Tim Wilkening has yet to play in a soccer game with Goshen College. However, he has made his presence known around campus since arriving in January. Wilkening has also learned a lot over the last year. He has learned about the United States after coming from Germany. He has learned how to recover from a broken tibia. He has learned about Goshen College. And he learned the ins and outs of a team as the assistant coach for Goshen City FC this summer. Yes, he has experienced much growth, but he is far from reaching the goals he has set.

Taking the Chance

Wilkening began playing soccer at age five with his hometown club in Weinheim, Germany. He played there for 12 years and later competed at the second-highest youth league in the country before transferring back to Weinheim. A close friend of his ventured out to the United States to play at a Division II school. They stayed in contact, and the friend encouraged Wilkening that if he ever got the chance to come to the U.S., then he should do it. “There was a chance for me to do it, and I remembered his words, so I decided just to do it,” said Wilkening.

His once-in-a-lifetime experience began at Eastern New Mexico University, a Division II school. The Greyhounds men’s soccer team took two years off due to COVID-19 but resumed in 2022. However, they had to make long trips to find teams to play. In one instance, they drove 15 hours away for a preseason game and went nine hours back toward campus for another competition. Wilkening not only learned about the culture in the United States but also about other cultures through the lives of his teammates. The team had international students from Germany, Portugal, France, Zambia, Norway, Italy, Spain, Paraguay and New Zealand. He was subbed into his first game for the team at South Dakota Mines. But his season would be over just after it had started.

On September 13, 2022, in his second game and first start, Wilkening got injured on a 50/50 ball just 22 minutes into the game. He knew something was wrong - it didn’t look or feel good, but they didn’t have an answer immediately. When he got to the sideline, he asked for his phone so he could call his dad, who was watching the game from Germany at one or two in the morning. “All the hard work I put in just went away in one moment,” Wilkening said. Many questions about scholarship money and whether he would be retained for next season started to go through his mind. His family was concerned, not knowing if he could play soccer again. But for Wilkening, there was never a thought that he wouldn’t come back. In fact, NGU (never give up) is his life motto.

The surgery for the broken right tibia was a couple of days later. Wilkening was already looking ahead and leaving the past in the past. “Yes, it happened, but I will come back stronger and put everything into that process,” he thought. While he couldn’t be the best soccer player he could be then, Wilkening was told to be the best rehab athlete he could be. So he took it a day at a time, knowing that the little things he did daily would count toward his comeback. Although he didn’t see or feel that he was closer, he knew he was developing and improving.

His parents wanted him to come back to Germany, though. While they were questioning whether he could ever play soccer again, Wilkening took it to mean that his dream was broken. After that phone call with his parents, he cried in his dorm room as he tried to figure out what he wanted to do. “I saw all the goals and dreams I developed in Germany and while being in the United States completely dropping,” Wilkening shared. With nothing to lose, he took the advice of a teammate and entered the transfer portal.

One assistant coach reached out, but there wasn’t a follow-up. “I didn't expect something,” Wilkening said. “Who takes a guy with a broken right tibia with no conference games and no experience in the USA?” So Wilkening decided to take things into his own hands and reach out himself. He wrote over 100 emails to coaches throughout the USA without telling his family or agent. He was surprised to receive some responses that way as he looked for his second chance. Goshen College would be that new opportunity.

The Second Chance

It didn’t look like GC would be feasible during the initial talks, but they somehow made it happen. Wilkening mentioned his conversations with Jannik Schoske, another German player for the Leafs, were helpful in the decision process. Goshen felt right, and he came to Indiana in the spring semester to get to know the team and the environment, find work, connect with people and build relationships.

One early relationship that formed was with Henrique Eichenberger. After playing four years with the purple and white, he is helping coach the men’s soccer team and was training the team during Wilkening’s first weeks in Goshen. Eichenberger was also setting up for Goshen City FC - a new semi-professional soccer club that would play their home games at the GC Soccer Complex in the summer. Wilkening got introduced to Eichenberger, and soon after, the Goshen City FC founder asked the new Goshen College transfer if he could imagine being the assistant coach. Wilkening was surprised when he was first asked that day in the dining hall, but Eichenberger persisted. Eventually, Wilkening decided to go for it. Like his decision to come to the United States, he figured it would be an extraordinary experience, so why not?

“I didn't know him as a person, and I knew him for maybe two weeks,” Eichenberger shared, “but I could tell he was a good person and really wanted to learn.” Wilkening worked to get the experience to qualify as his internship for the sports management major, and then the fun began. As a startup team, Wilkening learned a lot about how to develop a team from scratch. He and Eichenberger attended Downtown Goshen First Fridays to advertise and promote the team. They gave out flyers in the cold and the dark at the March edition, not knowing how many people would turn out. “You sometimes have to start at the bottom to create something bigger,” Wilkening said. He also recognized the role that Eichenberger played in the team’s creation. “It takes just one person to start something, to change something, to involve people and make connections. It takes all of us to raise it, but it just takes one person to make a difference.”

The first home game was a smashing success. The stands were packed with community members, Goshen College staff and students, children and adults. On the pitch, the team won resoundingly, 8-0 against Panathinaikos Chicago. After starting the season with four straight road games, the team was now 2-3.

Wilkening also learned about making strategic changes. They started the year with a 3-5-2 formation but changed it to a 4-3-3, even though they thought the original strategy would work best. The team played much better in the new formation, though. After a 1-0-3 start to the season, the team finished the last six games of the regular season with a 4-2-0 record.

“Tim was able to learn so much and give us his time and knowledge,” said Eichenberger. “He was helping in so many areas. He helped us organize the four home games - he helped me organize and put the plan together and then execute it. Tim was our assistant coach, too, so he went to all our games with our head coach, Tyler Born. He was helping on the field and off the field.”

Goshen City FC advanced to the Midwest Central Conference Final before losing to Chicago Nation FC - a good showing for the new team on the block.

A Fighting Chance

Wilkening had to calm himself down when asked what he looked forward to for the school year. He is in the best shape he’s been in since he can remember, and there is no feeling in his leg that is telling him “no.” Goshen was ninth out of ten in the Crossroads League standings last year with a 2-6-1 conference record. Wilkening noted that there is not much pressure on the team because everyone expects them to be at the bottom of the table. “Through conversations, I know how much people like to work here. We want to give something back, make the people feel proud again wearing that logo,” which Wilkening believes is the most admirable logo in the Crossroads League. Now he wants to see that logo at the top of the standings. “We will give everything we have - that’s one thing I can promise,” he said.

Head coach Dan Sullivan, who served as an assistant coach for the team for the previous seven seasons, still has not had too many interactions with Wilkening yet. What he has already seen, though, is Wilkening’s commitment. “Tim has demonstrated himself to be committed to his recovery plan, committed to his teammates, and committed to Goshen College,” he said. “He will certainly be a 'lead by example' teammate, and he is not afraid to put the work in.”

Wilkening will be a center midfielder, but he can also play in the center defender position. He is heavily goal-oriented, with big goals that come from smaller daily and weekly ones. At Goshen, he wants to win a conference title and the national championship. He then wants to transfer to a Division I school with two seasons of eligibility and earn his master's. He wants to make it in the Major League Soccer Draft, play in the MLS, and someday play for Hertha BSC.

“If you win your days, you win your week,” he said. “If you win your weeks, you win your month. If you win your months, you win your year.” Wilkening already sees the big picture and has learned much since arriving in the United States. Now it is time for him to walk the talk.