Published: January 28, 2009 11:22 pm      

Hendrickson closes book on playing, takes up coaching

Ezra Hendrickson has played his last game.

The former Western High School athlete recently announced his retirement from Major League Soccer after a dozen seasons and three championships. He picked up his final ring last November as part of the Columbus Crew’s championship squad.

Hendrickson walks off the field, but doesn’t have far to go as he starts his next phase. He’s moving to the bench, joining his former coach at Columbus as an assistant to Sigi Schmid with the expansion Seattle Sounders F.C.

“You go out on the top,” the 37-year-old Hendrickson said of retiring. “It’s what every player dreams of, to be at the top of your profession. To go there and win trophies, I felt like it was time for me to move on. I accomplished basically everything I could accomplish in the league.

“I felt the time was right and the opportunity was there. I wanted to seize the moment. It’s an honor when the coach you played with for so long looks to you … to start a new franchise and make it a successful organization.”

As excited as he is about his new job, it’s not easy to step off the field.

“It’s something I’ve been doing for the last 12, 15 years of my life,” the Howard County Sports Hall of Fame member said. “Even when I wasn’t a professional yet, I was playing at a semipro level. It’s become a part of me. It’s something I love doing and I enjoyed a lot. I’m going to miss that, just going out every day with the guys and being able to play a sport that you love so much.”

Long, winding road

Hendrickson started out with the New York/New Jersey franchise in 1997, which was Major League Soccer’s second year of existence. Midway through the season he was waived and picked up by the L.A. Galaxy, then coached by Schmid. His release ended up being fortuitous.

He spent his peak years with L.A., playing for Schmid’s squads and winning the first hardware in the franchise’s history. Hendrickson played parts of seven seasons with the Galaxy, scoring 17 goals and dishing out 26 assists playing primarily as a raiding right defender.

In more than a decade of games, one moment shines brightest in his mind.

“I think that first ever trophy we won with the Galaxy, the 2000 CONCACAF Champions Cup” was his top highlight Hendrickson said, referring to a North American club championship. “The championship game was played out in L.A. at the Coliseum. We won 3-2 and I scored two goals. That’s a moment I’m always going to remember. That was our first trophy that set the ball rolling for the next two to three years.”

Hendrickson was part of the Galaxy’s 2001 U.S. Open Cup championship team, and was on the club that finally won the MLS Cup in 2002. He was named the team’s MVP in 2001.

After the Galaxy, he had stops at Dallas, Chivas USA (Los Angeles’ second MLS team) and D.C. United, where he picked up his second MLS championship in 2004. He spent the last three seasons with the Columbus Crew, which won the title on Nov. 23 with Schmid at the helm.

A dozen seasons traveling the country playing games left an indelible impression on Hendrickson. When he looks back at his career, he thinks about “all the friendships I made and all the fans and the support, the six different clubs I played for, all the successes I had. Being a part of something so long and having the chance to play as long as I did, those are special moments in my life I’ll never forget.”

After the 2008 season, Schmid decided to leave Columbus for Seattle’s new franchise and offered Hendrickson an opportunity to join him.

“In the latter years of his career, Ezra was like a coach on the field for me,” Schmid said in a statement from the Seattle Sounders. “It’s that ability and his wealth of recent playing experience which he brings to our staff.”

A hard road

A few chance opportunities set Hendrickson on his playing career, so he’s learned not to let the moment pass.

When Hendrickson moved to the U.S. from the Caribbean nation of Saint Vincent as an eighth grader, he had little outlet for his soccer talents. Western didn’t have a soccer team. He played PAL and club soccer locally, and practiced on his own. A trip to the Indiana University soccer camp in high school yielded a scholarship offer from Drake out of the blue. Before that, his only scholarship offers were from Division II basketball programs. He was best known locally for basketball after helping Western win the 1990 Kokomo Sectional title.

Hendrickson jumped a the chance to play at Drake and kept finding playing opportunities after graduating from the Missouri Valley school on his road to MLS. Hendrickson has seen the soccer blossom in his second country.

“It kind of grew right in front of my eyes,” Hendrickson said. “We went from not having a high school team, to playing in stadiums that have 19,000, 20,000 people in them. It’s amazing to see how far soccer’s come just in the past 10 years.

“Before there was a league, a lot of people played as children but there wasn’t any league to aspire to. Now, you see a lot of people sticking with it. Now kids are becoming more serious about soccer because there’s an opportunity for them to play after high school, after college, after club.”

Now, Hendrickson is one of the people providing chances to young players with dreams.

“As a coach, I’m going to be able to give back what I’ve learned, everything I’ve experienced. I’m going to be able to teach the younger players, from my experiences, what it takes to be a professional. I feel honored to be able to share that. It’s a wonderful thing for me and I’m very happy. I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am about this new franchise here in Seattle.”