By Amy Kohl
I always despised people criticizing athletes with “it’s not like they’re going to play professionally” as though that is the only benefit of committing to the sport. This blog, and essentially my mission behind Cottleville City Field, why I invested in youth soccer, and explains exactly why that comment is absolutely nuts. It’s so much more than “just soccer”. It’s about effort, selflessness, and collaboration that has made the word “team” the defining word of my entire life.
Growing up, I never excelled easily in school. Reading took work, math took work, and tests never came easy. I wasn’t a bad kid or flunking classes, but I’d consider myself a “C-student” naturally. I’d “read books” but really my eyes were just viewing the words like a typewriter going from line to line. Realizing I had to study and put in work if I wanted to be good at school didn’t hit me until I played soccer. Conversely, soccer did come more naturally to me, and I saw immediate fruits come from my focus and practice. This began the impactful story soccer would have on my life.
My first coach (turned great family friend) was named Ed Griesenauer — in CYC. I wasn’t skilled yet, but he made the game fun and was an awesome hypeman for little girls. He made me confident to play because he focused on having fun and not taking it too seriously.
(My first team)
Then, something clicked in me — the moment I realized working a little harder, running a little faster, and being a little more aggressive was what was going to make me great. The moment I realized what a little bit of extra hard work would do for me — I had to work a little harder for it.
For some kids, they learn right away and they get it. They’re naturally gifted and understand things after hearing them once. My sister is actually like that, but I’m different. That didn’t mean I didn’t want to do good at school and didn’t want good grades — I just had to figure out how. Telling a kid to study and work harder is 10x easier when they see that message come to fruition in other ways. For me it was soccer.
When I was playing for Wolfpack in St. Charles County and playing with teammates all over St. Louis. I fell in love with the actual game and the flow of our team. I was selfishly a goal scorer until other girls got faster and faster and started leaving me in their dust. My speed just wasn’t there. Realizing your role may change as your skills develop and the needs of your team present themselves, made me realize my self-serving goal-scoring mindset needed to define success differently. So I was moved to center mid where I could run steady forever (never fast) and see the field to feed the ball and help make plays with the best goal scorers on our team. Feeding the ball into the holes to find my forwards and wingers became my euphoric feeling because I was enabling my teammates — my plays were making it happen. This is when I learned it’s not about me at all. It’s about us, and to this day I’m agile and a supportive teammate ready to change my role as my team needs it.
Later I was being trained by a coach named Rob, who pushed us harder, came down on us louder, and made it so intense to play. When we showed up to practice, we knew we were there to work our asses off. I felt my passion dim – I was showing up to keep him happy, not to play, and not for my teammates. The alignment was off.
My mom had a pulse on how I was doing and I soon found myself playing for Marty Limpert with another Wolfpack team. After putting our hands in before the game, Marty would notoriously say “have some fun” as we ran onto the field to take our positions. He taught us “smart” soccer and it made me realize it wasn’t just about how to muscle through and how hard I would be willing to win the ball to win games. It was mental, too – and this part was actually most important. In fact, playing pretty soccer was easier and more enjoyable for everyone. It was the ultimate flex. Playing smart enabled us to win more games and build a better team. (This too has come full circle in my career in more than one way.) Marty knew all of us – he knew what motivated us, he knew our families, our goods and bads and talked to us like his own daughters. He had a full-time, big-time job, and showed up for us weekly and on weekends. This is the first coach I had with the total package – the motivation, the technical knowledge, the empathy, and the fun. I wasn’t the best player or leader in points, but I knew I was important and my team needed me. So I showed up, I worked hard, grew, and played to win.
I finished out my scholarly career as a solid A and B student. I studied just enough to stay in good standings as a student-athlete at St. Dominic High School, and then at Lewis and Clark before graduating with a degree in Marketing and Business at the elite, prestigious school Southeast Missouri State. All jokes aside, it was a great school and I had a lot of fun. Like a lot.
(My high school team)
The magical alignment of skills, fun, support, and team chemistry came together when I played for Marty at Wolfpack. I lucked out and found it a second time at St. Dominic with Eric Schwendeman and again in college at Lewis and Clark with Tim Rooney.
After school, my “work harder” mindset really kicked in when I devoted my career to startup sales. Now I am the founder of a company called AK Operations that’s doing this for companies all over the country with 13 other employees I consider teammates here in St. Louis— where we show up every day for one another and do good work. Soccer came easier to me, but what I got out of it enabled my academics and ultimately my career and now company. I talk about this all the time on our company’s website.
(My current team)
It is important to develop talent, yes, but it’s more important to do it at the right pace with the right expectations for kids. It’s hard enough being a kid these days – it was hard then, too – but I know firsthand there’s nothing like 15 teammates and a solid coach behind you when you’re young. Life get harder every year, and as a young woman whose faced plenty of adversity in my life, I’ve needed and clung to my “teams” more than I can count.
I invested in Cottleville City Fields for a million reasons – and while it makes sense on the surface because we need more turf fields, it’s heavier than that for me. My mission behind it is to support the “Marty Limperts” in the soccer community. Volunteer coaches who love soccer, can develop incredible players at the right pace, and instill a team mindset and core values that kids undoubtedly need. Coaching operations are why parents bring their kids to big clubs, but the small clubs can keep up just the same if they have a facility to support them. I am so proud to be part of this and contribute to the soccer community after it has done so much for me.