Des Moines Menace Soccer

With the season just days away, the dream for all 67 PDL teams remains the same.  Leading up to opening day all teams are truly equal; the standings remain blank with no victory celebrations or agonizing defeats.  The anticipation mounts as the season creeps closer and closer and many nights are spent restless as the road ahead becomes a reality.  In the past nine months thousands of hours have been logged in preparing for a season that will certainly have peaks and valleys.  In the past nine months thousands of hours have been logged all in the dream of being crowned National Champions.  For some that dream will be a mere fantasy but for one team that dream will be lived on August 9^th, 2008. 

I have been thinking a lot about why I came back to the Menace to play.  With no professional career in sight I had the chance to pack up my boots and walk away from a pretty good career.  A career that has taken me to numerous foreign countries where I played the game with some of the best youth players in America.  A career that has taken me to two State Championship and numerous other awards.  I could have walked away, but I didn’t.  I have more to prove not only to everyone that has ever written me off but to myself.  This is not a personal self-fulfilling mission but one of growth and maturing.

I came back to the Menace to win a Nation Championship something that I have never won.  I thought it was to be the best soccer player that I could possibly be but that is side dish.  I came back to be apart of a team that has the vision of winning hardware even when the odds seem impossible.  I came back to be pushed as player and person on and off the field.  I am completely aware that I am far from perfect and not always the best teammate or friend and that each day I need to continue to work, and I want to do the work.  No matter what my role, I am here to be apart of something special and that road begins May 3^rd, 2008.

See you at Valley,

Joe Klosterman #2