4 The Clackamas Print
Wednesday; Oct. 19, 2011
SDortsed(q).clackamas. edu
Sports
All-American heads
ΠC 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.