How long have you been a part of Tri-City United Soccer Club?

I've been part of Tri-City for probably 8 years now. Initially I was a parent volunteer coach in our recreational program. And I've been coaching on the competitive side for 3 years now, really enjoy that. And then last summer I took over leadership for our fundamentals program as well. And so that serves children 18 months up to 6 years old, just introducing them to, again, the fundamentals of soccer, making it fun. Teaching them very basic skills, but making sure it's all game-like and creating a positive learning environment for those kids. The thing that really was attractive for me to come on staff was the emphasis on the experience of the players. We want the players to, especially at the younger ages, to really to have fun, to learn the basics, but creating a positive experience where it's not about winning, but it's about them developing, learning the game, learning the skills required. And so that is what initially attracted me into joining the staff here.

What has been your favorite experience at the club?

I have so many favorite experiences at the club, since I coach a wide variety of ages, 18 months up to 12 years old, there's a lot of different experiences. With the younger kids, usually I coach the kind of 3 to 4 year olds. We have kind of a camp style program in the summer, and then on the last day, we do a kind of a treasure hunt, combining all of our soccer skills, and then we get to do a water fight at the end. And we started that last summer, and that has quickly become one of my favorite things to do. The kids love it, they get to be silly, and I get to share my love of soccer with them and get to watch them grow and learn over those couple of days. So for the younger kids, I would say that's probably my favorite. With my older kids, my older boys, I just finished a season for our U12 boys team. We won a championship game in a penalty shootout about a year and a half ago, and I had never coached a penalty shootout before. At the time, that wasn't my primary team either, so I knew the kids. I was familiar with them, had coached them, but had not practiced penalties. I didn't know who was the most consistent, and so kind of just flying blind into that was, at the time, a very stressful experience but, we had a fantastic goalkeeper at the time. He made some just phenomenal saves during that game, and then during the shootout as well. And then my boys came out on top, and we still talk about it. But almost two years later now, so that again at the time was rather stressful, but has really kind of shaped and informed like how I do some of my coaching, making sure that now we're prepared for those things. I was head coach for one more penalty shootout, and then have been assistant coach on a couple as well, and so now we're much more prepared. We kind of know the order, but at the time just kind of jumping into it head first and then winning was a really crazy experience.

How has the club impacted you as a coach? Share an example.

One of the things that really keeps me coming back to Tri-City as a coach is their emphasis and their support of coaching education and coaching development. When I was first approached to be a competitive coach with Tri-City, I told them I'm not the kind of person you're looking for. I did not play in college, and I hadn't played for almost 20 years at that point when they asked me to come on. And they said, you fit the culture that we're trying to build here, and we can teach you the technical and the tactical things; we can fill in the gaps there. But what we're looking for is building this culture of supporting the kids, creating a positive learning environment. And so throughout my three years on the coaching staff, I've completed my grassroots course, and then I received my D license, my coaching license, and we have future plans for hopefully doing the C license in another year or two. And in between all those, we have informal coaching sessions where we'll have, our Technical Director lead a session and then have some guided questions. We'll have discussion so coaches can learn from him and his experience, but also from each other. And that's really formed me as a coach and helped me grow and learn. It's a safe place to ask questions. There are lots of opportunities for mentorship as well. If there's something that I feel like I'm lacking or really need to improve on, I know I can get that support where I need it.

What stands out about the club's facilities, scheduling, or communication?

At Tri-City United, the Tri-City stands for the three main cities in this area: Fargo, Moorhead, and West Fargo. And each of those cities has its own outdoor soccer facility. And so, part of being Tri-City is really trying to be ingrained in all of those communities. So, when we're scheduling our recreational programs or when we're hosting our tournaments, we use all of those facilities. And that helps us be more connected to the community and bring soccer to all areas. We're not just one location. We also have our own indoor facility. It's a 9v9 field. So that's fantastic in the winter or if it's just raining, raining, raining all the time. We do have a smaller facility that we can use. And then in the winter, it's also fantastic. And we have a brand new Fargo Sports Center that actually has a full 11 vs 11 field, but also ability to split that into smaller sections, and a brand new state-of-the-art facility. So when we host our indoor tournament, we have access to that facility, another one in West Fargo, and then our own as well. So for us living in a cold climate where there's a lot of snow, it's fantastic to be able to have access to soccer year-round. When I was a kid growing up in this area, that wasn't the case. We had very limited options in the winter, and so this helps support their development and the desire to play all year long.

Would you recommend Tri-City United Soccer Club to a friend or colleague? Why?

I do, and I have recommended Tri-City to friends and family. The size and strength of our club offers a variety of options for players at any level of development. So we have a recreational program for kids who are maybe either just getting into soccer, wanna try it out a little bit, or maybe don't want to have more traveling commitments. And then we also have our competitive program, which is fantastic. Gives us opportunities to play all over the region. And then just the investment in the player development and the coaching development. I see it as a very positive growth mindset. We're always looking for ways we can do better, we can reach our members better, and how can we better serve the kids and the families that we're working with.