Senior leaders are all-stars in more than just soccer

Leadership and commitment to things larger than themselves mark NOW Newspapers/Milwaukee Wave All-Stars Gabe Genovesi of Homestead and Jared Schnoll of Nicolet.

The two will play for the East squad, along with Shorewood's Chris Kartheiser, in the second annual senior All-Star game Saturday at the U.S. Cellular Arena in Milwaukee following the Wave's 6 p.m. contest with the Baltimore Blast.

Organizes drives for needy

Genovesi, a fast-moving midfielder, who is also an all-state 400-meter runner for the North Shore Conference champion Highlanders track team, was an honorable mention all-state selection who has committed to NCAA Division I soccer runner-up Akron.

But that's just scratching the surface of his accomplishments.

He also helped organize a successful sock drive for the Sojourner House in Milwaukee last fall and is currently working on another project that would provide shoes for the less fortunate. On March 20, the Wave will help out Genovesi and other students as they hold a soccer shoe collection for the organization One World Running. A similar drive will be held at Homestead during the North Shore Conference Indoor meet March 31.

Genovesi said that the owner of the Wave, Jim Lindenberg, has been kind enough to offset some of the shipping costs (to the organization's offices in Colorado). Genovesi and other project organizers are trying to raise additional funds to further defray those costs.

For more information, people can go to oneworldrunning.com.

And this doesn't even touch the considerable soccer skills of the four-year starter, said Highlanders coach Rich Dorn.

"Just terribly gifted," said Dorn. "He has a rare combination of endurance, speed and quickness. He has enormous ability to just run all day or be explosive and fast at a moment's notice. He's really all of those things. And the thing is, he really hasn't applied himself in the weight room yet. When he starts doing things like that, he will be just amazing. He has tremendous upside. I believe he's just scratching the surface.

"He's really someone that people need to look at. A good student, a phenomenal athlete and a person with a good heart. A good human being."

Leading by example

That kind of maturity also marks Schnoll, a hard-working defender for the WIAA sectional qualifying Nicolet team.

"What he brings to the game is a great intelligence," said first-year Knights coach Brian Weisse. "He sees things before they happen. This being my first year, he was a big help because he was such a strong leader. I can't tell you how big a help he was. He was able to express himself to the team and also lead by example.

"From a physical standpoint, he's also pretty tall and strong so he can muscle up and win a lot of head balls and he also made some highly intelligent and productive runs up from the back that made us all the more dangerous."

But the really neat thing about Schnoll, said Weisse, is the way he worked with him and assistant coach Tony Quintero (who's also the Nicolet head girls coach) as almost another member of the staff. That quality has led to a promotion of sorts for Schnoll.

"He's expressed an interest, and we've asked him to be manager of the girls team in the spring," Weisse said, "because we (Quintero and himself) feel that Jared could have a real future in coaching. Often the three of us would find ourselves talking together long after a match.

"Just very mature for his age."