal again is to make the playoffs and we want to win the conference and take it from there.

Do you think you will continue starting? I know you made a strong run at the end of last season.
It’s hard to say. This preseason has been kinda up and down for me. I feel like I started slower in the preseason but it has come around; I feel like I’m really getting sharp again. Again we’ve got so much competition in these spots. The acquisition of Hirsig, he’s been playing on the right in some preseason games, Zusi has been playing well along with Herculez who’s just come back from injury.

I feel I am starting to show more of the potential I have, getting sharper again and back to normal. There are plenty of options and it really depends who the coach decides to go with at the time. I’m always striving for a starting spot and whether it happens the first game or not I’m going to continue working.

When I’m called upon I’m going to do my job.

Soccer in America: Jim “Snoop” Schneiderhahn Part Two

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An Interview with Emporia State University Women’s Soccer Head Coach
Welcome back to part two of my interview with Jim Schneiderhahan. In the second half of my interview I talked with him about coaching at Emporia State, the future of his players, goalkeeping, and Americans coaching in Europe.

If you missed the first interview scroll down a wee bit or click the link. You can learn a lot from this interview, don’t skip it because you don’t know Emporia State.

Coaching Women’s Soccer at Emporia State University
How did last season go?
Better. When I came in here there were a lot of things that needed to be fixed and it’s really not anyone’s fault, it’s the natural evolution of a young program. Anytime you are new coming in to a new situation it’s kind of like living in someone’s house and someone else put the furniture out. It’s not where you’re use to having it or really where you want to have it. So you have to spend your time moving the furniture around to where you want it.

That’s essentially what we’ve done the last few years is try to get the furniture moved. I think we’re finally to a point where we are moving in the direction we need to move, and have some fantastic kids who are willing to work hard to make it happen. It’s a no rest for the weary kind of thing where as soon as you start doing well you have to work that much harder to recruit.

How is the next year shaping up?
Good. We had a lot of young kids, freshman, who played this year and got a baptism by fire. A week from today is national signing day so we’ve got four [recruits] and a couple young ladies who are going to sign with us next week who I think will come in and do well. The big thing with our team right now is we are at a place where we don’t really have any super starts or any big time studs but we have a nice group of kids who are willing to work hard and do the teamwork necessary to be successful.

That counts for a lot.
It does. You obviously do need the studs and the stars to move to the next level but certainly from where we are at right now I like our chances to continue to compete and rise up the table.

You play your games across town by the high school?
We have the last couple of years. This year we are actually moving onto campus down by the rec field. That was one of the first things I said when I arrived here was I wanted to get us on campus so we can get closer to everyone else. We want the ability for us to get the casual fans going to their car after class or going down to the rec center for a workout.

We are right there, something is going on, they see a crowd of people. They’ll watch. It’s the same inclination of people who pass by an ambulance on the road. There is a bunch of people standing around and flashing lights, lets look. Maybe we’ll have some flashing lights I don’t know.

Did you have to fight any with the football team to use the field (football practice field)?
No no. Coach Higgins and the whole football team have been fantastic. When you come into a new situation you have to get the lay of the land and certainly Coach Higgins did it, I’ve actually been here longer than Coach Higgins, but the football program, every program has been here longer. We’re the young kids on the block so to speak. One of the things that is very important to me is we don’t want to succeed at the expense of any of our colleges and I hope that’s the same way they feel and I think that it is.

Being a Soccer Professional
What is the future of soccer like for the players who are coming through the ESU program? Are they moving on? Do they have the capability to move on?
Certainly there is the ability for some. Some no. It’s all about mentality. The ability of players as they move up the soccer playing ladder, the ability difference is infinitesimally small. I think you’ll find [the difference is] the mentality they bring.

There is a great story about the English national team when they have the indoctrination of players who have been called up for events. They have a group meeting with them prior to the training camp and written on the blackboard behind the coach is a statement that says, “Your ability got you here, your mentality will keep you here.” That’s one of the things we talk with our girls about all the time. The ability is what I watch and see and generally any fool can tell, anyone who has watched soccer or athletics can tell who the studs are. Who has it and who can’t do it.

The hard part is once they get here are they willing to sacrifice that night out on the town because we have a game tomorrow. Are they willing to get up at 5.30 on a cold February morning and go to the weight room? Being a college athlete is not a decision you make once, it’s a decision you make every morning.

So to to conversely is a professional. We all dream and we want to be a pro but the fact is those who have the ability is very small and so smaller still is those who have the mentality and the ability. There are a lot of people out there in whatever sport who have the ability but don’t have the mentality. That aren’t willing to look at it as a profession. They see all the glamor of being on TV and under the spotlight, making money and being able to play at the highest level but what they don’t see is the incredible amount of work. You can’t survive on Big Macs and Whoppers. Can you eat right? Can you get up and run on your own?

In the team we’ve got right now I would say there is no one who has the ability to move to the next level. We have a bunch of ladies who will do very well at this level. But by the same token there is always somebody who starts out and as a bench warmer their first year or two and then they get it in their head they want to succeed and nothing will stand in their way.

Goalkeeping (Jim is a former college keeper and goalkeeping coach)
A lot of US Soccer fans have wondered why there are so many great American goalkeepers. Why are they succeeding while the field players aren’t doing as well?
The simple explanation is we are raised to play in a bunch of different sports and the majority of sports are done with our hands. Basketball, football, baseball, they all have to do with eye hand coordination. Therefore Americans are athletic.

Also, more of the clubs of the world are willing to take a chance on a goalkeeper before they will a field player because we are used to doing things with our hands. It’s a natural progression as opposed to our field players. People think, “They’re American they can’t play with their feet as well.” There are some American goalkeepers who are getting a chance because they are American and goalkeepers and some field players who aren’t getting enough of a chance because they are American and an outfield player.

With that being said I think there are tremendous goalkeepers. It’s kinda nice to have that little corner of the market.

Coaching Overseas
When do you think an American coach will be able to go overseas and be successful?
It’s already kind of happened in a of ways. In the 2006 world cup Jurgen Klinsmann took a lot of heat from the German people because he brought over fitness trainers from the United States and trained them how we train them. He took a lot of ideas Anson Dorance the women’s coach at UNC. Everyone went nuts over that because not only was it an American coach it was an American women’s coach. [They said] “How can they show us anything different?” Klinsmann was willing to step outside of the buffer zone and they were semi finalists.

It’s a little more prevalent than you think. Just not at the highest level. I think there are a number of American coaches who are physical trainers over there. That’s probably where we will get in it first. Then it goes the way our players go. It will be a goalkeeping trainer in some club. From there an outfield coach and maybe then a head coach. It may not be for another 15 or 20 years. Steve Sampson is bouncing around a little bit and coaching various National Teams in Latin America. Obviously not Manchester United or English Nation team but it’s got to start small and it’s got to start somewhere.

Thank you for the interview Snoop! I learned a lot and I’m sure the readers did too. If any of you internet peeps are ever in Emporia, KS go to one of the women’s soccer games.

Soccer in America: An Interview with Jim "Snoop" Schneiderhahn

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An Interview with Jim Schneiderhahn
Jim “Snoop” Schneiderhahn is in his third year as the Emporia State University Woman’s Soccer Head Coach. I sat down with him and talked about his soccer career, coaching soccer, woman’s soccer, the Women’s National Team, coaching overseas, the Men’s National team, Eddie Johnson, and goalkeeping.

Today I’m bringing you the first part of the interview. Monday I will publish part two. Enjoy.

Soccer Basics
What is your first soccer memory?
It was probably when I was five or six and we were moving into a new house. I was outside kicking the soccer ball in the back yard with the neighbors.

Right after that we were downstairs in the basement with the kids of the family we were buying the house from and we were kicking the soccer ball around the basement. I think my folks were signing the papers when I put a soccer ball through the window downstairs.

Did you play youth soccer?
I loved baseball and I went to catholic grade and high school. Particularly in Catholic communities in St. Louis you would play for your parish team. I played soccer, baseball, and later on basketball. I didn’t start playing club ball until I was 12 years old. The goalkeeper on our team had gotten hurt and I had played a little bit of goal in second grade.

In about 6th grade I stepped in and played goal and in my seventh grade year I was asked by a coach to play for a club team, a bush team. That’s when I was hooked.

Did you play high-school and college soccer?
I went on to play high school soccer in St. Louis. I was cut one year I was there, and then got an opportunity to play college soccer at a NAIA college, Benedictine College, just outside of Kansas City. I played and had a blast there. I got to play for and against some pretty good teams and had a chance to go the National Tournament. I graduated in 1990.

Did you ever think about playing professionally? Was there any opportunity at that time?
I thought about it certainly, every kids grows up thinking they want to play professional sports but I recognized that I was a 6’0 goalkeeper and the majority of goalkeepers who got opportunities to play professionally in the ‘A’ league were several inches taller than I was.

I started having ideas about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I didn’t put forth the effort I should have. I went back to St. Louis and played in a lot of indoor tournaments, paid tournaments where if your team won they won a couple thousand dollars which was normally used to pay the bar bill. That was as close to professional soccer as I got as a player.

How did you make the transition to coaching?
I kind of fell into it. My father runs a small service company in St. Louis. I worked for him for about three years and worked for myself for three years as a photographer and a photographer’s assistant in commercial photography. You would be in the studio at 6am and leave at midnight. What started to get me was in January and February, the short days; I could go three or four days without ever seeing the sunlight. That got to me. I went back to Benedictine to get my education degree and worked there as the Assistant Men’s Soccer Coach.

After about a year of coaching college I [realized I] liked college coaching from the standpoint of dealing with the players along with putting together a team. To me it’s a multidimensional puzzle. It’s not just about getting the right number of forwards and backs. It’s also the other dimensions and probably the more important dimensions, the personalities and the way people are and trying to fit those personalities into one cohesive whole.

I said I would give it a chance and gave myself four years to get a college job. I figured I was already broke and I didn’t want to get in a high school position and start making money and say “Hey I’m comfortable doing this." Within that time the Women’s Coach at Benedictine resigned and they came after me to take that position.

Coaching and Coaching Accreditation
I think a lot of people are in the dark on how the coaching accreditation process works. Can you fill us in?
The United States Soccer Federation has, and this is something all of the developed nations have, a licensing procedure. In the United States there are essentially six total grades.

You start at the State level and can get 'F,' 'E,' or 'D.' They have pretty much done away with the 'F' and the 'E' and they call those youth modules. Those are for dealing with kids 12, 10 or younger. If you pass the 'D' you can go through and get your 'C' which is the first level in the United States National Federation.

Essentially it is a school you go to for ten days, normally in the summer, where you have to demonstrate your ability. You learn and you have to turn around and demonstrate your knowledge of the game and your ability to play, you have to prove you can play as well as demonstrate, and you ability to teach the game. You actually run a training session with all the other candidates. You do this in front of staff members who grade you.

If you pass you can go on to the next level within a years time or you fail you have to go back and learn and come back at least three months later and try again. The ‘C’ is primarily the smaller numbers of the game, 1v1 to 6 v 6 and dealing with kids from about 10-12. Your ‘B’ is kids 12-16,6v6 to 9v9. ‘A’ is 9v9 and 11v11. You’re also weeding people out through the process.

Do a lot of people fail?
Generally the failure rate for ‘A’ is about 70-75 percent. I wanted to learn the game so the stressor didn’t hit me until afterward. Not going to lie, it is stressful. The Soccer Federation creates that atmosphere. I’m happy I’m through and got my ‘A.’ Once you get through every four years you must audit a course or go to various continuing education units. If you build up enough of those you can maintain the ‘A’ license.

Who leads the clinics?
It is a little bit of everyone. Other college coaches who have gone through and passed the testing procedure to test. Youth coaches who have gone through. Coaches from the national team. Even coaches they bring over from other countries. It’s a little bit of a hodgepodge of everything. Male, female, whatever.

Women’s Soccer
Why do you coach women’s soccer or do you have a preference one way or the other?
You know I don’t know if there is a reason I stayed with it. The simplest reason was it was a job. When I was initially offered the job (at Benedictine) it really didn’t make a difference to me. The women bring a different skew and view of the game and athletics in general than I was use to in an all male environment which was very refreshing.

They aren’t going to kill their friends on the other team for the sake of the game. In some respects it’s easier and in some more difficult. They want to succeed and learn where guys tend to be more hard headed. With girls there is a huge communication factor. You have to have the ability to communicate with them and establish a trust. If they can’t trust you and what you are doing then you are lost.

What struggles do women face playing soccer in America?
I think it depends on what the ultimate goal is. For those at the elite level there is a shortage of opportunities to play after college. Starting this year the new women’s league (WPS) is starting up and I think that is fantastic. There are other opportunities. My assistant has played the last three years in the W league which is professional, maybe a little semi pro, for those who have the ability and want to continue playing.

There are struggles from the outside world looking in at women trying to play a sport at the highest levels. One of the great things that was an outcome of the 1999 World Cup was we saw a boom of young girls who wanted to be the next Mia Hamm or Brandi Chastain or Briana Scurry. They had this tremendous ad campaign of team building and we get along and that was great but ultimately when you get into the top levels its about competition and can you compete. There are struggles there.

One of the things we talk about with our girls all the time is being happy. Some of this is not necessarily fun. It’s not all puppies and sunshine. Fitness for some people isn’t fun. Going into a fifty-fifty ball and risking getting hurt isn’t fun. For other people it is. There is somewhat of a identity crisis of what exactly is the game. Is it fun and participation and everyone gets to play or is it a sport where competition is at its premium and who is the best player?

Finally, the acceptance of the sports community at large. We have a double whammy in that we are soccer. Soccer automatically is still the commie foreign sport where it’s always the butt of the jokes. I don’t know why that is. Maybe people are afraid we are going to “take their athletes.” We have the double whammy or soccer as the commie sport and as women’s sport. We have to gain credibility through all that.

How do you think the new Women's Professional Soccer League will do?
It looks like they have a decent plan in place. They aren’t sticking them in big stadiums. They are getting the help of MLS. That is one of the reasons the WNBA has lasted so long is because the franchises in the WNBA are helped along the by the same people who own the NBA franchises. You can share the same marketing people and front office staff plus one or two more as opposed to hiring the whole staff. You can share resources. I certainly hope it will do well. I would like to see more publicity. The soccer community knows about it but who else? I remember when MLS started up; they did a lot of things wrong but they also did a lot right. They had the ads on TV and on ESPN, and I’m not really getting that from the new women’s league.

Why it the United States Women’s National Team so dominate?
The same reason why our baseball team has always dominated until the recent years. We started it, we embraced it more. In a lot of the soccer playing countries of the world, Women’s Soccer is looked down and frowned upon. Maybe women’s sports in general are. Soccer is seen as a man’s game. The England, the Germanys, the Brazils didn’t embrace it immediately.

We’ve been able to give our young ladies a chance to play since the 80s and early 90s, we were able to get ahead of the curve. Now you are seeing many of the soccer playing nations catch up and even pass us. Brazil is tremendous. The flair of the men’s team has caught up and gone over to the women’s team. You would love to be dominate forever but in the growth of the game and how it is played more competition is better.

Monday
The rest of the interview will be published on Monday, stick around folks, more great stuff to come.

Contest
Today is supposed to be the last day of my supporter pictures contest but I haven’t received many submissions yet so I am going to keep it open until Monday. Please submit to grahamfox[@]gmail.com so I can hand out the Bumpy Pitch T-Shirt and the 25 dollar gift certificate to SoccerPro.com

Soccer in America: Soccer with James Parker, Manhattan KS

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Introductions
I met James while playing pick-up soccer at K-State. He is a talented player who is heavily involved with the K-State Men’s Club Team.

Who is James?
Hi James, would you give the readers a quick background of yourself?
I’m a fourth year right now at K-State in the architecture department. I grew up in Manhattan, and played football and soccer there.

What’s your first memory of soccer? How far back can you go?
It may be one of those that’s more ingrained in my dad’s memory. My dad forgot to sign me up for city league soccer. I was sitting there just bawling my brains out at the city department because I wasn’t on the team. I was crying, wouldn’t get in the car, pissed off at the world. My dad felt pretty horrible and he reminds me of it time in time out.

You played both Football and Soccer in High-School?
I gave it a shot. I was just a kicker. I played four years of soccer, three varsity. I wanted to try something different. Me and my friend both did a multi-sport same season our senior year. We were both kickers for the football team and members of the soccer team. It pretty hectic but it was a blast.

What are your soccer aspirations do you have hopes for semi-pro or professional soccer?
I’ve always gone back and forth with that. Soccer has been my passion and dream since I was a little kid. I love soccer so much, I could easily see myself doing it but at the same time it’s so much training. I know I have the basic skill-talent to do it but I don’t have much time to train so the dream starts to fall away.

When I go to Europe this next spring I really want to get out there and play and see if I can hop onto some semi pro teams.

What is K-State Club Soccer?
How did you become involved with the Kansas State Men's Club Soccer?
Actually the first year of college I pursed football and went and kicked at a community college. I realized that football wasn’t my sport, I just had too much of a passion for soccer and love for the game.

I came back to K-State because I knew I wanted to do architecture. I was out playing one afternoon when a few guys off the team told me to come out for try outs. I didn’t even know K-State had a team. At this point the team wasn’t structured that well, there wasn’t any real direction on the team so I said, “OK, I’ll give it a try.”

When does your season run? You have games in the Fall?
There are actually two seasons. The main core of the season runs in the fall. We’ll get a good 15 games in. It really comes down to how much time we have to travel.

We do a little in the spring. We have a tournament and bring teams in from around the Midwest, teams like Creighton, Nebraska, and Oklahoma.

How is the club led? Do you have a president or coach?
It’s set up president, vice president, secretary treasurer. Because it’s a club you’ve got to give everyone a title. When it comes down to it as far as importance, everyone has basically the same duties, equal responsibility. Just because you’re president doesn’t mean you do all the work.

Have you ever had an official coach? How do you manage the coaching duties?
I know the girls have had a coach in the past. They’ve liked it but not having a coach becomes an advantage for certain players at K-State. They are there for mainly academics so they aren’t really focused as much on training and getting better. They make practices when they can.

As far as drills we don’t have anyone setting them up. We just get out there. That’s the only thing that sucks about it because everyone is busy and we have so much on our plate we aren’t able to sit down and say “Hey, here is what we need to work on tonight, here is what we need to improve on.”

The thing I love about K-State is so many different nationalities are represented. Do you know how many different countries are represented on the club team?
Right now I believe there are four of five. We had a few guys from China, a guy from Japan, a few guys from the Middle East, and a few guys from Europe also.

What’s you assessment of the talent level at Kansas State?
There is a lot of good talent that comes out. We’d be competing with division one programs, maybe not the top teams but competing.

It’s hard to see such good talent. They should be able to play somewhere bigger and better but the fact of the matter is they’re at K-State.

A lot of people think “The club team, oh they are going to be bad," but they don’t realize that they are some of the best players you will see in the Midwest but they are focusing more on academics because here in America there is really no outlet for soccer.

K-State Soccer and Nationals
What kind of support do you get from K-State?
We get a little bit of money from the school. It ends up being divided out even through the Recreation Complex between all sports clubs. We don’t get as much support as we like. But at the same time there is money and we are able to fundraise and do what we need to do to get by.

I noticed we were really running into troubles with the Kansas State when we made it to nationals. It was the first time K-State had done it.

We had approximately one month do get down there [Pensacola, Florida]. We didn’t necessarily have support from the school but there were quite a few nice ladies who worked at K-State who saw what we were trying to do and accomplish. They set up a nice soccer clinic. We got quite a good showing last year and raised quite a bit of money.

I know the club team has had some success, you went to nationals last year, how did you do in that tournament?
I think it was more a learning experience. That’s what everyone always says but there is some merit to that because we faced some great competition. We faced Virginia Tech, Georgia, and Michigan.

The teams we faced all had coaches. That’s where we first saw the difference between what we had and the other top schools. They were able to train before the game while we were kinda standing around not really knowing what to do. It took us a good 15-20 minutes to get in the grove of the game and ready to play and by that time we were already down a goal and fighting back the rest of the time.

Men’s and Woman’s Soccer in the Big XII
Why is there no Men’s Soccer in the Big XII?
I couldn’t tell you. I do know if K-State was to get a soccer team it would be girls not guys because K-State is the only team in the Big XII without a woman’s soccer team. It’s very hard to believe especially considering we have such a nice stadium.

I love Memorial Stadium / The Old Stadium so much. It’s a great place to play and so beautiful.
I was talking to someone who used to work in the Athletic Department at K-State and he was telling me that because of Title 9 it ends up shooting the girls in the foot because for some reason K-State would have to build a new stadium just for the Woman’s soccer team. That’s a whole new plot of land and a whole lot of money and they’d rather put it somewhere else.

Do you think we will ever have Men’s Soccer in the Big XII?
I’m going to say yes just because I want to see it. I hope so. It’s a sport that’s growing. Just recently it’s starting to come around and I think there’s a whole era of kids right now. Our era is getting older and we’ll have money. The era above us grew up on football and baseball so that’s what they make their kids play. We are going to grow up and have our kids play soccer. Hopefully down the road it will come around.

Inside American Soccer

Listen to Some Music Chosen by the Interviewee


American Soccer
I want to take you inside American soccer. You will see the trials, joys, tribulations, and excitement that the young men and woman of American soccer experience. You will also start to understand their training and daily lives.

We enjoy our footballers when they are on the pitch, but off it they face just as many challenges, especially the college hopefuls. Today I’m bringing you the first in what I hope to be a series of articles focusing on footballers in the American collegiate system.

Inside Midwest Soccer with Center Midfielder David Fox
Welcome to Advantage Played David. We’ll just start out with the basics. What college do you play for?
I play at William Jewell College in Liberty Missouri.

How did you end up at William Jewell?
My club soccer coach’s daughter plays at Benedictine the school that my coach at William Jewell’s twin brother coaches at. So that was one of my connections. Jewell’s head coach talked to my club coach and liked what he heard. I came up, tried out, had a kick around with the team, and they offered me a scholarship.

What are your thoughts after you first season with William Jewell?
It’s what I love about soccer. It’s really competitive but at the same time the feeling of being on a team [is great] and the team chemistry at Jewell is amazing. Everybody gets along so well. Even though everyone is fighting for spots and playing time the team still stays together. There is no in-fighting between the players.

How did you do personally in your first season?
I ended up with about 35 minutes of Varsity playing time as a freshman which I was pretty excited about. We defiantly have some good players. Next year I am looking to play a more significant role.

Are there going to be seniors leaving, or will you find the way in through your own virtues?
There really won’t be seniors leaving, but I know things I can improve on and how to improve on them in the summer and offseason. Hopefully that will make the difference.

What are you going to try and improve on the most?
The biggest area is touch, the first touch on the ball makes or breaks a center midfield player. Good control and balance when there is pressure on my back and working on making my shot more accurate and powerful.

What is a typical day of training like?
Pre-season begins with waking up at seven and we go to breakfast as a team. We have practice ball control in the morning for the first thirty minutes, then drills for another hour. Then there is an hour break and lunch as a team. After lunch we have another practice. We do sprints and drills for the rest of practice. We then go to dinner as a team, and have a practice after dinner where we scrimmage.

So that’s preseason?
Ya, in season we practice once a day. Sometimes we’ll go two a day if our games are spaced far enough apart.

Do you like training all the time?
I’ll be able to answer that better after the offseason when we lift weights all the time. I did like it. One of the reasons I decided to play college soccer is because I can play all day and look forward to the next day of soccer.

What is the main difference between college and high school soccer?
In high school each team has a couple good players and good athletes; in college everyone on the field is very skilled. The biggest difference is you have to be at your top form every game. The intensity and amount of skill required is incredible. The good teams in college aren’t going to mess up in the back. You have to work to create your own opportunities.

A lot of time in high school you get goals because the back line messes up or the forward steals the ball from a defender.

How does the training in college compare to training in high school?
It’s defiantly different. We didn’t have the best high school team (Salina South) but we had some good players. Most high schoolers aren’t as committed.

When it comes to college training everyone was the best player on their high school team. We have to do the drills 100% or everyone will know you’re slacking. It’s a lot more pressure but it makes you work harder and get a lot better.

What is your favorite soccer moment or memory from your first season?
That’s easy I know that right away. It was preseason and our third scrimmage. We were playing the non-starters vs starters. I was playing center mid for the non-starters. We were down 1-0. I got a pass from about 40 yards out and I took a step with it. Their center mid came in to mark me. I did a step over, broke to my left, and I fired from about 35 yards out with my left foot. It felt really good and I could see the ball just flying. It curved into the top left corner. It hit the back of the net and I went crazy. I remember the keeper standing there flat footed watching the ball go in.

What are your future soccer aspirations?
Even though there is a low chance I can see myself playing soccer after college. There is a semi pro indoor team that plays maybe 15 minutes from our campus and probably next year I’ll try out for them. I know a couple guys on the team who have made it. I’m going to work on any opportunities I get in the Kansas City area so someday I can hopefully make money playing soccer.

Any last words to the soccer world?
You can expect Jewell to go to the National Tournament next year. Be looking out for that!