Tuesday, August 1st, 2024 – Westfield, IN: Mark Webber, a long-time soccer player, coach, and administrator, who is enthusiastic about the adult game, recently agreed to serve as Indiana Soccer’s Adult Commissioner.
John Mitchell, who served as Indiana Soccer’s adult commissioner for several years, announced his desire to retire as the adult commissioner last year. Indiana Soccer began to look for someone with the passion and skillsets necessary to expand Indiana Soccer’s services to the adult player. In keeping with this desire to retire, John retired at the end of July 2024 and fortunately for all of us, Mark Webber agreed to serve as the new Indiana Soccer’s adult commissioner.
Mark begins his tenure as the adult commissioner on August 1, 2024. Mark comes into this role with an extensive and quite comprehensive soccer resume. “I am thrilled that Mark agreed to step into this most significant role. I very much look forward to working with Mark to expand and elevate the adult game in Indiana.” stated Dave Guthrie, Indiana Soccer’s Executive Director. Guthrie further stated: “I am confident that Mark will deliver extensive value to the Indiana Soccer staff as he focuses on the adult, soccer playing membership.”
“Soccer has been a part of my life since I was 5 years old – I have had the good fortune of experiencing the game at multiple levels in multiple locations nationally and internationally. My ultimate goal of working in soccer and with the state association is to share my love of the game and increase the availability of the game to all that want to play statewide” stated Webber.
Mark has been a part of the Indiana Soccer family for many years and many of you already know Webber, however a summary of his bio is included below which will allow those that don’t already know Mark to begin to know him and for those of us that do know him, a chance to know him better.
About Mark Webber
Born in Illinois, Webber’s family moved to Europe and Africa due to his parents’ work at 5 years old. The next 10 years were spent in Switzerland, Sweden, and South Africa. This is where his love for soccer began. He started playing for various school teams and migrated to some more serious clubs heading into his teen years. He played in the junior programs of pro teams Djurgardens Idrottsforening in Sweden and Servette FC in Switzerland. He credits time with youth coach and England international Martin Chivers at Servettte FC for developing a competitive intensity and a deep desire to learn everything possible about the game. Webber commented that the passion and desire to play soccer in Europe was infectious- “we played on every lunch break and every day after school; even on days we had club training. The kids in Europe had a ball at their feet constantly, the parks and fields were full of pick-up games every day that involved every age.”
Webber and his family moved back to central Illinois for Mark’s high school years, and he played travel soccer and high school soccer out of Peoria, Illinois. At that time, the travel players refereed and coached the youth rec leagues to pay for their own tournament travel. This was Mark’s first introduction to the administrative and business side of the game. Webber began to coach and work at local summer soccer camps at age 16.
College years were spent at Northern Illinois University and Augustana College. Webber played soccer at both schools and captained the Augustana team to the most wins in school history. Webber also attended the University of Illinois to obtain a master’s degree in business administration.
Webber started his professional business career working for Montgomery/Kone Elevator Company in San Jose, CA. “One of the first things I did when I moved to California was visit the local soccer store and find out how to land on a local adult soccer team” stated Webber. The soccer scene in San Jose was highly active and time was spent playing with two local clubs and doing some fill-in youth coaching for DeAnza United. “Socially, soccer provided a great way to meet people in a new place where I knew no one” stated Webber.
Webber relocated to central Indiana and once again contacted the local soccer store to learn about the local adult soccer scene. An introduction to the Carson family occurred and subsequently, Webber found adult teams. Since moving to central Indiana, Webber has played on multiple teams in CIASA and at Off the Wall Sports Complex in Carmel and continues to play. When children became part of Webber’s life- he began coaching at ZYSA rec and First Baptist Rec before moving to Carmel United. Webber coached off-and-on at Carmel United for 10 years under the support of locally and nationally recognized coaching directors Russel Gee, John Simmonds, and Joe Sochacki.
Webber accepted the role of Executive Director in the fall of 2013 with Westfield Youth Soccer Association with the objective of moving the program to the Grand Park Sports Complex. WYSA officially started games, training, and tournaments at Grand Park in the Spring of 2014, and merged with Carmel United under the guidance of MLS club Chicago Fire – forming Indiana Fire Juniors in May of 2014. Webber still works in this role today, now called Indy Eleven Academy.
You can contact Mark at mark@soccerindiana.org.