Dan Hoedeman is a natural goalkeeper. He guarded the real estate around soccer goals up through his collegiate career, and Hoedeman continues to tend goals—greater ones—as a cofounder of the Minneapolis City Soccer Club (MCSC). The Edina resident and former coach with the Edina Soccer Club is laser-focused on guiding MCSC, a semi-professional men’s team for some of the state’s top amateur players. His goal is to provide “organized soccer in a healthy, positive environment,” he says, but there is a lot more to Hoedeman and fellow founder Jon Bisswurm’s vision.
The club strives to secure the best players for the club, regardless of their abilities to finance their participation. “We have a focus that economics doesn’t matter,” says Hoedeman, vice president and director of account management with Riley Hayes Advertising, explaining that financial support is offered to players who face economic hardship. He says top-level programs can run as much as $6,000 to $7,000 annually per player. “It’s not possible for a lot of people,” Hoedeman says. In at least two cases, the team even secured stable housing, internships and transportation for players who faced precarious living situations with their families.
“It’s one of those things that I felt I had to do,” Hoedeman says of organizing and, to some degree, financing the club. As a child, his family moved around, and joining soccer teams provided Hoedeman with a stable source of solace. “It was a place of comfort, despite all the change,” says this accompished high school and collegiate soccer player.
After moving to the Twin Cities, Hoedeman joined a men’s soccer league, which he recalls as being “a melting pot of cultures.” Work took him away from Minnesota, and when he returned a second time, the composition of adult teams was more segregated. “It felt like a big loss to me,” he says, valuing the interchange between players from wide-ranging backgrounds. In developing this program, Hoedeman strives to use soccer to bring groups back together. “It’s a positive way to get to know people,” he says. One of the ways the program reaches out is through service. Each season, players and staff commit at least 10 hours per person to volunteering, including offering free soccer clinics before games to under-served youth and providing parent-coaches instruction on coaching techniques. “It’s a huge thing for us,” Hoedeman says. “It’s a huge thing for the kids.”
MCSC players, typically 18- to 23-year-old collegiate athletes who seek a competitive environment to hone their athletic skills over the summer months, have plenty of experience to share. This year’s players spent the school year on the soccer fields at Bradley University, Northwestern University, the University of New Hampshire, the University of Wisconsin and Valparaiso University.
MCSC member and soccer forward at Bradley, Will Kidd, says, “The club is assisting me personally by giving me a place to play for free and a chance to give back to the community through community service.”
The member-owned club competes in the Premier League of America, a fourth-division league with teams from Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. Home games are played at South High School in Minneapolis. The head coach is Keith Kiecker, who played with the Minnesota Thunder reserves, coached high development clubs in California and has valuable experience from his days on Wall Street.
Associate head coach Jeremy Iwaszkowiec played at Clemson University and coaches Bethel University’s men’s soccer team. Goalkeeper coach Adam Pribyl and technical director Alan Merrick, who played for the Minnesota Kicks, round out the staff. Hoedeman says, “Together, they give us a great staff and a different way to approach the players.”
The Minneapolis City Soccer Club begins a three-game home stand at 4:10 p.m. July 9 against the Milwaukee Bavarians. A complete season schedule and additional information is available at their website and on Twitter.
