Soccer players juggle lives to raise money

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer

March 05, 2008 04:00 am

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Toes, heel, sides of the feet; thighs, knees and heads: everything but the hands are involved in this soccer team fund raiser.

A third of the way into their 65-day challenge, by the weekend Traverse City Wings players had accumulated 279,095 juggles -- that is, keeping the ball in action without it touching the ground.

With an ambitious goal of logging a million total juggles before April 10, the 13 members of the U-11 boys travel team merged raising money with boosting basic skills.

"Juggling gives us better touches so in game situations you can stop the ball instead of it going all over the place," said Cameron Sipple, 11. "It makes us want to work out more."

Players are juggling at recess, at home after homework, on weekends after games -- anywhere or anytime they can tuck in a few minutes with the soccer ball. Their parents or another adult keeps a tally, with results compiled both individually and as a team by coach Steve Gloshen.

Even in three weeks, their ball-handling abilities have significantly improved with constant practice.

"I was 20 something [juggles in a row] and now 80s," said Hunter Lumsden, 11.

Other player have had similar jumps in consecutive juggles with Zach Gloshen holding the team record of 122, up from a starting number in the teens. Zach also holds the team record, so far, for the most juggles in one day, logging 9,013 Monday night.

Last year, the coach noted, his players probably could not have strung together seven juggles in a row without faltering. In fact, many players and parents did not know what juggling was before the challenge. Gloshen was intimately familiar with the moves since he spent part of his childhood in soccer-crazy Argentina, where any kid with a soccer ball was constantly juggling it.

"The average this year is 40-80 and it's quite an achievement," Gloshen said of the Wings challenge. "They learn to have soft feet, when a ball comes in they can control it."

Gloshen, who is also juggling towards the goal, had participants get pledges in support of their efforts. The tally so far is just over $1,000 and growing. Half the proceeds will go to help offset team travel costs while the remainder will be evenly divided between the U.S. Soccer Federation and TBAYS for a new flooring for their indoor arena.

"I just thought it was something my team needed to do during the off-season to keep in shape, it's good conditioning," said Gloshen, whose own juggling total was just under 20,000 at the weekend. "It's fun to watch them grow."

"It's an independent personal discipline and they're taking to it and they don't stop now," he added.

In addition to gaining overall skill and confidence with the ball, Wings players have found that the extensive juggling helps them master specific moves.

"I've improved on my soul roll because of the juggling," said Tyler Porter, 11. "The hardest move for me is probably push and pull but now I can do it."

Gloshen, who previously coached a soccer team with his older son through high school, has five players from that team playing on Division II college teams. With two sons on the current Wings team, he hopes to follow the team as it moves through age rankings. He is pleased at how kids and parents in the region have embraced the sport.

"Soccer has grown a lot here in the past 10-15 years -- Traverse City is not taken lightly when we go to Grand Rapids to play," he noted, adding that the Wings team is unusual in that it does not require tryouts to join, unlike most travel teams in the same age.

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