“I hardly miss a game,” said Nancy Kelsch.

Her son, senior Adam Kelsch, is the starting goalie on the Loras men’s soccer team, and she makes an effort to be there whenever possible.

Adam is returning to the playing field this season after a long and painful timeout from soccer. He transferred to Loras his sophomore year from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and was an asset to the team from the start. However, his abilities were affected early on by a worsening back pain.

“It probably didn’t help that I played through it even though it was painful,” Kelsch said.

After playing since age 4, however, Kelsch couldn’t imagine much else, but it came back to bite him later that year.

“It got to the point where I could barely play.” he said.

That’s when Kelsch finally went to see the doctor. An MRI exam showed he had two herniated disks in his back.

After an entire year following the doctor’s prescription of healing and time, Kelsch is good to go and making blocks at the goal once again.

The Kenosha, WI, native’s hometown is three hours from Dubuque, but his mom is determined to be at the games whenever possible.

“Adam’s younger brother and sister “definitely look up to their older sibling” and are following in his footwork on the soccer field, she said.

Kelsch’s coach, Dan Rothert makes time to see how his players are doing on a daily basis. Kelsch makes sure that the same sort of work ethic he sees in his coach is what he is practicing every day.

Adam knows his soccer career will not last forever.

“It’s important to just be doing something I love to play for the limited time I can,” he said. “You’ve just got to look at the positives.”