News and Events : News 05-06

Soccer Fanatics Share Obsession at NMH

GILL, MA—Never mind the red-hot Red Sox. At NMH, soccer is the sport to watch.

Maybe it’s the proliferation of international students at Northfield Mount Hermon School who relish the sport that has yet to hit its stride in America. With soccer fans from Kazakhstan, Albania, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia and South Korea, as well as the United States, plenty of dorm TVs at the school have been tuned to ESPN for the Champions League soccer matches going on now that will give fans a taste of what to expect during the World Cup in June.

Senior Bram VanderTuin, who is from Brattleboro, VT, has been on the varsity team at NMH for the past three years. He thinks Brazil, which is heavily favored to take the cup, has the skills to go all the way. “Brazil has the two-time World Player of the Year, Ronaldinho, and the most lethal attack and playing style in the world,” he says.

VanderTuin plans to be playing soccer himself at Lynn University in Boca Raton Florida next year. That team is ranked third in the country for Division 2 soccer.

Students are playing pick-up soccer games on the campus’ newly green fields; discussing the intricacies of professional matches over dinner and in online chat rooms; and wagering, albeit for bragging rights only, on their favorite teams surging to victory in Germany, which is hosting the world’s most-watched sporting event (sorry, Fenway).

Contact Kate Snyder (413-498-3357, [ mailto:ksnyder@nmhschool.org ]ksnyder@nmhschool.org) for a list of student and faculty soccer fanatics.

Northfield Mount Hermon School in Gill, MA, is an independent coeducational boarding and day school enrolling 660 students in grades nine through 12 and post-graduate.

CONTACT: Kate Snyder, 413-498-3357, ksnyder@nmhschool.org

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