Get To Know Me (Coaching Corner) – Zack Wayman

At Nebraska Soccer Talk, we love covering everything soccer related. For the most part, that means covering games and providing analysis/opinions. However, our overall mission and purpose is far reaching and ambitious. Our goal is to bring the soccer community closer together through collaboration and communication.  There are countless people that deserve recognition for their efforts as a player, official, or coach. Throughout the season, we will be highlighting these individuals through our Get To Know Me articles.

This will be a series made up of three different components. All of which are meant to bring attention to the soccer community.

  1. Get To Know Me (Coach Edition) – These individuals are responsible for building their programs, growing the game of soccer, and mentoring the next generation. We look forward to learning about their lives and philosophies.
  2. Get To Know Me (Player Edition) – This article series will focus on high school juniors and seniors that have demonstrated themselves to be quality players and people. With these features, our community will learn about some of the most impressive players in the state.
  3. Future of the Game – This article series will focus on the freshmen and sophomore classes. These are players that we will be covering for years to come.

Thank you to every individual that provided information for this idea. We appreciate your thoughtful and timely responses.

Zack Wayman

 

Name of High School Program: Columbus High Girls Soccer

Occupation Outside of Coaching: High School Social Studies Teacher

Favorite Professional Soccer Team: Arsenal

Favorite Soccer Coach: Jurgen Klopp

Favorite Soccer Player: Christian Pulisic

Who would you consider to be your soccer mentor? What is the story behind your selection? How did they help you in your soccer journey? 

Have a few, starts with my high school coaches; Scott Steinbrook and Robert Mishou at Kearney High School during my playing days, they were the first to get me on the path to coaching. Then it was Matt Bice, former Nebraska ODP director, and former coach of Nebraska United Club team. It was him who taught me how to teach the game and connect to players. Finally Jess McHargue, Lexington Boys High School coach, an old club coach during my days in Kearney and my boss at Lexington while I was his assistant for two years (State Semi-finalists class B 2019). He taught me a lot about setting the standards and building a program from the ground up, he allowed me to grow and prepare for where I am now. For all of these coaches I am extremely grateful. Special shout out to Mike Doria, former head coach at Millard West (boys) for letting me volunteer coach to the State Semi-finals when I student taught (Spring 2017).

Describe a favorite soccer memory that you have been involved with. This memory could be from your playing or coaching experiences. Tell us the story and impact of this memory.

First as a player for Kearney High School, came back down two goals in the second half against Millard West in the State quarterfinals (2013) to win in a PK shootout. We won 3-0 making all three of our first shots (I shot 2nd) and our GK, Quincy Bennet, blocked all three of Millard West’s shots (never seen it in my life). What made that so sweet is Millard West was the only loss we suffered in the regular season (besides a District final loss, we got in on Wildcard) and we only had 3 returning players for that season (a lot of people counting us out).

Coaching memory: Coming back from 1 goal down to win in OT with Lexington Boys Soccer in 2019 against Omaha Roncalli in State Quarterfinals. We had such a young team with great potential and it was such an emotional and positive experience to know how hard those players had worked and dedicated themselves and were rewarded for their efforts. Now many of those players are Juniors and Seniors trying to win state with Lexington in Class B (definitely a team to watch out for).

List and describe three important pillars or values of your program. What is the culture of your program built on? What do they mean to you? 

Connect – be positive in our communication with each other in verbal and body language, be attentive listeners with our coaches and teammates.
Commit – putting others and the team goals ahead of your own. What role can you fulfill to help the team find success. Do the little things that no one sees so we can accomplish the big things when everyone is watching.
Care – When you care about someone or something you are willing to put it all on the line for them. Only when we first connect and commit to each other, can we then care for each other. When you care you are willing to sacrifice and suffer for your teammates, not just in running open for a pass or spacing or defensive backtracking but taking care of grades in the classroom, doing the little things right to maintain character standards, etc.
The biggest thing I want players to strive for is “leave the place better than you found it”, not just our team buses, or locker rooms or sidelines, but when players leave the program they left it in a better place and left a lasting legacy for the program to build upon. That is my biggest focus on our culture.

What is your motivation for coaching? This is a time-consuming and challenging occupation. Why do you do it? 

To give players information I wish I would have known to be as successful on the field as possible. Secondly to teach them life lessons so that players are able find success in their own ways and leave their own legacy before pursuing their next goals in their life.

 

Thank you for reading and being a part of our new community. A like, share, comment or recommendation of content would be greatly appreciated. In order to financially support our efforts, sponsorship/partnership opportunities have become available. Sponsors will receive vast exposure to the Nebraska soccer community through different media avenues. The sponsorship process is easy and reasonable.

Contact us on our website or email @ nebraskasoccertalk@gmail.com.

Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, or listen to our podcast.

 

Columbus High – Class A Team Preview (Girls)

Previewing an upcoming season is never an easy task. To do so properly takes countless hours of emails, observations, statistical research, conversation, and reflection. Adding onto that difficulty are challenges, such as a cancelled 2020 season and lingering COVID restrictions, making our preview preparation feel almost impossible.

Despite these obstacles, the approaching 2021 season and its participants – whether that be players, coaches, fans, or families – deserve some semblance of normalcy. Soccer in Nebraska and all those who participate deserve to be promoted. Over the course of the next several weeks, NEST will overview EVERY high school soccer program in our state. This was done to the best of our ability using all of the information we could collect.

Nebraska Soccer Talk is here to support many fantastic teams, coaches, players, fans, and referees that make our game possible. One mission of this venture is to discover and centralize newsworthy information. This can only be done in collaboration with individual programs. As a whole, our sport must better promote itself in order to grow the player and supporter pool. We encourage every team to proudly and consistently advertise itself to us and the general public. The more information available, the more our game will grow. Soccer is a game historically left behind to linger in the background in the United States. That circumstance is changing, but that change will not happen automatically. Growing and covering all aspects of our sport will take effort from all of those who love it.

Disclaimer – To prepare for these articles, a questionnaire was sent to every school’s head coach and athletic director. Many of these questionnaires were returned in a timely fashion, others were not. Nebraska Soccer Talk prides itself on equal and in-depth coverage, but cooperation is needed to meet that goal. Please consider this to be our reasoning when it comes to article length and accuracy.

Columbus High

Head Coach – Zack Wayman

Previous Records

Year Record
2019 8-8
2018 11-3

State Status – Front Runner, Contender, Dark Horse, Up-And-Coming, Building, Too Early To Tell

NEST Analysis – For the better part of the decade, this Discoverer program has been on an impressive run of winning double digit games. The lone exception came in 2019, as Columbus finished with a .500 record for the first time since 2013. Look for this program to rebound during the 2021 season. The cancelled 2020 season could serve as a reset and launching pad for another successful run.

The Discoverers will once again be joining the ranks of Class A for at least this season. Altering between Class A & Class B seems to be a regular challenge that the players and coaches must navigate. From the research, it appears that an under the radar soccer hub has been operating in Northeast, Nebraska at Columbus High School. This program has our attention and Nebraska Soccer Talk will be watching closely for any noteworthy players that deserve recognition. The club status within Columbus is a bit unknown, but the high school programs appear healthy and competitive. This squad can be found on our Pre-Season list of Teams on the Verge.

 

Thank you for reading and being a part of our new community. A like, share, comment or recommendation of content would be greatly appreciated. In order to financially support our efforts, sponsorship/partnership opportunities have become available. Sponsors will receive vast exposure to the Nebraska soccer community through different media avenues. The sponsorship process is easy and reasonable.

Contact us on our website or email @ nebraskasoccertalk@gmail.com.

Connect with us on TwitterInstagram, or listen to our podcast.

 

Columbus High – Class A Team Preview (Boys)

Previewing an upcoming season is never an easy task. To do so properly takes countless hours of emails, observations, statistical research, conversation, and reflection. Adding onto that difficulty are challenges, such as a cancelled 2020 season and lingering COVID restrictions, making our preview preparation feel almost impossible.

Despite these obstacles, the approaching 2021 season and its participants – whether that be players, coaches, fans, or families – deserve some semblance of normalcy. Soccer in Nebraska and all those who participate deserve to be promoted. Over the course of the next several weeks, NEST will overview EVERY high school soccer program in our state. This was done to the best of our ability using all of the information we could collect.

Nebraska Soccer Talk is here to support many fantastic teams, coaches, players, fans, and referees that make our game possible. One mission of this venture is to discover and centralize newsworthy information. This can only be done in collaboration with individual programs. As a whole, our sport must better promote itself in order to grow the player and supporter pool. We encourage every team to proudly and consistently advertise itself to us and the general public. The more information available, the more our game will grow. Soccer is a game historically left behind to linger in the background in the United States. That circumstance is changing, but that change will not happen automatically. Growing and covering all aspects of our sport will take effort from all of those who love it.

Disclaimer – To prepare for these articles, a questionnaire was sent to every school’s head coach and athletic director. Many of these questionnaires were returned in a timely fashion, others were not. Nebraska Soccer Talk prides itself on equal and in-depth coverage, but cooperation is needed to meet that goal. Please consider this to be our reasoning when it comes to article length and accuracy.

Columbus

Head Coach Info – John Arlt

Previous Records

Year Record
2019 12-4
2018 9-6

Players to Watch – Juan Rodriquez, Israel Robledo, Jorge Tovar, Garrett Esch

State Status – Front Runner, Contender, Dark Horse, Up-And-Coming, Building, Too Early To Tell

Previous Season Accomplishments – 2019 Class B State Runner Up

NEST Analysis – In 2019, Columbus surprised many as they rampaged their way through Class B. A season full of success ended at Morrison Stadium as they lifted a runner-up state trophy, a highlight for this program. A surprise no longer, the Discoverers are on everyone’s radar heading into 2021. With winning and success, comes attention and expectation, a welcomed development for a prideful squad. Although they are almost two years removed from that historic season, Columbus returns an excellent core of players. Juan Rodriguez provides the team with an attacking threat that must be accounted for throughout a match. Israel Robledo, Jorge Tovar, and Garrett Esch add to this quality lineup. Coach John Arlt is an experienced leader that demands absolute commitment from his team. With all of those pieces, another memorable season could be right around the corner.

 

Thank you for reading and being a part of our new community. A like, share, comment or recommendation of content would be greatly appreciated. In order to financially support our efforts, sponsorship/partnership opportunities have become available. Sponsors will receive vast exposure to the Nebraska soccer community through different media avenues. The sponsorship process is easy and reasonable.

Contact us on our website or email @ nebraskasoccertalk@gmail.com.

Connect with us on TwitterInstagram, or listen to our podcast on Spotify.