Earn Your Right to Play

Last fall, the University of Portland (the greatest university on the planet :) threw a celebration for the 10-year anniversary of our 2002 NCAA National Championship winning team.

A consistent theme that we were constantly reminded of throughout the weekend's festivities and during speeches by former players, coaches and administration was our coach Clive's philosophy of "Earn Your Right to Play". 

Clive's motto was also the inspiration and anchor of my article about the history and culture behind the University of Portland Pilots women's soccer program in the first-ever print version of Our Game Magazine. If you're a high school player, it will give some insight into things to think about as you decide on what program to choose to take you to the next level, whether it's UP or elsewhere. If you can, subscribe to the magazine and get your global soccer news and stories all year long. 

Here's a sneak peek...

Earn Your Right To Play: The Portland Pilot Way

The University of Portland women’s soccer team has been winning games with frightening consistency ever since coach Clive Charles was leading the Pilots in the early 1990's. Today the home of the Pilots is one of the most feared college stadiums in women’s soccer, with sell-out crowds of extreme fans. The small private college program punches well above its weight as one of just three programs to have won multiple NCAA Division I titles. The program had three alumni win medals in last summer’s 2012 London Olympics and will feature professionals in the upcoming National Women’s Soccer League.

The evolution of the Pilots soccer program is a beautiful story.  A rich story that begins in the 1980’s and, like every good story, it has powerful characters and key moments that came to define the program. 

(Subscribe at Our Game Magazine to keep reading!)

Celebrate Clive

Daily as I leave home every morning a colour photograph of a smiling soccer coach hugging a heavy trophy is there to encourage me as I approach the door. Scribbled on its border are his inspiring words, “Earn your right to play!”

           

This simple message is underlined by the fact that my soccer coach, Clive Charles, died six months after the photograph was taken and exactly nine years ago today. He was faithful to his ideals to the end, and his spiritual presence bids me to follow in his footsteps.

“Earn your right to play”? Clive’s motto referred in particular to the conditional right of each of the 20 women who were privileged to wear the purple and white jerseys, which proclaimed that they were jointly the University of Portland Pilots soccer team. Acclaimed as one of the best collegiate women's soccer teams in the USA, the team has included several Olympians (most recently London 2012 saw Christine Sinclair and Sophie Schmidt win bronze medals with Canada and Megan Rapinoe a gold with the USA), and Clive an Olympic coach.

Clive made it clear to us that earning a right to play applied to more than just the soccer field. It embraces all facets of life equally. In soccer and in life, he expected a high standard of

The Power of Team

As part of a national championship winning squad, I am not unfamiliar with the power of teams. My coach Clive Charles always made it clear that each and everyone of us on the roster had a specific and important role to play. Recently, I was reminded of this when Umbro hosted one of our biggest assets, Manchester City FC, at the Nike Inc World Headquarters,