Boys soccer preview: Olympia dedicates season to former assistant coach, Austin Kelley

Each player on Olympia High School’s boys soccer team has an emblem on his jersey to honor Austin Kelley.

It’s a single circle, lined with three different-colored stripes that represent the three local soccer teams Kelley once played for — Olympia, Saint Martin’s University and the Oly Town Artesians.

In the middle of the circle are his initials, “AK,” with a soccer ball printed beneath.

“We just wanted to represent what Austin was about,” said Olympia senior Duncan Pidone, who played under Kelley’s direction in the past three seasons.

“What he was about was general kindness and integrity. He was a great person. It was a really terrible loss to the community and the family.”

Kelly, who was an assistant coach at Olympia for the past three years, died in a swimming accident in September. He was 26.

“It’s something you’ll never get over,” said Olympia coach Ty Johnson, who coached Kelley when he played for the Bears, and brought him on as an assistant coach in 2014.

“It’s something you just have to look at to make yourself stronger, by looking at the values he’s instilled in everyone he knows.”

Johnson, who also worked alongside Kelley as a civil engineer at HDR Inc. in Olympia, helped plan a vigil that was held for Kelley at Ingersoll Stadium after Kelley went missing in the Salmon River near Riggins, Idaho.

“You could see from the number of people that came out to it how respected he was in the area,” Johnson said. “Not just in the soccer community, but anyone he talked to, anyone he touched.

“He was truly one of the only people I could say made me a better person for knowing him.”

Johnson said every returning varsity player was at Kelley’s vigil, where his Olympia jersey, family photos and soccer balls were placed at the field’s 50-yard line.

“As a community, we came together here,” Olympia senior Matteo Delguidice said. “Most of the team was here. We were all supporting each other through it, and supporting the Kelley family through it.”

Johnson held a team meeting before the season. He said one of the topics he discussed with players was what the aura of playing for Kelley was all about.

“Having him on our shirt reminds us every time we play, we’re playing for him,” Olympia senior Kolby Johnson said.

Kelley is remembered by coaches and players as someone who was always smiling, and positively reinforced players.

“He really lightened up the team,” Delguidice said. “He contributed a lot to the coaching staff. He was really intelligent with soccer.

“He knew where everybody was supposed to be, and he pointed out where our faults were and really worked out the little stuff with us, and made us a solid team.”

Olympia assistant coach Trenton Fluetsch played with Kelley up through high school before Kelley went to SMU, and Fluetsch went to Whitworth.

Kelley was The Olympian’s All-Area player of the year in 2008, and an all-state selection.

“He was just the smartest guy on the field,” Fluetsch said. “He was able to read the game at such a high level. He always saw two passes ahead.

“He was a lot of fun to play with. He just brought everyone else up.”

Kolby Johnson said much of the beginning of this season involved figuring out where the inspiration — so often brought by Kelley — would come from.

The Bears decided to dedicate their season to Kelley, and display his initials proudly on their jerseys.

“I think it’s definitely more of a push for us because we’re striving to make him proud,” Kolby Johnson said. “We know he would want to see us do well because we have a great team this year.

“We want to win as much as we can, just to show we’re playing for him.”

The Bears are 2-2-1 this season in their first year as a Class 4A South Puget Sound League member. The league is, arguably, the toughest 4A league in the state.

Ty Johnson said, during difficult games, the team circles back to the same question.

“What would Austin do?”

“They’re a great group of kids to begin with,” Fluetsch said. “But, I think, just knowing this season is about something bigger makes a difference.”

Delguidice, Pidone and Kolby Johnson agreed that their senior seasons have more meaning because of how they want to honor Kelley.

“We just always want to keep him in our mind — on and off the field,” Delguidice said. “We just wanted to dedicate it to him because he was out here volunteering, putting in the work and being a huge mentor for us.”

“It’s everything to these guys,” Ty Johnson said. “It says it on the back of the shirt, ‘Play for AK.’ ”

This story was originally published March 29, 2017 at 6:33 PM with the headline "Boys soccer preview: Olympia dedicates season to former assistant coach, Austin Kelley."