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Perry Van der Beck
	Perry Van der Beck
Personal information
Full name	Perry Van der Beck
Date of birth	November 5, 1959 (age 50)
Place of birth	East St. Louis, Illinois, United States
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior career1
National team
Teams managed
1996-1997; 1998-2001; 2001	Tampa Bay Terror; Tampa Bay Mutiny (assistant); Tampa Bay Mutiny
	1 Senior club appearances and goals; counted for the domestic league only.; * Appearances (Goals)

Perry Van der Beck (born November 5, 1959 in East St. Louis, Illinois) is a retired U.S. soccer midfielder and coach. He began his career with the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the North American Soccer League and ended it with the Tampa Bay Terror of the indoor National Professional Soccer League. He also earned twenty-three caps, scoring two goals, with the U.S. national team between 1979 and 1985. In June 2008, Van der Beck was hired as the technical director and youth director of the new Tampa Bay Rowdies organization.

[edit] NASL

In 1978, the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the North American Soccer League (NASL) drafted Perry Van der Beck out of high school. At the time he was the youngest native born American playing professional soccer. He was also the first American drafted out of high school. Despite his youth and relative inexperience when he joined the Rowdies, he gradually worked himself into becoming a significant contributor to the team. At the time, the Rowdies were a major team in the NASL. In both 1978 and 1979, they made it to the championship game.

In 1983, Van der Beck played with Team America during its dismal single season. USSF wanted to combine all the dominant U.S. players in NASL onto one team to give them an opportunity to develop, as well as to create publicity for the national team. While the concept attracted the support of Van der Beck and some other U.S. players, it was viewed with suspicion by many others, such as Rick Davis. Team America went 10-20 and folded after the 1983 season. Van der Beck then returned to the Rowdies for a single season.

During his time with the Rowdies, the NASL had played both an indoor as well as its more well known outdoor seasons. However, the NASL was at heart an outdoor league and when the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) began operation, it quickly took over the indoor soccer market. By the time Van der Beck had returned to the Rowdies in 1984, the NASL was on its last legs and in 1985, Van Der Beck left the team to follow former Rowdies coach Gordon Jago to the Dallas Sidekicks of the MISL.

[edit] MISL

Van der Beck remained with the Sidekicks for three seasons, caping his time with the team by winning the MISL championship in 1987. On July 4, 1987, the Sidekicks announced they would not renew Van der Beck's contract and he became a free agent. On August 11, 1987, he signed with the St. Louis Steamers. He then moved, sometime later, to the Wichita Wings.

[edit] NPSL

He served as the player/coach with the Tampa Bay Terror of the National Professional Soccer League during the 1996-1997 season.

[edit] Coaching

At the end of the season, he retired from playing and joined the Tampa Bay Mutiny of Major League Soccer (MLS) as an assistant coach for the 1998 season. In 2001, he became the head coach of the Mutiny for its last 11 games of the team's existence when then head coach, Alfonso Mondelo was fired. While assistant coach of the Mutiny, he also coached the Northdale Rangers of the Florida Youth Soccer Association to three State Cups and the 1998 Region III Cup. After MLS shut down the Mutiny at the end of the 2001 season, Van Der Beck replace Peter Vermes as the Super Y-League Olympic Development Program National Camp Technical Director.

[edit] National team

In 1979, Van der Beck played his first game with the U.S. national team. He would go on to earn 23 caps, scoring two goals with the team. He was an integral part in the U.S. failed attempts to qualify for the 1982 and 1986 FIFA World Cups.

In 1980, he would have been the captain of the U.S. soccer team at the 1980 Summer Olympics. Despite qualifying for the tournament, the U.S. did not send a team to Moscow when President Jimmy Carter organized a boycott of the games in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

In 1985, Van der Beck was selected the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year.

Van der Beck served on the US Soccer Board of Directors from 1986-93.

He has also worked as a loan officer for Harborside Mortgage in Clearwater, Florida.

[edit] References

Perry Van der Beck at National-Football-Teams.com
NASL/MISL stats

Preceded by Rick Davis	U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year 1985	Succeeded by Paul Caligiuri