Staff Writer
ASHLAND – Maine high school soccer provides athletic and life lessons teenagers can take off the pitch and into their future as active members of their community. For 32 years, Peter Belskis has coached the youth of Ashland High School by this philosophy through both successful and tremulous seasons.
Belskis began his coaching career in 1974, spending 26 years with the boys before moving on to the head coach position for the Lady Hornets.
“I always was an active athlete in school so I went into physical education, and coaching fit,” said Belskis. “It seemed a good way to give back … the kids are an extension of my playing days.”
Belskis believes high school athletics has an educational tool not just for competition and titles. “We try to teach them through sports a lot of life lessons like what it’s like to be defeated, how to bounce back, how to be humble and gracious for when they go out for their first job … sports is a vehicle to their future. They can get positive experiences from it.”
Belskis has dedicated his athletic education career to Ashland as one of the biggest and longest-standing Hornet fans. During his time on the sidelines, Belskis has watched Maine soccer and high school students evolve. Fundamental rules and abilities remain the same but competition levels have increased in Maine.
“The game has changed in skill level. You have to be able to do things out of season in order to compete statewide now,” Belskis explained.
Traditionally, basketball and football dominate high school sports but in Ashland students head into soccer with fervor fit for the European and South American leagues. The Ashland community supports soccer expansion encouraging their children in pre-season and pre-high school practice. In the adopt-a-player program second- to fifth-grade students join the varsity teams at practice once a week and play during halftime. The varsity teams also participate in pre-season tournaments and summer leagues.
“Kids have so many other interests these days, and soccer isn’t necessarily their priority like the coach may want. But you just try to keep their interest,” said Belskis. With Belskis coaching and the local support, Ashland soccer has flourished and spread into other areas of the state.
The 2007 Lady Hornets team has swarmed their way to the number-one Heal Point Standings seed and an undefeated season under Belskis’ direction. Three former Hornets have moved on to successful 2007 soccer seasons as well. Kevin Paradis, played in the orange and black, and now works in the same position Belskis occupied when he attended high school. The Ashland boys also finished top seed in Class D with a 12-1-1 regular season record. Former Hornet Adam Leach led the Bangor varsity boys soccer team to a 13-0-1 record as defending Class A state champions. Dan Cyr’s Madawaska girls finished at 11-1-1, and have well-founded hopes for playoff wins.
Cyr first raced onto the soccer pitch for Belskis’ freshman year of coaching.
“The first thing he said to us was, ‘I’m a football player from Rumford and I’ll give you the best I have with what I have’,” remembers Cyr. At Rumford High School, football had the largest following of fans, and thus drew the athletically inclined students. Belskis never played soccer.
“With his football background, his early years were geared around playing from the heart with aggressiveness and determination. He was passionate and intense as a coach, which would carry over to his players. We had just that type of team, the first year. We were intimidating and other teams did not like to play us.”
That beginning year the Hornets attacked the competition for a 12-2 record. In Cyr’s senior year of ’76, the Hornets captured the Eastern Maine Championship despite finishing regular season in seventh-place. Practice sessions began to mix technique in with determination to put the Hornets past Greenville, Johnsport Beals and Lubec in away play-off rounds.
“Our team was much better skilled to add to the aggressive style,” noted Cyr. “He expected and accepted nothing less than your best. If you worked hard you played and if you did not work hard he would let you know and you would have a seat.”
Kevin Paradis has similar memories as a Hornet under Belskis’ tutelage from 1980 to ’83. Paradis ran cross country his first year but Belskis encouraged him to try soccer.
“Mr. Belskis hounded me that whole year and told me that I was making a huge mistake. He was loaded with seniors that year. They went undefeated and lost in the Eastern Maine final to Machias. It’s not like he needed me on the team that year. It was then that I learned how committed he was to his program. He is always looking to build future teams.”
Paradis links many of his high school memories to the soccer field and travel with his coach and team. “I’ll never forget being down to Lubec 2-0 at halftime in the Eastern Maine final in the fall of ’81. They actually played ‘We are the Champions’ over the loud speaker. I’ll never forget the way we came back and won 3-2. Things like that stick with you forever. It was complete pandemonium on the field and the loudest bus trip home of all time.”
Adam Leach dribbled on the high school pitch from ’85 to ’87 and also assisted Ashland to claim the ’87 Eastern Maine Championship title.
“Coach Belskis is the most intense person I have ever known. When he puts his mind to something he goes for it 110 percent. He always had a way of getting the very best efforts out of all of his players. He seemed to know how to make average players good and good players great. He convinced us to pour our heart and soul into every game and every practice.”
Soccer and Belskis’ mentorship led three County boys to choose education and coaching as careers and instilled in them a love of the game. His influence molded their youth and the focus of their coaching technique: commitment and listening to the players.
“To Belskis, playing average to fair was not acceptable, and I learned to not accept just average play from myself. At times he would say we were playing at a mediocre level in a halftime speech. This was enough motivation for me to pick my play up. That has stuck with me all these years and a term that has come up at times with my team,” explained Dan Cyr.
“There are no guarantees that you will be bigger, faster or more skilled than your opponent, but you will always be in the game if you work hard,” noted Leach.
While Belskis joked, “The boys were more difficult to coach, they thought they knew as much as the coach.” Some of his words reached the ears of his former players, and they have turned his wisdom into success.
But more than winning, Belskis and his protégés find rewards in observing the students improve and learn. As Belskis put it, “teaching and coaching is all intertwined.”
Paradis’ team members have become like sons. “I love the way they bounce back after a bad performance. I love the way they handle success and the way they always work their tails off at practice to please their coaches and teammates.”
“Winning is fun, but I love being around the kids,” said Leach. “I thought it was great when I was a player, working toward a goal and achieving it, but it doesn’t compare to the feeling of helping my players achieve their goals.”
Cyr has seen his players mature in both athletic and life skills. “I feel honored to be part of their development, watching the transformation from girls to young ladies. By the time they have completed high school, they have grown to be responsible citizens in our society.”
While these coaches lead teams to school victories on the field, they lead young adults to succeed in life and continue with confidence into adulthood after graduation. Belskis’ Ashland legacy echoes through the soccer fields and Maine community in the young people he has shaped. Yet he remains humble, unrelentingly motivated and hasn’t let years of victory affect his ego. He keeps an open ear for all former and current players, an ‘open mic’ to address their troubles and ideas for improvement.
“It’s kind of like Yoda asking young Aniken for advice,” joked Paradis. But his techniques continue to prove victorious on the field and off for his players.
Longtime Ashland coach
Peter Belskis
