42 | DECEMBER 17 • 2020

S

eger Hoff’s promising
soccer career came to an
untimely end, but not his
love for the sport or the Berkley
High School boys soccer team.
Hoff suffered a torn ACL in
each knee during a six-month
stretch while playing for club
soccer teams before his junior
year at Berkley and needed sur-
gery twice.
He could have felt sorry for
himself, but the outgoing teen
took another path and it led him
to the fulfillment of a dream.
Hoff became the Berkley boys
soccer team’s No. 1 fan, and he
was the team manager, de facto
goalie coach, pre-game hype
man and social media guru this
fall during his senior season.
The 18-year-old Huntington
Woods resident, named for
Detroit-born legend Bob Seger,
also was a mentor for the young-
er players on the Berkley roster.
“Everyone on the team
respected Seger,
” said Berkley
coach Steve Wloszek. “Every
coach will tell you he wishes he
had more guys like Seger on his
team.
”
Even though his soccer play-
ing days were over, Hoff played
for Berkley on Senior Night.
He played about 15 minutes
in each half in the Bears’ 4-0

win over Dearborn Heights
Crestwood on Oct. 8 at Hurley
Field.
It was the first and only time
Hoff played for the Berkley var-
sity boys soccer team. He was
on the junior varsity team as a
freshman and sophomore.
Hoff wore a brace on his right
knee, which has still not fully
recovered from surgery, when he
played on Senior Night.
It was Wloszek’s idea to have
Hoff play once he got the OK
from his parents, doctor and the
Berkley athletic coordinator.
“I’m so happy that Seger
stayed engaged with our pro-
gram and created memories
with his friends that he’ll have
forever,
” Wloszek said.
The feeling was mutual.
“I told the guys before the
Senior Night game that it was an
honor to play one final time with
my brothers,
” Hoff said. “They’ll
be in my heart always and for-
ever. They mean the world to
me. I hadn’t played soccer in two
years, but I went all out.
”
Hoff was in Berkley’s starting
lineup vs. Crestwood. He kissed
the Bear paw in the middle of
Hurley Field before the game.
“I also did the pre-game ritual
I’ve done since I was about 10
years old,
” Hoff said. “I rub my

hands on the goal posts and
kiss them. For my team’s goal
posts, I pray that no balls will
pass through them. I pray for
invincibility. For the other posts,
I pray for many goals and many
mistakes.
”
Hoff was a defender before he
suffered his knee injuries, but
Wloszek played him at striker
against Crestwood to give him a
chance to score. He almost did.
“I was hanging out in the pen-
alty box on a corner kick and the
ball came to me,
” he said. “I took
a whack at it and it was going
into the corner of the net before
a defender got his toe on it. The
keeper wasn’t going to get it.
”
Wloszek said he needed
someone to work with the team’s
four goalies and he thought Hoff
was the perfect person for the
job, so he asked him to take on
the role.
“Seger went on YouTube to
learn about teaching goalie skills,
and he did a great job with our
goalies,
” Wloszek said. “He knew
what he was doing.
”
Ryan Serwa, one of the Bears’
goalies, was an honorable men-
tion All-State selection during
a season in which Berkley (11-
4-4, 2-2-3 OAA Red) made its
furthest advancement ever in the
state tournament.

The Bears lost 3-1 in the
Division 1 quarterfinals to even-
tual state champion Novi Detroit
Catholic Central, which went
undefeated (13-0-3) this fall.
Hoff’s love for soccer helped
him in his coaching role.
“I’m obsessed with soccer,
” he
said. “I understand the tactics,
and I feel I can communicate
them.
”
Hoff plans to do more com-
municating when he heads out
into the world after college.
He wants to be a lawyer, and
perhaps a congressman or U.S.
senator someday.
He wants to be team manag-
er for the men’s soccer team at
whatever college he attends.
“I know soccer, and I’m
enthusiastic about it,
” he said. “I
know I can get that job.
”
When high school sports
resume, Hoff hopes to compete
with the Berkley boys swimming
and diving team this winter.
Hoff is president of the Kishon
AZA chapter and became a bar
mitzvah at Temple Emanu-El in
Oak Park.
His parents are Michael Hoff
and Theresa Tarrant. His broth-
er Elliott Hoff played on the
Berkley JV boys soccer team this
fall.

Berkley team manager
plays for the Bears on
Senior Night.

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Berkley team manager

From the
Soccer Field to
the Sidelines
and Back Again

STEVE WLOSZEK

Seger Hoff (10) and his Berkley

boys soccer teammates gather

for a Senior Night photo.

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