XI with… Miles Oksman

Welcome to XI with… I’m going to be talking to high school soccer players from across the state this spring, with new features typically releasing on Tuesdays (Girls) and Thursdays (Boys). I’m also going to rotate classes each week. This week I’m starting with Class A, and then next week will be Class B. The premise is simple: I ask the same nine questions to every person, plus a couple of wildcard questions to spice things up.

This was actually an idea that stemmed from Mike Dean, the head coach of the Omaha Westside boys, and so it’s only a little fitting that our first guest on XI with… is Miles Oksman of Omaha Westside.

*The following has been edited for clarity.*

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1. Of course, in Nebraska, we have all sorts of weather in the spring. Do you have a least favorite element to play in, whether that’s rain, snow or wind?

Yeah, definitely snow. It gets super cold, and then, especially playing up higher on the field, when the defenders try and clear the ball and it hits you, especially like a hard, pumped-up ball, it leaves a mark.

2. Outside of soccer, what’s something you’ve gotten way too competitive about?

Um, honestly, I think ping pong. We play a lot of ping pong at team dinners, so I’ve been getting pretty competitive at that and trying to get better.

Where do you rank on the team in ping pong talent?

Oh, I’m not that high. But I usually pick the best person as my partner, so I’m more of a duos guy.

3. What usually is a good indicator that it’s going to be a good night for you?

Um, honestly, when I go into most matches, I just try and complete my first two to three passes. I just want to get a little rhythm. Once I get a rhythm, play a good through ball, get a shot on goal, assist, whatever, then I know I’m in the game and I can control it.

4. All right, what’s something you do differently than most people?

It’s more of a team thing we all do, but I don’t think any school does it. Five minutes before, like every game, we all meditate for two, three minutes. No one says anything. We turn all the music down, lights down. You just kind of sit there, and you visualize how the game’s going to go and what you want to do.

Did Coach Dean start that, or how did that come to be?

We have a psychologist at Westside, and we call him the wizard. We have weekly meetings with him every Wednesday, so we have a meeting today. He kind of started that for us, and we really bought into it last year. I’d say it helped us a lot towards the end of the year.

5. What’s just a player team you actually got your way to watch, and what do you like about them?

Um, I like to go out to watch Creighton Prep a lot. To be honest, a lot of my best friends are on that team. I’d say they’re one of our biggest competitors this year. So just see what I can find out about them, and just support my friends at the end of the day, because it’s still fun to just play high school soccer.

6. What’s something special about high school soccer in Nebraska that people outside of the state wouldn’t expect?

I think the atmosphere and the fans, I think it gets a lot more attention than most people might think, especially when you make it to state, you’re getting 1000s of people at your games. The state final last year had more fans than even the college playoffs the year before.

7. What’s a game or moment from your time playing soccer that you’re probably going to remember for a long, long time?

I mean, I probably have to go with game-winning goal versus Omaha South, just because, like, all my family was there, my friends, and it was just a great experience.

8. We’ll get to that game winner in a second. But over the last couple of years, what’s something you’ve changed your mind about?

I used to think, in soccer, you just had to go, go, go, sprint, work hard. But now I think I’ve switched to more of this: you just need to play your part, calm it down, slow the game down, and let things come to you, rather than trying to force things and make it happen.

9. Typically, with these all spring long, we’ll be asking 11 questions. Nine of them will be exactly the same. One of them I picked specifically for you. How did scoring the game-winner feel last season?

It felt really good. I’m not going to lie. After I saw it hit the back of the net. It was like a wave of emotions. I ran over to the student section, jumped up, think I did a duo celebration with my brother. I was looking around, and the crowd was roaring; it was too much to take in. I couldn’t even understand what was happening. Then obviously, I went down, like a minute later, with a cramp.

10. What is the best school lunch that Omaha Westside has to offer?

Oh, I don’t think my coach is gonna like this answer, but they have walking tacos, and I always get it with french fries and put, like, olive seeds and meat and lettuce and tomatoes and chocolate milk with that is usually a pretty good combo.

Is there a reason why that hits so hard?

I don’t know. Even on game days, I’m not gonna lie, I always get it. It’s one of the best things to have.

11. Finally, this is what I call the pass-along question. Since you’re the very first person, we don’t have another player to give you this question. So our own Jack Hoover wrote a question for you. What was it like playing with your brother?

It kind of meant everything. I think one of the main reasons he came back was just to play with me, and we’d been playing since we were like two and three, so we always had a connection. Just him being back, I think, made things flow really easily for Westside, because I always knew where he wanted to be, and he knew where I wanted to play him. So we were able to get a lot of goals and assists between the two of us.

The next XI with… on the boy’s side is with David Arciga of Schuyler. Do you have a question for him?

I think his question should be, what’s your go-to goal celebration?

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I want to thank all of you for checking out the first edition of XI with… There are plenty more I’m excited to share with you as the season continues. We have plenty of exciting things coming, including some merch, so keep an eye out for that. I hope you can get out to a game tonight, or at least this weekend. Tonight, I will be in Columbus for its season openers. As always, enjoy!