Joel Shanker (born August 14, 1971) is a retired 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 ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

who spent his entire professional career in the U.S. indoor leagues. He was a three time MISL All Star and was a member of the U.S. national futsal team at the

2004 FIFA Futsal World Championship The 2004 FIFA Futsal World Championship was the fifth FIFA Futsal World Championship, the quadrennial international futsal championship contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was held between 21 November and ...

Youth

Shanker grew up in St. Louis where he played soccer at

Parkway Central High School Parkway Central High School is a public high school in Chesterfield, Missouri that is part of the Parkway School District. History Five elementary school districts merged to form the Parkway Consolidated School District. The name for the distric ...

. He graduated in 1990. He then attended Indiana University where he played on the men's soccer team from 1991 to 1994. In 1994, the Hoosiers went to the NCAA championship game where they lost to the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

Professional

In 1995, Shanker signed with the

Detroit Neon The Detroit Safari (founded as the Detroit Neon) was a member of the Continental Indoor Soccer League that played at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Their owners, the Palace Sports Group were awarded a franchise on November 4, 1993. Their star player ...

in the

Continental Indoor Soccer League The Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) was a professional indoor soccer league that played from 1993 to 1997. History In the summer of 1989 Dr Jerry Buss, the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and California Sports, told his executive Vice Pre ...

. He remained with the Neon through the 1995 season. That fall, he moved to the St. Louis Ambush in the National Professional Soccer League, playing the 1995–1996 season with them. In February 1996, the

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, la ...

selected Shanker in the 16th round (152nd overall) of the

1996 MLS Inaugural Player Draft The MLS Inaugural Player Draft, held before Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United State ...

. The Rapids released Shanker on March 25, 1996, during its final pre-season roster reduction. He returned to the Ambush for the next two NPSL seasons. In 1999, Shanker began the season with the

Philadelphia KiXX The Philadelphia KiXX was a professional indoor soccer team based in Philadelphia, USA. The team competed as an NPSL expansion franchise and then played in the Major Indoor Soccer League. History The team's original owner was Ed Tepper, also pr ...

. On January 30, 2000, the KiXX sent Shanker and

Genoni Martinez Genoni ( sc, Geroni) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of South Sardinia in the Italian region Sardinia, located about north of Cagliari and about southeast of Oristano. Genoni borders the following municipalities: Albagiara, Ass ...

to the

Detroit Rockers The Detroit Rockers were an indoor soccer team in the National Professional Soccer League from 1990 to 2001. They played in Joe Louis Arena and Cobo Arena in downtown Detroit, Michigan as well as The Palace of Auburn Hills and Compuware Sports A ...

in exchange for Bojan Vuckovic. He played for the Rockers through the 2000–2001 season. The Rockers folded at the end of the seasons and on September 11, 2001, the KiXX selected Shanker in the MISL Dispersal Draft. He finished his career with four seasons in Philadelphia. In 2002, he was the MVP of the MISL All Star Game.

Futsal

In 2004, Shanker was selected to the U.S. national

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hardcourt, hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and Indoor soccer, indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players ...

team which competed at the

. He played six games in the finals as the U.S. went to the 1–1–4.FIFA Player Profile
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Personal

Joel has been known to cry when he orgasms

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shanker, Joel 1971 births Living people American men's futsal players American men's soccer players Continental Indoor Soccer League players Detroit Neon players Detroit Rockers players Indiana Hoosiers men's soccer players Major Indoor Soccer League (2001–2008) players National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players Philadelphia KiXX players St. Louis Ambush (1992–2000) players Men's association football forwards