After travelling the world as a professional and collegiate soccer player for the last decade, Edmonton’s Adam Loga is taking a new role in the sport he loves at the Edge School for Athletes in Springbank.
Loga, 27, took over as the school’s soccer director on Aug. 1 and is already starting to put his own stamp on the Mountaineers soccer academy before the new school year begins in September.
“I’ve already been in contact with the soccer clubs in Calgary and the surrounding communities, as I want to work with them and let them know that we won’t be stealing their players or trying to recruit away players that may play for them in the future,” Loga said.
“Our goal here is to not win games, but to make better kids that can go and pursue excellence in both the sport of soccer and in whatever else they decide to go after in life,” he added.
Prior to his new role at Edge School for Athletes, Loga graduated with a degree in education from Northwest University in Kirkland, Wash. in 2013 after playing for the school’s soccer team on a full scholarship for four years.
“I started off as a kid by playing in Edmonton and at 16, I took off to train with clubs in Chile and El Salvador,” Loga said. “When I finished up school in Washington, I had offers to return to Central America and play soccer down there, but I wanted to go and pursue a career in education where I would have a chance to teach kids and build them (up) as people.”
“I contacted Edge in June about a teaching position, and they informed me that the soccer director role was vacant,” he added. “They asked me if I was interested in applying for it, and after interviews throughout June, I got the job.”
In his new position as soccer director, Loga will be spending his time looking after and setting up activities for the students in Grades 5 to 12, as he hope to raise the number of athletes in the program from 25 to 60 in the coming years.
“I’ll be training with the players on the pitch, or setting up sessions with our physical training staff and sports psychologist, in addition to making sure that their studies are going great with our teachers and tutors,” Loga said. “I want to do whatever we can to help them become better people, and not just strong soccer players.”
“With the new field-turf facility that we have here now and the indoor dome that we have here, we are going to be able to provide a great opportunity for young soccer players that want to come here, especially those who aren’t from the big cities like Edmonton and Calgary,” he added.
“Edmonton and Calgary have been the dominant forces for all sports ever since I was growing up, so a goal of mine is to try and get a chance to draw from those smaller communities in Rocky View County and elsewhere and let them know what we have to offer.”
