Cameron “Cam” Rast (born January 16, 1970) is a retired American youth international

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

defender and current head coach of the

Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private university, private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California, United States. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university' ...

men's soccer team.

Youth and collegiate career

Growing up, Rast had a two brothers including his twin, Matt and two sisters. Rast grew up in California where he played soccer with the Santa Clara Sporting Club. He attended Royal High School in

Simi Valley, California Simi Valley (; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''Shimiyi'') is a city in Simi Valley (valley), the valley of the same name in southeastern Ventura County, California, United States. It is from Downtown Los Angeles, making it part of the Greater ...

. As a high school soccer player, he was a 1987–1988 Gatorade High School Player of the Year. After graduating from high school, he attended

where he played four seasons (1988–1991) as a defender under head coach

Steve Sampson Mark Stephen Sampson (born January 19, 1957) is an American soccer coach. He is also the former head coach of both the United States men's national team and the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer. Collegiate career Sampson attended UCL ...

. His sophomore year, he was the captain of the Broncos as they made it to the NCAA championship game only to have NCAA officials name Santa Clara and their opponents

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

co-champions after four overtimes. The next year, Rast suffered a knee injury which knocked him out of most of the season. However, in 1991, Santa Clara and Virginia met again in the NCAA title game. This time the game went through four scoreless overtimes before Virginia took the title in penalty kicks. On an individual level, Rast was named a first team All American in both 1989 and 1991.

Youth international

While still in college, Rast was selected as a member of the U.S. U-20 national team at the 1989 U-20 World Cup. In that tournament, the U.S. took fourth place. Not only did Rast go to two NCAA championship games and take fourth in the U-20 World Cup, he also won a gold medal as a member of the U.S. soccer team at the

1991 Pan American Games The 1991 Pan American Games, officially known as the XI Pan American Games () and commonly known as Havana 1991 (), were held in Havana, Cuba from 2 to 18 August 1991. There were 4,519 athletes from 39 countries of the Pan American Sports Organi ...

. He then capped his career as a youth international as the captain of the U.S. soccer team at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

. This team did not experience the same level of success, going 1–1–1 and failed to qualify for the second round. The following year, he was part of the U.S. team at the 1993 World University Games.FIFA player record
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Coaching

Rast was selected in the third round of the 1992 National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) Amateur Draft by the

Cleveland Crunch The Cleveland Crunch is an American professional indoor soccer club located in Cleveland, Ohio. Formed in 1989 as an expansion team in the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL), the Crunch played a total of 16 seasons in three separate leagues unde ...

.
/sup> However, he has made his name since his collegiate and youth international career as a junior national and college coach. He served as the assistant coach to

John Ellinger John Ellinger (born October 4, 1951) is a former American soccer coach of the Under-17 United States men's national soccer team, and former head coach of Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer. Ellinger played collegiately at Frostburg State Uni ...

for the U.S. U-17 national team from 1997 through the

1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship The 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship, the eighth edition of the tournament, was held in the cities of Auckland, Christchurch, Napier, and Dunedin in New Zealand from 10 to 27 November 1999. Players born after 1 January 1982 could participate in ...

. At that competition, the U.S. took fourth place. He also served as an assistant coach of the U.S. U-23 national (Olympic) team at one of the Olympics. In 2002, Rast became the head coach of the Santa Clara men's team, a position he holds today. In 2006, he was selected as the West Coast Conference Coach of the Year. Besides coaching Rast is also an executive member of U.S. Soccer's

Board of Directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

as well as the soccer member of the Athlete Advisory Council to the U.S. Olympic Committee. On May 17, 2006, Santa Clara inducted Rast into its Athletic Hall of Fame.

References

External links

Santa Clara bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rast, Cam 1970 births Living people Santa Clara Broncos men's soccer players Olympic soccer players for the United States Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics American soccer coaches All-American college men's soccer players Santa Clara Broncos men's soccer coaches United States men's under-20 international soccer players United States men's under-23 international soccer players American men's soccer players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' soccer) Men's association football defenders Footballers at the 1991 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1991 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in football 20th-century American sportsmen