Mark Kolonja comes from a very athletic family.
Especially when it comes to soccer.
Kolonja is a senior at Calvary Christian Academy High School and he’s been playing soccer for as long as he can remember. That started with his parents.
His father was born in Albania, where he fell in love with the game. His mom also was a soccer player, though she played at St. Basil’s.
“My whole life I’ve loved soccer, I think my dad was my biggest influence, but both my parents were,” said Kolonja, who lives in Huntingdon Valley. “My dad is from Europe, and he loved watching it, so I watched it with him. He played in Albania, too.
“Technically, my mom was my first coach, but my dad was always there right next to me, helping me, training me, doing things behind the scenes to make me a better player. Both of my parents helped me a lot. I think that is why I love soccer, they love it, too.”
Kolonja has loved soccer his entire life, but he never had a better time than he did on Tuesday when he and his Cougar teammates punched their ticket to the state tournament.
It took overtime, but Calvary Christian defeated New Hope Solebury 4-3 at North Penn in the District One Class A championship game.
It was history for the Cougars, marking the first time the school brought home a district championship in the sport.
“From the centerback, it was tied at 3-3 after being up 3-1,” said Kolonja, who anchors the Cougars defense. “It was a struggle, we were losing the momentum after giving up the goals. My other centerback made a goalline clearance and that got everything started, up to the midfield. And it was a great play.
“From standing at midfield, it was one of the greatest things I’ve seen. We scored and everyone was so happy. First thing, all Glory to God, he brought us there. It was so exhilarating when the final whistle blew. We scored in overtime to win the game.”
It was the perfect end to the tournament for Calvary Christian, which had a team that was ready for big things both on and off the field.
According to Kolonja, it was more than soccer talent that led to the celebration. The championship might have been the goal, but this title was won a long time ago.
“I think the biggest thing is because this school goes from kindergarten to high school, so I’ve known all the guys on this team since I was in kindergarten,” Kolonja said. “Chemistry off the field helped the chemistry on the field. It helped us accomplish the goals we set before ourselves.
“It’s not really a team or friends. At this point, they’re more of a family. It’s much happier to win with them than anyone else. We all wanted to win this for each other. It means a lot that we were able to do it.”
Kolonja’s name might not appear in many box scores because he’s a defender, but it’s not about glory. But as a leader and a captain, he’s proud of what his mates did to earn this championship.
And more importantly, he’s ready for whatever the next step is.
“We’re excited because we haven’t played in states, we’re going to be playing in our first state playoff game,” Kolonja said. “We want more, we don’t want to stop here, we’ll keep working hard to eventually get to the state championship.
“Our team is really close. I would say one of the biggest reasons we won is because we huddle up before the circle and honor God to pray. It calms our nerves to play to the best of our abilities. We honor him with everything we do. Last year, our captain started doing it, so I just followed in his footsteps. I grew up doing it, giving God praise for everything we do, it’s special to all of us.
“I’m more of a stopper and the other centerback is a sweeper. I’ll usually mark the better striker in the middle and stop them before they get too deep. It’s fun, it’s nervewracking, but I love seeing who I can compete with and the help of my teammates. Whatever they throw at us, we’ll defend to the best of our abilities.”
Kolonja still has a lot of things to accomplish at Calvary Christian, and he hopes he stays a member of the soccer team for as long as possible. But when that’s over, it’s time to play basketball, where he’s a guard.
After basketball, he pulls out his glove and plays outfield for the Cougars baseball team.
Beyond high school, he’s looking forward to college where he hopes to major in engineering, a challenging major, which shouldn’t be a problem considering he’s in the National Honor Society.
“I don’t think I’ll play sports for the school, but I’d love to play club or intramurals,” said Kolonja, who also plays the saxophone and is part of student government. “I definitely don’t want to give up sports. Soccer is my favorite, that’s always been my sport.”
The future is exciting, but he’s happy what he and his teammates accomplished already. And they’re ready for more.
“The biggest thing is we don’t do it for ourselves or our school, we do it for our Lord,” he said. “We want him to be praised first. If he didn’t die on the cross, we wouldn’t be in this situation. And just working hard and working with chemistry on and off the field, and through the Lord.”
