It has been seven months since Mount St Joseph's soccer team won the MIAA A Conference championship in a memorable penalty-kick shootout at Homewood Field.

Since then, the Gaels finished 15th in the final national poll by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, coach Mike St. Martin was named the South Region Coach of the Year by the NSCAA and junior Jalen Robinson was named to the U.S. National Under-18 team playing in Argentina at the end of July.

"Jalen plays for the D.C. United Academy," said St. Martin, whose Gaels finished the season 13-3-3. "He had been asked to train with the regular D.C. United team and then he got the call to the join the national team. It's big for us because he wants to stay here. He's been asked to go to Florida and train down there with the U.S. team, but he not only wants to go to school here at Mount St. Joe but he wants to train here as well."

St. Martin is also busy running a series of camps this summer, and the Mike St. Martin Under Armour 7-on-7 soccer league for sixth, seventh and eighth-graders played on the field turf at John Plevyak Stadium. St. Martin is beginning his 14th year at Mount St. Joe, and PressBox sat down with the veteran coach to get his thoughts on last year's huge championship run and the impact the World Cup has on youth and high school soccer in Baltimore.

PressBox: How has life changed for you since your team won the championship last November?
Mike St. Martin: It was nice to end the season on top, and we had a couple of months to enjoy it as a team before the next season starts all over again. Other than that, it's still pretty much the same. I have a wife (Lara) and three kids (Brooke, Brett and Brian) and I didn't get that Gary Williams million-dollar bonus for winning the championship. But it's definitely nice because our jayvee team won it, too, so to be able to celebrate as an entire program was good. We finished the year ranked 15th in the nation and that was nice for the kids. Everybody knows everybody on the other teams in the league so it's nice to have bragging rights for the year.

PB: What do you take away from that night at Hopkins when you beat McDonogh?
MSM: I think you even have to go back to the semifinals when we played Calvert Hall. We were 15 seconds away from being eliminated and we scored to tie the game. Then it went to overtime and we won on penalty kicks. That was amazing. And then we turn around and do it again against McDonogh. It was a wild ride for those couple of weeks.

Most of all, I'm happy for the guys. To be put in that situation with the crowd we had at Hopkins and to respond like they did in front of all of those people, it was definitely a special time for the guys on the team.
 
PB: You've had a tremendous amount of success the last 10 years. What does winning the A Conference and beating a team like McDonogh mean to your program?
MSM: I think people know now we're not a flash in the pan. We've made the playoffs the last 10 years. We won it in 2001, '05 and now '09. I think if parents send their kids here they know they're going to, first and foremost, get a great education. In regards to soccer, I think they know they'll be surrounded by talent. We have a great facility and a lot of our kids are playing in college. Adam Santiago is playing Division I at Binghamton. We have kids at Holy Cross (Vince Garofalo), Presbyterian (Donald Gibson), at a lot of schools. I think the word around town is that we have something good going on here.

We lost five seniors last year, but we have a lot of good kids returning and a good group coming. With jayvee winning it, the competition in practice will be really good. Right now, the program is right on track.
 
PB: Jalen Robinson is one of those guys you have coming back. Why Jalen, in regards to the U.S. team? What do they see in him?
MSM: He's talented. He's fast. He has good size. He runs a 4.6, 40-yard dash. He's composed on the ball. He's the whole package. If he stays healthy, he's really on the right track. His parents (Tyrone and Kim) have done a great job with Jalen. They've been very supportive of everything he's done. So everything's going in the right direction and he's a great kid as well.
 
PB: What has been the reaction to the World Cup from the young kids you have in your camps?
MSM: The kids are really into it. A lot of them are starting to analyze the game. I know from my own kids here at Mount St. Joe, they're starting to look at what the teams are doing in terms of formations, what are they trying to do with the ball? Their soccer knowledge is getting a lot better.
 
PB: Is that because the kids can watch the English Premier League during the season? Or the Champions League? They're seeing this type of soccer all the time now.
MSM: No question. They know who these guys are now. They know (Robert) Van Persie, (Lionel) Messi, (Wayne) Rooney. They also know them from video games. So they're much more aware of the international players. Plus, the talent overall has gotten better.

It used to be you had one or two teams who dominated. Now, the World Cup has been very competitive, very few blowouts. It's been pretty even. In the United States they're starting to get a lot more organized at the lower level so kids are starting to be better players at a younger age.
 
PB: At your camps, what is your message to the young kids? What do you tell them about playing the game?
MSM: The main message is to play, just to work on your game, the work rate. Coaches shouldn't have to be telling you to go out and touch the ball. You should want to do that. Attitude is important. You've got to push yourself. There's a lot of competition out there now. More college coaches than ever are looking overseas for players so they need to play as much as possible. And just have fun. Bottom line is to play and enjoy the game.

--Interview conducted by Keith Mills

Issue 151: July 2010