ADAMS TWP — A heavy involvement in soccer is one of the criterion used by the Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association when it votes on a coach of the year.

Leading a team to a 22-0-1 record and a state championship also bolsters one's chances.

That's what Blair Gerlach achieved this fall with Mars' girls. He was recently awarded PSCA Class 3A Girls Coach of the Year honors and will officially be recognized at a banquet in Harrisburg Jan. 25.

“It's an honor,” he said. “It's very nice to be recognized like this.”

Soccer is not just a side interest for Gerlach. It is a way of life.

He has served as a varsity head coach at Mars for the past 18 seasons, the last 13 as the Planets' girls coach.

But with his job as Girls Director of Coaching for Northern Steel, the sport is virtually a year-round responsibility.

“It's crazy with all of the things going on, but it is also extremely rewarding,” said Gerlach. “I'm working with players of all different ages and no matter the skill level, I have to find a way to make every player better.

“My passion for the game has gotten stronger over the years,” he added. “I think that comes from the relationships I've been able to build through soccer.”

Gerlach's earliest memories of soccer involve his father.

“He was right there the first five years I played,” he said. “He and I got along the best on the soccer field.”

While he loved the game from an early age, it wasn't until Gerlach arrived to play at the University of Maryland in the mid-1990s that he acquired a passion for the strategy involved in the sport.

“My coach there, Sasho Cirovski, he injected in me the passion to understand the game, with the Xs and Os,” Gerlach said. “I became as interested in the tactical side as much as the competitive side.”

And so the road toward becoming a coach was paved. In his nearly two decades as a mentor, Gerlach has seen important changes, particularly in this region.

“There's more of a commitment to the sport from athletes,” he said. “More kids are starting to specialize in soccer, play it as their only sport. That has helped more players from this area move on to play in college and it has also helped teams from western Pennsylvania reach the state final and even win there.”

The two PIAA titles the Planet girls have won have come on Gerlach's watch. The first came in 2011 when the program competed in Class 2A. They moved up to 3A in 2016.

Gerlach has also coached Mars to five WPIAL titles, with this year's crown the first at Class 3A.

“In 2A, those smaller schools don't have the numbers and you can move certain players around to find the matchups that work for you,” he said. “At 3A, it's not as easy. Teams at that level don't necessarily have any holes.”

Talk to Gerlach for any significant amount of time about soccer and he is bound to use the word “relationships”. They are at the core of why he does what he does.

“I've tried to stay true to who I am,” he said. “A lot of it comes down to building relationships with the players. If a player respects her coach, maybe she gives an extra 10 percent when it comes time for a leadership moment.

“When a player has to keep her composure on the field, if her coach is in the back of her mind, maybe she does the right thing.”

Gerlach