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Posts Tagged ‘Sean LeVine’

“It has been an honor and privilege”

Posted in soccer, tagged , , , , on July 2, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Sean LeVine with wife Joline and youngest daughter Izzy. (Photo poached from Joline LeVine)

Leading by example. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

One of Whidbey Island’s most influential coaches is heading in a new direction.

Sean LeVine, who has helped shape the games and lives of hundreds of local soccer players over the past quarter-century, announced this week he was stepping away from being an active coach.

His statement:

This week I “retired” from coaching soccer on Whidbey Island — an endeavor I began in 1995 as my little brother’s team needed a coach.

For 26 years I have coached both boys and girls of all ages, including all three of my daughters.

There are no words I can put here that can adequately describe what these experiences have meant to me and my family.

Thank you to all the parents, coaches, board members, and players who have made this an overwhelmingly positive part of my life, and for offering soccer to the youth in our community year after year.

It has been an honor and privilege to have served by coaching kids in a sport I love.

LeVine, who is a paramedic with WhidbeyHealth in his non-soccer life, is a member of the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.

He was inducted in 2015 as part of a particularly-impressive class which included Brad Sherman and Tyler King, among others.

During his time on the pitch, LeVine worked with numerous soccer squads, but his Whidbey Islanders girls teams had an especially-big impact.

Bringing together players from North, South, and Central Whidbey, including oldest daughter Micky, those teams went toe-to-toe with big-city clubs on a regular basis, winning frequently against top-level competition.

Sean LeVine was a master at bringing out the best in each player, while also devoting extensive time to making sure his proteges excelled away from the pitch.

Many of those Islanders, and countless other kids he coached, went on to attend college, some playing soccer, with a great deal of success.

LeVine was also one of the easiest coaches to work with, a guy who would shoot me detailed info and clever quotes even when he was likely tired after an early-morning wakeup, a long off-Island trek, and a series of games.

The continued growth of soccer in Coupeville is the result of a lot of people working their tails off, often without getting (or asking for) full credit.

People such as LeVine, Jim Copenhaver, Kyle Nelson, Reese and Michelle Cernick, Scott Rosenkranz, and Robert Wood — just to name a few — have been invaluable.

Whether this is really the end of his coaching career (he’s just hitting his mid-40’s, so a comeback is not out of the question) or just a cool-down period, LeVine leaves Whidbey soccer in a better place than he found it.

One of the legends, even if he blushes a bit when you call him that.

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Dude? Dude. Dude?? Dude!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged , , , , , , , on August 15, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Caleb Valko (top) joins fellow Hall o' Fame inductees (l t r) Jon Chittim, Tyler King, Sean LeVine, Brad Sherman and Joe Kelley.

Caleb Valko (top) joins fellow Hall o’ Fame inductees (l t r) Jon Chittim, Tyler King, Sean LeVine, Brad Sherman and Joe Kelley.

We have a shortage of testosterone.

As we induct people into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame each week, it goes in weird fits and bursts.

Sometimes I know who and what is going in well in advance.

Sometimes I’m making changes up to a few hours before the announcement, as all three people who deeply care hang on the edge of their sofas.

With this haphazard approach, the ladies have surged to an 11-5 lead with seven classes having entered these hallowed digital halls to be enshrined under the Legends tab at the top of the blog.

So, in a concentrated effort, we’re going to level the playing field a bit this week, with all of our inductees (five athletes and a coach) being of the male  persuasion.

The eighth class?

Say hello to Brad Sherman, Caleb Valko, Jon Chittim, Joe Kelley, Sean LeVine and Tyler King.

It’s a class that features a tackling machine, a guy who did something no other guy ever did in Coupeville High School history, a record-setting quarterback, and so much more.

We kick it off with King, since he was usually at the front of the pack.

Two state titles in track were a start but a state title in cross country (where he won by an astonishing 31 seconds) was unique. Natasha Bamberger is the only other Wolf to accomplish that feat.

Oh, and he was also a pretty good basketball player, where he was part of one of the biggest plays in school history.

Racing the clock and fighting a suffocating South Whidbey defense Jan. 25, 2011, King somehow managed to get the ball to Ian Smith, who banked home a three-pointer at the buzzer for a stunning 42-41 dethroning of the first-place Falcons on their home court.

Grace under pressure was a strong trait for Chittim, as well.

A superb track sprinter, he capped the 2006 season with three state titles at the 1A meet, winning the 200 and 400, before joining Kyle King, Chris Hutchinson and Steven McDonald to capture the 4 x 400.

“Back in high school, winning meant a lot,” Chittim told me in an interview years later. “Not only because it’s something few Coupeville athletes get to experience, but also it meant I would have a much better chance of getting better scholarships.

“I have always had a competitive spirit, so of course winning still means a lot to me, but in a different way. Now it is more internal and not for my name to be up on a wall.”

Well, it’s a digital wall, so we should be OK.

Valko didn’t get the chance to win a state title like our first two inductees, but he was a strong leader who worked his rear off during his time at CHS, while still finding time to talk smack and entertain the masses.

A team captain in football and basketball, he also was a thrower in track and became the Page Hit King thanks to his willingness to let his emotion and sense of humor come out, but not overwhelm, his drive and determination.

Truly an athlete who could walk away at the end of his high school career and say he had left it all on the field.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — Mr. Valko was born to be a coach.

He’s gone down that path a bit, working with CMS football, and I hope it’s one he fully pursues at some point in his life, cause he’d be a natural.

Sherman and Kelley hit the stage next, since their careers as Wolf gridiron warriors overlap perfectly.

The 2002 grads were record busters whose exploits still tower.

Sherman is the career leader for passing yardage and touchdown passes (while also being a dominant athlete in other sports) and Kelley was the very definition of a game-changer for the CHS defense.

He’s on the record board with 103 tackles in 2000, but as I waded through a recently-uncovered treasure trove of stats, we documented he bested that in ’01, when he amassed 142 take-downs.

Kelley topped out with 20 tackles against Orcas, settling for “just” 19 in two other games that season.

Our sixth inductee fits today’s “trend,” of being male, though much of his work has come with female athletes. So LeVine is an equal opportunity legend.

A stellar soccer player in Oak Harbor during his high school days, LeVine has been a driving force in building girls’ soccer in Coupeville.

He’s done it both at the youth league level and as coach of various Whidbey Islanders select squads that have meshed players from Oak Harbor, South Whidbey and Cow Town.

Now that oldest daughter Micky “Two Fists” LeVine is off to college, he’s taking a momentary break from coaching the Islanders.

More time to focus on saving the world as an EMT and arguing with fellow Hall o’ Famer Chris Tumblin over who’s more stylish, but you know he’ll be back.

Coaches don’t retire. They just recharge the batteries.

And, like the other five inductees, LeVine’s battery always went off the charts.

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Boo, Town of Coupeville, Booooo!!

Posted in soccer, tagged , , , , , on July 9, 2015| 5 Comments »

Jake Mitten (John Fisken photo)

Jake Mitten prepares to fire the ball in during a soccer game. (John Fisken photo)

38 years of building up the youth of Central Whidbey, on the field and off.

38 years of building up the youth of Central Whidbey, on the field and off.

Coupeville’s new Town Planner has only been on the job since May, but already is making waves.

One of Tammy Baraconi’s first acts has been to inform the Central Whidbey Soccer Club that, after 10+ years, it is no longer allowed to hang a banner on the Department of Transportation-owned fence next to the overpass that crosses Highway 20 in Coupeville.

There is a disagreement over how the banner — which is hung in the summer and again in late winter to get kids signed up for fall and spring soccer seasons run by the non-profit club — is classified under the town’s sign code.

For the previous decade, the club was told by town officials that the banner was considered an Event-Orientated Sign — Coupeville Town Code 16.28.020 (B) (11) — which allows signs to hang for a period of not more than six weeks before the event and be removed not later than one week following the event.

Baraconi now says the banner falls under Off-Premise Advertising — CTC 16.28.020(C)(8) — which is not permitted, since the Soccer Club does not have a field or office at the location the sign is being hung.

At this point, since this is not a “professional newspaper” and I do not have to be neutral, let me be clear — while this change is well-intentioned (I assume), it is asinine.

Has anyone ever complained about the banner being hung there?

I doubt it.

Has there ever been an accident caused by the placing of the banner there?

I doubt it.

Has the soccer club been an invaluable asset to this community? Has it spurred an incredible growth in soccer among Central Whidbey youths? Is it performing a valuable service?

Yes, yes, and yes once again.

Again and again we hear how we need to give the youth more opportunities, more chances to find constructive things in life to do, to get them off their phones, away from their TVs and computers and outside.

The Central Whidbey Soccer Club, and the countless men and women who donate their time and skill-sets to teach this town’s children, to give them an outlet, to make them better people and athletes (but people first) deserve our praise, our support, our help.

Pulling down a banner that has no negative effect and no longer allowing it to be hung in the one place in town every parent will see it, is narrow-minded at best, rank stupidity at worst.

I call upon everyone who has ever had a child in the CWSC, every coach and athlete at CHS and CMS, soccer or otherwise, every fan, every reader to reach out and tell Town of Coupeville officials they are making a mistake.

But one they can still correct.

 

To contact Baraconi, email her at planner@townofcoupeville.org

To contact Mayor Nancy Conard, email her at mayor@townofcoupeville.org

To contact the Washington State Department of Transportation, Highway Advertising office, call them at (360) 705-7296.

 

UPDATE:

As of late morning Friday, town officials have softened their stance a bit, telling the Central Whidbey Soccer Club that its sign is not “wrong or illegal,” but that the issue is its location on city property.

Citing an “informal practice” of allowing non-profits to put up signs for events/activities for a week, the town still wants the sign removed by Monday, July 13 at the latest.

There has been no word on whether the sign can be re-posted in the future.

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Excellence was born today!!

Posted in Happy birthday, tagged , , , , , , , on June 11, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Birthday trio (clockwise from top left) Connor McCormick, Allie Hanigan and Sean LeVine.

Birthday trio (clockwise from top left) Connor McCormick, Allie Hanigan and Sean LeVine.

June 11 stands as one of the deeper days for producing excellence in Wolf Nation.

If we wanted to hand out birthday well wishes to everyone and their sister, we could include Jennifer Dohner and Kristi Etzell, moms who sent numerous talented offspring through the halls of Coupeville High School.

But, for the moment, we’ll focus on three who have made a big impact on Wolf sports in the last few years — Allie Hanigan, Connor McCormick and Sean LeVine.

McCormick, who will be a senior at CHS in the fall, has done a bit of everything, and always done it with great passion.

Soccer goalie, deadly doubles player on the tennis court, baseball and football stud in his earlier days and a medal-winning twin threat with Science Club and History Day.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg for the middle McCormick child as he upholds the family tradition of awesomeness.

LeVine may technically not be a Wolf, having played soccer in his younger days for a different school that shall go unnamed, but his impact on Coupeville sports is undeniable.

His progeny — Micky “Two Fists” LeVine, Jae “Mighty Mite” LeVine and Izzy “The Real Superstar” LeVine, are among the brightest talents in the land, precocious, uber-talented, super smart (and sometimes smart-ass) young women.

Then there is LeVine’s soccer coaching career, which has touched countless lives.

Whether working with youth soccer programs, or guiding the Whidbey Islanders select soccer squad, which brought together players from Coupeville, Oak Harbor and the South end and rattled the big city programs to their core, Sean has guided the growth and development of an entire generation of pitch stars.

Plus, he’s done it all while working as a superhero on the side (he’s a paramedic) and showing an ability to grow an impressive beard. The man is multi-talented.

Topping off our trio is Hanigan, who moved to Coupeville from my birthplace, Kelso, and immediately became a two-sport sensation.

Ruling the volleyball and tennis courts for two years, she was a fearsome hitter who played in much the same way she moves through real life, with epic grace and style.

Allie is walking, talking class personified and even though she’s moved on to college life, she’s not easily forgotten.

As individuals or as a group, the terrific trio of McCormick, LeVine and Hanigan make the rest of us look better for being loosely connected to them.

Here’s to happy birthdays for all three, this year and in the future.

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“Islanders forever!!”

Posted in Girls Soccer, GU19 Whidbey Islanders, tagged , , , , , on May 10, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Saturday was the final ride for Erin Rosenkranz and her GU19 Whidbey Islanders squad. (John Fisken photo)

Saturday was the final game together for Erin Rosenkranz and her GU19 Whidbey Islanders squad. (John Fisken photo)

Islanders forever. (Kali Barrio photo)

Islanders forever. (Kali Barrio photo)

David put the fear of God into Goliath.

Drawing its players from all three Whidbey Island high schools, the ever-scrappy GU19 Whidbey Islanders soccer squad has always been a success, win or loss.

Saturday, having gone further than ever before, the band of sisters made a final stand on the mainland, falling 1-0 to Seattle United NE in a hard-fought State Cup semifinal.

And while the loss ended the Islanders season, and brought an end to this version of the team, it failed to diminish what they have accomplished.

“I am very proud that this small team from Whidbey, who has no cuts and plays big city teams with paid coaches who cut several players in tryouts, could not only compete, but threaten to win it all!,” said coach Sean LeVine. “My only hope is that they have fond memories and valuable lessons to take.”

LeVine, along with those who helped him make the Coupeville/Oak Harbor/South Whidbey juggernaut possible, will look back on the past few years as a great success.

“Our GU19 Whidbey Islanders team is officially disbanded, but Islanders forever!,” he said. “Thanks to Scott Rosenkranz for being a great coach all these years and Sherry Pabona for being a great manager.

“Happy Mother’s Day to all the awesome, ultra-dedicated soccer moms!,” LeVine added. “Without them we’d have no team.”

Playing on a brutally warm field Saturday, the Islanders had to deal with a season-long issue — few, if any, subs.

“It was HOT on the field today, and with only one sub compared to their four, our superior conditioning did not help as much as it had,” LeVine said.

Seattle United poked in the game’s only goal at the 20 minute mark, when it stole a ball and sent a cross into “a poorly-marked player,” who hit from 10 yards out.

Whidbey had several chances to knot the game, but luck wasn’t on its side on this day.

On their best chance, Gillian Crossley beat a defender at the near post and laid the ball on the foot of Lydia Peplinski, but her shot narrowly missed.

With the heat sucking the life out of both teams, play slowed in the second half, but Seattle was able to control the flow of the game by “possessing the ball better than any team we’ve faced this season.”

The game capped a season in which LeVine’s roster changed radically as the season developed.

Coupeville’s Jenn Spark and Jacki Ginnings (“two of the best defenders in the league”) were lost to injuries right as the season kicked-off, two other players left the team unexpectedly, another moved out of the country, and the crush of senior year for many of the players was a constant tricky issue.

“Despite all that, we figured things out, improved as we went along, and went further in the state tournament than we ever have,” said a proud LeVine.

He got contributions from every one of his players, and enjoyed that it was a second family as much as a team.

LeVine’s thoughts on his players:

Alyssa Cross, Ayla Muller and Becca Pabona became our best center backs in Jenn and Jacki’s place and excelled this season. That is a very tough position and they are awesome for stepping in, improving, and excelling.

Erin Rosenkranz played a new position this season at left back, which if you know her playing style, you’d know that was weird. But she simply proved to be the best 1-on-1 defender we have, and she did consistently well.

Paige Waterman was missed at the beginning of the season, but despite her ankle injury, she came on strong and was our consistent right back the rest of the year.

Our top three goal scorers were Lydia, Gillian, and Micky (LeVine).

Lydia and “Jilly” are our youngest and they are going to do great things in the next couple years; I can’t wait to watch them play more.

Kendra Warwick was the axle of our wheels this season.

Nothing happened if she didn’t play a role; she is simply our most valuable asset, although Kenzie Perry may have an argument with her multiple shut-outs as keeper and her goal scoring prowess in very few field appearances. 

Vivien Valles, Micky and Bailee Olson are our work horses and blue collar workers.

While Jacalyn Hefflefinger, one of my favorite people, did not have her 10-goal season like last year, her work rate and sense of humor is the glue of the team. She is really loved by all.

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