Heat Football Club

The Article below appeared in the Rochester, NY Democrat and Chronicle on August 4, 2011 Written by Jeff DeVeronica about our Pro Staff Trainer Lenin Steenkamp.  Congratulations Lenin!

In a 10-year career full of memorable moments as the Rhinos' workhorse defensive midfielder, how Lenin Steenkamp overcame the lowest best defines his strong will to always triumph.

On June 3, 1999, at Frontier Field, a reckless tackle by an opponent dislocated his left knee and tore all three of his major ligaments. The knee was gruesome and turned so much — "almost at a 90-degree angle," former coach Pat Ercoli recalls — that Scott Schweitzer immediately knelt over his teammate to shield Steenkamp's eyes.

At Strong Memorial Hospital, circulation was so bad in his leg a vascular surgeon thought amputation might be needed.

The next day Steenkamp, who'll become the first member of the Rhinos' Hall of Fame tonight, was told he might never play again. "I'm going to do my best," to fix the knee, he recalls Dr. Kenneth DeHaven saying.

"Doctor, (soccer) is all I know," the South Africa native said. "Please do your best and I promise I'll play again."

After 10 months rehabilitating, not only did Steenkamp make a remarkable recovery by playing the second-most minutes on the 2000 team, he helped lead Rochester to its third straight title and was second-team all-league.

"The love I felt from fans and this community was just tremendous," said Steenkamp, who'll feel it at tonight's match against Charlotte. "If I was anywhere else, who knows, maybe I would have just been thrown aside. I appreciate what the organization did for me."

Steenkamp, 41, is the Rhinos' career leader in games (219), starts (190), assists (30), shots (381), fouls (284) and minutes (17,328). He's second in points (100) and third in goals (35).

"He wasn't a scream-at-you kind of leader," said former teammate Tommy Tanner, the Rhinos' captain on its four title teams (1998-2001). "You knew he'd give everything he had every single night."

Steenkamp played from 1996 to 2005 with Rochester, then retired. He's now director of coaching for a big youth soccer club near Las Vegas. He and wife, Karen, have two children: son Noah, 3, and a 4-month-old daughter named Presley. And isn't that perfect?

Fans loved how Steenkamp celebrated goals by sprinting to a corner flag, grabbing it like a microphone and swaying his hips like Elvis Presley.

"I had great friends and a great adopted family, people who made it special to play here," he said Thursday, shortly after playing a round of golf with Rhinos goalkeepers coach Billy Andracki, his former teammate. "It was about having fun, being happy and having teammates who cared about each other."

Rhinos coach Bob Lilley said there was league-wide respect for Steenkamp.

"First and foremost, he was a winner. Every tackle, every header, every game mattered," Lilley said. "He had a toughness and for a big guy he had very soft feet and obviously a thunderbolt for a shot. He mixed in some nasty, too."

Steenkamp's statistics were better after his injury because the Rhinos needed him to score more and he developed chemistry on free and corner kicks with Stoian Mladenov, darting in front of defenders to convert headers.

He was Rochester's team MVP in 2001 with 9 goals and 4 assists and was first-team all-league in 2002 with 8 goals and 3 assists.

"You could put him anywhere on the field and he'd find a way to make it happen," Ercoli said.

Considering the talent the Rhinos have had through 16 years, Steenkamp said it's an honor to be inducted first.

"He was one of a kind," Lilley said. "I struggle to compare him to anyone. He was that unique."