Wednesday, January 15, 2014

SEATTLE – When Mark Collings was invited to coach at the Major League Soccer pre-draft combine three years ago, he initially didn't think the request was for real.
 
But it was, and he accepted. Then, when he was asked back for this year's combine, Collings knew right away it was a legitimate invitation.
 
The Seattle Pacific men's coach will be off to Florida later this week for the five-day combine, which will bring together approximately 60 elite players, all of whom are somewhere on the radar as MLS teams prepare for their SuperDraft, set for Jan. 15.
 
"It's an opportunity to coach players who are getting ready to enter the professional level," said Collings, who just completed his sixth year at SPU helm and has taken the team to the past three NCAA Division II tournaments. "Just to be around that environment and see what those players are able to do, and just to be part of a really special time for them in their careers is awesome.
 
"It's great to talk to coaches at that level, as well," Collings said. "Just to learn and see and hear what they're doing is always fun."
 
The group of players who gather in Fort Lauderdale will include 50 NCAA Division I seniors. They will be joined by other seniors from lower NCAA divisions, underclassmen who sign Generation adidas contracts, and international invitees. All will be hoping to make an impression on the 19 MLS coaching staffs.
 
"The coolest part for me was just to see those guys going through that phase, helping talk them through it," Collings said of his previous MLS combine. "Hearing what their emotions were like and getting to share in that was pretty neat. There are still a few that I hear from and talk to once in a while."
 
The players will be divided into four squads, each team guided by a college head coach. Collings was the only NCAA Division II coach selected. (The other three team coaches are from D1 schools.) Each will have as an assistant one of the four adidas youth club coaches chosen for the combine. Teams will play three games – one each on Friday, Sunday and Tuesday, with light training in between.
 
"It's an all-star event, so to speak – you try to get them organized and learn each other's names," Collings said. "You hope to put them together and hope your product shows well. But it's more about helping each of those guys show as an individual what they can do."
 
When Collings got an e-mail invitation in 2011 to coach at the combine, he didn't believe it at first.
 
"I thought it was a joke, one of my buddies playing a trick on me," he said. "This time, I recognized the person's name."
 
"But I was still surprised to be chosen again."