Positions | Managers
In a soccer game, two communities share a space and compete for control of a ball. Their relationship to each other is bound by rules, hopefully shared by everyone on the field. The tiem spent with each other, whether in pickup or with teams that practice can lead to transcendent moments when, as Frederik Ekelund put it, there is a “fantastic understanding ... the almost telepathic communication with the ‘Other’, the player who spots you, the player who – without ever having met or exchanged a word – knows exactly where you want the ball and at the same moment you, or rather I, know where they want it played back to them.”1 For historian and scholar Laurent DuBois, soccer proposes a web of connections and movement and possibility.2 Rec leagues build a particular form of belonging; managers make these joys, these teams, the fields, and the long term place of a financially self-sustaining form of shared entertainment possible. Managers manage players. As Rudy Herrera put it, “the hardest thing that I have done as a coach is distribute playing time,” always weighing the long term impact of on-the-bench-frustration against on-the field losses. They manage the backstory that enables the weekly possibility of transcendence and belonging possible; they shape the relationship of the surrounding city to each player, deeply aware that “field space is always limited,” and sometimes, running right up against laws governing water use in Texas.3 The manager keeps the games going.
- Fredrik Ekelund and Karl Ove Knausgaard, Home and Away: Writing the Beautiful Game, (NY: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2016 59. From Laurent Dubois, the Language of the Game, (NY: Basic Books, 2016), kindle ed. Location 1184.
- Laurent Dubois, the Language of the Game, (NY: Basic Books, 2016), kindle ed. Location 1184.
- John Mckiernan-Gonzalez, “Interview with Adam Key,” Center for the Study of the Southwest.
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Diana Harrell
Name: Diana Harrell
Age: 58
First Played: Age 24
Years Playing: 34Diana Harrell stumbled upon soccer through a youth league. After her son’s coach quit, Diana volunteered to replace her as coach, and as a player in the Austin Womens Coed Soccer league. Within a few years, Diana was involved as a player in the Womens League and as an administrator for the youth soccer association.
“I LOVE the competition – winning the ball, making a great play, sending a perfect ball, seeing the opening, rippling the back of the net, and celebrating a goal”
Locations Played:
- Town Lake YMCA | Austin, Texas
- South West YMCA | Austin, Texas
- Oak Hill Middle School| Austin, Texas
- Zilker Park| Austin, Texas
- Mendez Middle School | Austin, Texas
- East Metro Park| Austin, Texas
- Onion Creek Soccer Complex | Austin, Texas
- North East Metro Park, Pflugerville
Additional Information
- John Lilly, Interview with Diana Harrell, At Play: Futbol in the Land of Football (pdf file)
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Adam Key
Name: Adam Key
Age: 44
First Played: Age 20
Years Playing: 24“Definitely in the co-ed league, I would attest to the growth, the size of the league. Originally, when I started playing, the co-ed league was about 12 or 15 teams and now the size of the league is about 55 or 60. Also, the skill level – originally even though they had multiple divisions, the skill level between all the teams was relatively the same.”
The 1994 World Cup transformed the landscape for soccer in Texas. Adam Key grew up in Houston, but didn’t start playing organized soccer as an adult until after he was married and his wife encouraged him to join her co-ed team. Since then, Adam has become much more involved, helping to organize the co-ed soccer league and witnessing its growth over the last twenty years. Still he sees how ‘soccer kind of gives a purpose for running,” and one of the effects of this purpose is the camaraderie that has maintained the growth of co-ed soccer in central Texas.
Locations Played:
- Intramural Fields | Austin, Texas
- Zilker Park | Austin, Texas
- Southeast Austin Metro Park | Del Valle, Texas
- Onion Creek Soccer Complex | Austin, Texas
- Northeast Metro Park | Pflugerville, Texas
- Soccer Zone Austin, Texas
Additional Information
- John Mckiernan-González, Interview with Adam Key, At Play: Futbol in the Land of Football (pdf file)
- John Mckiernan-González, Interview with Adam Key, At Play: Futbol in the Land of Football (interview audio, mp4 file)
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Frank Miller
Name: Frank Miller
Age: 61
First Played: Age 30
Years Playing: 32“We wanted a voice in how the league was run.”
“Seemed like a fun thing to do.”Frank Miller took to soccer on his arrival at Motorola in 1980. The company started sponsoring teams and Frank Miller started playing – that team went on to become the Romulans, one of the longer running teams in the league. As an engineer, he was deeply involved in the decisions shaping the design and watering of the fields. When Austin Parks and Recreation started moving games around, players in the league decided to create an association and rent fields from te city to have a firmer control on the schedule and maintenance. The discussion interweaves water and parks and soccer.
Frank Miller is also one of the best goalies in his division. This might be a cross-over from playing fast-pitch softball in the Roy Guerrero Fields in East Austin since 1980.
Locations Played:
- Detroit, Michigan
- University of Michigan | Ann Arbor, Michigan
- IBM Fields | Austin, Texas
- Zilker park | Austin, Texas
- Northeast metro Fields | Pflugerville, Texas
- Southeast metro Fields | Del valle, Texas
- East Metro Fields | Manor, Texas
- Disch Field | Austin, Texas
- Onion Creek Soccer Complex | Austin, Texas
Additional Information
- John Mckiernan-González, Interview with Frank Miller, At Play: Futbol in the Land of Football (pdf file)
- John Mckiernan-González, Interview with Frank Miller, At Play: Futbol in the Land of Football (interview audio, mp4 file)