See what current and past players and parents are saying about the JTF program! 

              

 

“I can’t say enough good things about Jerry and his program! The results speak for themselves but more importantly the positive impact that Jerry had on my daughter Ali throughout the process  was immeasurable! The recruiting ‘game’ is hard on the kids and their parents. With Jerry’s program, the personal coaching and more importantly the personal impact he had on Ali were key to getting her dream opportunity to play D1 college soccer! In real world terms, Jerry’s program and his passion are a big part of my daughter’s success in becoming a college D1 player, and even more importantly a better person and teammate!" – Rob Martin (parent)

 

“Jerry’s insight and instruction plus his ability to promote BOTH of my daughters has been a valuable and memorable experience for our entire family.”   – Frank Mancini (parent)

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“Jerry’s not only an amazing soccer coach, but also an amazing life coach. He has pretty much become my ‘older brother’ and someone I can always count on in any situation. No matter what your soccer ‘situation” is, Jerry will always help you get thru it. He does anything in his power to improve your skills, game knowledge and confidence level. Also, we will do everything and anything to get you into the college of your dreams”  - Morgan Hamker (player)

 

“Jerry is a valued asset to my daughter, Lexi’s soccer dream. He is very encouraging, yet direct while instructing her during her soccer games. With him by her said, her confidence level has soared and his direction has improved her soccer skills by 110%. If you have the opportunity to have your daughter join the JTF Academy, I highly recommend you do not miss out! Thank you Jerry for all that you do! “ – Sue Maughmer (parent)

                                                       

"Jerry Penkala is one of the best things that has happened in furthering my soccer career. As someone who was very behind in the recruiting process, and in love with the game, he has put forth his best effort in continuing that dream for me. Even when I would give up and get frustrated with myself, he would keep the positivity high. He has managed to improve my game on and off the ball within just a few months, just verbally. The upcoming camps I'm sure will be very successful and I encourage any player to take part in his process early. He does help bring success to players and I can attribute most of mine to him! " - Kylie Slusser (player)

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”My soccer career was stalled. I was losing hope of playing in college and losing confidence on the field. When Jerry Penkala was brought on to work with me, he understood the parts of my game that needed development, helped me improve many aspects of my game, which helped my confidence on the field go sky high. As a result, with all the contacts he has in the college coaching field, within 3 months I accepted an offer to play at Ball State!  Jerry helped my dream come true, and I will never be able to thank him enough!”   - Ali Martin (player)

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“As a High School head coach, I had my reservations of a personal coach. I was worried about an outside person ‘stepping on toes”. I was actually genuinely surprised. Jerry helped my players, as he worked with several in the past two years, and he ended up being a valuable resource as far of his soccer knowledge, and bouncing ideas off of him."  - Phil Simone (Canfield HS head coach)

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“At the beginning of my time working with Jerry, I was skeptical of having him ‘coach’ me before and after my high school and club games. However, after just two games, my game improved greatly with just a few small adjustments Jerry showed me, and he was so non-intrusive at games, no one on my team even knew I had a personal coach helping me! When it came to the majority of the recruiting program, he made it extremely easy to understand, helped remind me on a constant basis when an email or text needed to go out, and took the majority of the recruiting work load off my plate and made the entire process enjoyable and something I will never forget!! He was the BEST thing my parents ever did regarding my soccer career, and I will always be so grateful for his help and friendship!" - Kayla Barnhardt (player)

                                  

“A high school coach has dozens of players to coach, so as parents we tend to try and reduce the player/coach ratio by coaching our own daughter on how to play the game. This only drives a wedge with the player and parent, with resentment often resulting as well as zero player improvement. This is where Jerry steps in. He provides positive, simple yet detailed instruction which quickly translates into improved on field performance and increased player confidence.”  – Bill Story (parent)

 

“Jerry is an amazing soccer coach who is a big blessing in my life and has made a huge impact on the soccer player that I am today. He has taught me things on the field that no one has ever taught me in the past. He explains what I am doing well, as well as what areas I need to improve on, and can help you get thru ANY soccer situation. He always sees the best in people, and always wants to help his players reach their goals. He has also become more than a coach, but also a great friend. He always focuses on the positive aspects of life, and has helped me become a very confident player! With all of his college coaching friends, he has helped me receive offers at more than one school, and has helped me realize my goal of playing soccer in college!”  - Lexi Maughmer  (player)

 

"With the help of Jerry throughout my recruiting process, I was able to receive a scholarship to my dream school, UNC-Charlotte. He was able to help me get offers from several other schools as well, although he kept my best interests in mind. Jerry is extremely intelligent with years of experience and gave me insight on what coaches look for, how they think, and asking the questions that I would not have thought of by myself. Jerry was very quick to communicating to coaches and did a fabulous job of putting my name out there to get interest. I cant thank him enough, I truly owe it all to him!" - Katie Best (player)

                                     

“My daughter just started working with Jerry this fall during her high school season, and it has been more than I ever could have expected with his support and soccer expertise. He has provided her with the confidence, support and technical training to compete at the best of her ability. She has grown both on and off the field as a player with  improved self-esteem. After games it used to be painful to deal with the complaints about things that happened during the game, that we as parents were unable to control. Jerry has counseled her on how to deal with these situations and to make the best of it. As a parent, I am so grateful that she now comes off the field, win or lose, with a smile on her face knowing she did her absolute best, and has learned to not carry the pain of that game with her. He has walked both my daughter and myself thru the entire recruitment process, which has taken that stress off of our entire family. His many relationships with college coaches has already opened countless doors for her during the recruitment process, and she has already had three offers to play at various universities. We look forward to continuing our journey with Jerry’s assistance to help Morgan achieve her dream of  playing college soccer.  We can not thank him enough!" - Mary Hamker (parent)

                                                 

“Jerry has been an invaluable resource for our college search. He has worked with my daughter at almost every game, and gives her feedback on what she does well, and what she needs to improve to play at the collegiate level. He then offers his time to help her individually fine tune her game. If it were not for Jerry, we would not be looking at such elite college programs- he has many contacts and can find the perfect fit for your daughter’s needs like he did for mine. You are investing in your daughters future when you work with Jerry, and it is obvious how important it is to him to make it the best future possible. His relentless work secured a number of scholarship offers for my daughter, and found her perfect college fit at Marshall!" –Ann Slusser (parent)

                              

"Jerry Penkala has been working with my daughter for just over a year now. Initially we hired him to help us contact various college coaches.  He quickly gained our trust and respect as a personal coach and recruiting specialist. He was able to initiate conversations with many D1 college coaches, and was able to walk my daughter Katie thru the process every step of the way. She ended up with three D1 offers and one D2 offer, and has just committed to play at the school of her dreams, UNC-Charlotte. Thank you Jerry for turning Katie’s hopes and dreams into a reality"  - Vicki Best (parent)

 

Having coached for 17 years at both the high school and club level I am always receptive to new ideas and thinking “outside the box”.  When one of my high school players asked about enrolling in the JTF Academy I was a tad skeptical.  However, after seeing the commitment given by Jerry, not only towards improving the individual player but the entire team I am totally onboard with the JTF Academy’s mission.  I am honored to say that not only are Jerry and I colleagues but I also consider him to have become one of my best friends.  – Mark Williamson (HS head coach)

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"Jerry went to several of our games this year. After the games he always gave us an overview of how he felt our team played and shared with us any strengths and weaknesses he saw.  This was very helpful to us.  As coaches it is nice to have a non-bias view of how your team is performing especially from someone who knows the game and understands what system and style of play you have for the team.  Most of the time we completely agreed with what he had to say and it was more of an affirmation that we were doing the right thing.

 Jerry also talked with us about the individual players on the team and we discussed areas for each player to improve both technically and tactically within our team's system of play.  He gave us ideas on how to teach specific tactics and concepts to these individual players during practice and games. We are very grateful to Jerry for giving us an insightful look at our team. He gave us ideas, strategies, and encouragement as a coaching staff.

 Jerry has been a great advocate, coach, and teacher to numerous players who are looking to advance their soccer career at the college level.  He truly has a passion for the game of soccer and for helping players improve, succeed, and play at the next level. I would welcome and encourage Jerry to work with players of my high school and club soccer team."

 – Karen Wood (Head Coach Cincinnati Wyoming HS, Head Coach Sycamore Club U16 team)

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