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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 2011)
4 The Clackamas Print Wednesday; Oct. 19, 2011 SDortsed(q).clackamas. edu Sports All-American heads Œ C soccer team By John William Howard Sports Editor T he interesting thing about soc cer i f that its nearly impossible to coach. Abu cant direct each players every move like you can when play ing chess. Abu d orit call plays and you cant rehearse for every situation. Soccer is about learning to improvise based off your set o f skills that you develop in practice. ff you watch the way the womens soccer team at Clackamas Com m unity College plays, you can see that theyre begin- nin g to get it T hat progress is at the hands o f the new soccer coach this fall, Janine Szpara arid sure hands, at th a t Szpara steps into the position with years of experience as a goalkeeper and coach in the professional ano college ranks, giving her a confident, controlled air and a steely look that clearly says “go ahead, try to pull a last one on. me.” H er beginnings, however, were m uch more nuinble. “About fourth grade, all m y friends were playing and gone, and so-I decided to check it out because I . had no one to play with,” said Szpara with a reminiscent chuckle ‘1 just started playing, and I’v e been play ing ever since . . . I broke m y ankle in ninth grade and m y coach at the time said, ‘Well, we’ll p ut you in goal so we can rest you and still play and [I] basically never got out (or the goal again].” Szparais gpalkeeping abilities soon lifted ner to the collegiate level and she fo u n d h erself the. starting goalie at Colorado C b ll^ e ift "Colorado Springs, Colo. fe>r th e l9 8 5 season. “Its just a simple little field. [With] Pikes peak in the background its absolutely beautiful,” Szpara remem bered. “I was a little bit nervous start ing to play but as a freshman you’re too dum b to realize what you’re doing, so you’re pretty cocky and confident and you think you’re really good. A little nervous is okay.” Even though her nerves g o tth e best o f her in her first game and she let in an easy goal, Szparais performance as a freshman earned, ner NCAA Division I first team All-American honors, her first o f four during the next four years at Colorado. She became one o f only two athletes in school history to achieve that status over four consecutive seasons and led her team to the 1986 NCA A final, frilling to soccer powerhouse N orth Carolina 2-0. In the summers o f ?86 and ?87> Szpara received the call from the then recently formed US womens national team and played both sea sons, earning six starts. Since its start in 1985, the team had improved performance and began to gain trac tion, but struggled to gamer national attention. “It was a great experience, but in the infancy o f the program we were training on elementary school fields,” said Szpara. “It was n ot as organized and as well cared for as it is now. So like any program w hen it’s young, the facilities aren’t really great and you’re traveling to random places . . . I think it was a rented city bus or something that took us to practice. It was a pretty funny scene.” Run down facilities and rented busses aside, Szpara still felt the weight o f the position that she was in, traveling to Italy and China to represent her country. “Its your national team, so you take it seriously and you understand the difference in level,” said Szpara, w ho remained in the National Team pool from 1988-1991. “There’s either more pressure or more desire to rise to that level and be good enough to p k y there and stay there. It’s a whole different set o f expecta tions that you have to face.” After finishing a hall o f fame career at Colorado, Szpara found continued success as a coach at Stanford and California before turning pro and leaving for Japan in 1995, eventu ally returning to the United States to continue coaching all over die West Coast Szpara spent time at Cornell, Santa Clara, and San Jose universities before coming to Portland State as the defensive coordinator in 2008. “I think that [the players] drew offof her experience immensely,” said Laura Schott, head womens soccer coach at Portland State. “If you have somebody on your staff with that kind o f experience and can share it with your athletes, Its a gpod situa tion. I think she taught them a lot and did a very good job with our athletes,” she continued. “I think that she has probably about as m uch knowledge o f the game as anybody” Szpara attributes part o f her suc- cess in coaching to the position she played, hut also the good coaching that she experienced as a player. “I felt like I watched a lot o f soccer games,” said Szpara. “W hen I tried to explain it to others [I had] a little bit easier [time] than some people have. M y coaches were so gpod I felt like m y knowledge base was pretty solid, so I was able to then relate that and share it with the people I was trying to coach.” This spring Szpara was named the head coach o f7 - the Portland Rain, a Women’s Premiere Soccer League team with ties to the Otyiripic Development Program. It was when Szpara called then Clackamas head coach Tracy Neilson about players for the Rain that she learned the position would be opened once Neilson left on sab batical. W hile at Clackamas, Szpara wifi continue coaching duties with the Rain as well as S corning the Director o f Coaching for the Oregon | City Soccer Club. . She’s a season ticket holder with die Portland Timbers, follows the US Womens National Team and says that over the last 2 0 years she’s ; become more and more a fan o f soc- , cer in general. “It became m y favorite sport,” she said. John William Howard Clackamas Print Volleyball terms explained By Matt Senn The Clackamas Print You’re sittin g in th e gym nasium taking in a volleyball gam e w h en y o u h ear th e coach sh o u t “C o m e o n , girls! D ig it out!” A t this p o in t, you m ay have to ask yourself w h at th e h eck they’re digging for a n d w here th ey p lan o n p u ttin g th e dirt. Volleyball, m u ch like o th e r sports, is full o f obscure term s a n d phrases th at, unless you have been a ro u n d th e sp o rt a lot, y o u will have n o idea w h a t th ey m ean. W ith th e volleyball season up a n d r u n n in g it m ay be tim e for y o u to b ru sh u p o n y o u r lingo. H ere aré a few term s to h elp get you started: th a t are im m u n e to th e p lay er ro tatio n so th ey get to stay o n th e floor fo r th e d u ra tio n o f th e m atch. S p ik e — a h it o r an attack m ad e b y a player o n tn e offensive team . T h e ball is h it rapidly w ith th e in te n t to term in a te th e ball o n th e defensive team s floor o r o ff th eir blocker. J o u stin g — th e act o f tw o players fro m op p o sin g team s try in g to p u sh th e hall to th e o p p o n e n t’s side fro m above th e net. Ju n gle-B all — an y volleyball gam e being played oy peo p le w h o have n o idea o f w h at th ey are doin g . See: goof-ball. D in k — a lig h tly p u sh e d o r ta p p e d hall th a t goes a ro u n d o r over th e blockers. Facial — w h en an attack h its a player in th e face. Exam ple: “T otal facial LaFIeur.” D u m p — N o t to h e confused w ith o th e r D ig • —- the act of passing a rapidly hit or ”tea ball to another player ’ on your team. : activities; th is is W hen th e setter pushes th e ball en this results in th é player falling to th e B g ro u n d as th e y th ro w them sefves a t th e ball. L ibero — o ften th e best passer o n th e team . T h e y are responsible for a great deal o f th e pass ing a n d digging. T h e y also are th e on ly players over th e n e t o n th e second h it instead o f play- i n g i t to a hitter. P ancake — a d ig in w h ich a player lays th eir h a n d flat o n th e floor a n d lets th e ball b o u n ce off. In ‘ this case, th e five second rule D O E S apply. Campfire (below) — when a ball falls to the floor in an area surrounded by two, three, four or more players. For a moment it seems as if the players are encircling the point where the ball hit and watching a campfire. This is often followed by a group version o f “Kumbaya.” John William Howard Clackamas Print Ace (below) —- w hen a serve from , the offen sive team hits the round on the efensive side o f the net w ithout any opposing ers able to e an effective pass resulting in immediate points for the serving team; also known as an epic failure by the defense. Stuff (below) — a ball that is deflected back to the attacking teams’ floor by one or the opposing teams’ blockers. Example: “They just got stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey’.” S ■ John William Howard Clackamas Print award Head Coach Janine S%para stands with Clackamas’ goalie Tori Wilkinson before the game against Takimaron Sept. 15 at Pioneer Stadium in Oregon City. Clackamas Print Brad Heineke Clackamas Print H o p efu lly th is w ill h e lp y o u u n d e rsta n d a little o f w h a t is g o in g o n in th e fast p aced g am e o f volleyball. I f n o th in g else, y o u can a t least use these term s to p re te n d th a t y o u really k n o w w h at y o u ’re talk in g ab o u t.
