Devon Holstad
Summer Writer

As new Forest Lake boys soccer coach Aaron Tilsen takes over the program, all eyes will be focused on the future. Recent seasons have shown that Tilsen will definitely have his work cut out for him, but with 10 years of high school coaching experience, he is up for the challenge.

Tilsen, originally from St. Paul, has coached all around the metro area, spending three years as an assistant at St. Paul Central High School, four years as head coach at Robbinsdale Cooper, two years as head coach at Spring Lake Park, and coaching last year as an assistant at Bloomington Jefferson. He is also Director of Coaching for the Twin Cities Fire Soccer Club.

Coaching at four different high schools in 10 years has no doubt helped Tilsen learn to adapt to new surroundings quickly, but he also understands the difficulty involved for everybody when undergoing a major coaching change.

“(The players) are all new to me so I am sure there will be some growing pains,” he said.

While Tilsen believes that in the future the team can compete for both the conference and section championships, he has set simpler goals for the immediate future.

“This season’s goals are just to create an atmosphere of scoring goals and training hard,” he said. “I am thinking that we will win 3-6 games and hopefully advance to the second round of the playoffs. Anything more would be great.”

To achieve that, Tilsen’s plan is to “create an organized and competitive program,” he said, with “players who want to compete against some of the best in the state...Players are going to be pushed daily and hopefully will buy into the idea of working hard and competing every day.”

The toughest part for Tilsen, however, will be “getting everyone used to my expectations and getting to know a new bunch of kids.” He added, “we are hoping to make the program as strong as possible and everyone in the community understands the hard work and dedication it takes for a player to make the varsity team at Forest Lake. Just making the team will be difficult and each of (the players) are winners just for competing every day.”

Tilsen is confident that with the right attitude and determination from all the players, parents and fans, the boys soccer team can have a bright future.

“Once we are all out on the fields together it will be fun and everything will fall into place.”

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