I’m accustomed to seeing coaches successfully communicate with Special Olympics athletes. I’ve run the Summer Games soccer venue for 12 years now, and I’ve witnessed the full array of responses from athletes, both to coaches and officials. What I saw this past weekend, however, was one of the best pre-game speeches I’ve ever witnessed. A 70+ year old coach sat […]
Category: Soccer
The Systematic Slaughter of a Soccer Program
Update: Illinois-Springfield Athletic Director Rodger Jehlicka submitted his resignation, effective August 15, 2011. I didn’t have the heart to ask him what he was thinking, feeling. I just told him I loved him and wished him well. My investment in the program is only six years old, but seeing Milton Tennant watch the final seconds wind off the clock in […]
Sweet Auburn and the Kings
Reading time: 4 minutes The neighborhood wasn’t alluring in a touristy sort of way. Despite those including myself that flocked there in respect of one of the greatest Americans ever born, there were plenty of locals living a dream I would label a nightmare. “Buy me a cheese sandwich, just one cheese sandwich,” she uttered. I’m disappointed now that I […]
Sixty Years Later
As I sat watching the World Cup draw last Friday, like many others I’d hoped the United States would draw South Africa, a team that is clearly the weakest of the seeded teams. But when the United States were promptly placed in the same group as England, the storyline was one that jumps off the screen. I had recently written […]