Our new Wabash soccer blog is finally live and I am very excited about it.

I have been part of the Wabash family for about four months and a half and I am happy to report that things keep getting better and better as days, weeks, and months go by. I spent most of my nights at the famous, or better infamous, Lew Wallace Motel, waiting for my house in Northwestern Indiana to sell. Unfortunately, things are taking longer than expected and I am still living in Crawfordsville without my family. Nevertheless, I was glad to move out of the Wallace and move in with the Taylors, at least temporarily. Ann Taylor, our Bio-Chemistry Professor, is on a sabbatical leave until July and she and her husband Patrick graciously offered me a room in their house in exchange for my help in taking care of their cat Ali and mowing the lawn once a week. It sounded like a good deal to me and even though Ali misses her family and sometimes keeps me up at night with her sad crying, I am glad I have this accommodation.

But enough about my relocating troubles and lets talk about soccer! The last four months have seen me spending lots of time recruiting, trying to put together our '10 class. Even though I came into the game quite late, I feel that the effort has paid off and I am happy with the players who will come to Wabash in the fall. †We had a nice spring season and the players have given me the amount of attention and dedication that I need in order to turn the soccer program around and achieve what everyone wants to achieve, winning!

Make no mistake about it, we have only scratched the surface of our effort and commitment but this beginning leads me to believe that we are headed in the right direction.

I have been traveling quite a bit in the last three months, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Ft. Wayne, Indianapolis, Bowling Green, Bloomington and more trips are waiting for me this summer, Arlington Heights, Evansville, Twin Cities, Kalamazoo, Muscatine, etc. in order to recruit our next generation of players, the '11 class. Additionally, I will be working several soccer camps, Valparaiso, IU, our own Little Giants' and ODP camps. I am sure that time will fly and sooner than expected preseason will be here!

I am looking forward to receiving news about our players' summer plans and travels, as well as their World Cup predictions, comments, and evaluations.

I feel good about Italy's chances, but that's nothing new, I always do! After all, I am Italian and even though I wish for the US to go as far as possible in the competition, you can imagine which side I will be cheering for on June 17, when Italy takes on the US in Kaiserslautern.

GO AZZURRI!

GO ITALY!