Three years ago my daughter, at age 10, was practicing on her own at a local field. She was on her millionth thigh juggle when a boys’ HS Varsity coach stopped her and told her to get juggling with her feet.
Fast forward to this week, when she called me from ODP Region II camp in Illinois to say she was 1 of 2 Minnesota players put onto the 1995 regional team that would scrimmage the 1994 regional holdover team.
In the 3 years between these events, Christian has coached my daughter from thigh juggles to foot juggles, from Coerver to BSM school camps to Bangu clinics, and has called her up a bunch of times to guest play with his girls’ and boys teams. He has helped her transition from a soccer-loving kid to a skilled young athlete.
He’s challenged her to win, laughed with her when she loses, and the last time around he even beat her on bending corner kicks into the goal, cutting her no slack at all. (But she’s been working on it, and she’s quite certain she’ll take him in a rematch. She wants him to know, too, that there are serious paybacks for nutmegs.)
Thank you, Christian. You’ve really made a difference, and it’s been a ton of fun.
You are, truly, the very best.
mb
