Alumni Weekend and Christmas Classic Indoor Tournament Update
Alumni Day 2010
 |
| Gavilsky shatters scoring record at Stetson. |
The Christmas Season is a time when we all take a moment to reconnect with our family and friends; it is a time when people come from near and far to gather together and reunite. The Metro soccer family is no different. On December 26, nearly 70 Metro alums, both men and women, gathered at The Sports Academy in Glen Carbon for some friendly competition at the annual Alumni Day. Players spanning the full range of the Metro spectrum enjoyed an afternoon of competition, fun and reminiscing. Dan Diest, Leon Clark, Alex Baisch and Zack Evans from the class of 1998 all played representing the players from the original Metro FC days; Tess Gavilsky, Gayla Foster, Taylor Hay, Erin Riley, Sulyn Keomanivane, Katie Hubbard, Sam Klosterman, Sam Keomanivane, Blake Schneider, Tad Kreamalmeyer, Bobby Smith, and Gus Bloink among others represented the Metro United Days; and, finally, a myriad of our younger alumni were on hand to represent SLSG Metro.
It was also great to have Coach Dave Fernandez as a part of the festivities. Dave worked with me in those formative years and was instrumental in the development of the program. The opportunity to have him there to share the experience with all of our current full time staff and alums was truly fantastic.
Regardless of whether it was Metro FC, Metro United or SLSG Metro, all of our alums share something special. They all share the unique experience of battling through the Metro program and using the values developed and practiced during their time with Metro in their subsequent life endeavors. This is a sentiment that was shared by many both at the event and ahead of the event as we connected via facebook, texting and email. Whenever we are able to get together it is a very special time and this occasion was no exception.
One of the ideas that suggested by the alums was to do an “Alumni Spotlight” highlighting a Metro alumnus. Today, we will highlight Matt Grabner who was in our 2006 class.
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT-
Matt Grabner
 | ||
| Matt after his Metro days. |
If you want to see Matt you can watch him on TV tonight. Matt is from Alton, he attended Marquette HS. He played for Metro United starting at U13. He is now the punter for the University of Missouri and is playing in the Insight.Com Bowl tonight vs Iowa. Matt joined us with a number of his friends when he was a U13: Scott Yanta, Joel Gibson, Dan Gibson, Jon Day and Logan Jones. Matt was always a good player. He had terrific skills, was a very good passer, and could hit a ball with both feet. He was 6’2” or so when he was 16 years old so coordination was an issue. As Matt got older he was just off the first 11, but his attitude and effort were always at the top of the team. As Matt approached the age when his youth soccer days were ending, he followed a little different path than most. He wanted a large school college experience, but did not have the soccer ability to compete at an Indiana or Ohio State. Matt decided that playing club soccer at a large university would fill his academic, athletic and social desires. After a stint at Ole Miss he transferred to Missouri and played club soccer. Sometime after that, I received an email from his parents that he was kicking for Mizzou. His skill as a football kicker is fantastic as he shows a deft ability to kill the ball inside the 10 yard line and he has some kind of “Rugby Kick” where he runs for a bit before he punts the ball. Admittedly, my football knowledge is sketchy at best and my terminology is worse, but all of us at Metro are very proud of Matt and extremely happy for him. He and his family are great people and we hope he gets a crack at the NFL. Here is a link from an article on Matt in the Kansas City Star, http://www.kansascity.com/2010/10/20/2336858/punter-matt-grabner-is-a-big-weapon.html.
Christmas Classic Indoor Update
The Christmas Classic Indoor Tournament finishes tonight, 12.28.10, with a number of Championship games. 66 teams compete for titles in 11 different age divisions. All games are held at The Sports Academy in Glen Carbon. Games start this morning at 8:00AM and run through 11:00PM tonight. The following Metro teams have won championships or are in the running, 13G, 16B, 17B, 15G, 16G, Men’s Open, Over 30, U14B, U12B, U10B, U8B, U11G, U12G and the Women’s Open. The game schedule can be found on The Sports Academy website under Christmas Classic.
Some teams to watch would be Tejeda United and EHS Alumni in the Men’s Open Division. Both teams have Metro Alums and are both undefeated. In the Women’s Division, Coach Katie Hubbard’s “Home Schooled Jungle Freaks” are 2-0 headed into their final game. They will look to win tonight in order to stay ahead of Chelsea Smith’s “Victorious Secret” who is 2-1. Home School Freaks feature Tess Gavilsky who has just finished her record breaking career at Stetson University where she holds the scoring record and was two time player of the year in the conference. Victorious Secret features Megan Palowski who made the all Big 10 freshman team at University of Illinois.
Games will go through 11:00PM tonight, $2 for adults and $1 for children is the admission for the day.
Have a wonderful Holiday Season!
No comments:
Post a Comment