It is estimated that billions of people, worldwide, play soccer. There are over 240 million registered players throughout the globe and that doesn’t count the millions who play pick-up games in third world countries or nations dripping with wealth and affluence.
Jeff Greenwood, Pueblo, is one of the many people who not only plays the game, but coaches the sport as well. Pueblo born and bred Greenwood is in his sixth year as a Head Coach for the Pueblo Rangers Soccer Club.
Greenwood began playing soccer when he was four or five years old. He continued into youth soccer and played goalkeeper for Pueblo Centennial High School, where he graduated.
When his children began to play soccer, he turned from player, to parent and coach. The Pueblo Rangers Soccer Club began in the early 80’s and now has a myriad of teams that work with kids from the ages of 2 ½ years thru middle school.
Greenwood coaches a 12- year-old boys team, which includes his son, and a high school age girls team, which includes his daughter. The 12-year-old team has a fall and spring season, a 3v3 league during the summer and travels to places like Lubbock, Texas and Denver, Colorado for huge tournaments in-between.
One of the players on the boys team is the valley’s Croix Kirkland, son of Brianna and Baxter Kirkland.
“Jeff is a phenomenal coach,” shared Brianna Kirkland, in a telephone interview on Tuesday morning. “All of our kids have been part of the Rangers organization along with lots of other people from the valley.”
In addition to Croix, who is only 10 but is playing “up” on the 12-year-old team, is younger sister Sloan, age eight, who is in her second year of competitive soccer on a team that some feel may be the next champion level team in the Rangers organization.
Both Croix and Sloan have played since the ripe old age of 2 ½. Croix is in his fourth year of competitive soccer.
During the fall and spring season the teams restrict themselves to Saturday matches and games all over Colorado, including Grand Junction, Steamboat Springs and Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Home matches for the boys, according to Greenwood, are played at the Langoni Sports Complex in Pueblo. There are various competitive levels and Greenwood’s boys team (there are actually two teams because he has 24 boys out) compete mid-level.
In the spring season they won the league, so this fall they will compete one higher level.
Greenwood has six years of Rangers coaching under his belt but has coached for more than a dozen years.
As you can imagine, all of the travel and equipment costs money which the parents are ultimately responsible for. Greenwood does spend a good part of his time raising funds to apply to the costs, organizing fund raisers and talking to local business people for additional sponsorship dollars.
“We get a little support from the club but, even though soccer is probably the most played sport worldwide, you watch more dollars go to football and baseball programs in our country,” shared Greenwood.
When Greenwood isn’t coaching, he works for Bechtel National, a job he has held for the last 14 years. He is a subcontractor administrator for the Pueblo Chemical Depot through Bechtel.
As a mom whose children have all played in the Rangers program, Brianna Kirkland sees many benefits to soccer. “It’s good exercise and the kids make really good friends,” she mentioned. “You could literally drop off your child in any country in the world and even if they don’t speak the language, through soccer they could find exercise and friends.”
If you are interested in letting your child, be part of the Pueblo Rangers program you can find out more about the organization at www.pueblorangers.net.
“I enjoy the game. That’s why I coach,” Greenwood stated. “Although my kids are a big part of it. I can’t tell you how many times I’m walking through the mall and someone yells, ‘Hey, Coach’,and it’s someone I’ve coached saying hello. You just know you are having a positive effect.”