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August 29, 2007
The Team Eats, a Senior Reflects...
 Last Friday night, the soccer team closed training camp with a team meal to Little Mexico in downtown Crawfordsville. We were all excited to be out of the dining hall with a great meal from one of the town’s best restaurants. Even though all the guys seemed to handle the Mexican food well, Josue', our native Mexican, was ironically the only one struggling with the meal days later. Fortunately, he is feeling much better now…maybe he was a little too excited about having authentic Mexican cuisine.
It was a fun and relaxed time for all of us to get our minds off soccer and enjoy the company of teammates. I remember Gary, Taz, and I talking with the younger guys about experiences we had abroad and sharing some tips before they leave on their own adventures in the spring. Between conversations about traveling and ideas for our skits the next day, I got to sit back as a senior and think about my four years at Wabash. I looked at the freshmen and could not help but think about my first team meal when I arrived on campus in 2004. It seems like yesterday, and now, I realize that in just three days I have the last chance of my life to ever face DePauw on the pitch. For as long as I can remember, it has been a dream of mine to represent Wabash and beat DePauw. I get chills just thinking about Friday, and I can’t hardly wait to walk on the pitch with this incredible group of men. I know we’re going places this year, and I can’t be more proud to be a part of this team.
-Jon Miller, Class of 2008
A Day At The Dunes
 Last Saturday, the Wabash College soccer team ventured through the pouring rain to the Indiana Dunes in Northwest Indiana for some team building recreational activities. As soon as the team arrived to the beach, the clouds lifted and sunshine dominated through the afternoon. Although swimming was prohibited due to high bacterial levels, members of the team spent the afternoon playing Ultimate Frisbee, intense games of beach soccer and volleyball. The team building culminated with each of the team’s four workout groups performing skits before the rest of the team. The impressions and impersonations of Coach Giannini and Coach Oleck were hysterical as each group parodied the both of them, as well as their own teammates. By five o’clock, the team loaded up in their vans and headed back to Crawfordsville after a great day at the dunes.
As a freshman, the day brought me closer to my teammates and the upperclassmen. I started the day with a doubt as to what could come out of this trip, but I left with a feeling of belonging. The team morale was lifted and became a closer brotherhood than it had been before. When we step on the pitch, that brotherhood will serve as a booster in a tight game and allow us to encourage our fellow players.
-Josh Manker, Class of 2011
August 24, 2007
"Il bel giorno si vede dal mattino."
 Forgive me if I used my mother tongue, Italian, to title this entry, but I couldn't find anything as close in English to express what I am about to describe. It pretty much translates like this: "A good morning, a good day." Basically, one can tell what kind of day it's going to be by the way the day starts. Obviously, the saying comes from meteorological experiences of farmers who, in the old days, used to plan their work on the fields according to what the early hours of the morning looked and felt like. In other words, and with the exception of sudden, summer thunderstorms, they knew what to expect from the early signs. The saying took everyday applications, and even today, when something, anything, that just started is good, the same saying is repeated over and over again.
As we all know, sayings and riddles come from the peasant culture. Generation after generation of handed down simple wisdom, gave men, and women, something to count on and with which guide their daily routines. Centuries of usage gave these old wise stock phrases the label of "clichés," but I like clichés, and most of the time, they are right on the money.
Yesterday, we beat Anderson College in the first of our two pre-season contests before we open our official season at home against DePauw on August 31. We won playing good soccer, at times even great soccer. The boys were focused, hard, and smart. They all shared the tremendous heat, 103 degrees, but mostly they shared their enthusiasm, passion, and intensity. I am proud of what I saw and I can't wait until we train more and get better and better.
Our dawn shows signs of good times to come. Great things are just around the corner, and we are just at the beginning.
Like we say in Italy: "Il buon giorno si vede dal mattino!"
August 18, 2007
An Experience Worth Sharing
The Wabash soccer men experienced a first day of preseason much different than last year. Not only was it because our freshman class of nine players is three times as large as last years. Not only because we had much greater success on our fitness tests than last year. But this year we wanted to incorporate a team building exercise that would be fun and memorable. I think we accomplished that.
 At noon on August 17th, we traveled to Clement’s Outdoor Activity Center to launch our rented canoes into Sugar Creek. The weather was beautiful, the birds were chirping, but the creek….the creek was a bit shallow. We were told by the guide that two feet is the ideal canoeing depth. We were rowing in a 10 inch average depth. For a majority of the time it was smooth rowing and we could let the current of the creek handle most of the work. But, the times when we would hit patches of low water, that’s when the teamwork kicked in. There was lots of yelling “ROCK, LEFT”, “TURN RIGHT”, and a number of reluctant realizations, “Ok, time to push”. One or both of the two people per canoe would have to get out, wade in the shallow water, and gently nudge (I write that with extreme sarcasm) the canoe off of flat creek beds, protruding rocks, and sandy shores. I think that throughout the 2 hour expedition I got out to push and pull my canoe about 15 times. What a work out!
Despite the less than ideal canoeing conditions, the team had a great time. We enjoyed a picnic lunch on a sandy beach, had fun capsizing fellow teammates’ canoes over, and shared many laughs to share for the rest of the season. At lunch the guys especially enjoyed pushing the other canoes down the creek, without the consent of the two who owned it, and watching the un-manned canoe float downstream. Even though the water level was low, the team spirits were high!
As we are in our second day on the pitch, we as coaches can see the benefit of activities like this. They allow teammates to get to know each other off the field and create a common experience that we can all look back and laugh at. A team united is a team that will together, succeed. We’re quickly working our way towards that unity, and the success is just on the horizon.
-Asst. Coach Jeff Oleck
August 15, 2007
Experiencing the Wabash Alumni Connection, First-Hand
Coach would always tell me how great the connection was between Wabash Alumni and current Wabash students. He said it quite often during recruiting process. I never thought that I would be able to see this connection first hand, even before I set foot in a Wabash classroom or on the soccer pitch.
Mid-summer, I was in the middle of my Club soccer season, with State Cup only 1 week away. My team was shaping up nicely and it looked like we could make a serious run at State. It was a Saturday and we were playing a friendly match against the team we would likely face second round of State Cup. I was feeling great this game, I felt as if my timing and everything was fitting together. A long ball off a free kick went sailing toward about the twelve, and I yelled keeper and jumped up to grab the ball. I had the ball but landed my right foot in a rut on the field. My ankle rolled very hard but I knew that it was nothing more then a bad sprain. My coach came to me and asked me how I was, and I replied I could still play. With every movement I made my right ankle would kill, and I began to limp and over-compensate for my ankle by putting most of my weight on my left leg, After fifteen more minutes of play I felt my left leg begin to become tight. I had the ball and threw it down the field to my midfielder, and in the process heard a pop in my left leg. The pain was so sharp that I fell to the ground. When I got up to play again - the pain was terrible. At half my coach decided to not have me continue, so I could rest for next week, and we were winning. The days to follow consisted of hours of icing on both my very swollen ankle and what the Sports Clinic called “something” pulled around my knee.
I practiced a very light practice on Thursday and found out that it was very difficult to move laterally or any sharp movement on my knee. State cup came and I played. It was the most painful experience I have ever had. Every time I made a save or threw the ball, I heard a pop and I felt like my knee was going to buckle and split in two. I tried punting only once during the game and landed on my butt, because my knee gave out. I played for the first ninety minutes of the game and since we were still tied we went into over time. I could not take the pain any longer. For the first time in my soccer career I watched from the sidelines. We ended up losing in penalty kicks, and that was the last soccer I have played.
Monday I went to the doctor in Champaign and he took fluid from my knee and said I had a meniscus tear. Surgery followed on Tuesday and he took out most of my meniscus. When I woke up from the surgery, the doctor said that my ACL was completely ruptured. He thought it was probably torn sometime during my High School soccer season. I was completely blown away.
I called Coach Giannini right away and I was so glad to hear him begin to try to figure out when I could get back on the field. He also immediately told me about Dr. Shelbourne’s ACL Clinic in Indianapolis. He told me that Dr. Shelbourne graduated from Wabash and that his office would be calling me that very day. Indeed they did - the nurse called me and we set up an appointment for the following week. I met with the doctors and they were amazed at the amount of swelling and the lack of motion I had in the knee. They took me to the physical therapy room and I began to do exercises that helped with the straightening of my knee. They put me in what I would later call “the torture board” which basically forces my knee to hyperextend thus stretching the ligament in the back of the knee that has grown to be short. I stayed in the board for twelve minutes and it was very painful.
 On July 11, I had ACL surgery at the Methodist Hospital. Dr. Urich, from theShelbourne Clinic, did the operation. The first week of recovery and exercises was absolutely grueling. I had to stay flat on my back except to go to the bathroom.
It is 1 month from the ACL operation. I am doing a bunch of physical therapy daily and will try to get back for some of the soccer season.
-Mike Scheitlin, Class of 2011
August 14, 2007
Hard Work Pays Off
So far this summer I have been kicked in the face, spit on, threatened, and cursed at, but to be honest, I wouldn't change it for the world. Working at Wediko has taught me many things about myself, including how fortunate I am to be raised the way I was. Although the work is difficult at times, it has been extremely rewarding. I can see that most of the kids in my group have made great progress and their lives will be changed very positively. I have already heard many parents thank us for the changes they see within their children. I am working as a canoe staff when I am not working with my own cabin group, which contains boys ages 12-14. It has been great taking all of the groups out to the islands around Black Pond and jumping out into the water from time to time. I think its pretty cool that I get to meet every kid on the setting and spend quality time with them. I truly cannot wait to tell all of you in person my experiences here at this internship.
As far as soccer goes, I am very excited and anxious for the upcoming season. I have been running in the mornings and getting some touches on the ball whenever I can. Because our group was so difficult we actually had to pull another staff from another group to help us, but it turned out to be very beneficial because he is great with kids and plays soccer for his college. In the past couple of weeks we have had head juggling contests and have been playing keep away with the kids before we transition to certain activities. A few of the kids how shown an interest in the sport and will hopefully play when they go back home. Although I love this job very much, I cannot wait to get back to Wabash, start working hard for soccer, and begin my studies again. I hope you are all ready to beat Depauw!
Sincerely,
Blaken Wamsley, '08
August 13, 2007
The Many Colors of Mexico
Mexico is full of color. I have never seen so many bright colors used to paint houses. One house is bright pink and the other house is bright green. The market places are extraordinary; you can buy bootleg DVDs for a dollar, live chickens, turkeys, pigs, all the foods you could think of and can even get your haircut. The best part of it is that you can bargain the prices, I try not to get the gringo prices so I let another Wally, Adrian Mendoza, do the bargaining. However, I have become better at bargaining from watching Adrian and others. I can almost get the same prices as he does.
I have seen some amazing sites in Chiapas. In Palenque, I was able to climb old Mayan Temples and visit the tomb of the first Mayan Emperor. Then there was Agua Azul which translates to Blue Water. I walked about 100 feet and saw 10 different waterfalls. At Agua Clara which translates to Clear Water even though the water was clearly green. There was an old bridge to cross the river that reminded me of the one in Indian Jones The Temple of Doom. The bridges had holes in the wood planks you could slip through and as one person walked across the whole bridge would shake.
I would say my favorite city was Chamula because of the unique church and our crazy horseback ride there. Luckily the saddle on my house stayed on but I can not say the same for some other people. As for the church, before you walk in you are told “NOT TO TAKE PICTURES” in 20 different languages. If you do, your camera and your face get broken. As you enter the front door, you are hit with a cloud of incenses. Personally, I have never seen so many candles and incenses lit all at the same time and in the same place. It is a good thing that they do not have firer codes in Mexico. Well, at least not enforces among many other things. The candles are for all the saints which are in glasses cases around the interior of the church. There is a saint for just about everything you can thing of. As you walk to the altar, you will find offerings of Coca Cola, Indigenous Brandy, chickens, and eggs. The Coca Cola is used to burp the evil spirits out. The Posh (Indigenous Brandy) is to become connected with the spirits a.k.a get drunk. They break the neck of a chicken and use it to cleanse the sick adult’s body. The eggs are used to cleanse the sick child’s body. This religion is a mixture of Indigenous Believes, Catholicism, and Technology.
 My internship has been with AMIGOS de San Cristobal A.C. a not for profit organization which finds other NGOs to help support. I have put Amigos’ membership and donor list records on Excel creating a more organized mailing list system. I visited several NGOs of Amgios and presented bi-lingual oral and written reports to the Board of Directors. I did several other things as well. I would say my most interesting experience was my trip to an Association Civil called Madre Tierra Mexico. This group is training and educating communities about health care, nutrition, human rights, etc. They are mainly working with communities that were affected by Hurricane Stan in late 2005. I feel that many of these communities have almost been forgotten about by the government. There are still 600 families without housing and land to plant on. Cancun was rebuilt in 6 months, but there are still 6 isolated communities. That means we only have radio communication with these communities. The only way to get food to them is by helicopter. It has almost been 3 years since Hurricane Stan and no bridges have been built to cross the rivers created by Hurricane Stan to get to the communities. The poverty level is unimaginable. The children can not get an education because they have to work to support their families. The average salary per day is 50 pesos or 5 dollars. Furthermore, many of the communities do not have access to purified water. It is atrocious that the Mexico government rebuilt Cancun for the foreign tourists but it can not afford to support its own people. In a couple years, I hope to come back and be able to do more for the people.
Reflections from,
- Gary Simkus, '08
August 10, 2007
The Year of Assertiveness.
As the first weekend of International soccer is about to start, the English PL first tomorrow, then the Spanish Liga and Bundesliga in a week and the Italian Serie A in two, I can't help but ask a cliche' question? "What the heck did happen to the summer?!"
It seems just yesterday that Inter Milan swept away the competition and won its first Scudetto in eighteen years; Real Madrid prevailed in an incredible photo finish race with Barcelona to win the Spanish Liga; Stuttgart upset season leaders Shalke 04 and Werder Bremen and sprinted pass them in the last two games of the season to win the Bundesliga. AC Milan regained the European throne by conquering its seventh Champions League trophy. Considering that AC Milan won five titles, plus three additional final appearances in the last eighteen years, no one can argue against the fact that the Club has been and continues to be the major force in European soccer for the past two decades.
Once the domestic leagues have initiated their competition, the European countries will re-engage the first week in September in the qualifying rounds of the European Nation Championship that will be held in Switzerland and Austria in the summer of next year. Italy will play France on September 8 at the Milan Stadium Giuseppe Meazza, the temple of Italian soccer, where 80,000 plus Italian fans will try to push Italy to defeat France one more time and jump ahead of the cousins on the other side of the Alps on the group table.
Many super stars have changed teams and some more will do the same in the last three weeks before the August 31st international player transfer dead line. Tierry Henry left Arsenal for Barcelona, Robben left Chelsea for Real Madrid, Torres went to Liverpool from Athletico Madrid, and Manchester United acquired the services of Tevez, Nani and Anderson. AC Milan signed up Paco from Brazil, a seventeen year old sensation who is destined to have a great future. Inter Milan snatched Chivu from Rome and Suazo from Cagliari, thus adding two great players to an already loaded cast of superstars. My dear Juventus has come back to Serie A after a year in the second division as a result of a big referee scandal that shamed the Italian soccer last year. Buffon, the best keeper in the world, has stayed, and so have Del Piero, Nedved, Camoranesi and Trezeguet. Together with three or four great youngsters, Nocerino, Palladino, Crescito, Chiellini, and the acquisition of players like Tiago from Porto, Almiron from Empoli, and Andrade from Deportivo la Coruna, Juventus should bee able to compete for the Scudetto or at least a spot for the '08 Champions League competition.
And Wabash? We are getting together next Thursday for our pre-season that will take us through two weeks of intense preparation, two games against Anderson and Hanover Colleges, Thursday, August 23 - first day of school - at 5:30 pm with the former and Sunday, August 26 at 1:00 pm with the latter, both games at Mud Hollow, before we start our official season at home on Friday, August 31 at 5:30 pm versus ......DePauw!!
I am sure that everyone involved with our team needs no extra motivation or push in order to focus on our home debut against an arch rival like DePauw!
BE PREPARED. BE READY. BEAT DEPAUW!! This is what I have been repeating over and over again to our guys during these last three months every time I sent our e-mails and/or spoken with some of the players.
Another year, year ONE I call it. The year of new BEGINNINGS, the year of BOLDNESS, and the year of ASSERTIVENESS.
The next three months will tell us who we are and what we are going to accomplish. Are we ready? Personally, I'll be getting ready since the end of last season.
WHO ARE WE? WE ARE...WABASH!!!
August 08, 2007
What A Summer!!
My first week back on campus seems like déja-vu, all over again. Only one year ago I was stepping foot on the Wabash College campus as a rookie coach, but it seems like so much has happened since then. Time sure flies when you’re busy (and having fun). This summer was no exception. As you can see from earlier blogs, Coach Giannini and I were involved in a couple camps at the beginning of the summer, starting off with our own Little Giants Soccer Camp here in Crawfordsville. We then packed up and headed north to lead the Crown Point team camp, hosted by Crown Point High School in northwest Indiana and Coach Ryan Collier. After that, Coach Giannini and I would head our separate ways and reunite almost a month and a half later.
I spent a few days in my home town of Indianapolis doing some individual goalkeeping training with my Dynamo F.C. goalkeeper who was preparing for high school tryouts. Yes, he made the team! I then packed up and headed back up to “The Region” to be a part of the Valparaiso University women’s soccer camp. Being back at my alma mater was a real treat. It was surreal to be coaching on the same pitch on which I played so many games and trained so many hours. Directed by Coach Anthony and Marovich of Valpo women’s soccer, it was a camp for a variety of ages from 6-17 years old. My primary responsibility was to train and coach the goalkeepers. It is always interesting to be involved with different age groups, as you can see the learning process taking place at various levels. My goal is to provide a safe and challenging environment for the goalkeepers, and I think I achieved that goal. My thanks to Coach Anthony and Marovich for including me in their successful camp.
 Then, it was time for a vacation. I set off to the west coast…yes, my first trip to Los Angeles. A close high school friend and a former Valpo teammate of mine now live out there so I was able to visit both of them and take in the California sunshine (and no humidity!). My former teammate is now studying at Pepperdine University to achieve his masters in psychology. My other friend is working as an assistant in a talent management company, so both of them had many stories to share of their experiences on the coast. Ahhh, the beach was refreshing….but back to work!
The day after getting back from Los Angeles I drove down to Bloomington, Indiana to be a part of the Indiana Soccer Camp directed by IU men’s head coach Mike Freitag. It was another interesting camp to be a part of for a couple reasons. The first reason was because I was surrounded by veteran coaches whom I learned from every day. They’re stories, wisdom, and jokes were constant entertainment for me and created a fun environment to be a part of. The second reason was because for three summers as a young kid, I attended that camp. I remembered the little things about it (the hot dorms with fans churning, the evening demonstrations, and the always refreshing swimming pool). Here, I was again responsible to train a group of goalkeepers throughout the week. I had 16 and 17 year olds who I trained every morning then evaluated and coached through game play and drills with their individual teams.
I even was “recruited” to be the staff goalkeeper throughout the week. That meant taking part in demonstrations, showing drills/exercises, and standing between the pipes for the camper vs. staff competitions. It was a blast! I loved competing at that level again and also taking a peppering of hard shots from the talented IU men’s team. As they say, goalkeepers need to be a little bit crazy to stand in front of 80 mph shots! My thanks go to Coach Freitag and Coach Don Madvig for mentoring me and allowing me to learn from them throughout the week.
The week after that was a slower week of individual goalkeeper training and also spending a weekend in Terre Haute to earn my National “D” License. The coaching license courses consist of lectures, practice demos, practice coaching sessions, and testing. After the two weekend course is complete, each candidate is evaluated and given the appropriate license, certificate, or letter that you need to retake the course (hopefully not for me). I again had good opportunities to learn from coaches at various levels. Some were college coaches like me, but I also spoke with youth coaches and discussed the importance of developing young players. If we ignore the youth level, the players that fill our college teams will become less and less prepared. We need to start at the grassroots! That course was also a treat because my former Valparaiso University head coach, Mis Mrak, was the instructor. So we had some time to catch up and look back on my four years at Valpo. We also had a few good laughs while watching the “Beckham Circus” surrounding David Beckham’s debut in the MLS.
To wrap up the camp season, I spent a week in Indianapolis working with Miles Glynn, the founder and director of Indiana Goalkeeper Academy (www.igasoccer.com) and the goalkeeper coach at Butler University and IUPUI. He and I trained 14 keepers in Avon every morning, and then drove back into the city to train 19 more in Lawrence in the evening. We couldn’t have asked for better weather or a better group of kids. They all came with the willingness to learn, push themselves, and have fun. Miles has a wealth of goalkeeping knowledge that I like to tap into every once and while to refresh or gain new ideas for my training here at Wabash. Many thanks to Miles for everything he has helped me with and for including me in his growing business.
Again, it was time for another vacation to recharge before I reported back to campus. I traveled with my family to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. The summer trip to South Carolina is a tradition of ours that has been going on since my first memories exist. The beautiful environment with the marshes, dunes, and beach are ideal for a family getaway. Since we are all busy people, it is nice to slow the pace down and spend some “lazy” time with them. The big news that came out of that week was that my sister, Jenny, got engaged! I went for a swim in the ocean one afternoon, looked over, and saw her now fiancé on his knee with a box in his hand. I’m very happy for them and look forward to the wedding sometime next summer.
With my exciting, busy, and beneficial summer behind me, I am now completely focused on the upcoming season. Coach Giannini and I are extremely excited to greet the players back on campus in exactly one week! We are optimistic and enthusiastic about our incoming class of freshman and the role that they can play on the team for years to come. Our returning veteran players will be stepping foot on campus as leaders and as the catalyst for this team to achieve something which it never has! Keep an eye on your Little Giants this year; big things are just around the corner!
-Assistant Coach Jeff Oleck
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