Why You Play

Nestled in Central Pennsylvania right off of Interstate-80, 40 miles northeast of Penn State University, seven-year-old Andrew Janocko stood beside his father on the sidelines of Clearfield High School’s Bison Stadium, mimicking his every move and getting involved in every play he could. Twenty-two years later, Janocko is still mimicking his father’s coaching style, except he is no longer standing beside him on the sidelines of Bison Stadium. Instead, he is working with Tony Sparano on the sidelines of U.S. Bank Stadium as the assistant offensive line coach for the Minnesota Vikings. “My dad’s my hero,” Janocko said. “He’s the type of person and type of coach I always aspire to be. There’s no coincidence that watching him is the reason that I coach." There’s no coincidence that watching him is the reason that I coach. Janocko got his start as a graduate assistant at Rutgers University in 2011 under head coach Greg Schiano after graduating from the University o...

As he was standing on the sidelines watching the Penn State DuBois Basketball team take on Penn State Greater Allegheny, Neil Hanes realized he made the right decision by stepping away from his job in the insurance industry and stepping into his new role of a personal development coach.  He had been involved with Penn State Basketball for nine years, two as a player, four as a volunteer coach and three as assistant head coach. But this was the first year he was able to take his life coaching to the court.   And that was the first game he saw it start to pay off. “There was one game where things weren’t going well, attitudes were flaring, but then we got to a point where things started clicking,” Hanes said. “The team started coming together and they saw they wouldn’t have much of a season if they didn’t start coming together and playing together. No one cared how much time they were getting, it was all for the greater good.” When he was younger, Hanes dreamed of...

He knew the transition from high school soccer to college soccer would be hard, but he didn’t realize how hard it would be until he got to college and the idea of quitting entered his head. But as soon as that thought came, it left. Because no matter how many bad practices he had, the thought of ending his career before he physically had to was something Nick Szczerba couldn’t imagine. “I just feel like it’s part of who I am,” Szczerba said. “I knew I loved it so much for so many years that if I ever did quit or stopped playing before I physically couldn’t anymore I would just come back to regret it.” Soccer has always been in Szczerba’s blood. He went to his first game when he was only two weeks old, started playing with a small ball in the living room with his dad when he was two and played in the backyard with his older brother and sister when he was three. “A lot of what I can remember is me and my dad playing in the living room with a really small ball,” Szcze...