Kris & Jake Kelderman: A Panther Family Affair
 
If you have children and your world revolves around athletics in any way, then "coaching the kids" is probably something that has been done at one point or another. Coaching your own child can be a wonderful, fun experience. It can also be a challenging situation that carries over into more than what was expected at the start.
 
It's been done all the way up to the professional levels: Yogi Berra and his son Dale with the Yankees in 1985. Bill and Kevin Dineen did the same in the NHL with the Flyers in 1991. Most recently, Austin Rivers became the first in the NBA, playing for father, Doc, in 2015 with the Clippers. Cal Ripken, Sr. actually coached two of his sons in Major League Baseball, directing Cal Jr., and Billy Ripken on the Baltimore Orioles roster in the late 1980's.
 
A son playing for his dad always brings interesting dynamics. There are good and bad parts to it, but the good seem to outweigh the bad. The Milwaukee Panthers men's soccer team has seen this play out over the past four years, as Jake Kelderman joined the roster of his father's team in the Fall of 2016.
 
Kris Kelderman has been the coach of the Panthers since the 2012 season, with another successful campaign added to his resume last fall when MKE finished 10-6-4, seeing the year come to a close as runner-up in the Horizon League Tournament Championship.
 
For starters and more background information on the two, Jake had quite the soccer shadow to grow up in. Kris was a two-time state champion and the Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the Year in 1986 at Neenah High School while actually playing for his own father, Harry.
 
Next, he was a two-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference performer at the University of Virginia and helped the Cavaliers win the National Championship in 1989, closing out his career in the top-10 in both career points and assists in Virginia's record books. He then spent four seasons in the MLS.
 
He has won championships as a player at the high school, college, and professional levels and was inducted into the Wisconsin State Soccer Association Hall of Fame in March 2010.
 
No pressure, right?
 
Needless to say, it was easy for Jake to be around soccer.
 
"When he was younger, soccer was always first," Kris said. "With me being a soccer guy and my wife playing soccer in college as well (mother Ellen played at Virginia), I think the first ball that he touched was a soccer ball. He was probably kicking a ball before he could throw a ball."
 
Soccer wasn't the only sport stressed in the Kelderman household, however. Jake played numerous sports, not focusing on soccer until well into high school.
 
"When he was younger, he played baseball, he played basketball," Kris said. "Ellen and I both made a point to make sure he enjoyed doing it. We introduced him to several sports because one sport helps you with another one and another one … it's just overall athleticism. Soccer has always been a favorite of his since day one but he played other sports up until it was that time to specialize."
 
"At the beginning I played a bunch of different sports, but I have been playing soccer as long as I can remember," Jake said. "There are even videos of me as a toddler kicking a ball around."
 
But organized soccer did start early. Kris recalls Jake playing at the first opportunity he could get, probably around six or seven years old. Jake, now a defender for the Panthers and key piece of a defense that was ranked No. 1 in the Horizon League last fall, has fond memories of those early days.
 
"I remember I was a striker and I loved scoring goals," Jake said. "My dad would ask me 'what is life all about' and I would answer 'scoring goals'."
 
Interestingly enough, schedules never allowed Kris to coach Jake at those early levels. His coaching career kept him very busy, which meant Jake was technically learning the biggest chunk of the game from other coaches.
 
"I was always his coach in the backyard," Kris said. "But when he started having team practices, I wasn't involved in it. At that time, I was coaching myself, so it was tough to commit to that. And it was good for him to experience another authoritative figure on the field and be involved with it without me being involved."
 
Jake remembers it the same way.
 
"He would be my coach in the backyard, helping me out with a lot of things to improve my game," he recalled.
 
Jake continued to play soccer, eventually reaching at the high school level at Nicolet. He earned First-Team All-North Shore Conference honors while there, also getting named to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel All-Area Second Team as a senior. In addition, he played four seasons of club soccer with the Milwaukee Bavarians. All of that soccer provided numerous memories for the pair.
 
"The first thing that comes to mind from prior to college was when I coached his U19 team with the Milwaukee Bavarians and we won a state championship that year," Kris said. "That was a big highlight. I knew a bunch of his buddies on the team and a handful of those guys have even played for me at UWM. Winning a state championship in club soccer is a big deal. It was something that group was unable to achieve until that point and being a part of that and sharing it with your son, was a special season."
 
Jake agreed, both landing on that same special time in their lives.
 
"We had gotten close the prior three years, but finally got the job done," he said. "And I managed to score a goal in the final as well (a 3-0 win)."
 
That led to his college career, which actually began with a redshirt season in 2016. His freshman year saw him make 12 starts in 15 appearances, playing well enough to get named to the Horizon League All-Freshman Team. He worked his way into the starting lineup by the second week of that 2017 season and has been there ever since.
 
Heading into what should have been his senior season in 2020, Jake had made 50 starts in 53 appearances in his customary spot on the back line. He has come up with some big goals over his career as well, finding the back of the net four times. His two goals last year were both huge – one helped spark the 2-1 comeback win over Marquette, leveling the contest at 1-1 on a 49^th-minute header. The other came in the season opener, putting home the game-winner in the 84^th minute of Milwaukee's 3-2 thriller over Western Illinois with a header off a corner kick.
 
The first time he took the field with a Panther uniform on came in the fall of 2016, playing all 45 minutes of the second half of an exhibition game against Parkside in late August before officially redshirting. He made the most of it, scoring the final goal of the 5-0 victory.
 
"I was probably more nervous than he was," Kris said. "His first game, that was pretty cool. He redshirted his first year so there was a wait. His second year he had his opportunity and has held a starting position since then. If memory serves me, he did very well that game and held onto that position ever since. It's natural nerves as a parent, in a game-situation, it was pretty special."
 
While Dad still recalls Jake's first "official" game, it's Jake who won't forget that time on the field against Parkside.
 
"It was awesome," he said. "For me, playing at UWM, playing Division I soccer for my dad was my goal all along. So, to finally get on the field, especially after redshirting, was a huge accomplishment for me. But that first goal, against Parkside. That was the only 45 minutes I played that year so I would tell everyone my goals-per-game average was 2.0! We had a corner kick and I was up for it. The ball managed to squeeze through a bunch of bodies on the ground and I was able to poke it in and catch the goalie off guard."
 
The process to get to that point took some time. Jake weighed his options but, for him, he seemed to always have his heart set on being a Panther.
 
"I feel like we didn't talk about it that much, but that was kind of like, I knew what I wanted to do," Jake said. "It was just a matter of needing to keep improving to prove that I was good enough."
 
Having played for his own dad in high school, Kris knew the pros and cons of the situation firsthand.
 
"We had a long talk – several of them – before he came to UWM and we talked about the things, the positives that come with a son playing for a father," he said. "And obviously, some challenges. Some things that may occur with what others or teammates are thinking when your dad is the coach and how to deal with that."
 
He was ready to take on that role, but always kept an open line of communication with Jake when it came to the process.
 
"We always emphasized to him to be open about the process because you never know what situation might be best for you," Kris said. "It can depend on what you are looking to study, location, opportunities for playing time, and things like that. I think he had an open mind and did explore some other options. At the end of the day, we were both comfortable with what would happen if he played at UWM."
 
With that came the balance of father/son. It hasn't been without its ups and downs, but both have certainly enjoyed the time together over the years.
 
"There are challenges in that relationship," Kris said. "There are times when I have to get after him and he probably gets the brunt of it. The reason this has worked has been due to him. He has accepted every part of it. Sometimes there are messages that need to get sent just to show there is no favoritism. I am sure it hasn't been easy for him at all times. He has to see me on nights and weekends when maybe his teammates get that 'escape'. Overall, the whole relationship between us at UWM has worked out really well."
 
Jake had the different viewpoint on the situation. He was competing among his peers and had to build a relationship with teammates that he did not know before stepping foot onto the UWM campus.
 
"In the very beginning there was a difference," Jake said. "I was the new guy, but over time and the guys got to know me and it hasn't been too bad. I was definitely worried about that, that I wasn't just on the team because of my dad. And then with playing time, I had to keep proving myself and help people overcome that."
 
Now four seasons into the process, the team has had a nice run of recent success. Last fall, the Panthers really clicked after the calendar turned to October, posting a 6-1-4 record from that point on, while closing the season on an eight-game unbeaten streak (5-0-3). Included in that was the 1-1 draw in the Horizon League Tournament Championship before falling in heartbreaking fashion in a penalty-kick shootout. The memories keep piling up.
 
"He scored a goal at home against Marquette," Kelderman started when asked of his favorite memory of Jake as a Panther. "Any time you have some success in scoring a goal – in a game you win – in front of such a large crowd when we play Marquette. He scored a very crucial goal in a 2-1 win, just the fact that he was able to help us win in a big game – that environment – with thousands of fans – as a defender and to do it on the offensive side – that was a big highlight for both of us."
 
Jake also had that goal at the top of his list, joining that initial goal he ever scored for the Panthers that was previously mentioned.
 
And here we are, entering the middle of September of what should have been Jake's senior year. Things are not all figured out yet for the current season and no one seems to know for sure what is coming next after all fall sports were officially cancelled in August.
 
"These past few weeks I have been busy trying to make decisions. I plan to stay in the spring and into the fall and start a graduate degree," Jake said.
 
Things got strange back in March, when the COVID pandemic shut most things down. That meant back to an old routine for the Kelderman household.
 
"He's been at home now," Kris said. "Not that it's very far away (from campus), but he came back in March like the rest of his classmates. Being home with him all day brings some challenges but also more opportunities to discuss aspects of his game as well as what to consider after he is done with school and our preparation for what is next. What will the preparation be for that? Thinking ahead, I know he has an interest in trying to play after his college career. And then the academic side as well. Will he stretch that out and have him go to grad school? There may not be a lot happening visually soccer-wise, but we are busy planning for his future."
 
For now, the future can wait. The present, when it gets here, will be Jake's senior season and the last hurrah in the father/son, coach/player relationship they have been involved in. Have either of them thought that far ahead?
 
"I really haven't thought about that yet," Jake said. "Hopefully we can end with a championship, that would be a great way to go out."
 
For the "dad" part of the equation, things weigh a little heavier.
 
"Time flies, I tell you," Kris said. "It feels like maybe two years and it's been almost five. I get that question a lot – what is it like to coach your son? I realize that I see him every day but don't necessarily get that chance to talk to him every day. I didn't even realize it would be like that. He shows up for practice, we jump right into it, maybe a team meeting … boom, boom, boom, he's one of 25 guys on the roster and I am focused on the group."
 
That carries over to when Kris arrives back at home as well.
 
"Some days I will come home and Ellen will ask 'how's Jake" and I will say 'I'm not sure', Kris laughed. "That was a little different than what I was expecting but certainly not complaining. It's been a lot of fun … I will certainly miss it when it's over."