WEST ALLIS - It has been a challenging season for the West Allis Hale girls soccer team, which fell to 3-8 on the year Thursday night with a 6-0 loss to Wauwatosa West.
Nevertheless, Hale assistant coach Mark Clementi leads a jovial bench with jokes and words of encouragement. Reminders to never give up and keep playing hard resonate not just for the players, but for a coaching staff all too familiar with some of the greater challenges life can pose.
"It's soccer. Other things in life...as happens...and if losing a soccer game is the worst thing that ever happens to you, you're going to be in good shape," Clementi said.
A devastating diagnosis
Mark's wife Jill began experiencing unusual symptoms in October 2023, such as speech pattern irregularities, writing difficulties, smelling issues, loss of appetite and a cough. After ruling out coronavirus and a stroke, an MRI in November revealed a brain tumor indicative of Stage 4 cancer.
"There it was, and it was like of all the things you could imagine, that was not...just no rhyme or reason," Mark said. "How does something like this happen?"
Despite a surgery just days after the discovery of the tumor, Jill's form of cancer is glioblastoma, a common but aggressive variety with treatments but no cure. After recovering from surgery, Jill began a trial radiation pulse program consisting of 70-minute sessions five days a week for six weeks, along with chemo. A month after that concluded, Jill began wearing an Optune device, which consists of four adhesive patches that contain transducer patterns that emit low-intensity electric fields to treat and limit the spread of cancer. The device's battery lasts three days, during which Jill cannot shower or otherwise get the transducers wet.
"That's her life now, wearing that Optune device and chemo five days in a row once a month," Mark said.
The treatment has shown signs of progress, as a recent MRI has shown Jill's remaining tumor to be shrinking in size. Mark said there is measured optimism that the treatments have at least bought time. In addition to the support of his family, contributing to his one-time player Ryan Zachow's staff has been a lifeline.
"Normally this is, I mean it's a death sentence," Mark said. "I'm trying not to go crazy. The soccer deal is saving me. I mean they're just...I get a couple hours each day."
Huskies raise funds for 'Strain for the Brain'
Zachow, whose own family has been touched by cancer after his father's diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma in March 2023, knew he wanted to show support for someone who had been there for his father's battle.
"Mark asked every day at practice last year how my dad was doing, would send frequent text messages of support, and let me know that whenever I needed to miss time he would have my back," Zachow said. "When Mark let me know what was going on with Jill in November, I knew I had to give the same support he gave me right back."
Zachow remembered how much those check-ins meant for him and his father, who as of December has been cancer free. It was not the first time Mark had gone out of his way for Zachow either, as the current coach recalled from his time under Mark's tutelage as a pre-teen. Cut from a Select team after trying out as a field player, Zachow was floated as an option to try out for a goalkeeper vacancy on Mark's program at the time, NBSC Extreme. After a tryout, Mark made an offer to join the club.
"My parents were hesitant because I was previously cut, but Mark said, 'He's my goalkeeper, end of story, I want him on this team.' " Zachow said. "I will never forget that."
Inspired by his former coach and now assistant, Zachow arranged for gate admission costs to be waived Thursday night. Instead, donations were collected for " Strain for the Brain, " a running event on Sunday, June 2, to benefit brain tumor research at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin. Their team donation link description puts their mission in plain terms:
"Jill is Mark's rock. Mark is Jill's rock. Mark is the heart and soul of this team, lets do some good for this family!"
A team that does not quit
It has been a number of years since the Huskies have fielded a contending girls soccer program in a competitive Greater Metro Conference, but there are signs of a potentially brighter future.
A program with 14 players total last year brought 35 into this season, allowing Zachow to field a JV team in his second season at the helm. He is also grateful to have his one-time mentor by his side, sharing the same lessons he remembers from his own time in goal as a player.
"We always said when we were growing up we were never the best team, but we were a team that never quit," Zachow said. "(Mark)'s completely instilled that in these girls today."
Mark said that while he hates to lose, the circumstances he has faced on and off the pitch have inspired him to learn patience and appreciation for the steps along the way to turning a program around.
"It's one of the reasons I keep, we keep pushing that you just do your best all the time, because you just never know. You just never know what's going to happen," Mark said. "We just tell them 'Be present, be in the moment and keep working at it.' "
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: West Allis Hale girls soccer embodies 'never quit' attitude of assistant coach
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