Last month, Parkland Area Soccer Club U19 girls coach Mike Rose got a letter in the mail from the Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer Association naming him the organization's Recreation Coach of the Year.

His reaction?

"To be honest, I don't want to call it a prank, but occasionally you get a letter and you find out later it's a marketing ploy," Rose said. "I thought, 'Really?' So I asked some people in the club, and they didn't know anything about it either. We ended up validating it with EPYSA and, apparently, one of the parents took it upon themselves to nominate me."

Rose, a North Whitehall resident, began coaching with the Schnecksville Playground Association and soon after began coaching with the PASC along with assistant John Olesak.

Rose has served as the coach of this particular group of girls for eight years. His daughter Emily plays on the team, which is a mixture of U16 and U19 players and competes in the Northern Valley Youth Soccer League against teams like South Parkland, Lower Macungie and Southern Lehigh. He's coached much of the group since they were eight years old.

The league doesn't keep score and doesn't have a running tally of wins and losses. Its more for players that compete for the love of the game, something that's grown for Rose as his coaching career has gone on.

A soccer player himself until his freshman year of high school, Rose initially got into coaching because he was, in his words, "a bad sideline parent."

"I couldn't sit there quietly," he said. "So out of respect for anyone who was going to coach my kids, I figured I'd get involved.

"I like to think that I've taught them more than just soccer. John [Olesak] and myself try to be positive male role models in their lives."

It was that feeling that kept Rose, a Leader at Dun and Bradstreet in Center Valley, in coaching two years ago when he was not only pushing for his daughter to stop playing, but was ready to hang his whistle and clipboard.

But his daughter wanted to continue playing, so Rose continued to coach the team with a fresher outlook on his approach.

"When we started when the girls were eight, it was more about yelling," Rose said. "I was motivated for all the wrong reasons. But my girls have taught me to coach with patience and have reminded me that they're playing because they love it and want to have fun. We've relaxed our style and become more of mentors than anything.

"I consider myself a lucky coach. I don't know how I've gotten to be as fortunate as I have."

Rose's teams have never left the state for a tournament, although they competed in the Montgomery United Soccer Club tournament in Lansdale this past fall. He's been to a handful of clinics in his career, but doesn't make it a regular occurence. Instead, he picks up tips from watching coaches in other sports and seeing how they handle their players, not necessarily the X's and O's.

Even when his daughter is done playing, Rose may still continue guiding players through their soccer careers at the youth level.

"I genuinely feel like I'm making a difference. If I can provide one positive influence on a girl, it makes it worth it," Rose said. "When you see someone do something for the first time and really surprise themselves, it makes you feel good. It's the kind of thing you can't necessarily get out of a job."

Rose will be honored on March 2 at a banquet held for the award winners.