Cogsville Finds the Going Slow With Sockers

Being a rookie can mean standing around in your street clothes eating a sandwich while your teammates warm up for a game.

It can mean sitting in some obscure seat in the upper level of the arena, watching your teammates struggle to win a game.

It is a game in itself. A mind game. A frustrating one.

Donald Cogsville, 24, is a rookie defender on the Sockers. Indoor soccer is a tricky game, and to him, a new game.

He hasn’t had to think, second guess and wonder this much since 1984, his freshman year at the University of North Carolina. He caught on to college soccer soon enough and proceeded to lead the Tar Heels to the NCAA final four in 1987. Twice, he was named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference first team, as a defender in 1987 and a forward in 1988.

But now, just a few months after the Sockers made him their top draft choice, Donald Cogsville is crawling again, searching for the knowledge and confidence he needs to take his first steps toward becoming a mature player in the Major Indoor Soccer League. Therein lies the frustration.

“Admittedly, it is frustrating,” Cogsville says. “It has probably been a little more frustrating the past few weeks, because I’m beginning to realize how much it really does take to be a good player in this league.”

Largely because of injuries, Cogsville played in all of the first 13 games, starting two. His only real weapon seemed to be enthusiasm, apparent from the look of concentration etched on his face. But his game had no grace or style. He wasn’t sure of where he should be or why he should be there. Each time he was given the ball, it was a mental chore to figure out what he should do with it.

He has not suited up the past six games. Because the Sockers have stumbled to a 9-10 start, and because they have players who are more in tune with the system, there isn’t much game time to be passed around. So Cogsville will have to sit and be patient.

“I felt that he might be another Kevin (Crow),” Socker Coach Ron Newman says. “But he’s not quite as subtle as Kevin. Don’s more like a bull in a China shop. We’ve got to kind of settle him down and control his energies.”

Both Crow, the league’s defender of the year the past two seasons, and defender George Fernandez, who holds a team record of 99 consecutive games played, are quick to admit they jumped their fair share of hurdles during the beginning.

“It took me three to four months to get to the point where you feel you’ve been playing the game for a long time,” Crow says. “I constantly, for a year and a half to two years, did nothing but pick the brains of the veteran players.”

Says Fernandez: “I’ve been there. It’s tough. It’s very frustrating. He’s probably saying to himself, ‘I should be out there.’ ”

But really, he knows he shouldn’t be. Cogsville isn’t bitter about his lack of playing time because he realizes this is somewhat of an education period. He will watch and learn. The veterans and coaches will watch and teach.

“He’s got all that lovely athletic ability,” Newman says. “Now is the time for him to just roll up his sleeves and get as much out of practice as he can.”

Working hard is a logical step for Cogsville, who comes from a family of movers and shakers. He grew up in Trenton, N.J., and his mother, Carol, who died when Donald was a senior in high school, taught him the importance of education and cultural awareness. Donald recalls that she never wasted a minute. She was always reading books or writing down her liberal opinions in letters to the editors of the local newspapers. When she watched television, it was always PBS.

“I’ve never met anyone like her,” Cogsville says. “I always say, when I get to be rich, there’s going to be some memorial for her.”

Equally important to Cogsville’s development was the influence of his father, Donald Sr., an urban developer in Harlem, N.Y. A small school All-American at Mt. Union College in Ohio, Donald Sr. spent much of his spare time studying unique training methods and teaching them to Donald, who obviously reaped the benefits, as evidenced by the well-conditioned 195 pounds on his 6-foot-2 frame. “He’s my inspiration,” Donald says. “I’ve never met anyone who understands athletes as much as he does.”

Certainly, there is more to their relationship than just athletics. Donald says his father is a man with dreams and visions. His work to improve the state of living in Harlem has rubbed off.

Perhaps it is the combination of his parents’ influence and his East Coast background that allows and encourages Cogsville to continually think beyond the game of soccer. He is not a one-track person but rather someone who appears at ease conversing on a wide variety of subjects, including theater, modeling and art. For that reason, he’ll never stay away from New York for too long.

“You’re always a subway stop away from something cultural,” he says. “The Guggenheim, the Metropolitan Museum, Broadway . . . I love all that stuff.

“New York’s always calling me. That’s where my vitality is. That’s where I feel like I’m alive.”

If soccer doesn’t work out, theater is his next choice. He gets the same adrenaline rush acting in front of an audience as he does playing soccer. Cogsville doesn’t exactly have false expectations. He is well aware that most actors practice their trade after taking orders and serving meals.

Come to think of it, maybe acting isn’t for him.

“I admit I can’t be a starving actor in New York,” he says. “Waiting tables is not for me.”

What is? Well, for the time being, his focus will be soccer. He’ll try to do all those things on the field that he is being told to do. Take shorter strides. Make better decisions. Get rid of the ball quicker.

The outdoor game comes so easily to him now. He’s hoping that this altered version will begin to make sense before the end of this season, as it did for Crow and Fernandez. Time will be the keeper.

We’re not talking about someone who will go at this with a “Oh-well, we’ll-see-what-happens” attitude. Cogsville has had a little extra desire ever since he was left off a youth all-star team at the age of 12.

He says he clearly deserved to make the team and never imagined he wouldn’t. It seems there are always politics involved in these things, and the new guy in the area doesn’t necessarily get recognized no matter how many goals he scores. A kid doesn’t always understand these things. A father does.

“He already had his speech prepared,” Cogsville says.

The speech was simple. Donald Sr. told him he would always have to be a head better than everybody else if he was to succeed.

So, under his father’s supervision, Cogsville ran sprints, jumped rope and even enrolled in a gymnastics class to help his agility.

The next season he led the league in scoring. He made the all-star team.

Now, he is starting over again, a head behind everyone else. But his confidence hasn’t slipped.

“I am confident that I can be a great player in this league,” he says. “I’ve had to go through some tough times in soccer and it has always been my faith in myself that has brought me through. I just want to reach my potential, whatever that may be. I won’t be satisfied until I do.”