I met Ramo back when I was a freshman in high school. One of my friends convinced me to try out for the club team he was in charge of and Ramo ended up accepting me onto his TCSR club team. That spring I felt like I had learned more about my position in soccer than I ever had before because Ramo was able to provide a training routine that was used overseas in Europe which was a nice change from a lot of the American training I had received. Moving ahead to my sophomore spring of high school Ramo gave me the opportunity to go and play in the international tournament of Talence in France with him and a team that he hand picked. While we did not do very well due to the fact that we were just outplayed by professional youth academies, it was easily the single most eye opening event I’ve had in my soccer career to date. We spent the week in France which allowed us to take in some of the culture. The only downside to the trip was paying to go to bathrooms in the local downtown areas haha. Overall, the week outside of soccer was a great experience with an even greater group of guys from across the US from Alaska to Nevada to Massachusetts and more. The tournament itself lasted a weekend. There were 3 games a day and did get worked. The way the other teams were able to move the ball and keep up a high speed of play just blew my mind at that point when I was 16. It showed me how far behind I actually was to accomplishing my dreams and drove my desire to better myself even more. Sadly an injury kept me out for the last two games of the tournament. After that the TCSR club didn’t last much longer and Ramo and I kept in touch through the years until it was my senior year of high school. At that point he had acquired the head coaching position at Eastern Nazarence College and he was recruiting me. He was successful and I chose to go to ENC to have Ramo train me more like he used to. The first season here was pretty rough as about fifty percent of the team were freshmen. We were talented but were we were not mentally prepared for what was about to come. We thought we were going to take the league by storm and it was the opposite. But Ramo didn’t lose faith in us and we finished off the season looking forward to the next one. This past season Ramo was able to coach us to the school’s first playoff birth in ten years. We beat many of our rival teams and got some wins that ruined some perfect records which was so sweet. It was unfortunate that we had to lose Ramo going into this next season and the transition will be difficult for many of us as Ramo recruited a lot of us from personal experience. I am very close to being 20 now and in the five years that I’ve known Ramo, I can honestly say that these past five years have been some of the best soccer years of my life. They have had their ups and downs but through it all Ramo was still able to wear a smile through all of it and it translated to each team I’ve been on with him as coach. I will probably never be able to repay Ramo for all he has done for me and my soccer career to this point but I hope that someday I can. His coaching techniques are out of the norm and his knowledge of the game and experience in it are superior to a lot of other coaches in the US. I hope that someday I may be able to play for him again, even if it for in a mens Rec team or something of that sort. He has not only been a coach but a great friend. The experiences I’ve had with him in soccer have definitely influenced me as a person on and off the field and I am forever thankful that I chose to listen to my friend and try out for his club team that freshman year of high school.