The road less traveled is a way of life for Abrahan Gutierrez.
Having lived in Honduras until 2000, he now finds himself battling the cold weather of Wisconsin as he pours his passion for life into coaching soccer for the joint boys and girls teams of Valley Christian/Lourdes.
Gutierrez, 32, is not the type of coach who speaks in sound bites, nor does he value winning over personal development and growth. This is a man who believes there’s something to be gained from sport other than trophies that tarnish and glories that fade.
“I remember my high school coach telling me it’s not about being a good player, it’s about having a good attitude toward life,” he says with conviction. “He used soccer as a good window to teach us about life.”
On a blustery cold evening last Tuesday, during a match against Kettle Moraine, Gutierrez calmly walks the sidelines, rarely raising his voice. During halftime, he lets his players say as much as he does. Gutierrez, a former Division 3 player in Honduras, gently chides (“I tell you to do a thing, and you don’t do it!”) and then implores his team to have more focus.
Afterward, he admits he can get intense if the game or practice calls for it.
Despite a loss, players are still in fine spirits as they exit J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium.
“Bye, Coach G,” waves a player as he goes by.
“Later, Coach G,” says another.
Still standing by J.J. Keller Field, Gutierrez pauses for a moment, saying “Thanks for coming” to several moms and dads leaving. It’s something he makes sure to say to every group of parents he sees.
A player comes running back to the field. “Coach G, do you know where my backpack is?” the players asks. “No, but you can go look for it,” he says. Satisfied, his player races back to the field.
After Hurricane Mitch destroyed much of Honduras in 1998, Gutierrez, at the age of 23, used what he learned from his past coaches to make a difference. One night as he lay in his bed looking out the window at people picking up pieces of their lives, he made a decision.
“I said, ‘It’s time to do something,’” Gutierrez remembers. “The next day I went to a mission to work with different groups. I met a man working with Shelter Now … he invited me to work with him as a driver/translator. One day I went to the airport to pick up a team from Wisconsin. That day I met my wife.”
Jeanne Kuhaupt, after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in 1996, was also looking for something more.
“I was working for Oshkosh Christian school, so I had summers available,” Jeanne says. “It seemed like I could be doing more with my life and my time. The two of us would both agree it was no one else’s plan but God’s.”
The two struck up a great friendship as they worked side-by-side in Honduras. Gutierrez proposed many months later while Jeanne was on a return visit.
“I pulled my truck over and said ‘Do you want to marry me?’ and she says ‘Yeah, OK,’” says Gutierrez.
Both husband and wife are deeply committed to their school and the young lives they help shape. Jeanne even helped coach volleyball for a year, and Gutierrez is now in his third year as head coach.
“She was very athletic, but soon we had three kids,” Gutierrez says of his wife’s foray into the coaching world. “She does more exercise now, chasing them.”
“Because soccer is so much more of a national pastime in Honduras, he’s grown up loving the sport, and he has the skills to play,” Jeanne says. “But there are many people who have skills, but can’t coach, or don’t want to. He has a genuine love of the players, and he expects them to respect themselves, the other team and the referees.”
Many former players are content to watch the game from a distance, but Gutierrez is drawn to it because of the contact with life.
“You have to go to one of my practices,” he says. “I just want to pass on my joy for life. When we’re in practice, I let them call me ‘G.’ I try to be friendly. But they know not to cross the line.”
The couple’s three children, Nehemias, 6, Isaias, 4, and Cielo, 3 will be encouraged to pursue whatever their interests are, sports or otherwise. Gutierrez admitted he hopes they play soccer, but it appears there’s just something about living in Wisconsin that makes people wear the green and gold.
“My preschooler came back as a Packer fan,” Gutierrez says, shaking his head. “And I was wondering where he got that from. He said ‘school.’ (The children) think the ‘G’ stands for Gutierrez. That happened when I first came here, this guy gave me a huge winter jacket with a huge ‘G’ on it.”
The jacket must have come in handy, because for his cool, calm, collected nature, there’s one thing he doesn’t like: the cold. But besides dropping temperatures, Gutierrez says there’s a lot to like about Oshkosh.
“How organized Oshkosh is, one,” he says, listing his favorite things. “How important education is to people here, two. Three is EAA, I like EAA. And the great people too.”
The idea of “organization” is something that has drawn him deeper into this country.
“Everywhere you see signs, telling you to behave,” he says. “That sign (pointing to one at the entrance of Titan Stadium), is telling me, people respect the signs. (Honduras) is a beautiful country, but sadly people need to learn how to take care of the country.”
Abrahan and Jeanne are trying to do their part.
“We try to do a mission trip every year,” Gutierrez says. We just got back from Honduras where we did a tremendous job. We took a 15-person team from Oshkosh to help social development.”
Gutierrez became an official United States citizen in 2006 to do something many born-and-raised Americans could care less about: vote.
“Voting is like having speech, it’s having your own voice,” Gutierrez suggests. “You know, I love politics. This is such a great country, you need to be part of it.”
Although there were a lot of steps — go to this city, get this form — Gutierrez didn’t see it as a struggle.
“I just did whatever they told me to do,” he says. “The American dream for me, I travel the world with an American passport. It’s an honor.”
“I feel like God is calling me to be here in this city,” Gutierrez adds. “There are millions of inhabitants of this earth who want to become American. And, I…” he pauses, looking for the right word as he always does, “I made it.”
By Rob Ebert
