Back on a mission: U-M senior, Rochester grad Tennant comes back to aid Wolverines in NCAA tourney
HE'S BACK: Former Rochester High and current Michigan Bucks standout Chase Tennant returned from a two-year Mormon Mission to help the University of Michigan reach NCAA tournament. Courtesy Photo | University of Michigan Athletics.
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
ANN ARBOR — There was a time where Chase Tennant had little contact with the outside world.
No cell phone.
No Facebook.
No TV or E-mail.
No Soccer, or at least not much time to work on the game he loves.
Tennant, who part of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints and a member of the Mormon religion, stepped away in the midst of his stellar career in the fall of 2006. He opted to go on a two-year mission, where the everyday luxuries of the day came almost to a standstill.
“It was hard,” admitted Tennant, who is now a senior eligibility-wise with the University of Michigan men’s soccer team. “There is a lot of things you can’t do. You can write letters, but you only get a couple of phone calls. You can make phone calls on Mother’s Day and Christmas and that’s about it. There was a lot of (fasting) and learning about God. But being on a mission, there’s wasn’t a lot of time for personal stuff.”
Tennant didn’t have much time to work on fitness or his skillset of the game while serving a church in the Portland, Oregon, area. His mission lasted for two years and he returned in December, 2008. During that span, outside of a soccer camp and some individual work outs on the side, soccer took a back seat for the first time in his adult life.
“I think it’s taken a long time to get (my fitness level) back,” admitted Tennant. “I was wondering if I would ever get it back. I think my skill is back, but it took a long time to be in the physical shape I was before I left on the mission.”
BACK ON CAMPUS
Tennant returned to the campus of Michigan in the spring of 2009 and resumed playing for the Wolverines, suiting up for the fall 2009 season with a goal and three assists for a team that finished 10-7-1.
His debut with Michigan came in the fall of 2005, where he had two goals and an assist for a squad that finished 8-10-1. The Wolverines didn’t live up to expectations in 2006, where they finished 7-10-4. Tennant had an assist as a starter that year playing defense.
Tennant currently plays left back for Michigan, and is a threat with his long, trademark throw-ins, which was already a well-known commodity of his during his youth days with the Michigan MetroStars, Rochester High and with the Michigan Bucks.
In high school, Tennant was a three-time all-state performer, earning both Division 1 First-Team and All-State Dream Team honors as a senior in the fall of 2004. A four-year starter at defense at Rochester, he was a key player during his sophomore year at Rochester, where the Falcons won the Division 1 state championship.
“I had a great high school career. Winning the state title is something that I will never forget,” said Tennant.
After graduating from Rochester in 2005, Tennant joined the Bucks of the Premier Developmental League. In 2006, he was a starter on that squad that won the PDL national championship, while the following summer, the Bucks finished as the national runner-up.
“To be on that Bucks team that won the national title was a lot of fun. I have been very fortunate (in my career),” said Tennant. “But before this season, I have never been to the NCAA. We didn’t make it my other three years her at Michigan.”
A NEW TYPE OF MISSION
Tennant, who already has an accomplished soccer resume during his career, is not done with his college career. In fact, he is currently on another type of mission.
Tennant and the Wolverines will face No. 3-ranked Maryland Dec. 4 at 1 p.m. in College Park, Md., in the NCAA Men’s Soccer College Cup quarterfinals. Already in the midst of its best-ever season at 16-4-3, Tennant is trying to bring Michigan to the Final Four for the first time.
After beating Penn State in the Big Ten finals (4-1), Michigan has defeated University of Central Florida (2-1, overtime) and 18th-ranked South Carolina (3-1).
Michigan won the Big Ten Conference Tournament title this season after going 4-2 in the regular season, good for third place. Tennant has been every part of that success, despite gaining just one assist offensively. He has played in all 23 games for Michigan, one of just five Wolverines to do so this season, for a team that has five shutouts and a 1.39 goals-against-average on a loaded schedule.
“We have a very good team and I think we can make a run,” said Tennant, whose team has outscored the opposition 49-32. “We have some great players on this team.”
Tennant, who got married over the summer to his college love, Mackenzie, still has a year of academics left, but his eligibility will be finished at the end of this NCAA run. He may still play with the Michigan Bucks this summer, where he has played in four of the previous six summers since graduating from high school.
“This is it in (terms of college soccer). I would like to help this team go as far as we can go,” said Tennant. “We have been on quite a roll.”
Michigan has won eight in a row and is 12-2 in its last 14 games, part of one of the Wolverines’ best-ever seasons.
Away from soccer, Tennant can live the ordinary everyday life of a newly-wed and college student, and that includes using the phone and e-mail.
“Yeah, I can do all of that now,” he said. “When I was on the mission, it was hard. But you get used to it. There’s a lot of discipline.”
It must have taken a lot of discipline being away from soccer and the normal routines of life for nearly two years. Now, Chase Tennant is back doing what he does best: playing soccer.
And he’s back on another mission.
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Category: Campus Clips, Michigan Bucks, Where Are They Now?
