YA KETCHUP: HARKES CONTINUES TO GIVE Tuesday, September 6, 2005
Following the 1988 Olympic games in South Korea, the US Soccer Federation decided that it wanted to field a permanent team in an effort to get back to the World Cup in 1990. For John Harkes, the move was a parallel to his career and the renewed focus on soccer in America.
Harkes was spending the majority of his time with the National Team and the rest of it with the Albany Capitals of the A-League when an opportunity with Sheffield Wednesday presented itself. Stay in the US and practice with the National Team or go to England and realize a childhood dream of playing in one of the best professional leagues in the world. The decision was gut-wrenching.
"I ended up playing with the Albany Capitals of the A-League and that led to an opportunity with Sheffield Wednesday which I turned down [to play with the National Team and prepare for the World Cup]" recalled Harkes. "It was very scary, I was thinking - 'What did I just do?'"
Fortunately, for Harkes, he performed well during the World Cup and the opportunity with Sheffield Wednesday came around again - although not easily.
"[Sheffield Wednesday head coach Ron Atkinson] made me work for it," Harkes recollects with a smile and tone that indicated that Atkinson likely put him through the ringer and made him sweat a bit after having been turned down the first time around. So much so, that Harkes called his contract signing his favorite memory of his career abroad above playing at Wembley Stadium, winning the League Cup, and scoring the Goal of the Year.
Turning to his experiences on the field in England, there were two particular players that Harkes remembers with obvious fondness in the first case and reverence in the latter. The first is former English National Team player and Sheffield Wednesday teammate Chris Waddle.
An obviously appreciative Harkes described his reasons for his choice of Waddle as his most memorable teammate, saying, "He was a legend and he would work with me 15 or 20 minutes after each training session if I wanted to."
"As a young player, having the opportunity to interact with an iconic figure in English football was clearly important."
The opponent that left the biggest impression was clearly former Manchester United player and current West Bromwich Albion Manager Brian Robson.
"He was my Captain Marvel. For me, he epitomized what a central midfielder was all about. The guts, the glory everything about him...his vision, his tackling, his passing it was all brilliant."
Having left his playing career behind him three years ago, Harkes has stayed very active in soccer here in the States. Viewers of the Fox Soccer Channel watched him as an analyst for MLS Wrap in that show's first year. Today, his on-air career continues in the Washington, DC area as the color commentator for DC United matches on Comcast SportsNet, the regional cable network that televises the Red and Black.
His dabbling in TV aside, Harkes has clearly been bitten by the coaching bug - and in two forms.
"Coaching my son's team and coaching [Director of Youth Development] here at DC United," he responded when asked what he is focused on. "It's important for me to be able to give something back to the game, I don't think enough pros do that."
"They walk away from it and think 'I had a great career and that's it' despite the fact that they have so much to give back."
He has spearheaded a remarkable expansion in the scale of DC United's Youth Programs since his appointment as Director of Youth Development, but his ultimate ambitions are at an even higher level.
"My ambition is to be a coach in MLS or even higher," said Harkes. "I had a great opportunity with Sigi Schmidt with the U-20s in Holland for Youth World Cup. I was coaching them as an assistant from November on - so for about 8 months."
"It showed me how much passion I have for coaching and how much I have to learn. Learning under a guy like Sigi Schmidt was fantastic, it inspired me to be ambitious about coaching."
When asked about his dream coaching position he joked that he'd like to have Roman's billions at his disposal as the head coach of Chelsea. Refocusing on what he considers the realm of the possible, he discussed the ambitious goal he has set for himself.
"My dream coaching position that's attainable - and I know I'd have to work very hard to attain it - would be the US National Team job."
Hearing the former US captain talk about his passion for coaching, it seems one would be hard-pressed to believe that Harkes would not attain the opportunities he's looking for. He, along with Alexi Lalas, are among the first, and will certainly not be the last representatives of their generation who chose to give back to the sport in the US as managers, youth coaches and executives.
That thought brings us, conveniently, to the last topic that John and YA discussed - the state of Soccer in the US.
"I think it's exciting," Harkes opined. "As a player who only retired three years ago, so much has changed in those three years. The exciting thing about it is that as we walked away from MLS - my generation of players - there was kind of this gap or void."
"Now we're starting to get back on track with that. What Bruce Arena has done at the National Team level is create such depth," Harkes said, getting visibly energized discussing the progress and potential for continued growth.
"Years ago there were 8 quality players and a bunch of workhorses. Then it went to 20 quality players and now it's at 30 and it's on its way to 40."
"We're on our way."
Turning to the contributions of and progress made by MLS, Harkes was equally bullish, though he did add some cautionary notes that don't frequently come up when the quality of play in MLS is discussed.
"The awareness is fantastic and I think MLS has done a very good job trying to secure stadiums which is what were asking for from the beginning in 1996 and now we're starting to have the financial resources."
"When you play in a summer league it drains players and you can't play at the same pace. I think we've closed the gap."
"I think we have some talented players," he said. "I think what the players are starting to get to is that everyday professionalism, that discipline that comes with showing up and [giving your best] every time you step on the field. There are still a lot of young players here that don't understand that."
Closing the discussion, Harkes dispensed the following advice to young players looking to carve out a career in soccer either here or abroad.
"[Kids should focus on] demonstrating reliability and personal responsibility from a young age and what they can bring to the table. Obviously it's a lot of hard work and a lot of training but that training pays off."
"You may not be seen at 12 or 13 or even 16 and sometimes someone plucks you out like a Josh Gros. [He didn't] make it through the US National team youth system - he was turned down at every level - and now he's playing professional soccer."
"I think it's just being resilient and believing in yourself and putting in the training and effort in on the field. That's going to help you have a long career."
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