Ayla McDonald
Reporter
Each year Parkland College sponsors student athletes from all over the world to come play for the Parkland Cobras Men’s Soccer team.
The team is uniquely multicultural, sporting players from over thirteen different countries, including athletes from Mexico, Japan, Ethiopia, Columbia, Tunisia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Venezuela, Italy, and Canada, to name a few during the fall ’18 season alone.
“The team is pretty multicultural by design,” says Mark Sikora, Head Coach of the Parkland Cobras Men’s Soccer team for the past 12 seasons. “There’s a premium on athletic competition with a focus on how we can win. Parkland serves the local community first, but also sponsors athletes on an international level. We try to facilitate a world-wide team with international players that have played soccer at higher skill levels from younger ages.”
Sikora says that sponsoring international students is beneficial not only for Parkland Sports but also for the student athletes. The combination of a competitive sports department, high academic rating and affordability makes Parkland a desirable choice for student athletes who are looking to play sports while studying in a foreign country.
“Usually we receive 10 to 15 letters a day from world-wide recruiters,” Sikora says. “Parkland College is not just about athletics, it’s also great financially and academically. That’s something that speaks to prospective players who have both athletic and academic interests.”
For Jesus Reina, a sophomore at Parkland College studying English as a Second Language, striker for Parkland’s Men’s Soccer Team and winner of the title Best Player in Illinois for 2017, Parkland College serves as a stepping stone to bigger life goals. “Accepting a scholarship at Parkland has given me an advantage. Other universities can see me play and offer me better scholarships to study,” Reina says.
For Parkland’s Men’s Soccer Team, there are certain challenges that come along with cultural diversity among which, according to Mark Sikora, a definite language barrier is the most difficult.
“The ability to communicate through issues and problems is a struggle,” Sikora says. “The game itself speaks its own language, which is where we start. Communication improves over time with teamwork and through interaction with players who speak fluent English.”
Although soccer is a global sport, Sikora says that cultural barriers exist for the players even on a stylistic level.
“Playing style and strategy is an issue that is stereotypical of how an athlete is taught to play depending on where they are from. Same game, different styles.”
But for Sikora and for the soccer players he coaches, the gains of maneuvering cultural challenges and making deep world-wide connections outweigh the challenges presented by international sports.
“I enjoy observing community building within the team,” Sikora says. “I appreciate the risks taken on the part of international students who come at such young ages to a foreign-language speaking country, and I can’t say enough about American students who open their doors to the international community. Friendship building makes for better teamwork and helps each other excel. It’s a cool thing to watch.”
Many of the players go on to keep in touch after graduation, even across borders.
“Teammates stay in touch with each other after leaving Parkland, traveling to see each other and getting together for the World Cup,” Sikora says. “What’s more important that wins and losses is gaining a broader world view. For many of our players soccer is an anchor to that.”
The Parkland Cobras Men’s Soccer Team will continue to play through to the month of November. A timetable of the Team’s scheduled games can be found online at athletics.parkland.edu under Men’s Soccer.
