Northampton High School Girls’ Soccer Coach Michael Missmer, a now-retired corrections officer, never imagined he could one day be a soccer coach let alone win anything substantial. He never had an interest in the sport in general until he learned his five year old daughter would not have a team unless he stepped up to coach the team. In 2004 he stepped up and coached his daughter’s Tri-Boro Stingrays youth soccer team. Little did he know at that time, this would be the stepping stone to his second career and his love for the game of soccer.
Missmer never played soccer at a competitive level in high school or college, and certainly not professionally. However, he did always know he was athletic. He was involved in jujitsu and competed in fights. He was even once ranked seventh in the world for his weight class until he was seriously injured. Jujitsu taught him a lot of life lessons and he was able to apply them to his experience working in the Department Of Corrections. He learned about the “I got your back and you’ve got mine mentality”. Missmer connected with that and would implement it into his coaching style.
In 2010, Missmer was still working as a correctional officer when he received a phone call from George Romano who was the Whitehall High School Varsity Girls’ Soccer coach at the time. Romano played professionally overseas as well as with his national team of Trinidad And Tobago. Romano was looking for someone to lead their middle school team and Missmer agreed to take the position. Missmer was now beginning to really fall in love with the sport of soccer. After assisting Romano at a training session, Missmer said to him, “You know so much more about the game than I ever could. Can I just stand here and listen to you?” Watching, listening, and learning from Romano helped Missmer understand the game a bit better. As Missmer became more familiar with soccer he started to become “obsessed” with it. Missmer said, “I get obsessed with things that I like and I will want to study and learn more about whatever that may be. In this case, it was soccer.”
After four seasons with the middle school team, he moved to Pen Argyl High School in 2015. He took over a team that struggled to win games and had never qualified for the district playoffs. That was until Missmer’s arrival. However, they did not qualify at first. In 2017 Missmer was able to turn the program around and they qualified for districts for the first time in school history. In 2018, they also qualified for the district playoffs and came very close to winning it all. This would be Missmer’s final season with Pen Argyl before moving onto his next journey.
Missmer was planning to retire from the Department Of Corrections and was ready for something new. This new adventure would be at Penn State Lehigh Valley. In 2018 Missmer’s, tenure got off to a rough start. Losing games by double digits, only having 13 players and not being able to score a goal, his team struggled. As the season went on, the team got a bit stronger day by day. They went from getting slaughtered by the opposing teams to keeping games close in scores. They also were able to add more women to the roster and had 17 players by the end of the season. Missmer said, “I’m proud of my time at Penn State Lehigh Valley because a lot of the women had never played organized soccer before. They were a group of women who wanted to play this sport, work together, and build friendships. And they did that.” He continued to say, “I still keep in contact with some of them and they keep in contact with each other too. Seeing that makes me happy. To see that a group of women who never knew each other turned into such a tight knit group and now in their late 20s or early 30s still keep in touch is cool to see.” What Missmer thought would be the beginning of a building process at Penn State LV was not to be in the end. Due to the retirement plan at the Department of Corrections, he could not continue with Penn State Lehigh Valley as their retirement plan conflicted with the DOC’s.
In 2019 Missmer was on the hunt for another opportunity to coach soccer. The Northampton High School Girls’ job opened up and Missmer would take charge in August, 2019. In his first season they reached the district semifinal before losing to Freedom High School. One of Missmer’s former players from that team Abbi Czarnecki had this to say about her first year coach. “ I was definitely worried about having a new coach, as it typically takes a few years of rebuilding after a new coach arrives to find success on the field. But we had a very successful season, making it to the district semis after starting the season unranked. Coach Mike helped to make my final year of high school soccer my favorite year.”
Missmer’s Konkrete Kids continued to qualify for districts year after year, but could not ever get to the final game…until this past fall. After a semifinal win, the Konkrete Kids had finally reached the District Championship game. They would take on Emmaus, a team that Missmer had never beaten in his career. That streak, too, would end as Northampton fought off a scrappy Emmaus team 2-1. Senior goalkeeper Emma Fry said, “ Our motto that Coach Mike builds for us is “why not us and that was true this entire season.””
They won their program’s first ever district championship and qualified for the state tournament for the first time ever as well. Missmer said, “This past season was the best year of my career, high school, and club. The girls faced adversity and together overcame it. They played the best version of soccer I’ve ever seen and they deserve it.” Fry also had this to say about Coach Missmer, “Not only is coach Mike an amazing coach, he cares about everybody. He puts in so much time and effort towards improving us, and being able to learn and improve as a coach.”
Winning the district championship was not the only history created by a soccer team coached by Missmer in 2024. His Western Lehigh United 2007s qualified for USYS National Presidents’ Cup becoming the first Western Lehigh United team boys or girls to qualify in club history. They went to Kansas as massive underdogs and held their own. Going 1-1-1 in the group stage with their tie being against the eventual National Champions. They were the only team not to lose to the champions. Missmer’s team needed to do a lot of winning to make it to Kansas. “I told our girls our goal is to make a final; and then when you make a final, you don’t play a final. You win a final.” This message has proven true as Missmer is a triple Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer Association State Cup Champion. Those also are the only three State Cups Western Lehigh has ever won as a club. He has achieved this success by challenging his girls. “I always tell my girls whether you are on the field for a minute or 90 minutes you have the ability to win or lose us the game. Oftentimes this season the girl who was out there for one minute was the spark our team needed.”
Missmer, someone who never had an interest in soccer has turned out to be one of the Lehigh Valley’s best soccer coaches recently. Czarnecki also said, “ I would say that Coach Mike has more knowledge and love for the game than any other coach I have played for. His passion is evident through the hours he puts in outside of practice.” Everywhere he has been he has taken a team and helped them to reach their full potential. He has become a triple State Cup Champion, a District Champion, and a mentor to all his players.
So what has been the secret?
Missmer highlighted the areas he focuses on as a coach. “Well, I don’t necessarily think I am doing anything differently than other coaches. However, you need to make your players know that you are a good guy. On and off the field. Second, make sure they know you care about them. Get them to realize they can talk to you about more than soccer.” Then get them to see you know what you’re doing as a coach. If they see you as a role model, respect you as a coach, and listen to you, you’re doing your job correctly.”
Missmer has taken an interesting path to success as a soccer coach; but it is one that he is glad he took. “I can’t thank George Romano enough for mentoring me and helping me become a better soccer coach.” Missmer has also taken numerous coaching classes to better understand the beautiful game of soccer. He often implements TOVO (TOtaal VOetbal.) methods into his practices and focuses on breaking down the game to where he and his team understand it versus heavy tactical sessions. TOVO is a training program developed by Todd Beane, the son in law of Dutch soccer legend Johan Cruyff. Missmer worked with Beane at TOVO camps to help his development as a coach. He has since taken over a 2010 and 2014 girls team at Western Lehigh and hopes to create many memories with them like he did with his 2007 team. He plans to create the same culture and environment with these teams and will continue to preach his message of “Character beats talent all the time” to those girls.
