Jim Cherneski (born September 12, 1974 in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

) is an American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player, currently

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

for

Egerton Egerton may refer to: People * Egerton (name), a list of people with either the surname or the given name * Egerton family, a British aristocratic family * George Egerton, pen name of Mary Dunne Bright (1859–1945), Australian-born writer Place ...

, initially alongside

Jlloyd Samuel Jlloyd Tafari Samuel ( , 29 March 1981 – 15 May 2018) was a professional footballer who played as a defender and midfielder. Born in Trinidad and Tobago, he was raised in England and played for England up to under-21 level. He played two ful ...

and

Dean Gorré Dean Roberto Gorré (born 10 September 1970) is a Dutch-Surinamese football coach and former player. He is currently the interim coach of the Curaçao national team. Playing career Gorré made his debut on 20 April 1988 for SVV. He also went ...

. After the death of Samuel in May 2018, and departure of Gorré to manage

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

, he took the job outright assisted by

Nathan Ellington Nathan Levi Fontaine Ellington (born 2 July 1981) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a striker. Ellington started his playing career with non-League side Tooting & Mitcham United. Having played once for the club, he sw ...

and Emerson Boyce.

TRUSOX

Cherneski invented Trusox in 2010. They are socks that help grip a players sock to their cleat or shoe. Players that wear Trusox include: Gareth Bale, Luis Suarez, Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben, and Jerome Boateng.

Career

Youth and college

When Cherneski was nine years old he moved to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, where he was coached on various youth teams including the Countryside Cosmos coached by Richard Dieckman,

Peter Mellor Peter Mellor (born 20 November 1947) is an American former professional footballer whose playing career as a goalkeeper spanned three decades. He played 17 years in the top three tiers of English professional football with Burnley, Fulham, Here ...

, Steve Heighway, Gordon Hill and Derek Smethurst.Jim Cherneski and Pete Medd Profiles
/ref> Cherneski was a starting defender for the Florida Class 4A state high school champions in 1991, and after a brief and ultimately unsuccessful trial at English side Brighton and Hove Albion, played

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

at Towson University alongside Pete Medd, leading the team to a Top 15 Division 1 NCAA National Ranking and serving as captain during his senior year.

Professional

After a brief coaching stint at Towson, Cherneski subsequently played for many years in the USL, having stints with the Baltimore Bays, the Eastern Shore Sharks, the New Hampshire Phantoms, the

Rhode Island Stingrays Rhode Island Stingrays was an American soccer team based in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1995, the team played in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2009, after wh ...

and the

Worcester Kings Worcester Kings were an American soccer team, founded in 2002, who were members of the United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2003, after which the team left the league and th ...

. After having taken several years off from football to concentrate on family issues, Cherneski received an email from a former college coach that ultimately inspired him to set up his own team in his hometown of Baltimore. Whilst in England on a college tour in 2006, Cherneski met with a representative from Crystal Palace, who were interested setting up a team somewhere else in the world. Over the course of the following year representatives from Palace flew over to America, ultimately resulting in the creation of Crystal Palace Baltimore. Cherneski became player-manager of the team prior to its inaugural season in 2007, in which they finished fifth, and took the team to its first post-season playoff campaign in 2008, where they ultimately lost in the USL2 semi finals to the Charlotte Eagles. In addition to managing the team, Cherneski still occasionally makes playing appearances. Cherneski scored two goals in a 6–3 loss to

FC Tampa Bay The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Champions ...

in the last game of Baltimore's 2010 USSFD2 regular season campaign.

Career statistics

:''(correct as of October 2, 2010)''

References

External links

Crystal Palace Baltimore bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cherneski, Jim American soccer players 1974 births Living people Baltimore Bays (1993–1998) players Eastern Shore Sharks players Seacoast United Phantoms players Rhode Island Stingrays players USL Second Division players USISL players USSF Division 2 Professional League players Crystal Palace Baltimore players Crystal Palace Baltimore managers Worcester Kings players Towson Tigers men's soccer players Association football midfielders Soccer players from Baltimore Association football player-managers American expatriate soccer players American expatriate soccer coaches Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate football managers in England American expatriate sportspeople in England