My first real experience in coaching young players came in the summer of 1992 in Tampa, Florida. 

After completing a relatively successful four year playing career at Macalester College (St Paul, MN), I called up a friend of mine, Neill Roberts, to see if he might be able to help me find a professional team to get a trial with.  I had met Neill the inaugural year of the Minnesota Thunder in 1989 when he was one of the two experienced pros who came out of "retirement" to help the fledgling soccer program get started.  Though I can't recollect for sure now, I believe Neill had played in the North American Soccer League (NASL) as well as in the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL).  On my behalf, Neill made contact with ex-teammate and fellow South African Steve Wegerle who was recently named Head Coach of the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the American Professional Soccer League (APSL).

The APSL had struggled with expenses after the 1991 season, and suffered the loss of three teams; Albany, Penn-Jersey, and Maryland.  What was left was a highly competitive and dynamic league of five teams which completed a somewhat reduced 16 game schedule. 

Honestly, I remember thinking early on that my chances of securing a roster spot on one of the five pro soccer teams in America's top tier league were not very good.  I was no slouch coming out of college, that was for sure, but to this day I still don't see how I was ever considered one of the top college prospects that year. 

My college coach, John Leaney, worked hard for a few months with two VCRs, a dubbing cable, and four years worth of Macalester men's soccer team game videos to put together a highlight tape for me to send to Steve in Florida.  I think John realized what a professional-playing alum would mean for his up-and-coming program, and he put a lot of time and effort into producing this little work of art.  

To me, the finished video was amazing.  John was able to capture a number of my more stellar playing moments, and overdubbed the whole tape with his British-accented-giving-everything-instant-soccer-credibility voice.  We mailed a copy of the tape to the Rowdies and sat back to see what would come of it.

Well... Steve Wegerle and Rodney Marsh (the Rowdies General Manager) saw the tape, flew me down for a trial in January of 1992, and offered me my first professional contract a few weeks later.  The contract was to commence upon my graduation in May. 

Marsh, named the "Clown Price of the English Premier League" (or whatever the top division in England was called back then) was a huge name in the soccer world.  I remember waiting in the Rowdies front office that January, fresh off the plane for my trial, and having Mr Marsh brush by me with a cheery "Hello!" as he walked into the back offices.  I overheard someone say something to him and him reply, "Oh!  Was that our Minnesota lad?".  He came back out, shook my hand, and said "You're my type of player, son!".  I'll never forget that statement and how it made me feel, and it gave a tremendous boost to the nervous little college kid.  It is also constant reminder to me that a few words of encouragement can have hugely positive effects on someone.  See Encouragement = Confidence

Moving on, I joined the Rowdies within a few days of my college graduation ceremony.  As part my contract with the team that summer I was required to participate in a number of community "appearances".  The Rowdies obviously wanted to increase their exposure in the area and had their professional players take part in everything from autograph sessions at corporate events to photo opps at the childrens' hospitals. 

Sometime in my first week with the team, my teammate/roommate Billy Andracki and I were called upon to drive out to Bradenton for an autograph session at one of the Rowdies summer camp sites.  Now Brandon was about 50 miles south of Tampa and suffice it to say that Billy wasn't the least bit thrilled in making the trip. 

Billy (also a rookie like me) was the Golden Boy of the Rowdies that summer.  He was a good looking blonde with a tremendous amount of cockiness and swagger.  He would spend a good hour in front of the mirror with an industrial strength blow drier getting every last stand of his hair whipped into place for the "bunnies" (as he dubbed all the Tampa ladies).  His bangs (thanks to the near-kiln-like temperatures of his blow drier and about five different styling gels) would defy gravity.  A Junior College stand out, Golden Boy had a successful career as a goalkeeper at Rutgers University before signing his first professional contact with the Rowdies.  By the time I joined the team in late May, they had already played a number of games and rookie sensation Andracki was leading the league in goals against average. 

So, that fateful June day in 1992, Golden Boy and I donned on our Rowdies uniforms (mine was WAY too big for me), jumped into his cherry red Datsun Z280zx and cruised down to Bradenton.  We were supposed to be there for 15 minutes to sign autographs and walk around saying hi to the kids.  Golden Boy was put out by the interruption to his tanning day pool side and definitely did not want to be there. 

When we arrived, we found out that something had happened with the staffing and they were one staff member short.  The director pointed out a group of little girls who were sitting around in front of a goal while all the other groups at camp had already started playing.  Much to Golden Boy's chagrin, I volunteered to go help the girls until their staff member arrived.  Golden Boy was appeased a bit as he was assured that the staff member was on her way... and there were a number of cute female staff members on hand for him to parade in front of.

I remember having absolutely no clue about what to do with a group of young, nine year old girls.  I ran them through some drills that my college and ODP coaches had ran me through (what else did I have to reference?), and I'm sure the exercises were WAY too difficult for the girls (how was I supposed to know that nine year olds couldn't change the point of the attack, pull an offsides trap, or play out of the back in a flat back four system???)  They didn't seem to mind it though.  They were being coached by a Rowdies player, in full long-sleeve jersey and sweatpants (that's how big my jersey was) who was smiling and joking around with them.  Their enjoyment, enthusiasm, and desire to work hard to do what the coach was asking opened my eyes to the possibilities of working with young players, and I was forever changed.

I forced the Golden Boy to stop at a bookstore on the way back to our apartment so that I could pick up a few books on youth soccer coaching.  Much to the girls delight, I returned to the camp on my own later that week to try some newly learned drills out.  I also volunteered to work extra, non-appearance days at Rowdies camps later that summer, and my youth coaching career was off.