'No Player Gets Left Behind:' 15-Year-Old Leads Support Of Trooper

Jake Connellan is in many ways your typical 15-year-old -- playing Xbox, hanging out with friends, annoying his sister and even getting scolded by Mom when he interrupts her on the phone.

But if you look a little deeper, you see a heart so big it practically bursts out of his chest -- one that has led him to arrange toy drives for hospitalized children. A heart that has led him to take on a major project of organizing a soccer event to show support for a family friend who is battling lymphoma.

“Jake has always been that kid,” said Tracy Connellan, Jake’s mother. “He’s always had a strong moral compass.”

Jake Connellan also is a soccer player -- a defender for the U15 Wall Sting. If you’ve ever watched soccer, there is a tight relationship between defenders and goalkeepers. They need each other the way quarterbacks need that blindside tackle, the way pitchers and catchers relate to each other differently than other members of a baseball team.

That family friend, New Jersey State Trooper Michael Oehlmann, is a former goalkeeper and has been a mentor to Jake, particularly in soccer.

That is what sparked Friday’s event, the #DEFENDTHEKEEPER Challenge. Set for noon to 4 p.m. at the Wall Soccer Club’s fields at 1900 Baileys Corner Road, the event will not focus on cancer -- it will focus on soccer and having fun. Oehlmann, who has been friends with the Connellans since Jake was “2 or 3 years old,” Jake said, was diagnosed with lymphoma in September. (For more event details, click here.)

“This isn’t about sickness, it’s about Mike and what a great guy he is,” Jake Connellan said. The kind of guy who has your back.

The event includes a 5-on-5 tournament and PK shootout for goalkeepers. Aall funds raised will go to SPFAST, the State Police Family Assistance and Support for Troopers organization, in Oehlmann’s name. There will be prizes awarded, including one for the most original team name as well as the best “showing of the green,” as in lime green, the color of the lymphoma awareness ribbon.

Before his days as a State Trooper -- where Oehlmann and his wife, Heather, got to know the Connellan family -- Oehlmann was a goalkeeper for Rowan University/ He Was the NCAA Division III Goalkeeper of the Year and a two-time All-America selection, and has been inducted into the Rowan University Hall of Fame.

Tracy Connellan got to know Oehlmann when she was teaching an EMT pilot program at the New Jersey State Police Academy. As often happens, Jake became part of the law enforcement family and Oehlmann became a good friend to the family, Jake said.

In 2013, Tracy Connellan said, Jake suffered a serious injury that sidelined him.

“Jake had broken his leg in a couple of places,” she said. And just as he was healing from that, they discovered he had a tumor in his heel. It was a scary time, because they were concerned it was cancer. The tumor turned out to be benign.

But the injury and the surgery to remove the tumor put fears and doubt in Jake’s mind.

“I didn’t know if I wanted to go back to soccer,” Jake said. “I was afraid of getting hurt again.”

Oehlmann visited him every day in the hospital, encouraging him and urging him to play again.

“You can’t give up. Soccer is your life,” Jake said Oehlmann told him.

In a letter Jake wrote seeking support for #DefendTheKeeper, he explained: “Mike stayed in constant contact with me, even asking if I wanted to train with him and take shots on a ‘Legend.’ “

“Mike helped me find my passion for the game again. He kept me motivated, pushing me to be a better player and made me realize in soccer, we are never alone. We all stand by each other regardless of what jersey we wear.”

So when Oehlmann received the lymphoma diagnosis in September, Tracy Connellan said, Jake’s immediate response was exactly what she expected: He sprung into action.

“He said to Mike, ‘You’re the keeper, I’m the defender. You’re family and I will always be there with you,’ “ Tracy Connellan said.

Jake organized his Wall High School teammates, getting them to wear green prewrap on their biceps, where players often wear captain’s armbands. They painted lime green ribbons on their arms for the last three games of their season.

Tracy Connellan got Oehlmann to come to one of the games, to see what Jake had done. Oehlmann, she said, was surprised by the outpouring of visual support.

“At one point Jake ran by, and gave a thumbs up to Mike, then lifted his arm,” she said. On the inside of his arm, Jake had painted Oehlmann’s badge number.

The soccer event was just the next logical step, and has garnered support from not only the Wall Soccer Club but outside organizations as well, including Under Armour, Jersey Mike’s, and a number of local companies, including Gloria Nilson Realtors, Charles Hoffman Tank Removal and Grasso’s Landscaping, who made donations to support the event.

Tim Prol from Prol Entertainment is providing DJ entertainment, according to the event’s Facebook page.

It consists of 5-on-5 games (plus a goalkeeper) culminating in one against a team of state troopers, plus a penalty kick shootout just for the goalkeepers. Members of the New York Red Bulls also are anticipated to be participating, Tracy Connellan said.

“Who doesn’t like a 5-on-5 tournament?” Jake asked, explaining why that format was chosen. Tracy Connellan said there are 300 players -- some with teams, some individuals -- signed up to participate, from 5-year-old kids to a 60-year-old. Teams are coming from as near as Brick Township and Point Pleasant, and as far away as Essex County to the north and Atlantic County to the south, she said.

Jake Connellan’s Wall High School teammates -- who he said eagerly joined him in showing support for Oehlmann -- and players from the U14 Cosmos from the Wall Soccer Club are planning to help out at the event, which Tracy said received immediate support from the soccer club.

“They all thought it was a great idea,” she said. “They were like, what can we do to help?”

The event will not focus on cancer, Tracy said. The only reference to it will be the lime green T-shirts that every participant will be wearing.

“Jake said he wants to see nothing but green on the fields,” she said. He wants it to be a fun day for everyone that honors Oehlmann. Extra shirts will be available for purchase, she said.

“I have taken Mike’s illness personally, making sure to call him and let him know as a Defender, I will have his back, I will defend him, the KEEPER,” Jake wrote. “NO PLAYER GETS LEFT BEHIND.”

Donations in Oehlmann’s name to the State Police Family Assistance and Support for Troopers program can be made online at www.spfast.com or by mailing a check to:

SPFAST
PO Box 43
Sea Girt, NJ 08750