Ben Sippola Introduction

Dear MN Futbol Blog Follower,

My name is Ben Sippola and I play for the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer. My family currently resides in Northfield, Minnesota and I happily call The Land of Ten Thousand Lakes home. I began playing soccer in the 2nd grade when my family moved from Brainerd, Minnesota to Fort Collins, Colorado. I always tell people "If it were not for the move to Colorado, I would have most likely ended up a hockey player." I simply started playing soccer because there was little, if any, organized youth hockey in Fort Collins, however there was tons of youth soccer and everyone played on the school playground. Naturally, I drifted with my friends outside of the frozen arena and onto the pitch of the beautiful game and have not been far from a soccer field since.

After a three year stint in Colorado, my family returned to Minnesota however this time to the suburbs of Minneapolis St. Paul where soccer was undoubtedly a growing and popular sport. I played most of my youth soccer with Mahtomedi Soccer Association and the rest with Bangu Tsunami. Throughout junior high and high school, I also played for a number of ODP state and regional teams.

After my sophomore year at Mahtomedi high school, my family moved to Northfield midway between my mom's new job in Prior Lake and Faribault's college preparatory school, Shattuck St. Mary's. I spent my junior and senior years at Shattuck and was part of the first ever boy's soccer team coached by Tim Carter and David Linenberger. My time spent at Shattuck was invaluable in my progression as a soccer player and undoubtedly prepared me for the demands of the collegiate level on and off the field. I graduated in 2007 and in August moved to Indianapolis, Indiana to attend Butler University.

For those of you unfamiliar with Butler, it is the school whose basketball team makes the final four every year. Since Brad Stevens would not accept me as a walk on for the basketball team, I took my talents to the Men's Soccer team, playing all four years under head coach Kelly Findley. I loved nearly every minute that I spent at Butler and could not have chosen a better university to earn an education from and play soccer for.

After my senior year in which my Butler team held an undefeated regular season record of 16-0-3 and an at large bid into the second round of the NCAA tournament, I was drafted to the Columbus Crew. Being only three hours from Indianapolis, I could not have been happier to be headed to Columbus to begin my pursuit and long time dream of playing professional soccer. After a three week trial in the months of January and February, I was offered a contract and signed in early February with the team.

As of now, I am working hard to earn a spot in the first team lineup and could not be more thankful for the opportunity to kick balls around for a living, at least for the meantime.

In my free time I enjoy fly-fishing and although I do love soccer, my real passion revolves around cold rivers and trout. I look forward to interacting with all of you Up North via MN Futbol Blog and for now I will sign out with the common fly fishing phrase,

Tight Lines,

Sip