Haddonfield's Clarke putting leadership lessons to use

Senior Charlie Clarke can remember when he was a wide-eyed freshman at Haddonfield and how much the upperclassmen on a veteran soccer team made him feel like part of the group.

Now, he is using what he learned as one of the leaders of a young, but still potentially dangerous team.

Clarke is a third-year starter as a defender, but he saw some varsity time in that freshman season.

That team in 2011 eventually won both the Colonial Conference Liberty Division and South Jersey Group 2 crowns.

"My freshman season was awesome," Clarke recalled. "It was hard to crack the lineup and there were, I want to say, nine senior starters."

Seniors frequently set the tone for that team.

"They loved playing soccer, which lightened the mood, and they were really great leaders," Clarke said.

Clarke certainly took mental notes that he thought could be used in the future, which has arrived.

"I definitely learned a lot from them and look up to them, and they set the bar high," Clarke said about those seniors. "I wanted to be like that when I was a senior."

That has happened, although the makeup of this team is drastically different from when he was a freshman.

Clarke is the lone team captain, but the Bulldogs have other captains from game to game.

At times, he has been the only senior on the field for Haddonfield. Other seniors such as Ryan Ciemny, Andrew Dembs, and Eric Feldhake have contributed, but this team will receive a much bigger contribution from underclassmen, such as freshman starters Jack Dugan and Sam Decencio.

Like many of those seniors who led in his freshman year, Clarke isn't overly boisterous. He shows that leadership arrives in different packages.

"He's an awesome young man, a unique guy," Haddonfield coach Ryan Nixon said. "He's probably as close to a throwback as any kid I have been around since I've been coaching."

Clarke's guidance and his play on defense have helped Haddonfield remain highly competitive. The Bulldogs took a 4-3 record into Friday's game against West Deptford, with all three losses by one goal.

The guess is that once this team gains some experience, the Bulldogs could be even more dangerous. And leading the way is their senior captain.

"Charlie is the type of kid I feel everybody respects because he's such a nice kid, but at the same time when it comes to getting down to business and doing the job, he is always consistent and plays at a high level," Nixon said.

"But he does it in a quiet, unassuming manner, which is really refreshing as a coach."

Clarke also has shown that nice guys don't always finish last. As a sophomore, he helped Haddonfield defend its Colonial Liberty title. Last year, the Bulldogs were 14-6-2 and a semifinalist in the South Jersey Group 2 playoffs.

Clarke won't fall into the trap of using the team's youth as an excuse.

"I always expect us to contend with the best teams in the conference and in South Jersey Group 2," he said. "Just because you are young doesn't mean anything, especially because we have so many talented young players."

And an older one to guide them along, in his own unassuming, but highly effective manner.