BEFORE A GAME EARLIER THIS SEASON. (PHOTOS COURTESY OF GLCC)
By Jake Sutherlin
The Great Lakes Christian College women’s soccer team polished off its regular season with a 3-0 win over Regent University (Virginia Beach, Va.) and is ranked second in the NCCAA Division II Coach’s Poll. The squad enters the postseason as defending national champions—a great accomplishment, especially when considering that three years ago the program didn’t exist.
At the middle of this impressive rise is Sam Sibilski.
Sibilski is a former semi-pro soccer player from England who moved to the United States in 2013. Since then, he’s been a club director and high school coach for several girls’ soccer programs in Michigan. And in 2018, his passion for and experience in coaching inspired him to reach out to GLCC athletic director Richard Westerlund to see about starting a women’s soccer program at the school in Lansing.
To show his dedication, Sibilski spent—without pay—the following year on the recruiting trail, assembling the first women’s soccer team in school history for the 2020 season. He relied heavily on his club and coaching connections to pull athletes from both the high school and collegiate levels.
The squad went 3-2-2 in its inaugural season and was eliminated from the postseason due to COVID-19 contact tracing.
But Sibilski reloaded his team for year two, bolstering the squad with some diligent recruiting that nearly doubled the roster size. The Lady Crusaders roared through the 2021 season with a 13-4-1 record and defeated Arlington Baptist 2-1 in the national championship game last November.
During the 2021 season, Sibilski also took the reins of the men’s program which former part-time coach Ian Kurth had only just restarted in 2019 while working another full-time job. In Sibilski’s first season coaching the men, they finished 7-4-1 season. The men’s team has lodged another 7-win campaign (so far) this season. In the team’s prior two seasons, it won just two games total.
The men’s resurgence and the women’s rise hardly seem a coincidence, but Sibilski is quick to credit others. He built on a foundation Kurth left, and he is surrounded by a strong athletics’ staff that has allowed him to invest and recruit in ways that have shaped his programs.
“I say it all the time: Coaches and players win games, but administrations win championships,” Westerlund said.
From an administration that made him the school’s first full-time head coach in 2021 to the efforts of Marcus Charlick who spearheaded the men’s soccer recruiting, this resurgence demonstrates the commitment GLCC has made to athletic excellence and the building of strong sports programs.
GLCC follows a Division III recruiting model, meaning it doesn’t offer athletics scholarships. All scholarships are need- and merit-based through academics. This means that coaches stress to student-athletes the vision and the culture of the school and its athletics program.
“Our goal is to help student-athletes become servant leaders in the world; we just happen to do that through the classroom of athletics, and we do that with purpose and intentionality. [Recruits/athletes] have to see a staff that’s committed to athletics and see an experience that is worth investing in,” Westerlund said.
For Sibilski, a large part of that culture is hard work and an expectation of excellence. The soccer programs have five different assistant coaches ranging from game-day specialists to strength and conditioning coaches.
There’s an air of professionalism, an idea that athletes have come to train, not just mess around. The staff is intentional about every training session.
“You have to get [players] to buy into that, and they have to know it’s not going to be easy,” Sibilski said. “You get what you put into it.”
“It takes a dynamic leader and a commitment to that vision” to build a program from the ground up, Westerlund said. “[It takes] someone with a drive and passion to build the program to that standard of excellence. You need the right leader, and Sam is the right leader for our programs. It’s the way he’s wired; he has a magnetism, and people want to play for him and be around him. I’m grateful for the way he challenges me, as well; it’s a great partnership.”
As both the men’s and women’s soccer teams gear up for the postseason, there’s a strong expectation of winning.
“We want to have a great experience and win games,” Sibilski said. “This is a serious environment, and we’re here to win a championship.”
Jake Sutherlin, who earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, works as a youth intern for a church in Mississippi.
At GLCC athletics isn’t just an enrollment strategy; it’s a discipleship strategy. Our athletes are challenged to grow in their faith and pursue a life of servant leadership. I love the way Coach Sibilski and Director Westerlund are helping us accomplish that.
Very proud of the focus on discipleship and excellence in the sports programs at GLCC! Such discipline will play out in Kingdom worker service throughout the lives of these student-athletes! Well Done!