Prior Lake High School has a soccer star in the making – Mr. Mike Shebuski. Mr. Shebuski, surely everyone’s favorite teacher, led his boys soccer team to state this year. On October 22nd, Shebuski helped Prior Lake High School’s soccer team win the section 2AA title and he won himself the Class AA Boys Coach of the Year award.

I sat down with the man, the myth, and the legend, and learned about his feelings about soccer and his team. “I’ve been playing soccer as long as I can remember. My older brother played so I wanted to follow his footsteps. I’ve been kicking around a soccer ball as long as I can remember,” Coach Shebuski says. “I am such a competitive person that the challenge of soccer intrigues me.”

Shebuski went on describing his fabulous team. “I personally like being in a soccer game because it is so fun. I also love to work with student athletes. They always manage to teach me something new about the game.” With a new season comes new athletes and a new group of kids. I asked Mr. Shebuski how he feels about changing kids every year, and he loves it. “With each new group of kids comes a new set of challenges. The different challenges keep coaching always fun and different.”

He continued by talking about his award. “At first I was super excited, then I was extremely thankful. All the awards and accomplishments never reflect on one individual, but the whole team. I could’ve never won the Boys Coach of the Year without my amazing team.”

“I hope to continue on the same path with the PLHS soccer team. It’s certainly possible to do better with the team and every year you want to set out to do better than the year previous.” Shebuski explains how the team keeps improving; “A lot of work happens off-season to keep this team running well. The Soccer Leadership Group continues to lead extra strength-based workouts and that help improve the team off-season. I personally think how the boys take leadership determines success of the group.”

I got real with Shebu and asked him the ups and downs of coaching. “One of the best things about coaching is watching kids reach their goals. The excitement of overcoming challenges fuels me. I also enjoy being with the group everyday. It’s super fun to get to know the boys. One of the down falls of coaching is the work to get through a season. So many thing happen behind the scenes including planning, scheduling, and communications within the team.

Whether coaching a phenomenal soccer team or teaching freshman proofs in Geometry, Shebuski certainly scores both on the field, and off.