Walter M. Schmetzer (born April 26, 1967 in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

) is a former U.S.

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 ...

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who played professionally in the

Western Soccer Alliance Western Soccer Alliance was a professional soccer league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States and Western Canada. The league began in 1985 as the Western Alliance Challenge Series. In 1986, it became the Western Soccer Alli ...

and Major Indoor Soccer League. Schmetzer grew up in

where he attended

Nathan Hale High School Nathan Hale High School may refer to: * Nathan Hale High School (Oklahoma), United States * Nathan Hale High School (Washington), United States * Nathan Hale High School (Wisconsin), United States * Nathan Hale-Ray High School, Connecticut ...

. He learned to play soccer under the tutelage of his father Walter who coached him with the Lake City Hawks youth team. Walter, a native of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, had played in the German Third Division before immigrating to the United States. Schmetzer, and his twin brother

Andy Andy may refer to: People * Andy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Horace Andy (born 1951), Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer born Horace Hinds * Katja Andy (1907–2013), German-American pianist and pi ...

led Nathan Hale to the 1985 3A Washington State boys soccer championship. After graduating in 1985, both Schmetzers, along with their older brother

Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word me ...

signed with

F.C. Seattle FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Paki ...

of the

.Western Alliance Challenge Series - 1985
/ref> In 1986, he signed with the Cleveland Force of Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). In 1988, he moved to the Tacoma Stars of MISL. He played two seasons with Tacoma.

References

External links

MISL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmetzer, Walt 1967 births Living people American soccer players Cleveland Force (original MISL) players Seattle Storm (soccer) players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Tacoma Stars players Western Soccer Alliance players American people of German descent Association football midfielders