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North Branch junior Brian Grand has certainly had an interesting journey on his way to being named to the Minnesota State High School Soccer Coaches Association's Class A All-State Soccer Team. Grand was presented with the honor at the state tournament banquet on October 17. The North Branch school Board also recognized his achievement at a recent school board meeting.

Grand was born and raised in Zurich, Switzerland. His father, Peter, is Swedish and his mother, Gina, was born in Laos. His mother's family moved to North Branch in 1980, where his mom graduated from North Branch High School. Peter, who was involved in work with other Laotian refugees, met Gina in North Branch. They eventually married and decided to live in Sweden. In 2003, the Grands moved from Switzerland to North Branch in order to take care of Gina's parents. The family came in shifts, with Brian's older brother Steven moving in 2003; Gina, Brian and Brian's younger sister Kristina moved in 2004; and Peter followed in 2005.

Brian has been on the North Branch varsity soccer team since he was a seventh-grader in 2004. He started a couple of games that season and has started every game since - over 60 games in the past four straight years. And he still has a senior season to look forward to.

The North Branch boys soccer team has struggled since its inception, but everything came together for them this year as they soared to a record of 10-5-1. Junior goalkeeper Austin Holmes, who has been starting since eighth grade, had another outstanding year. The North Branch defense came together and had a solid year. And Grand was a virtual scoring machine, tallying 32 goals (tied for first in the state) and 7 assists.

Brian's father, Peter, coached the North Branch boys for the first time this season. He coached the girls in 2007. The school hired a new boys soccer coach, but he backed out in midsummer. Not wanting to re-start a coaching search so late in the game, Viking athletic director Becky Leuer approached Grand and asked him if he'd like to coach the boys team and the girls team for the 2008 season. Grand stepped up to the challenge and certainly made a positive impact on the North Branch soccer program.

And Brian Grand doesn't just play soccer for the Vikings. He's actually a three-sport star, but he does It the hard way. In addition to playing soccer this fall, Brian was the placekicker for the Viking football team. "It's something I played around with last summer," said Brian. "A couple of my friends who played football talked me into it. The team didn't really have a kicker, so I volunteered." Grand got into the heart of the action during his first kickoff of the season against North Branch archrival Chisago Lakes. The Chisago Lakes runner fielded Grand's kickoff, broke free and appeared to be headed for the end zone, with only Grand to beat. Grand took a pretty good angle from the side and hit the runner hard, bringing him to the ground with a touchdown-saving tackle. "Now," chuckled Grand, "all the football players think soccer players can play football." Grand also had a couple of tackles in the Vikings' game against St. Francis. He did a good job kicking off for the Vikings this past season. He missed his only field goal attempt, but made nine of eleven extra points.

Brian doesn't participate in a winter sport at North Branch, but that doesn't mean his mind strays far from sports. "I'm a sports junkie," he said. "I'm into all kinds of sports on TV." In fact, Brian is such a huge NFL fan that we had to sandwich his interview between the late afternoon NFL games and the evening game on a recent Sunday.

Grand has also been running track at North Branch since eighth grade. Last spring, as a sophomore, he went to the state tournament in the 110 meter hurdles and the 300 meter hurdles. He finished seventh in the state in the 300 meter hurdles. He also participates in the long jump and the 4 by 200 meter relay. Don't be surprised to see Brian and his teammates go to the state tournament in the 4 by 200 this coming spring. "We've got three juniors that run together well and we need one more guy to fill a spot."

When Grand started to play soccer as a small boy over in Sweden, he was so little that even the smallest pairs of shorts were almost too big for him to run around in. In addition to the coaching provided by his dad, Brian got some other coaching. "His speed is really a big part of his game," said his dad, Peter. "He worked with speed and agility coaches in Sweden, including a coach who worked with the Olympic track and field team. He was coached in the Coervers system. Also, he played with two clubs in Europe. One of those was Juventus, which is well-know for developing young players to move on to other clubs. And in Europe, soccer is a year-round sport, and playing year-round helps players to develop skills more at a younger age."

He's always had "kind of a scoring knack," as he put it, but also sees himself as a pretty good passer. He still has a chance to dazzle the fans for one more year of high school. After that, he'd like to go to college on a soccer scholarship. He plans to major in architecture or interior design in college.

Grand wasn't necessarily expecting any all-state honors to happen this year. "I was kind of surprised I was being considered for all-state," said Grand. "But at the same time, it had been mentioned a few times in past years, so I wasn't totally surprised. How does Grand think the Viking soccer team will fare during the upcoming season? "Austin, our keeper will be back," he said. "But most of our defenders were seniors. We'll need to rebuild our defense in order to have another successful season."

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