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Saturday, March 1, 2008
Soccer Frenzy at Metro Christian
Eastern Oklahoma, OK
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It took the sales job of older brother Jason but a few years’ later brother Ryan and sister Amanda are having great success on the soccer field.
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At Metro Christian Academy one sport has brought three siblings closer together. The sport is soccer, the siblings the Nussbaum’s.
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It all started when oldest brother, Jason Nussbaum, had the urge to go back to the high school he played for and become assistant coach for the boy’s soccer team. There was one condition however and it meant younger brother, Ryan Nussbaum, a sophomore at the time would have to be on the team. With all the talk of soccer going on younger sister Amanda Nussbaum, a freshman at the time, thought it would be fun to join in. So the Nussbaum family became a major cog in the Metro Christian soccer machine although Ryan had little soccer experience and younger sister Amanda had none.
After playing soccer for the Patriots for two years, older brother Jason went on to play for the Oral Roberts University soccer team. The 23 year-old medical student at OSU-Tulsa is now in his third year as assistant boy’s soccer coach, under head coach Troy Arnold. What is it that Troy loves about Metro Christian? “Troy keeps the focus on the bigger picture. Our number one goal is to make a difference in theses kids’ lives. To show them how Jesus Christ has affected our lives and how it makes a difference to every one we meet. We’re trying to make a difference in their lives so they can go and do the same.”
Many would think that being a young coach would be hard enough and then having your younger brother on the team would add another dimension. According to older brother Jason, “I was worried whether or not I would have to discipline my brother but he has one of the best work ethics. It makes it real easy on me as a coach and as his brother.”
Ryan is a super athlete that is on the football, basketball, and soccer teams. As a wide receiver he was named to the All-HSSTM Football First Team Offense this year. In his first year playing varsity soccer he scored 20 goals and was named All-District. The following year he was named to the All-District team yet again. This year he held scholarship offers for both soccer and football but Ryan believes his future is in football.
Younger sister Amanda story is all the more interesting, “I didn’t play at all until freshman year. I wasn’t very good yet but I was fast and that was all I really had going for me. I decided I was going to work at it really hard in between my freshman and sophomore year. By sophomore year I was a starter at left midfielder.” But soccer isn’t Amanda’s only extracurricular activity as she is also a member of Pom Squad, Praise and Worship, and Leadership.
But the Nussbaum family has always kept academics the focus first. They joke that they have a contest to see who will have the first B in high school. Jason made it through and continued the feat at Oral Roberts University making the Academic All-American team. Ryan and Amanda are both 4.0 students and don’t look to win that contest if you can call it that.
All three hope to help add another trophy to the Metro Christian trophy case this spring, as both the Boy’s and Girl’s soccer teams expect nothing else but to win state this year.
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