JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas –
It is rare to find a job that will allow you to take a month off to play a sport. The best soccer players in the Air Force got that opportunity recently as they vied for a position in the All-Air Force soccer team.
"It's amazing. The best from different Air Force bases are here," said second-year, All-Air Force soccer coach Derrick Weyand, about the 39 players who descended on Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland Sept. 4 to compete for a chance to represent the Air Force at the Armed Forces Soccer Tournament at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
The Air Force soccer camp concludes today and the team leaves Saturday for the all-military tourney, where the Air Force will attempt to repeat as Armed Forces Soccer Tournament champions.
"These guys arrived as individuals from different bases and came together as a team after two weeks of training," Weyand said. "They are athletes who serve their country, and they get to be elite soccer players for a month before going back to work. That's amazing and awe inspiring."
After two weeks, Weyand has trimmed the field, keeping the best 20 players who will go to Camp Pendleton to defend the title starting with a Monday game against the Army.
Last year, the Air Force team defeated the All-Navy team 1-0 to secure the championship.
The 20-man roster Weyand is taking to the tourney is comprised of what he calls "total" Airman.
"I've been looking for the total team player these past two weeks," Weyand said. "I've looked at their communication skills and whether they have the integrity to be a complete professional on and off the field.
"If a player doesn't give a complete effort at practice, I don't want him. I want someone who is going to be intense 100 percent of the time," he said.
The soccer team has a few players who are assigned to Texas bases, including two from JBSA-Lackland.
Jeremy Reding, a second-year All-Air Force forward from the base, said it has been an honor to have the opportunity to tryout for the team on base as a local talent.
He especially loves practicing in the warm San Antonio weather. Last year, the All-Air Force soccer team practiced at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va. where Reding said it was cold last year.
"San Antonio and JBSA-Lackland has been awesome to us this year," Reding said.
He's been appreciative of the opportunity to compete with the other 38 players on the original roster. He's especially appreciative of the relationships he has forged during the past few weeks.
"It's like a brotherhood that remains, even with the guys who got cut from the team and couldn't stay the whole time," Reding said.
His teammate, Britton Seprish, a first-year defender from JBSA-Lackland, has enjoyed his first-time experience on the team.
Competing with players with a variety of different styles and backgrounds has made for a fun camp experience, said Seprish.
As a former Division II soccer player at Francis Marion University in Virginia, he realized from day-one of camp the caliber of players he's playing with was no joke.
"This camp has opened my eyes to the fact that I'm not the best player out here. It's been an extremely competitive and, yet, fun experience," Seprish said.
"I haven't played against this caliber of competition in 10 years so my game has improved by playing alongside these better players."
The level of competition has forced Seprish to be in the best shape possible.
"You have to be fit every time you come out here," Seprish said. "You can't just come out here and think you're going to make the team. You got to have some experience to compete.
"Playing with these skilled players definitely helps me step my game up. The better people you play with, the better player you become," he said. "We push each other hard to make ourselves better."
One skilled player Seprish is playing alongside is a former United States Under-17 men's soccer player who is currently stationed at Sheppard AFB.
Keith McDaniel, a center midfielder who played on the U.S. soccer team from 1991 to 1993, is no stranger to playing on the All-Air Force soccer team.
McDaniel played on the Air Force team three consecutive years, from 2001-2003, before military commitments prevented him from participating.
While it's taken him almost a decade to get back on the All-Air Force team, this go-around could be his last hurrah he said.
McDaniel said it's difficult to participate in the annual soccer camp.
"It's just going to be hard to get away," he said about being able to take time off from work. "We all have important jobs other than playing soccer.
"Besides, I'm getting too old for this," said the 35-year-old about continuing to play the game.
"There's a lot more Motrin and ice involved when it comes to recovery," McDaniel said. "When you're young, you can go out and play and then relax and do whatever you want to do. You take for granted what happens to your body when you get older so it takes a lot more work to stay fit."
McDaniel hopes his last hurrah on the team ends with an Armed Forces soccer championship.
"It will be very important for me and for us to win gold," he said. "That's why we practice three times a day and work as hard as we do. Anything less than gold would be disappointing."