Girl sport new uniforms to support breast cancer awareness

The Lady Wolverines soccer team will be sporting a new look for their last three home games of the season.
 Thanks to the sponsorship of five donors, who wish to remain anonymous, the girls will be wearing pink jerseys, black shorts, and pink socks since October is known as Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
 Coach Bernie Weldon had the idea to wear the pink jerseys last year, but was not able to finalize plans in time.
 So this year, with help of parent Sally Bouvia, he began working in June to find sponsorship and design the jersey. He contacted the IHSAA assistant director in June to make sure they still had approval.
 “While I worked on designing and sizing the jerseys with the players, Sally did a great job contacting and confirming sponsors to pay for the jerseys,” Weldon said of the group effort.
 Weldon said one thing that really motivated them to make this happen this year was because coach Trine Loenberg was diagnosed with breast cancer in the spring and underwent treatment through the summer and beginning of the soccer season.
 Weldon also commented, “One of our biggest challenges was trying to keep this a surprise from Trine.”
 During soccer practice on Wednesday, Sept. 25, the senior players presented Loenberg with her own jersey, while Weldon explained what it was for. Loenberg’s jersey has the number 9 on it, in honor of the number she used to wear as a young player.
 The jerseys do not have player’s names on them, so they will be able to be used in future years. They were able to secure enough funding to outfit both the JV and varsity teams.
 While Loenberg is relatively new to the area, she has dived head first into the soccer scene, and is already an integral part to the high school girls program. The affection and respect between Loenberg and the players was evident during the presentation of the jersey.
 Loenberg cites the girls as one of her biggest motivators during her recent battle with cancer. She found out in April of this year that she had stage 1 and stage 3 breast cancer, while helping out with soccer through the Weiser Rec department. She began her treatments in May, and even through everything, she made all the soccer practices and games.
 “Just by having this team, it made me have extra energy. The chemo made me very tired, but knowing I had practice got me out the door,” she said. “They have given me a lot. I have stayed positive through the treatment. Instead of six treatments, I had four. The cancer is gone.”
 Just a couple of weeks ago, Loenberg had surgery for the cancer, and went straight from the operating table to the bleachers, to see her girls play. “I told the girls to play the McCall game for me, and then I showed up,” she stated. “They brighten up my day.”
 Loenberg, who originally hails from Norway, moved to the U.S. and joined the Weiser community in February of 2019 after she got married and got her visa.
 Weiser has already worked its way into Loenberg’s heart.
 “I love Weiser. I love the people, because I come from a very small country that is very family orientated, and when you come to Weiser, the only thing you feel from everyone is love. Everyone has been so supportive. I feel like I’m home,” she said. “The only thing I miss are the fjords,” she said with a laugh.
 Playing and coaching soccer has always been a part of Loenberg’s life. She began playing club soccer when she was 9. When she was 13 she also began coaching. As she grew up, she played in all positions on the field.
 She has also played on some of the professional and national teams in Europe, in both Norway and Germany, beginning when she was 17 years old. While she speaks fondly of her time as a player, she becomes even more passionate when talking about her time coaching.
 What Loenberg loves about coaching is the game in itself. “I love that even though everyone is a totally different person, they have one thing in common, and that is the soccer part. For me, soccer is all about the team, not single players.”
 Weldon is extremely pleased that Loenberg joined the coaching staff for the Lady Wolverines.      “Coach Trine has been a tremendous asset to the program. Not only does she bring a wealth of personal soccer playing experience from many years in Europe, but she has also coached at many different levels,” Weldon stated.
 “She works extremely hard and is fully committed to the program. Even while undergoing her chemo treatments this summer and fall, she has never missed a practice or a game. The players and coaches are blessed to have her as a part of our team.”