Tekk Goals Fit for a Pope

SNE Finds Out What Eddie Pope Uses for his Youth Club

May 7, 2009

By Nick Williams

Eddie Pope knows soccer. The former MLS stalwart made 82 appearances with the US National Team, appearing in three World Cups . He was a three-time MLS Champion with D.C. United, a 10-time All-Star, a member of the MLS Best XI on four occasions, and the league�s Defender of the Year in 1997, the same year he was named US Soccer�s best male player. Basically, when it comes to the "beautiful game," Pope knows what he�s talking about.

This week, Soccer New England caught up with Pope, now settling in comfortably in his new job as Director of Player Relations with the Major League Soccer Players Union. We wanted to know what he thought of Tekk Athletic, the soccer goal manufacturer that Eddie swears by and uses in his training sessions with his youth club.

Pope helps run clinics for the Loudoun Soccer Club in Loudoun County, Virginia and last year �� coached an Under-14 boys� team, also with Loudoun SC. When Pope�s charity foundation, the Eddie Pope Foundation, needed soccer goals, Tekk Athletic reached out and donated a handful to his organization.

Pope liked the goals so much, he has since used them for his clinics and with the team he coached last season.

�In training sessions with the U14 team, we played a lot of small-sided games,� he said. �Soccer around the world now is mostly small-sided games; you sort of want to concentrate on working in a smaller space. Using the goals for those games worked great for us.

�You can use them with the little ones the first time they step on the field all the way up to the professional level. I�ve played small-sided games as a professional myself with goals that size � again, they are perfect for any age group at any level. And I always said that if the goals are good enough for professional players to use, then they are good enough for youth clubs.�

Pope has a 7-year old son who also plays soccer, and in taking him to various places to play, Pope�s noticed the lack of quality of some goals.

�I�ve seen goals really light, tipping over, the nets ripped. The quality is just not there,� he said. �For me the biggest thing is the quality and the price. As parents and coaches, we expect the youth clubs to develop quality players yet we often use subpar equipment. That�s why I started bringing my own goals from Tekk to my training sessions. I think you can go on any goal company�s website, look up the sizes and compare the pricing to Tekk and there�s no comparison. If you put the goals side by side, again there�s no comparison, especially with Tekk having the lifetime warranty. It�s going to last for a very, very long time, which is why they are great for clubs.�

That guarantee, according to Pope, is another benefit

�If you�re trying to save money, especially in this economy, to get new goals or new nets, for a lot of clubs that�s a big money issue. You want something that�s going to be around for a long time. You don�t want to have to replace this stuff every other year. It�s gets to be way too expensive. Even if you�re replacing one or two goals a year, that money could be used to sponsor a less fortunate kid for a season or two.�

Pope was equally taken with the goal�s simplicity. So much so, that he even gave away a few of his own to players on his team.

�I actually gave a couple extra goals to my players, because they had kids from other clubs to play with in their neighborhoods but they just didn�t have any goals,� Pope said. �Now, they play street soccer and the goals are so lightweight that they can pick them up, move them around and carry them into their garage when they�re done.�

But it�s not just the durability and portability that has impressed Pope and the other customers of Tekk Athletic. Some people, like Tom Hopper, President of the Northern Triad Soccer Club in North Carolina, relish the ease in which Tekk�s goals can be set up, and for that matter, taken down, too.

�For a portable, folding goal they�re outstanding,� Hopper said. �Our city maintains our fields, so at the end of season, everything has to come off. So from a storage standpoint, I can�t think of another goal that would do what these goals do. There�s no worries. Just knock it down, fold it in the case, put it in the back of the truck, or in my case an Explorer, and off you go. If you use cones for the corners, one person can basically set up a soccer field in 15 minutes.�

Hopper said that on several occasions, whether because of poor field conditions or scheduling conflicts, he�s had to move a practice or game to an off-site location. With the goals from Tekk, he said he can easily set up shop wherever he wants.

�We can move them across multiple fields since they�re so portable,� Hopper said. �They have built-in anchors so you can always put them in the ground where you want."

Hopper first saw the goals at a presentation at North Carolina Soccer Association�s President�s meeting. Once he saw the display model he quickly went to get more information and ended up eventually ordering goals for his whole club. He said he was amazed with the simplicity of the whole thing.

�The simplicity, especially in the set up and tear down, was stellar,� he said. �One person, if they know what they�re doing, can do it alone. I could ramble on and on about how happy we are with them, but until you try them, you just wouldn't understand.�

Soccer New England has reached a deal with Tekk Athletic, securing a 40% discount for all SNE readers who�d like to purchase goals (see banner on top right). For more information and to see videos of the goals in action, visit their website at www.tekksoccergoals.com. Enter coupon code �socge501� at checkout to receive a 40% discount.

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