"Honora et Praestantium"
Established 2006
2000-2005: Becker Soccer Club
Becker Soccer was founded in 2000 and the Athletic Department tapped Dan Baird to head up the new team. Because of the club status, the team could not play Varsity squads from other schools. Since it was not "Varsity" status, no records were attached to the current MSHSL team. Coach Baird brought his experiences and expertise gained as a prep athlete in Pittsburgh to the pitch. Since most of the athletes were relatively new to soccer, Coach Baird stressed that the fundamentals were important. During his tenure, Becker High School saw a growth in the student population as the graduating classes ballooned from 100 to current day levels of over 180. With more students to choose from, the new coach saw opportunity to grow the sport in Becker. Coach Baird was assisted in coaching duties by Coach Hamill and Coach Commers during those early years. When Coach Baird stepped away to concentrate on other coaching duties, Coach Jorn Commers stepped into the role as Head Coach. Coach Jorn Commers took over the club in 2005 and was instrumental in growing the team to Varsity status. 2006: Established
Under Coach Commers, Becker was granted Varsity status and started play in the highly competitive Mississippi8 Conference. Becker Soccer joined the teams of Big Lake, Buffalo, Cambridge-Isanti, Monticello, STMA, Rogers, and Princeton in conference play. With new status also came new kits. The Varsity set aside the Smurf-Blue kits for a new, more sleek Nike Tiempo kit that put them in Solid Navy and White Jerseys struggled at first and had their first season ended by Saint John's Prep in Section 7A play. |
2007-2008: Commers Continues
Coach Commers would remain the head coach through the 2008 season and Becker would continue to grow and become a very respectable team with some very good players in the early years. It wasn't skill the Bulldogs lacked, it was numbers. For some time it was a struggle to build a full Varsity and supporting JV squads. During these years, there were times that the young team would have to pull up 7th and 8th graders to fill in the squads. The Bulldogs struggled in 2007 and fell to a 2-13-2 record, their worst up to this point. In what turned out be the start of a trend, they were ushered from the 'Section 8A Tournament' by Little Falls 3-2 in an exciting overtime shootout. 2008 saw strength in numbers and talent. Coach Commers was tapping his large and talented sophomore group With the sophomores backing up the upperclassmen on the Varsity, the Bulldogs had Bulldogs pushed toward a .500 record in 2008. But after dropping three late season heart-breakers by 1-goal to STMA, PACT, and Zimmerman, the Bulldogs finished 4-10 in the regular season. For the second time in 2 years, the Flyers ended the Bulldogs season in the first round of Section 8A play by a score of 2-1.
With his son graduating and looking to forward to new experiences, Becker's Coach Jorn Commers retired his position - ending a 9 year era with the last of the original coaches from the Club Team leaving. Continue reading... |
Fun Fact: Even the Becker Soccer Team can trace its roots back to 2000, the team acknowledges 2006 as the year established. So next time you see the "Est. 2006" insignia, you will now know.