This game we call soccer has shaped my entire life.
Mentors and best friends are what I got from this game we call soccer. My brother started playing soccer at age 5, so of course I had to get involved. Whatever my brother did, I had to do.
My soccer days started in the cages behind Superfresh, which is now the CVS on Parkway Avenue. Our mayor, Bert Steinmann, was in charge of what was called Division 7.
Let me explain: Division 7 was the instructional league for soccer. We learned how to do basically everything: dribbling, headers, throw-ins and how to kick a soccer ball correctly.
The two rules I learned when I was in Division 7 as a 5-year-old were these: Never sit on a soccer ball because it will become lopsided, and never kick the ball with your toe.
Those two rules have stuck with me throughout my playing days and my coaching days.
Then Division 6 started, and I was selected to join the Beaston Builders team. Charles Beaston was the coach, and this team consisted of myself, Chris Beaston, Greg Mason and many other great players.
We were nasty!
We won the championship, but that’s beside the point. Later on in life, Chris Beaston and Greg Mason became two of my best friends.
Then I joined a travel soccer team called the West End Rebels around that time, and I was not ready for that. I’ve always been the youngest in my class, so joining this team with teammates who were a year older than me, but not a grade older than me, was a problem.
I sat on the bench and never saw the field.
I left that team and joined a team of players my age called West End United, and the head coach was my brother’s travel soccer coach’s younger brother, Justin. I can’t leave out the other coach, Mike, who became the guy who made me more aggressive on the soccer field than I really wanted to be.
I made the team, but I was the new guy. All of these guys went to public school, and I was the lone Catholic school kid. It didn’t matter. I made friends with all of those guys within minutes.
It may have been because I liked rap music and wrestling.
Who cares? They became my boys.
I won’t write any last names, but I have to shout out the guys on the team who took me in like a family member: Drew P., Tyler Z., Greg K., Shawn W., Andy C., Kevin L., Erik S., Jaret M., and I can’t leave out Tommy, aka Biff, and DJ.
I wrote an article about Tommy, aka Biff, called “A Package Deal” and another article on my best friend DJ called “3 Best Friends.” This team introduced me to lifelong friends. DJ was a groomsman in my wedding, and Biff was the officiant of my wedding.
This is why I say this game, soccer, has shaped my life.
My buddy DJ and I got our referee licenses together and then got our coaching licenses together. We both wanted to keep the brand “West End” alive and give back.
Our coaches, Mike Stanzione and Justin Burroughs, both played for West End and gave back by coaching us, and we wanted to do the same.
Give back!
We both coached many teams in West End, and we hope we made an impression. This game we call soccer has molded my entire life, and I will always love it.
Donnie Black was born and grew up in Ewing Township. He currently works at radio station XTU in Philadelphia as a producer, on air personality and promotions director.
