For a parent there is no greater fear than the thought of losing a child. For Mark Lukas that fear became a reality. On December 8, 2002, Mark’s son Zak and his friend set out on the Gulf of Mexico on Zak’s brand new jet ski. Hours later, Mark began to worry when Zak failed to come home. With dense fog thwarting any kind of rescue attempt, Mark and local police officials were forced to wait out the night.
The following morning a local fisherman found the bodies of Zak and his friend floating in the sixty-degree water. Both boys had died of hypothermia.
Like most grieving parents, Mark needed to find a way to keep Zak’s memory alive. For Mark help came in the form of a small black-haired Border Collie. In honor of his son, Mark decided to name his new collie, “Ms. Z” and to teach her how to play soccer.
The idea of teaching a dog to play soccer came while Zak was still alive. Mark had taken his son into Tampa to watch a live soccer match. During halftime, a Border Collie was brought out and began playing soccer with the ball. In three seconds flat, the dog managed to take the soccer ball from the corner to the middle of the field with little to no effort. Both Zak and Mark were amazed by the dog’s agility, but it also gave Mark an idea.
Since Zak loved animals and he refused to practice at home, Mark came up with the concept of teaching a dog to play soccer so that Zak would have someone to practice with. Unfortunately, Zak passed away before this idea could ever take shape.
As soon as Mark bought Ms. Z he immediately began teaching her how to handle a soccer ball. They would play soccer in the hallway of Mark’s apartment, which Mark insists is all the room a pet-owner needs to teach their dog to play the sport.
According to Mark, Ms. Z was a fast learner. Incredibly agile, she is able to catch the ball with her front paws, dribble the ball with her nose and shoot with her shoulder. When Ms. Z was old enough, Mark decided to add two new collies into the mix. Their names are “Sweeper” and “Keeper,” two defensive positions in soccer most noted for their abilities for keeping the ball out of the net. Like Ms. Z, Mark taught both collies how to play soccer, but because of their lack of soccer skills both Sweeper and Keeper play a more defensive style.
Following the advice of famous dog whisperer, Cesar Milan, Mark exercises his collies anywhere from four to six times a day as a way to keep them calm. Since Border Collies are very active by nature (they were bred to herd sheep and cattle in Scotland), it is very important to give them a lot of exercise.
One form of exercise that Mark uses to keep his collies healthy and calm—other than playing soccer—is running. After strapping on a
pair of inline roller blades, Mark will attach himself to the dogs and make them pull him down the street like snow dogs in Alaska. With Keeper, Mark has found that riding his bike and allowing Keeper to run along side of him has proven to be quite successful.
With his soccer-playing collies tearing up the streets of his hometown, Mark thought that it would be a great idea to showcase his collies as much as possible. Having created the company “Soccer Collies,” Mark decided to show off his dogs at local soccer matches, birthday parties and any other social event.
In December 2006, Mark took his collies with him to Huntington Beach, California where his brother lives. The collies were an instant hit and in 2007, Mark added yet another collie to the team. He was named “Beck” after the English soccer superstar, David Beckham.
To showcase his collies, Mark brings a large inflatable soccer field and pairs the collies up into two different teams. Ms. Z and Beck are the offense while Sweeper and Keeper are the defense. They even have two different jerseys to help tell the difference. Taking a child or an adult from the audience, Mark puts them in front of the goal and tells them to do their best to try and stop Ms. Z from scoring.
“No matter what level of soccer skills the child or adult has, Ms. Z and the other collies score on anyone,” Mark explains. “It might take longer if you’ve got good soccer skills, but they figure out your weakness and exploit it.”
On March 10th, Mark and the “Soccer Collies” auditioned for a spot on the hit TV show, “America’s Got Talent” and are currently awaiting the results. But hopes are high and Mark remains confident that soon soccer-playing dogs will be as popular, or more popular, than Frisbee playing dogs.
For more information about Mark and his Soccer Collies, visit: www.soccercollies.com.
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