FC Offutt ready to roll at national tournament

  • Published
  • By Ryan Hansen
  • 55th Wing Public Affairs
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. --  For the first time in years, Team Offutt will have an official soccer team representing them locally and nationally.

Football Club Offutt is in its inaugural season and will head to Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, over Labor Day weekend to compete in the Defender's Cup, an annual military soccer tournament.

"We're really excited about the tournament and proud to be the first team to represent Offutt in years," said Jose Rodriguez, FC Offutt head coach and a U.S. Air Force staff sergeant with the 55th Aerospace Medicine Squadron. "It's been tough getting the team together with conflicting schedules, work, exercises, etc., but the guys are putting in a lot of effort in practice and I think it will pay off."

The annual tournament brings together military teams from bases across the world. While most teams are comprised of a single service, FC Offutt is truly a representation of the entire installation.

"Almost all of the services are represented on our team," Rodriguez said. "We have individuals from the 55th Wing, U.S. Strategic Command and the Air Force Weather Agency among others."

In addition to the tournament, FC Offutt will play in the Nebraska Men's Soccer League on Tuesday nights at Lake Zorinsky Park starting in mid-August.

"That should help us be in game-shape by the time we get to San Antonio," Rodriguez said. "We have great players with great skill, but we need to work on our team play."

Rodriguez said the team is led by midfielder Hans Kuse, a U.S. Air Force airman 1st class with the 55th Force Support Squadron, and defender Nick Martinez, a U.S. Army sergeant 1st class with J2 at USSTRATCOM.

"Hans has great ball control, good vision and leadership both on and off the field," he said. "Martinez is a great defender and he earned the co-captain spot early on with this leadership."

"We have a very diverse group of people of different ages, rank, ethnicities, experiences and so on, but this team is special," Kuse said. "We all have a common goal and motivation that is going to help us stand out from everyone else."

"I know our team is behind the power curve of other long-established teams from bases DOD-wide that are known as powerhouses and contend every year," Martinez said. "But I would be lying if I didn't say that I wanted to go to San Antonio and win it all."

And while the team is new, they are not short on talent and they also have some advantages that most teams don't.

"I have played on teams for multiple installations and the individual talent on the FC Offutt team seems to be above and beyond them," Martinez said. "The formation of the indoor soccer league at the field house has allowed those soccer players at Offutt to keep enhancing their skills in a year-round soccer friendly environment."

Rodriguez said his goal for the Defender's Cup is finish in the top four.

"It's a tough tournament and the teams that participate are usually pretty good," he said, "but I think we have the talent to do really well."

To help raise funds for the team's trip to Lackland, FC Offutt has scheduled a fundraiser Aug. 15 at Buffalo Wild Wings at 10525 S. 15th Street in Bellevue. If anyone mentions the team during their visit, FC Offutt will get 10 percent of the proceeds.

For more information about FC Offutt, contact Rodriguez at arodusaf@gmail.com.