St. Croix Soccer Club Testimonial (Coach: Justin Oliver)

SUMMARY: Justin Oliver joined St. Croix Soccer Club, along with his twin brother, to play soccer and develop his skills when he was just 15 years old. Now he coaches other young athletes who have a love for the game. Justin highly recommends St. Croix Soccer Club to anyone in his community who is committed to developing their soccer skills.

St. Croix Soccer Club Testimonial Featuring Coach Justin Oliver

Read more about a coach's experience at St. Croix Soccer Club, a soccer club in Minnesota.

How long have you been a part of St. Croix Soccer Club? What attracted you to the club?

I am currently 29 and joined the club when I was 15 years old, and [we have] a proven track record as being one of the best and most successful clubs in the state as far as winning state cups, sending teams to USYS regionals, providing a platform for people to go and play at the next level, whether it was Division 1, Division 2, Division 3. Some people are going on and playing professionally. So our club's done a great job with player development and helping people become kind of the best soccer playing versions of themselves. It's a big thing that I think our club prides itself on, and I think we do a great job with it. I think we have great leagues that we get to play in, great coaches that will nurture and care for their players, and then, again, provide that exposure for people who are looking to push on and do more at the soccer level.

What has been your favorite experience at St. Croix Soccer Club?

My favorite experience at the club has just been the relationships that I've made with the players, the coaches. Even going back to when I was 15, I still have friends, and they'll be my friends for a lifetime, that I got to play club soccer with. The coaches that I've been working with, anywhere from the last 14 years are people that I'm still very close to and, again, will be great friends for a long period of time.

I also just value the relationships that I make with the players that I get to coach and, you know, hopefully, I get to have a strong impact on helping shape who they are in informative years, helping push them to become a better soccer player, a better person. Hopefully, they also get to go play at the next level collegiately. I think that's another thing that I take pride in as a college coach, just making sure that when I interact and coach with 15 to 19 year olds, I'm putting them in a spot that can, you know, look to be successful at the next level as well.

What kind of impact can St. Croix Soccer Club have on a player’s development?

A big reason our club is so special, I think, is because of, again, the platform that we get to use to compete in when it's ECNL, ECRL, USYS. We're sending teams to ECNL playoffs, USYS national championships in Florida. Our club does a great job of preparing our teams to go to the national level and showcase themselves and [they] get to compete against some of the other best teams in the country. And everybody's there trying to, you know, showcase themselves in front of college coaches and show why they are deserving of and belonging at playing at that next level. So that's something that I think our club does a very good job at is we do a great job of taking them from when they're youth level players and helping them transition to being college ready players that can go in and hopefully, you know, have an immediate impact and help a college team win some good games and then get a world class education at the school that they choose to go to that's the right fit for themselves. So I think St. Croix does a great job of helping people, you know, go find that next home at the college level.

What do you like about the facilities used by St. Croix Soccer Club?

Our club has phenomenal training facilities. They do a great job of using the two domes that our teams are in. We're training three times a week on half a field. Again, it's not something that I think a lot of clubs in our area do get to go out and do. So, it's a very big thing that we have the Conway Dome, and we have the St. Croix Valley Rec Center Dome where our teams can go in and, you know, get their touches in three times a week for an hour and a half and still really develop, you know, from November, December, January, February, March, April - until we're able to go get back outside.

And, also, our club does a very good job of providing strength, agility, and quickness training at one of the local gyms. So, again, it's a big thing that we're working on and just making sure, yes, they're better soccer players, but are we also making them better athletes as well? Because, as we do know, it's important to be a good soccer player, but you also have to be able to compete at the required level athletically. So I think our club does a great job with facilities, training, and, again, just providing that platform.

Would you recommend St. Croix Soccer Club to a friend or colleague?

I would absolutely recommend this club to a colleague or a friend. My fiancé is now a coach at our club, and I think if I'm willing to say, "Hey, the most important person in my life, you should come and work for the club that I work for." I think it's a pretty strong indictment that I believe our club has a very good family environment. It's a place that cultivates and captures young minds. It helps them, again, become the best soccer-playing version of themselves and helps them become better young people. I think the coaches are a very big part of that.

Some of my best friends are coaches at the club, whether it's my twin brother, who also works there, or one of my best friends, Andrew Shirley, who also works there. The club does a very good job of getting high level soccer minds that are also just genuinely good people involved in it, and that that is something that the players feel, and they can experience it firsthand when they know that their coach has a genuine care and and love for them, and they wanna help them become kind of that best version of themselves.

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