HUNTINGTON - Mark Snyder's office comes with a scenic view of the inside of Joan C. Edwards Stadium, and is prone to the occasional window-thump from a football, courtesy of a field-goal kicker.
So the Marshall coach has seen some of the "just fooling around" kicking practices of Craig Ratanamorn. But he has found better evidence of the soccer goalie's handiwork on the opposite side of the Shewey Athletic Building, which fronts the stadium's north end.
"I don't think I've seen anybody, since I've been here, put it on Third Avenue," Snyder said. "They were on the roof trying to find the ball and it was over on Third Avenue."
Even from extra-point distance in the north end of the stadium, that qualifies as a tape-measure shot. Traveling straight, a kick has to clear a rooftop videographer's stand, the width of the Shewey Building and a fairly high brick retaining wall - probably on the fly - to make the street.
With that, there is no debate about Ratanamorn's leg. The questions deal with all the other variables:
Can he handle the double duty of playing soccer and football?
Having not played football since he was a high school senior, can he handle a collegiate rush?
Can he adjust to college football, in general?
While he has kicked on the Edwards Stadium field since last fall, he got his first real taste of the college game Tuesday, as the Herd began spring practice. For one thing, he needs to get his head used to the game.
No, that's not a crack on his mentality. It's that thing about constantly wearing a helmet, even in the lightest of spring practices. Say what you want about the lack of machismo in futbol, but there is no headgear involved.
"It was the first time in a while," he said. "I felt a little claustrophobic. You've just got to learn to deal with it."
He also had to deal with a stiff crosswind, which nearly blew a 31-yard attempt off line. He has played soccer in such a breeze, particularly in his hometown of Wichita, Kan., but trying to get a football between the uprights is different from trying to properly place a goal kick.
"Actually, you can adjust a soccer ball a little bit better than you can a football," Ratanamorn said. "A football, there's one way to kick it, and there's only a sweet spot and you've got to adjust the ball to the wind. In soccer, it's a little bit different - there's a hundred ways you can kick it through the wind."
Ratanamorn was an all-state soccer player as a junior and a senior at Wichita's Heights High School, and began his college career at Barton County Community College. Last fall, he split goalie time with Brad Kennedy, compiling a 6-4-1 record and a 1.20 goals-against average.
But he couldn't stay away from the football field, having once kicked a 56-yard field goal in a high school game. And when he finally made it to the Edwards Stadium field with a pigskin, he turned heads.
In one session witnessed by a handful of sportswriters, he made multiple 50-yard field goals, and sneaked one over the crossbar from 60 yards. He wasn't necessarily looking to join the football team when he started kicking, but received some heavy encouragement to do so.
"It was really weird. During the [soccer] season, there's always a few footballs laying around here, so I was just kicking one day before practice," he said. "[A few graduate assistants] were out here, and they were like, 'Oh, you ought to go out for the football team.' So ever since then, they've been harassing me a little.
"That was before Thanksgiving. So I starting asking the coaches, 'What do you think?' They let me have a few balls and had some of the GAs watch me and now, here I am."
Ratanamorn said he has been warmly welcomed by his new football teammates. And he has an inside track to land the kicking job - the MU coaching staff signed Kase Whitehead of Maryville, Tenn., in February, but he's more of a punter.
Perhaps the toughest part of landing the placekicking job is handling the demands of two sports. While soccer is considered a fall sport, there is an indoor schedule in the spring, and the team is very much active at this time of year.
"It's really tough," Ratanamorn said. "Get up at 6 a.m., I have soccer practice, school, it's a real hassle. I've had people at my side to help me get things done. These football players have been real nice, helped me out."
Ratanamorn, a former accounting major who has shifted to marketing, isn't about to abandon the game that brought him to Marshall.
"Even if I [succeed] in football, soccer is still going to be life," he said.
To contact staff writer Doug Smock, use e-mail or call 348-5130.
HUNTINGTON - Mark Snyder's office comes with a scenic view of the inside of Joan C. Edwards Stadium, and is prone to the occasional window-thump from a football, courtesy of a field-goal kicker.
So the Marshall coach has seen some of the "just fooling around" kicking practices of Craig Ratanamorn. But he has found better evidence of the soccer goalie's handiwork on the opposite side of the Shewey Athletic Building, which fronts the stadium's north end.
"I don't think I've seen anybody, since I've been here, put it on Third Avenue," Snyder said. "They were on the roof trying to find the ball and it was over on Third Avenue."
Even from extra-point distance in the north end of the stadium, that qualifies as a tape-measure shot. Traveling straight, a kick has to clear a rooftop videographer's stand, the width of the Shewey Building and a fairly high brick retaining wall - probably on the fly - to make the street.
With that, there is no debate about Ratanamorn's leg. The questions deal with all the other variables:
Can he handle the double duty of playing soccer and football?Having not played football since he was a high school senior, can he handle a collegiate rush?Can he adjust to college football, in general?While he has kicked on the Edwards Stadium field since last fall, he got his first real taste of the college game Tuesday, as the Herd began spring practice. For one thing, he needs to get his head used to the game.
No, that's not a crack on his mentality. It's that thing about constantly wearing a helmet, even in the lightest of spring practices. Say what you want about the lack of machismo in futbol, but there is no headgear involved.
"It was the first time in a while," he said. "I felt a little claustrophobic. You've just got to learn to deal with it."
He also had to deal with a stiff crosswind, which nearly blew a 31-yard attempt off line. He has played soccer in such a breeze, particularly in his hometown of Wichita, Kan., but trying to get a football between the uprights is different from trying to properly place a goal kick.
"Actually, you can adjust a soccer ball a little bit better than you can a football," Ratanamorn said. "A football, there's one way to kick it, and there's only a sweet spot and you've got to adjust the ball to the wind. In soccer, it's a little bit different - there's a hundred ways you can kick it through the wind."
Ratanamorn was an all-state soccer player as a junior and a senior at Wichita's Heights High School, and began his college career at Barton County Community College. Last fall, he split goalie time with Brad Kennedy, compiling a 6-4-1 record and a 1.20 goals-against average.
But he couldn't stay away from the football field, having once kicked a 56-yard field goal in a high school game. And when he finally made it to the Edwards Stadium field with a pigskin, he turned heads.
In one session witnessed by a handful of sportswriters, he made multiple 50-yard field goals, and sneaked one over the crossbar from 60 yards. He wasn't necessarily looking to join the football team when he started kicking, but received some heavy encouragement to do so.
"It was really weird. During the [soccer] season, there's always a few footballs laying around here, so I was just kicking one day before practice," he said. "[A few graduate assistants] were out here, and they were like, 'Oh, you ought to go out for the football team.' So ever since then, they've been harassing me a little.
"That was before Thanksgiving. So I starting asking the coaches, 'What do you think?' They let me have a few balls and had some of the GAs watch me and now, here I am."
Ratanamorn said he has been warmly welcomed by his new football teammates. And he has an inside track to land the kicking job - the MU coaching staff signed Kase Whitehead of Maryville, Tenn., in February, but he's more of a punter.
Perhaps the toughest part of landing the placekicking job is handling the demands of two sports. While soccer is considered a fall sport, there is an indoor schedule in the spring, and the team is very much active at this time of year.
"It's really tough," Ratanamorn said. "Get up at 6 a.m., I have soccer practice, school, it's a real hassle. I've had people at my side to help me get things done. These football players have been real nice, helped me out."
Ratanamorn, a former accounting major who has shifted to marketing, isn't about to abandon the game that brought him to Marshall.
"Even if I [succeed] in football, soccer is still going to be life," he said.
To contact staff writer Doug Smock, use e-mail or call 348-5130.
