Tsawwassen's Mark Rogers recently added another chapter to his soccer life, serving as interim assistant coach with the national men's team.
"Obviously getting an opportunity to play for my country was a big highlight of my professional life.
Getting an opportunity to coach was right up there," Rogers said. "It's one of my favourite soccer moments in my life. It's something that nobody can take away from you."
Rogers said he got a call from men's national interim head coach Colin Miller just prior to Christmas about the role and jumped at the opportunity.
"It's sort of a position you can't say no to as a Canadian."
The national team faced Denmark in Tucson and the U.S. in Houston last month in a pair of international friendlies. After being defeated 4-0 by Denmark the group held the Americans to a scoreless draw.
New technical director Tony Fonseca picked a young and inexperienced squad, Rogers said, adding that was a good move.
"It was an opportunity for some of those young guys to get on-the-job training. Whereas traditionally we've had very veteran and experienced teams but it hasn't gotten us as far over the last 20 years as we'd want."
He said it's important the young players get a chance to play against some of the world's best players to see what they're up against.
Rogers said he thought the game against Denmark was an eye-opener for some players but how they responded against the U.S. will only help them down the road.
"To get a draw against a team of that caliber with such a young side was very pleasing from a coaching standpoint."
The national men's side has another friendly scheduled against Japan in Doha, Qatar in March but Rogers said he's unsure whether he'll be helping coach the team for that game, noting it depends whether the Canadian Soccer Association has hired someone by then.
Asked about the possibility of his interim tag being removed, Rogers said it would be a hard opportunity to turn down but he would have to take his young family into account.
Rogers got started with coaching as an assistant under Mike Mosher with the UBC Thunderbirds men's team, helping the squad win two national championships, after retiring from his professional playing career.
He served as head coach of the UBC women's team from 2010 until last November.
Rogers played two seasons with UBC before continuing a successful career in England with the Wycombe Wanderers and later with Stevenage Borough.
He was also part of the Canadian men's national team from 2000 to 2003, earning eight caps for his country and winning a bronze medal at the 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
He was inducted into the Delta Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.
Rogers is the technical director with the Tsawwassen Soccer Club.
"It's something I'd like to continue doing. I think what we're doing in this little town is great as far as helping young players develop," he said, adding that it feels good to be involved in his local community.
