The Host Family

I have been meaning to write about our host family, Roger and Jan Brehm. The are a retired couple in their 70’s. Roger worked as a pharmacist and Jan as a gym teacher. They have 6 kids, 11 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren. As Roger says, they are a very prolific family, "no sittin’ round watchin’ the grass grow, get to it!"

The two other guys that Joe and I are living with are Zach and Nate. Zach is a summer class away from a diploma in international business and an all-American center back from Mt. Vernon Nazarene. I played against him when I was at Cedarville but didn’t know it at the time. Nate will be a Sophomore at North West University, also a business major.

The four of us live in the furnished basement apartment of the Brehms. We live mostly independently, make our own meals and keep our own schedule. But, we do spend time with them. Today we made brunch for them (I made cinnamon rolls, thank you very much). We also play tennis and go to church with them.

Christianese: When Roger and Jan retired they worked did clown ministry. They traveled to all sorts of places in the US and world and presented the gospel through clowning. Face-paint, red noses, balloons, gags, big red shoes, the whole bit. They have some great stories from there experiences with that. Also an interesting story is how the furnished basement apartment that we are living in came to be. One day when Jan was praying she felt that God wanted her to finish the basement so missionaries could stay there when on sabbatical from the field. They didn’t have the money to do that, but started building anyway. The next year, God brought people to stay that had different constructions skills so they finished it all for under $10,000. Over the next few years they have hosted 6 missionary families long term. The last couple left just before we came. Very cool.

2 of 2 Games this Weekend

This is Zack Patterson's (our 3rd roommate) ankle a day after the Timbers game. This is how the pro's tackle :/ He wants me to write that he finished the game after the tackle ;)

Another clutch victory! The Vancouver Whitecaps were a very young-looking team. Overall smaller than us, but just as quick and very feisty. Really, they may have outplayed us. But, our tried and true captain, Grant Knight, had a beautiful one touch shot from a few yards out of the top of the box late in the 2nd half. It wasn't a lazer, but more of a perfectly placed slightly bending ball just out of reach of two defenders and the outstreched goalie. Beautiful.

For high schoolers, they were phenomenal. Some of the best in US and Canada I suppose. I heard second hand that they are selected to attend the residency and are paid around $20-$30 K a year so they already made the choice to be ineligible for college. They either go pro or go home. A tough choice really. Even coming from college playing here, and being one of the older players, I feel like I’m playing against men. Though the Whitecaps played very maturely, you could see from their appearance that they were just kids.

I'm not sure where this game places us in the standings, but will know soon. Two away games next weekend and 3 practices in between! Let's get to it!!!

1 of 2 Games this Weekend

A big win tonight! The Portland Timbers PDL team is the U-23 reserves for the Portland Timbers USL team (professional team under MLS). We went up a goal on a pk from when Teteh got tripped in the box, then in the 2nd half got our final goal from a defensive mistake that Tetah also finished. So with some solid defense and other close chances we had a 2-0 win! We were 4th in the division and the Timbers were 3rd, so we are now 3 points behind with one game in hand. Only the top 3 make playoffs.

Tomorrow we play the Vancouver Whitecaps who are a residency team. That means that their players are young as in 16 - 17 year olds who are in a soccer academy there. The academy tries to get these players signed with bigger clubs. It will be interesting to see how good they are and what the style of the game is like.

Back from Mexico!

We're home! To catch up... we won our home game Saturday 2-0 against the Victoria Highlanders. Teteh again with nice goal. Ha, you know you’ve arrived when you have your own wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teteh_Bangura. Back to back games this Friday and Saturday. Heard that we did well in a reserve match while we were in Mexico. It will be good to practice again tonight.

Upcoming Mexico Trip

Tomorrow Joe, Zach, Grant, Ben, Jake and myself along with Dave Irby will fly to Long Beach, CA on our way to Mexico. The general plan is that in CA on Sunday we will play a 6v6 game against a local amateur team, then drive to Tecate, Mexico. In Tecate we will be staying at a boys orphanage splitting time between playing with the kids and manual labor (planting trees I believe). We will return home on Wednesday, so the trip is a short one. A professional camera man named John will be accompanying us to make a promotional video for the Surge and the GPI (Global Player Initiative) program.

Tonight is a home game! We are 4-3-1 and are neck and neck with 4 other teams competing for 3 playoff spots. This week practices were tough. We went 3 hours instead of 2 each of three practices. The reserve team was supposed to have a game Wednesday night, but through a miscomunication the other team did not show up. So, we scrimmaged the first team and took away a 2-1 win!

"Local Outreach"

Yesterday myself and 10 or so other Surge teammates went to a juvenile correctional facility in Salem. It was a little bit intimidating with the security and such. In the end it was fun though. We played soccer with about a dozen of the "kids" mixing in with them and playing light. At halftime we introduced ourselves, where we are from, what schools we go/went to some funny soccer stories. At the end Connor gave his testimony, we said bye to the guys and left. A believe another group of Surge guys went today as well.

Which reminds me, I never wrote about the elementary school (the above picture is the elementary school, not the juvenile correctional facility ;). Two weeks before Germany/Austria, we went to Swegel Elementary School 3 days each week. Swegel is a lower-income school in Salem. We read to the kids, had them read to us and played with them on the playground. We had a mix of soccer games and just playing "coaches vs. kids". The 3rd graders were the best group. We had a good rivalry with them. These pictures tell the whole story.

The pk for the game.

The agony of defeat.

The victory celebration.

Back in Business

Yesterday was my first practice back with the Surge. It was good to play with the guys again. I feel a step behind from taking time off.

Yesterday and today we "tested" balls for Nike. We had 15 balls with a light green swoosh and 15 balls with and dark green swoosh. We filled out a little form after practice contrasting them. Today is was light and dark blue. I’ll be dumbfounded when I find out that both were the same ball and it was all in my head.

The People Layer

Amazingly to me, I found the people, despite cultural differences, to be essentially the same as my reference point (America). I knew this in my head, but to experience it was revelatory. Even though everyone spoke in a "secret code" that only they could understand I could still understand their facial expressions, body language and attitudes. People in Germany and Austria enjoyed games, food, family and entertainment. They liked to be understood, to be respected and loved (and they don’t like to show that they needed it). Little kids laugh at funny faces. The German engineers make engineer jokes. The Austrian fussball teams have social groups within their team based on skill. Etc. Interesting.

Funny Story

The line of trams was longer, but I couldn't get the shot.

One of my favorite stories from the trip was when Grant single-handedly broke the train system in Vienna. We were going to a university in Vienna (the oldest college in the world, so I was told) to street witness and were riding the tram to get there. It was rush hour and the tram was packed full of people. At a stop when the doors opened Grant’s backpack got pinched in the door. This story is initially funny because Grant yelps, "I’m stuck!" and squirms to get free. We all laugh and the people around us try to keep from laughing to be polite.

Grant can’t get his back pack lose so he slides it off and it hangs in the door. People get on and off while we wait for the doors to close on their own and set his backpack free. But, nothing happens. We keep laughing, "Ha, Grant you broke the train!" Then a guy from the street forces the doors closed to the train can leave. More laughter. A minute later when we still aren’t moving the train driver comes and manually opens and closes the door. More laughter. Another minute later the train driver comes back with the train driver of the tram behind us. Both yell in German at each other and mess with the doors more. More laughter. Grant is really embarrassed, but handling it well. Another minute later there is a voice on the loud speaker that says, "Everyone must get off the train."

When we unloaded we looked behind us and saw at least 6 more trams full of upset people piling out the doors. We got out of there as fast as we could. Stupid Americans ;)

The Fussball Layer

This is the Stuttgart Kickers complex, a 3rd division team.
Us after the 2nd day of training.

In Europe the soccer is organized differently than the states. Most towns have a soccer club. The club has youth teams at various age groups and a "first team". The first team plays other first teams in their division. There are 10 or so divisions, it depends on the country. If you win your division, you move up a league, if you are at the bottom you are relegated and move down. The first division teams you watch on tv and have huge stadiums. They have lots of money to buy good players. The lower divisions have smaller, but loyal, followings and less money to buy good players, but raise good players in their youth system. Most of the lower divisions have a game field, a few practice fields and a clubhouses with offices, locker rooms and a restaurant.

In Germany, the camp Joe and I worked was organized by the church but used FV Zuffenhausen’s practice field. After camp one day we saw a team warming up. We asked to train with them and they agreed. It was a company team in a non-official league. They were all engineers from the company that makes the train system in Germany (they were 2nd in their league to IBM). We had a good conversation with them after practice.

In the same way we practiced with FV Zuffenhausen the next day. They were a 6th division team and pretty good. Very smart, skilled players. Ages ranged from 19 year olds who were on their way up divisions to late 30’s who were still enjoying playing, but at a lower level than when they were younger. The coach invited us back to practice the next day.

In Austria the 8 of us split between two teams one day, then two different teams the next day. We went back to the original teams the third day. For some graduated, jobless guys this was a tryout. For the others with college eligibility on the line it was merely a practice. For me, it was a practice as I’m not going to try to make it in the semi-pro circuit in Europe. I was at a 5th division team the first day, a 4th the next. The latter club had a team masseuse!

It was so cool to train with these teams. To see what a practice in Europe on a European team was like. We could get enough of what was going on to not always need a translation for what the coach was saying. Also, should you ever play with a team outside the US, always, always shake everybody’s hand when you first go into the locker room. If you follow the American style and keep to yourself until you get to know people everybody will think you are a cocky American. Thankfully, we were advised of this before we went by some of the international players on the Surge.

The Cultural Layer

Joe's Euro outfit

Sky Beach

This part was fun. A two week sample of different foods, clothing styles, architecture, organizations, habits, customs, attitudes, language, etc.

I liked the tea, fresh breads and various spreads for breakfast. Nutella (chocolate in peaunut butter texture) was good. Some authentic German dishes whos names I cannot remember were very good. In Austria there were Kabob stores on every corner. Corn was a common pizza topping. Water means carbonated water. You have to ask for "regular" water.

Both Stuttgart and Germany were very relaxed cities. People didn’t seem quite as much in a rush as in cities here. Subways were less intimidating. The streets were clean and had lots of trees and flowers everywhere. Especially in Stuttgart, there were some big buildings, but not downtown with giant skyscrapers. Most buildings were 5-6-7 stores and spread out. Like a big village. And the buildings were very beautiful. There were café’s everywhere that you could buy coffee and sit out at a table to enjoy the day. I enjoyed "Sky Beach" which was a beach (sand, boardwalk, beach chairs, the whole bit) on a roof with a bar. Also, "Vapiano", a super-swank Italian restaurant.

Traffic was crazy because the streets were smaller. Yet, people weren’t upset about it. Some nice cars. Joe got to ride in a Ferrari 360 Spider after training one day. We visited the Mercedes Benz Museum.

I cannot describe the Euro style. I’d heard that people dress nicer, which was true for the 30’s and older crowd. But, the 20’s and younger wore a conglomerate of style. The idea that clothes have to "match" is out. Some guys bought "Euro outfits" at a second hand store. One style I thought was interesting was the "krocha". To be a krocha you tan until you’re orange, dye your hair black, wear all black and a neon hat. Krocha’s also had their own slang and style of dance.

The Coaching Layer

Joe, Edwin, Alex and I were the four coaches for the camp. The 35 or so kids ages 8-12 were divided up into four teams that competed through the week. Germany, USA, Bazil and South Africa. I coached South Africa to a stellar 4th place. Fortunately, there was no relegation involved ;)

The younger kids we coached were definitely much better than the kids I have coached at OnGoal tactically and technically. I’m not sure if this is because of the demographic of kids that came to the camp or a cultural difference. I would guess that this is cultural difference. Everybody I played with from recreation to semi-pro valued a highly possession style of soccer. So, it would follow that little kids would be coached with an emphasis on foot skills (technical) and field vision (tactical) as a basic skill instead of "fun faster, kick harder". For example, in the US, if a kid is dribbling down the field and a defender steps up the first instinct is: dribble by him. Here, when a kid saw the same situation (saw this because his head was up when he dribbled) his first instinct was: pass around him. I was amazed to see 8 year olds that could turn, shield the ball, and pass back.

The older kids were comparable to the kids in America. I would guess this is because as the kids in America get older they work under better coaches and are taught to play smarter. In all ages, in the games at the end of the day the "soccer passion" ran high. Losing was a travesty complete with tears and anger. Winning was better than snack break.

Off the field, the kids enjoyed asking questions about what soccer clubs we liked, what music we liked and what movies we liked. There was a language barrier. About half the kids spoke a bit of English, others none. However, thankfully, there were plenty of staff around to help translate. Games were difficult because anything I would yell on the field would be delayed 30 seconds.

Trip Framework

I’m safely back in the US now after 1 hour on a train, 14 hours in a plane, and 1.5 in a car. I never got why people would complain about jet lag until now. My first European experience was too multifaceted for a detailed chronological explanation. A play-by-play for each hour wouldn‘t be interesting and it would miss the heart of the experiences. Instead, I’ll give you a brief framework so I can write in layers interjected with stories. Christianese: Sound familiar?

Joe and I flew into Stuttgart, Germany via NYC and Dusseldorf on Thursday, May 28. We had the weekend to explore and adjust. Over our time in Germany we stayed with a host family, the Reisers, near the heart of the city. Monday-Friday we were 2 of 4 coaches at a camp a local church was putting on. The other two coaches were Germans from SRS, the German version of Athletes In Action (AIA). In the evenings we had different adventures with different people which are better explained in the layers.

Saturday we flew to Vienna, Austria and met Dave Irby along with 6 other guys. We all stayed at a hostel in the city. Through most of the days Ken, Nathan and John acted as tour guides taking us to our various functions. These three men are missionaries in Germany as a spectator, player and coach of soccer, respectively. Over the week we also saw some of Grant’s friends he met along the way while he played in Austria. We saw some of how the Surge is doing soccer missions in Austria at churches and in the community. We trained under John a day, and had 3 days of tryouts/training with local clubs. We saw sights and shopped. We all flew home Thursday, June 11.

Blip from Austria

I am in Vienna, Austria now staying at a hostel with 7 other members of the team. Again, only a few minutes on the internet. I'll have some "real" updates when I get back to the states on the 12th. This summer has been crazy and so blessed! I found out yesterday that I'll also be going to a small town in NW Mexico with a few other Surge teammates to work at an orphinage June 20th-24th. Another sweet trip!

Christianese: The next 3 days we will have the chance to train with some high level teams (4th division-ish). Some of the guys who just graduated and a few who are close will be looking to see if there is any interest in them from the teams to possibly come here to play. Placing players on teams like this as missionaries is a big part of the direction the Surge would like to go. Please pray that the appropriate connections would be made for the players, that they play well and that they could get picked up by a team.

Up for air

I am in Germany safe and sound. I have 10 min until the internet cafe I am at closes and wanted to write SOMETHING. There are many updates swimming in my head, but I have not had the time/internet access/computer to upload them. I will be in Austria next week and then in the USA the week after. In the interest of staying somewhat relevant I will have to drop more of the details on the games last week before I left for Europe.

The details of the first team games so far are here: http://www.cascadesurge.com/frameset.php. We had two reserve matches back to back Monday-Tuesday with a practice sandwiched in between. A 4-3 win (with an amazing bicycle kick by Dave Pihlblad for our first goal) and another 4-3 loss. I was proud to be a captain along with Dave both games. Some of the guys you read about in the first team game recaps in the link “guest starred in our game”. All of them good players, quality guys. Wednesday was a day off (aside from our school program) and then Thursday a flight to Germany.

I'm sorry to write that the game a while back with 3 red cards was an embarrassment to the team. But, we've got our heads on right now and are moving on. A selfish note, it would have been good for me because those cards along with some injuries may have given me a shot at the line-up. But, I left the States before I had a chance to find out, eh. Time's up, bye!