ST. CLOUD --  It’s not everyday that your soccer coach asks you to bring a resume to practice. You might wonder what could soccer and resumes have in common. To coach Mark Timpane  they have a lot in common.

Coach Timpane is the new varsity girl’s soccer coach for Apollo High school and he’s bringing to the team something new: Leadership Class.

Timpane says a lot of the times coaches ask seniors and captains to be good leaders on the team but they do not really give them tools to be those leaders.

Since May he and his assistant coach Stephanie Van Houtan have been lecturing the team using the book the seven habits of highly effective people.

The vision to start the leadership class came from Timpane seeing an interview with Anson Dorrance University of North Carolina’s women’s soccer coach.

Dorrance's idea about developing a person and in turn that develops a great player really resonated with Timpane.

So he decided to give it a try starting with the seniors and captains but the rest of the team quickly warmed up to the idea so he opened the lecture class up to everyone.

“I want them to know It’s not all about winning.  It’s about team work, learning some life skills and them using those life skills to get through their high school career or college career" says Timpane.

Although they have just started the class the lessons are going way past the classroom something assistant coach Stephanie is happy to see.

“When I hear them be proactive instead of reactive it’s music to my ears. To watch them and just listen to them and the connections they are forming with me as well as with each other is awesome to watch and be apart of” says Van Houtan.

But Stephanie is not the only one being influenced senior goalie Anna Carlson says learning these life skills early is nice tips for going beyond high school.

“If they can show us by being proactive and putting things first its going to help us learn now rather than learning ten to fifteen years from now” says Carlson.

Coach Timpane says if he had some of the skill sets while he was going to college it might have helped him be a little successful earlier on.

"Be proactive not reactive" is what you will continue to hear the Apollo girl's varsity team tell each other and it all started with a coach who wanted to make a difference not only in the team but the individuals.

Rebecca David, WJON
Rebecca David, WJON
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