Mentor, Doctor, Family Man, Coach.

If you have ever attended a Kadet soccer game, you know it is easy to pick out Coach Espen. Towering above the rest, at a height of 6’4 and a weight of 265 pounds, Coach Hosoien looks more like a middle linebacker than a soccer coach. One might also recall his booming Norwegian voice (usually directed at the referee) echoing throughout the stadium regardless of the score.

The success of Coach Espen is indisputable. He is a three-time boys’ soccer Coach of the Year, a two-time State Champion, and undoubtedly, the high school coach who has racked up the most wins in 4A boys’ soccer in the last decade. The mixture of passion and knowledge sets Espen apart in the coaching world.

“My main idea every season is to not be the best skilled team, but be the hardest working on the field,” said Hosoien, who led Air Academy to a state championship, his second with the school, during an unbeaten 2014 season. “The kids have to buy into that. It isn’t as much on wins and losses, but what we can do to be successful. Hard work goes a long way when you have the skill.”

Espen is currently a physical therapist at Nursing and Therapy Services of Colorado. Originally, Espen came over from Norway as a foreign exchange student. He attended Cherry Creek High School, where he quickly became a soccer, football, and track standout. He went on to attend San Diego State University on a Division I football scholarship. After two years of football, it became clear to Coach Hosoien that soccer was his true passion. The next two years Espen played soccer at San Diego State starting both years and receiving all-conference honors. Senior year, his team went as far the final four. In 1996, Espen received his degree in physical therapy and moved to Colorado.

Espen started up his practice here in Colorado in 1997, working primarily with young athletes while coaching for Pikes Peak Rush Soccer on the side. In 2004, Espen was hired as the boys’ head soccer coach at Air Academy, and he has recently added onto his plethora of coaching by taking up the head girls’ soccer coach position here at the high school just one year ago.

However, Espen’s impact on the community extends far past his ability to break down defensive positioning and motivate his high school athletes.

If you’ve ever attended a soccer game at Air Academy, you probably haven’t been in the far south corner of the K-Dome. There sit two women, cheering for the Kadets, but especially for Espen as he marches up and down the sideline.

One is Jen Hanson,  a nurse’s aide and case worker for kids with special needs and the wife of the Kadet’s coach, Espen Hosoien.

The other is 23-year-old Stephanie Ciano-McGee, a 2007 Air Academy graduate who usually wears a shirt identifying her as an assistant coach. Known as Steph, she is blind, quadriplegic, suffers frequent seizures, and uses a wheelchair due to her cerebral palsy.

For over a decade now, Espen has loved and cared for Stephanie, whom he met through her brother, Kevin, who played club soccer for Espen’s team. “Jen and Stephanie had an immediate bond,” says Espen, “and although skeptical at first, I was drawn to her as well.”

Espen’s skepticism came from his sure size. Jen had asked him to help work with Stephanie. “In the beginning, I always wondered,” he said, “I was used to working with knee, back, neck and shoulder patients who were able-bodied. I’m a pretty large guy. Some of these kids are pretty skinny and fragile. That’s not a good combination.”

Now, 13 years later, Espen still works with Stephanie and constantly reminds his players of what insights she has provided him. “I want them to realize how good they have it,” Espen said. “Steph and other kids I work with would kill to be out here and run around and play soccer. I try to get in their heads that they are the lucky ones.” Espen’s players aren’t the only ones to benefit from Steph’s example. She has provided him valuable perspective in his own life. He explained, “Before I started working with her, I could bury myself in the basement for days after losing a game.  Now I realize there are other challenges a lot more difficult, a lot harder than winning a soccer game.”

Espen truly exemplifies a lifestyle of giving. All that he does is for others. Speaking from my experience over the past 4 years, Espen aims not only to train good soccer players, but strong characters as well. He has a calm balance about him: a balance that radiates love and willingness to help to all the people around him. “The hardest part of this job (coaching) is the attachment that grows with the players you coach,” Espen claimed at the soccer banquet on the 16^th of November, “It is hard to say goodbye.”