Saint Mary's University of Minnesota Athletics

With such a large and diverse group of seniors this year, writing a send-off that would do justice to all of these young men seems almost a monumental task.  As with starting line-ups, playing time or travel lists, I feel any attempt on my part to address each individual may risk not doing justice to the role served by each and every player.  We learn as coaches, when we highlight one person, we may unjustly minimize the role another teammate has played.   Each of these seniors have impacted our team and program in a vast variety of ways.  They all have been on different paths as soccer student-athletes at Saint Mary’s, but that path,  no matter how curvy, or steep or otherwise different than their peers, had ended up in the same place.  Here today on Senior Day.  
To that end, I want to emphasize only a few things.      

First—Thank You.   Thank you for choosing Saint Mary’s, for committing to be a student-athlete for four years, thank you for working to make our team and program a better place.  One of the best aspects of coaching is we get to learn as much from our players as much as we hope they learn from us.  Thank you for getting on the line for the Beep Test first practice every year, knowing that you may earn the right to pick your favorite number, or that someone else may have worked a little harder than you and they get it instead, and they are better for it. Thank you for ‘passing the hat’ and tipping our bus driver every time we came home at midnight from an away game.  Believe it or not, things like that are ingredients of our program, and whenever we do turn the corner here in terms of results, they will be an important piece of why we did so. Whether you started every game for three and half years, whether you battled your way into a starting role late in your career, or if you were a guy who had to bring game-day intensity to training every day, as a way to improve yourself and your team, nothing is more important to me than for that message to get across;  Thank You for your efforts, for your time and certainly the memories and learning moments I have been able to take away from your experience.  Thank you for helping create an environment that other good, young men want to be a part of; our rising classes have ability and character, and they are here in part, because of your work.     

Second—Please give back to the sport of soccer.  Become a coach, learn to be a ref, support your own kids when they say they want to play.   Certainly enjoy watching Chelsea and Arsenal play on TV, but don’t forget to go buy tickets for your local MLS or USL team.  Show up at your old high schools practice once in a while; you’ll make impact on the next generation of player. When you see a young player from your town  or your neighborhood, mentor him to pursue the game and love the game. I am 42 years old, and I want to see the United States of America play in the World Cup final before I leave the planet. For that to happen,  we need young men like you to continue to grow the game and improve soccer in our country.  
    
Lastly—As you all influenced me in my approach to our program moving forward, please know I hope you all take with you something from your time with our program that allows the rest of your life to be more successful and joyful than if you had not played soccer in college. You all know my saying;   “Ain’t No Better Day than Game Day”.      

Well, Game Day changes for you all now, but trust me, you will continue to encounter Game Day in your lives.   It could be your first job interview, your decision to ask someone to marry you, making the choice to put down roots and buy a home, or perhaps taking on the challenge of graduate school or your own business.   As I finish my 20th year of coaching, and thank God every day for my marriage, my home and my family and friends, I can safely say that as a young man entering the world,   you need to be ready for Game Day, no matter what that challenge is in your future.  

In college sports, especially at the Division III level, we always point to the value of our student-athlete experience and what we hope our student-athletes take forward into the world.   You may have played in front of a few dozen, or several dozen, fans every game.  Either way, we still count the crowd by the dozens.   You may have been a role player hoping to get in, or a four year starter; you still won’t pay for your mortgage based on your soccer skills.  Your brain, your heart and your character will do that for you.  You may have been All-Conference, or only have played in a handful of matches; either way, you have earned the right to be known as a former college student-athlete.    

Being ready for Game Day will always be something I hope you pride yourself on, and the lessons, the relationships, the memories and all that is Saint Mary’s,  will give you strength and confidence. Moving forward, Game Day is a lot like the Beep Test; it’s not just about you, it’s about how you fit in a bigger puzzle and what you’ve done to earn it.  Game Day is a lot like close MIAC soccer game; one break here or there can be the difference in the outcome. The harder you work, the more breaks you seem to get. Game Day is a lot like getting the opportunity to start and play heavy minutes; it’s great to get that chance, but with it come big responsibility.  Your teammates on the bench need you to deliver so they can share the glory. Game Day is like realizing that people will learn to watch what you do and how you do it much more than what you say you will do. As the saying goes: “Watch your thoughts, they become your words. Watch your words, they become actions.  Watch your actions, they become habits.  Watch your habits, they become your character.  Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”  

So, on any Game Day in your life, please remember this: Tough times don’t last, but tough people do.  And as long as you get up one more time than the number of times you get knocked down, you give yourself a chance to win.   

Best of luck to all of you and, again, thanks for your time, effort and determination to be a soccer student-athlete at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.