Southern York County Life

Soccer players still kicking

Age not an obstacle for York team in Keystone Games

Al Chesnavage seems to have a thing for the No. 7. Between coaching and playing soccer, he’s on the field seven days a week. Besides being the head coach of the Kennard-Dale girls’ team (and assisting with the boys’ team), Chesnavage coaches two other club teams and plays on one of his own.

Chesnavage and his wife, Tina, have seven kids—four of their own and three that they adopted, ranging in ages from 8 to 23. And, finally, this weekend Chesnavage will take part in the Keystone State Games 7-on-7 soccer competition.

While Chesnavage’s alignment with the No. 7 is purely coincidental, his love for the game of soccer is not. A former player at the University of Baltimore, Chesnavage has been coaching for the past 16 years. But, unlike many coaches, Chesnavage did not hang his cleats up.

In 1998, he started playing with a group of local youth and high school coaches on a team named PA United. Chesnavage said he and his teammates were excited to see the Keystone Games offer an over-40 division in the 7-on-7 format. “We try to look for any other opportunities to play together and get some touches on the ball,” said the 49-year-old coach. “We just like to get out there.”

Chesnavage’s team for the Games reads like a who’s who of southern York County soccer: Dan Campasino (the K-D boys’ head coach), Steve Laumann (assistant coach for the K-D
boys), Mike Zalowski (a former Susquehannock assistant, whose daughter, Dana, starred at the school), Doug Carmichael (a coach in the Mason-Dixon youth program) and Tim Holden (the current president of York United). Cliff Everett, who spent years coaching in the Barons’ youth program, is another friend of Chesnavage’s on the team.

Everett, 50, said despite the team’s age, the group is focused on Saturday and Sunday’s matches. “This is serious,” said Everett, a Hopewell Township resident. “Most guys have been running all summer to get ready. They’re really psyched to play.”

The group has had plenty of success in other tournaments. They won the gold in the over-40 division of the Games of America in Connecticut in 2003. The Games of America are a national tournament with a similar format to the Keystone Games, although in that tournament it was 11-on-11.

Chesnavage said he enjoys the 7-on-7 games because there is more open field and players get more touches—he just hopes his team does better than last year. “We didn’t do very well,” he said laughing, but added that his squad didn’t have its normal full team in 2005. “We only won one game.”

Everett was not part of the team that took part in last year’s Keystone Games, and said he hasn’t played 7-on-7 before. But he said the team plays plenty of 6-on-6 indoor tournaments together, so its members should adapt well. “We use our head and our skills, instead of speed,” Everett said.

The competition this weekend promises to be strong, with eight teams entered in two pools of four. Both Everett and Chesnavage pointed to their game against the Elizabethtown squad, which won the over-40 Pennsylvania indoor soccer championship, as the most anticipated matchup.

But more importantly for these coaches is just staying active so they can continue to teach the game. “We’re just a bunch of guys that are interested in passing the game along to our kids,” Everett said.

Or in Chesnavage’s case, just keeping up with them.

-- Reach Colin Chmielewski at cchmielewski@yorkdispatch.com or 505-5406.

Source: The York Dispatch (we obtain permission for external material)
by COLIN CHMIELEWSKI
Posted by Dan Baldwin on 07/27/2006 at 06:03 AM in News

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