Summit County Soccer Coach Honored at National Convention

Three Summit County soccer coaches were honored at the United Soccer Coaches National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Wednesday, January 11 through Sunday, January 15.

Jotwan Daniel, head boys and girls soccer coach at Summit High School, was awarded the Jay and Priscilla Engeln Scholarship by the United Soccer Coaches Foundation for his work with Summit High School’s soccer program over the past few years.

The scholarship provided funding for Daniels to attend a national convention in Philadelphia and participate in sessions of coaching education clinics.

Daniels coached the men’s soccer team to a 13-4-2 record, reaching the semi-finals of 4A state soccer last fall. The team’s success earned him the Western Slope League Coach of the Year.

The High Country Soccer Association of Summit received a grant from the Coaches of America Foundation after High Country Soccer Association Director Miriam Hickey applied for the grant.

The grant will provide funding for United Soccer Coaches National Academy staff coaches to come to Summit County to provide coaching clinics for local soccer coaches.

Finally, Silverthorne’s Jay Engeln received the William Holman Award for Achievement from the United Soccer Coaches Foundation.

Engeln is a retired Colorado high school soccer coach and a member of the Colorado College Athletic Hall of Fame. His team dominated the Colorado high school football scene in the 1980s. Engeln’s team won the state championship twice, the metro league four times and the district championship four times.

Engeln has been named Colorado Coach of the Year twice and Metro League Coach of the Year four times.

One of Engeln’s proudest achievements was organizing and coaching Colorado’s first high school soccer team. The movement helped get girls’ high school soccer sanctioned by the Colorado High School Activity Association.