ISU women’s soccer coach Tony Minatta’s military background gave the team inspiration to train at Camp Dodge, which shaped its outlook of the season.

Minatta spent four years as an infantry marine, 13 months of which was spent at sea. When he got back to America, his father, who was the head of the soccer club at Fort Collins, asked him if he wanted to coach a soccer team.

“For me, I missed the camaraderie and the leadership of being in the Marine Corps,” Minatta said. “I was an infantry squad leader, so I was to train my team to go out and fight in combat, so [soccer] was a great outlet because I was now training a bunch of kids to be able to play soccer to take the field and compete.”

The road eventually led to Iowa State. As a head coach, Minatta took his team to Camp Dodge, a military installation, which put the Cyclones through an obstacle course that taught teamwork and communication.

“For me, the structure, discipline, all of those things lend to you being successful, so I implement a lot of that into what we do as a team,” Minatta said.

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