By Ron Rop
LocalSportsJournal.com
If the top priority of high school sports is to have fun, there’s no argument that Kaden Peggar has his priorities straight.
Peggar, the senior goalkeeper for the highly ranked Western Michigan Christian Warrior soccer team, is having a ball this season. He’s the last line of defense for a Warrior team that is once-defeated and ranked No. 2 in Division 2 for much of the season. The only loss was a 1-0 defeat at the hands of state-ranked Holland, which competes in Division 2.
WM Christian came into the season with high hopes of a successful campaign and having Peggar join the team this season was icing on the cake. Peggar has been playing club soccer since the age of 8.
But the call to join the Warrior kept getting louder and louder from his friends at WMC, including a group of friends he’s known since pre-school at Grand Haven Christian, where he attended through the seventh grade. After a year of home-schooling, Peggar, 17, moved on to WMC, but he didn’t join the Warriors’ storied program until this season.
“It is a lot of fun,” said Peggar. “We have a good team this year, a lot of good boys and a lot of friends. It’s been a blast so far.”
For nearly 10 years, Peggar has been playing soccer and growing friendships with the nucleus of this year’s senior-laden team. When that group reached high school, Peggar was playing MLS Next out of Grand Rapids.
“I had to come back for my senior year,” he said. “One last season with the boys.”
Finally, that group of friends convinced him that wearing the green and white jersey this season could be something special.
“They’ve been trying to talk me into it for years,” Peggar said. “They’ve been begging me to join the team and for my senior year, I gave in.”
Peggar quickly rattles off the names of those who were the most convincing in getting him to make the move - Braedon Hoffman, Tyson Annema, Carter Heimiller and Mason Bonnema. And guys like Peter Brink and Annema were two of Peggar’s first buddies way back in pre-school.
“These guys I’m in school with all day and I’ve known them since I was young,” Peggar said. “This is for the boys and you just love them a lot more.”
“They been on him for about 3 years,” said Buursma. “Finally, he felt like he was ready to make the transition and everybody on this team is ecstatic that he made that choice.”
The move also eliminated the need to drive an hour to Grand Rapids for practice. Not when you can walk out the back door of the school and right onto Warrior Field, where the team is greeted by the raucous student section that comes to every game to cheer on the Warriors.
“There are positives and negatives to playing (club over high school),” said Peggar. “I kind of wish I’d played one year earlier, my junior year, because I was at the North Muskegon game last year and it hurt me a little bit. Now, playing this year, I feel like I can make a difference.” A year ago, the Warriors were eliminated by the Norsemen in districts.
And now the Warriors are banking on the 6-2, 195-pounder to bring that experience to the Warriors in their quest for another state title.
“One of the most important things he brings is his poise and his understanding and just patience in the box,” said Warrior coach Ben Buursma. “He will wait until he knows the trajectory of the shot ... he’s made half a dozen saves where any other keeper I’ve seen would have gone initially and he’s reading it so well. He sees a deflection coming and he anticipates it. He’s going to come up big for us.
“He’s huge, he’s mobile and he owns the box,” said Buursma. “I’m excited about what he brings to the team and what he’s going to be able to help Colin (Van Bruggen).”
Van Bruggen was the Warriors’ No. 1 goalkeeper a year ago as a freshman. With the addition of Peggar, Van Bruggen has stepped back into the starting keeper for the jayvee team with some minutes on varsity.
“He’s learned a lot very fast,” said Peggar, who has taken him under his wing and taught him some of the finer points of protecting the net. “I have a lot of experience and for him to tag along is really good for him.”
“This is a great situation for Colin,” Buursma said. “He not only has varsity experience under his belt, but he has the chance to have an experience, older, larger, more mobile goalkeeper ... an ideal to shoot for. This is an amazing learning opportunity for him and it will only serve to help him in the future.”
The Warriors being an independent means Buursma can schedule plenty of quality opponents throughout the season.
Against ranked opponents, the Warriors are 6-1-1 with victories over Division 2 teams in Hudsonville Unity Christian, NorthPointe Christian and Grand Rapids Covenant Christian (twice). WMC tied Division 3 Elk Rapids and defeated a pair of highly ranked Division 4 teams in Leland and Kalamazoo Christian. They played a strong game the loss to Holland, which is ranked in the Top 10 in Division 2.
Another quality opponent was Allendale in which WMC won 2-1 with Peggar being singled out with his “8 or 9” quality saves, including several full extensions and breakaways, to preserve the narrow victory. And as an added bonus, Peggar played club soccer with a handful of Falcon players.
“After the Allendale game he was very expressive about how much fun he was having with the boys,” Buursma said. “It’s been a good fit. They are friends in school, but didn’t play on the same team.”
“We have a ton of seniors and very few weak spots,” Peggar said. “One thing about this team is that anyone can score and that is huge for a team. And we have guys who can step up and rotate. The back looks good. We’re very good at talking and being organized. I scream a lot at my guys, but they know I love them. Just to keep them at the standard and I think it’s been good all around.”
LocalSportsJournal.com
If the top priority of high school sports is to have fun, there’s no argument that Kaden Peggar has his priorities straight.
Peggar, the senior goalkeeper for the highly ranked Western Michigan Christian Warrior soccer team, is having a ball this season. He’s the last line of defense for a Warrior team that is once-defeated and ranked No. 2 in Division 2 for much of the season. The only loss was a 1-0 defeat at the hands of state-ranked Holland, which competes in Division 2.
WM Christian came into the season with high hopes of a successful campaign and having Peggar join the team this season was icing on the cake. Peggar has been playing club soccer since the age of 8.
But the call to join the Warrior kept getting louder and louder from his friends at WMC, including a group of friends he’s known since pre-school at Grand Haven Christian, where he attended through the seventh grade. After a year of home-schooling, Peggar, 17, moved on to WMC, but he didn’t join the Warriors’ storied program until this season.
“It is a lot of fun,” said Peggar. “We have a good team this year, a lot of good boys and a lot of friends. It’s been a blast so far.”
For nearly 10 years, Peggar has been playing soccer and growing friendships with the nucleus of this year’s senior-laden team. When that group reached high school, Peggar was playing MLS Next out of Grand Rapids.
“I had to come back for my senior year,” he said. “One last season with the boys.”
Finally, that group of friends convinced him that wearing the green and white jersey this season could be something special.
“They’ve been trying to talk me into it for years,” Peggar said. “They’ve been begging me to join the team and for my senior year, I gave in.”
Peggar quickly rattles off the names of those who were the most convincing in getting him to make the move - Braedon Hoffman, Tyson Annema, Carter Heimiller and Mason Bonnema. And guys like Peter Brink and Annema were two of Peggar’s first buddies way back in pre-school.
“These guys I’m in school with all day and I’ve known them since I was young,” Peggar said. “This is for the boys and you just love them a lot more.”
“They been on him for about 3 years,” said Buursma. “Finally, he felt like he was ready to make the transition and everybody on this team is ecstatic that he made that choice.”
The move also eliminated the need to drive an hour to Grand Rapids for practice. Not when you can walk out the back door of the school and right onto Warrior Field, where the team is greeted by the raucous student section that comes to every game to cheer on the Warriors.
“There are positives and negatives to playing (club over high school),” said Peggar. “I kind of wish I’d played one year earlier, my junior year, because I was at the North Muskegon game last year and it hurt me a little bit. Now, playing this year, I feel like I can make a difference.” A year ago, the Warriors were eliminated by the Norsemen in districts.
And now the Warriors are banking on the 6-2, 195-pounder to bring that experience to the Warriors in their quest for another state title.
“One of the most important things he brings is his poise and his understanding and just patience in the box,” said Warrior coach Ben Buursma. “He will wait until he knows the trajectory of the shot ... he’s made half a dozen saves where any other keeper I’ve seen would have gone initially and he’s reading it so well. He sees a deflection coming and he anticipates it. He’s going to come up big for us.
“He’s huge, he’s mobile and he owns the box,” said Buursma. “I’m excited about what he brings to the team and what he’s going to be able to help Colin (Van Bruggen).”
Van Bruggen was the Warriors’ No. 1 goalkeeper a year ago as a freshman. With the addition of Peggar, Van Bruggen has stepped back into the starting keeper for the jayvee team with some minutes on varsity.
“He’s learned a lot very fast,” said Peggar, who has taken him under his wing and taught him some of the finer points of protecting the net. “I have a lot of experience and for him to tag along is really good for him.”
“This is a great situation for Colin,” Buursma said. “He not only has varsity experience under his belt, but he has the chance to have an experience, older, larger, more mobile goalkeeper ... an ideal to shoot for. This is an amazing learning opportunity for him and it will only serve to help him in the future.”
The Warriors being an independent means Buursma can schedule plenty of quality opponents throughout the season.
Against ranked opponents, the Warriors are 6-1-1 with victories over Division 2 teams in Hudsonville Unity Christian, NorthPointe Christian and Grand Rapids Covenant Christian (twice). WMC tied Division 3 Elk Rapids and defeated a pair of highly ranked Division 4 teams in Leland and Kalamazoo Christian. They played a strong game the loss to Holland, which is ranked in the Top 10 in Division 2.
Another quality opponent was Allendale in which WMC won 2-1 with Peggar being singled out with his “8 or 9” quality saves, including several full extensions and breakaways, to preserve the narrow victory. And as an added bonus, Peggar played club soccer with a handful of Falcon players.
“After the Allendale game he was very expressive about how much fun he was having with the boys,” Buursma said. “It’s been a good fit. They are friends in school, but didn’t play on the same team.”
“We have a ton of seniors and very few weak spots,” Peggar said. “One thing about this team is that anyone can score and that is huge for a team. And we have guys who can step up and rotate. The back looks good. We’re very good at talking and being organized. I scream a lot at my guys, but they know I love them. Just to keep them at the standard and I think it’s been good all around.”
––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
https://www.legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available
