Allen’s Max coaches the world

There is a Chinese proverb that says “sit long enough in one place, and the whole world will pass by.”

Jarrad Max has been hanging around as the coach at William Allen for 22 years now and soccer players from much of the world have passed by and he has coached them all.

He’s starting his second trip through as he coaches kids of players he had years ago. Many of the players are new in the United States and they gravitate to soccer where they meet other kids from around the world and learn new styles of playing futbol, balompie, pilka nozna, or soccer; whichever they call it.

In all, Max has coached players from 40 countries around the world. Players from Chile, Iraq, Sweden, Thailand and Ukraine among others have spent varying amounts of time playing soccer at Allen and all those countries have varying styles of how to play the game.

“It can be tough meshing styles of play and what they are used to in the game,” said Max. “I think the biggest difference between players from other countries and those that grew up with the American style of the game is that international players are more patient defensively. The game is faster here in the U.S. They are also used to playing in tighter spaces and it can be difficult to get them to see the entire field, but once they start to see the game that way, they adapt pretty quickly from there.”

Besides trying to mesh styles, Max is also faced with issues other coaches don’t have to face. Many of Max’s players have to balance school, practice, and games with having to hold jobs to help their families survive and many times have tough home lives. For players from other countries, that lists expands.

“I think these kids face a lot of challenges and soccer gives them the opportunity to get away from some of their issues and realize there are kids going through some of the same things and that they have this game in common.

“I have a number of new players who didn’t even live in the United States a year ago, let alone be part of our system,” said Max. “Now, they are at a new school at an important part of their lives, there are language barriers, and they face all of the other issues of being in an innercity school,” explained Max. “The bottom line is that these kids need each other.”

This season alone, the Canaries have 24 goals from players representing nine different countries. Meanwhile, Allen is battling for a district playoff spot with an overall record of 5-5-0. Max is used to having their hunt for a playoff spot come down to the final game or two because of the fact that the roster always has a number of new faces and it takes time to get them all used to not just playing with new players, but playing with players who have completely different styles of play.

“I think that some coaches like to play us because they know we have some obstacles to overcome as a team, but other coaches don’t like to play us because they can never be completely sure what they are going to get when they face us,” said Max. “We can really struggle at times because of the differences and then at other times, we can be very tough to play when we get things going the right way.”

Seniors, juniors and sophomores, oh my!: The Emmaus offense has plenty of power and they are getting quality minutes from not just the most experienced. Younger players like sophomore Connor Powell are joining senior Ryan Kiernan and junior Kai Mattern in keeping scoreboard operators busy. Against Becahi, Powell had a hat trick and Kiernan notched two goals and added an assist. Mattern had two goals and an assist in a 3-0 win against Central Catholic.

Then there were two: Parkland (9-0-0) and Northwestern Lehigh (11-0-0) are the only remaining undefeated teams in District 11. It’s no coincidence that they are also the first two schools to secure spots in the district playoffs. The girls teams from both schools are both very good and play each other at Parkland Friday, but the boys’ teams do not play each other.