Be true to your school

HEIDELBERG, Germany - Heidelberg center midfielder Kevin Beerman has a simple explanation for his goal-a-game scoring pace — five goals and four assists in five games this season.

"I want soccer, really bad," the high school senior said after arriving late for practice Tuesday because of an AP statistics exam that ran long.

So badly, in fact, that Beerman devotes almost all of his rare free time to the sport.

"After practice here, Zach Harrington (an All-Europe goalkeeper as a freshman in 2008) and I go to German training," Beerman said. "I’ve been playing with [SG Kirchheim] for almost a year. Before that, I played ODP (Olympic Development Soccer) for nearly three years."

Add to that a summer-camp session that led to Beerman’s next stop as a student-athlete, the U.S. Military Academy Prep School at Fort Monmouth, N.J.

"I was at one summer camp where I got recruited," Beerman said. "(Army) Coach (Kurt) Swanbeck saw me there as a freshman and told me to stay in touch. After I made my recruiting visit there last year, he told me I was the kind of player they were looking for."

And the military academy is the kind of place Beerman was looking for.

"I got to go to the Army-Navy game," Beerman recalled about his recruiting visit. "They suited me up and let me sit in the bubble where the team sits."

To cap the excitement, Army won 1-0.

Beerman’s matriculation at the academy prep school will end the split attention he’s been devoting to his senior year of soccer — tugged one way by school loyalty and the other by the intensity level of his German club.

"We practice Monday, Wednesday and Friday," he said about his schedule with SGK. "But since the high school season started, I don’t go on Fridays, because our high school games are played on Saturday mornings. I haven’t played in a German game since the school season began, because those games are on Saturday, too."

Choosing between the generally more rigorous local-national program — Beerman characterized it as "more professional" — and being true to your school is common for DODDS-Europe athletes. Beerman said he put the Lions first out of duty.

"I felt it better to play with the high school team, because as a captain I felt responsible for helping the team succeed," he said.

Success has been the watchword for Heidelberg, in the hands for the second straight season of Perry Puppolo. Puppolo, whose two sons and a daughter have been All-Europeans, has yet to suffer a loss as Heidelberg’s coach. The Lions were 12-0 and European D-I champions in 2008 and are 3-0-2 this season.

"Kevin’s our playmaker," Puppolo said of his team’s co-captain whose shot from 30 yards out drew the coach’s praise in Beerman’s All-Europe nomination form last spring. "He has good vision for the field. He’s been with us for three years and knows the system."

It’s knowledge that has served well in Beerman’s final season, which he acknowledged has been a change from the past.

"It’s a little different," Beerman said of the last-time-around aspect of pressure. "I’m a little more nervous before each game because I know this is probably the last time I’ll play against this team, and I don’t want to go out with a loss."

Being the defending champs only increases the pressure.

"Everyone always steps up their game when they play us," he said. "I can see it in their eyes."

For now, Beerman and the Lions, whose two ties came against D-I rival Ramstein and D-II powerhouse Black Forest Academy, are eyeing another D-I crown.

Beerman said his team’s eyes also are on him.

"The team is relying on me as center midfielder to make things happen," he said. "We’re kind of like a family."